Is Royal Caribbean building any small ships?

[PhillyFan33579]

7 hours ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

This would truly be giving the people what they want - New destinations and new itineraries! Plus, those at the top end of the loyalty scale and diehard Royals would likely pay top dollar, possibly with a pppd cost higher than on 7-nighters. I know it sounds ambitious, but somehow I think it could work. 🤔

What people are these? The majority of people who cruise on RCI want the latest bells and whistles. Most people who want/like smaller ships are older passengers who miss the way cruising use to be in the past. It’s pretty obvious RCI’s main focus these days is on younger families with kids. I would not be surprised if the long rumored Discovery class ship never becomes a reality. 

[Charles4515]

11 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

What people are these? The majority of people who cruise on RCI want the latest bells and whistles. Most people who want/like smaller ships are older passengers who miss the way cruising use to be in the past. It’s pretty obvious RCI’s main focus these days is on younger families with kids. I would not be surprised if the long rumored Discovery class ship never becomes a reality. 

If Discovery class becomes a reality it probably will only be small relative to Oasis class. I would guess Quantum class size. 

[smokeybandit]

20 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I would not be surprised if the long rumored Discovery class ship never becomes a reality.

It has to. RC knows it can't roll into the 2030s with just big ships, even as successful as those ships are.

[PhillyFan33579]

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

It has to. RC knows it can't roll into the 2030s with just big ships, even as successful as those ships are.

Why not? I don’t think RCI needs the ability to cruise to as many ports as possible to be successful. If you remove Vision and Radiance class ships from the fleet, RCI can still continue to cruise to every region of the world they currently do right now. They would just lose the ability to go to ports that can only accommodate smaller ships. I think the writing is on the wall that bigger ships going to private cruise line islands/locations is the future of mainstream cruising. 

[Southern Dan]

10 years from now all Vision, Voyager and Radiance Class ships will be at or over 30 years old.  That is 13 ships by my count so you are crazy if you think they will only be replacing those with Oasis/Icon sized ships.

 

It will be in between Radiance/Voyager size as many have heard and we’ll probably hear something more concrete in terms of information by the end of the year.

[Another_Critic]

Even if RCI doesn't built a smaller ship to replace Vision/Radiance/Voyager class, they (RCG) will still need to built one for Celebrity, to replace Millennium class.  Silversea can't be RCG's only small ship division.

[Hoopster95]

15 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

It has to. RC knows it can't roll into the 2030s with just big ships, even as successful as those ships are.

 

I think this is exactly their plan. And only taking cruisers to their own private locales as much as humanly possible to keep all revenue within Royal. Cruising on Royal is not about seeing the world anymore, it's about been in a safe all-inclusive (for huge dollars extra) environment for families, and to make the absolute highest profits as possible.

 

15 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Why not? I don’t think RCI needs the ability to cruise to as many ports as possible to be successful. I think the writing is on the wall that bigger ships going to private cruise line islands/locations is the future of mainstream cruising. 

 

^this

 

13 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

Even if RCI doesn't built a smaller ship to replace Vision/Radiance/Voyager class, they (RCG) will still need to built one for Celebrity, to replace Millennium class.  Silversea can't be RCG's only small ship division.

 

Hmmmm... Royal has surprised us in the past many times.

I think they'll keep Radiance Class maybe past 30 yrs of age in order to keep a presence in Tampa/Baltimore/Vancouver/etc.

 

ie. Jewel is only 20 years old this year.... 26 years old in 2030... lots of life left

(Conversely Voyager is 25 years old this year, 31 years old in 2030)

(And Grandeur is 28 years old this year, 34 years old in 2030. I think all of  Vision Class is relatively close to extinction in my humble opinion)

[PhillyFan33579]

2 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

ie. Jewel is only 20 years old this year.... 26 years old in 2030... lots of life left

(Conversely Voyager is 25 years old this year, 31 years old in 2030)

(And Grandeur is 28 years old this year, 34 years old in 2030. I think all of  Vision Class is relatively close to extinction in my humble opinion)

I am on Grandeur right now. One thing that sort of surprised me is the ship wasn’t painted light blue during its recent dry dock, which seems to be the norm these days. Possibly a sign Grandeur is getting close to the end of her RCI life or maybe it means nothing at all. 

