Is Royal Caribbean building any small ships?

[HBE4]

On 8/12/2024 at 6:18 PM, Charles4515 said:

It is funny how different people come off ships with different reports from the Captains Corners 😂  Some posters think the first Discovery class will be out in 2027 🙄 Some posters think the Captain’s actually know