[Hoopster95]

1 minute ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I am on Grandeur right now. One thing that sort of surprised me is the ship wasn’t painted light blue during its recent dry dock, which seems to be the norm these days. Possibly a sign Grandeur is getting close to the end of her RCI life or maybe it means nothing at all. 

 

Just got off Jewel in May, 2nd cruise after her drydock... not blue either. I think  Vision & Radiance Classes will not get the blue hull. So it think it means nothing

[ScottishRobbie]

13 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Just got off Jewel in May, 2nd cruise after her drydock... not blue either. I think  Vision & Radiance Classes will not get the blue hull. So it think it means nothing

I'm sure I read one of the Voyager class (Mariner maybe?) was in drydock earlier this year and got a repaint, but remained white, whereas Voyager got the blue hull at her drydock back in 2019. I think you're right in saying it means nothing, there's no logic as to which class has which coloured hull

[Saab4444]

15 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I am on Grandeur right now. One thing that sort of surprised me is the ship wasn’t painted light blue during its recent dry dock, which seems to be the norm these days. Possibly a sign Grandeur is getting close to the end of her RCI life or maybe it means nothing at all. 

They have not re-painted any others in blue during recent drydocks. Only one Voyager class and one Freedom class became blue a while ago and none of the Vision and Radiance class ships.

[Ourusualbeach]

8 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

What people are these? The majority of people who cruise on RCI want the latest bells and whistles. Most people who want/like smaller ships are older passengers who miss the way cruising use to be in the past. It’s pretty obvious RCI’s main focus these days is on younger families with kids. I would not be surprised if the long rumored Discovery class ship never becomes a reality. 

 

8 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

If Discovery class becomes a reality it probably will only be small relative to Oasis class. I would guess Quantum class size. 

Talked about yesterday by Captain Tony on the Anthem. He mentioned, just like every other report I have seen that it will be close in size to Voyager class, which coincidentally is also close in size to the Edge class.  Smaller does not necessarily mean vision class small just smaller than their most recent ships.  It would also not surprise me to see them model it after the Edge class of ship

[lovesthebeach2]

5 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

Talked about yesterday by Captain Tony on the Anthem. He mentioned, just like every other report I have seen that it will be close in size to Voyager class, which coincidentally is also close in size to the Edge class.  Smaller does not necessarily mean vision class small just smaller than their most recent ships.  It would also not surprise me to see them model it after the Edge class of ship

Yes please!!

Smaller ships = our type of itinerary.

[Mike.S]

33 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Yes please!!

Smaller ships = our type of itinerary.

Us too, no interest in the mega ships, can see us spending more time on Celebrity if Royal starts to retire it's smaller ships.

[Another_Critic]

IMO, Voyager class is the Goldilocks of RCI.

[PhillyFan33579]

5 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

Talked about yesterday by Captain Tony on the Anthem. He mentioned, just like every other report I have seen that it will be close in size to Voyager class, which coincidentally is also close in size to the Edge class.  Smaller does not necessarily mean vision class small just smaller than their most recent ships.  It would also not surprise me to see them model it after the Edge class of ship

I don’t consider Voyager or Edge class ships small, but I guess compared to Oasis and Icon they look small. Apex and Beyond are my two favorite ships, so anything remotely close to an Edge class ship would be good in my book. 

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, PhillyFan33579 said:

I don’t consider Voyager or Edge class ships small, but I guess compared to Oasis and Icon they look small. Apex and Beyond are my two favorite ships, so anything remotely close to an Edge class ship would be good in my book. 

I know that I was one of yhr first compost sbout project Discover well over a year ago and even then it was Vay size.  Somehow many took thr smaller to literally be small which i don't think will ever happen.  Would love to see a Royal ship model led after an Edge class. 

[Hoopster95]

7 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

just like every other report I have seen that it will be close in size to Voyager class... Smaller does not necessarily mean vision class small just smaller than their most recent ships. 

 

Yep, you've mentioned this several times in the past as well. I'm in agreement. Vision and Radiance sizes will be long gone and no way they'd settle for a 2000-2500 capacity ship as well.

It must hold as many cruisers as possible for maximum revenue (ie. 3500 minimum??).

 

And maybe they'll make her slightly shorter in height (180 ft?) to fit under various bridges/spans (no more Viking Crown or Northstar) in order to keep hold of the markets they are already in (Tampa, Baltimore, Vancouver, Bridge of Americas/Panama Canal, Canadian inside Passage @ Seymour Narrows for Alaska itineraries, etc).

 

So shorter, perhaps a bit wider, a bit longer?... 4000 people 150,000-170,000 GT?

Just a big guessing game. We shall see in the years to come.

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, Hoopster95 said:

 

Yep, you've mentioned this several times in the past as well. I'm in agreement. Vision and Radiance sizes will be long gone and no way they'd settle for a 2000-2500 capacity ship as well.

It must hold as many cruisers as possible for maximum revenue (ie. 3500 minimum??).

 

And maybe they'll make her slightly shorter in height (180 ft?) to fit under various bridges/spans (no more Viking Crown or Northstar) in order to keep hold of the markets they are already in (Tampa, Baltimore, Vancouver, Bridge of Americas/Panama Canal, Canadian inside Passage @ Seymour Narrows for Alaska itineraries, etc).

 

So shorter, perhaps a bit wider, a bit longer?... 4000 people 150,000-170,000 GT?

Just a big guessing game. We shall see in the years to come.

Closer to 130 to 140,000 tonnes 

[Hoopster95]

6 hours ago, Mike.S said:

Us too, no interest in the mega ships, can see us spending more time on Celebrity if Royal starts to retire it's smaller ships.

 

I'm starting to think that 20 years from now, Oasis of the Seas (will be 40 years old), Icon Class, etc, will only be visiting RC's private island destinations as much as possible all around the world. No more cruising on Royal to actually see the world and it's cultures/cities.

You'll need X or SilverSea to do that.

[smokeybandit]

Say for a minute RC rebuilt Voyager class to the same physical dimensions.

I bet they could squeeze out an extra 10-15k gross tons out of it using some lessons learned from Oasis/Icon class ships

Edited July 14 by smokeybandit

[Hoopster95]

6 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Closer to 130 to 140,000 tonnes 

So like you say, basically same size as Edge Class. I'm more thinking of Royal as a mass market "all-inclusive stay within it's walls resort" type of cruise line with it's KSF promo, mostly cabins with multiple occupancy (Icon), etc etc that they will try to jam as many people into as much GT that they can. I'm thinking under 150,000 too small for Royal if they wish to include all the technology/venues/entertainment/bells & whistles they promote. Did you hear "140,000" somewhere? Or just taking a personal guess based on something you've heard?

Edited July 14 by Hoopster95

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, Hoopster95 said:

So like you say, basically same size as Edge Class. I'm more thinking of Royal as a mass market "all-inclusive stay within it's walls resort" type of cruise line with it's KSF promo, mostly cabins with multiple occupancy (Icon), etc etc that they will try to jam as many people into as much GT that they can. I'm thinking under 150,000 too small for Royal if they wish to include all the technology/venues/entertainment/bells & whistles they promote. Did you hear "140,000" somewhere? Or just taking a personal guess based on something you've heard?

Voyager class 137K Tonnes. Edge 130k tones.  Every reference has been to VY  They still need ships that can fit into the smaller ports.  Jumping up in size  would put them too close to Quantum and reduce the ports.

[Hoopster95]

10 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Say for a minute RC rebuilt Voyager class to the same physical dimensions.

I bet they could squeeze out an extra 10-15k gross tons out of it using some lessons learned from Oasis/Icon class ships

 

Yes... and they already have increasing the capacity from around 3200 (I think) at launch to about 3600 double occupancy today after "amplifications" (ie. amplification = adding about 200 cabins and removing public space   ... tongue in cheek 😉)

Edited July 14 by Hoopster95

[lovesthebeach2]

22 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

I'm starting to think that 20 years from now, Oasis of the Seas (will be 40 years old), Icon Class, etc, will only be visiting RC's private island destinations as much as possible all around the world. No more cruising on Royal to actually see the world and it's cultures/cities.

You'll need X or SilverSea to do that.

And that’s where we’re booked now. Still have a few Royal local Florida cruises, but moving to X and SS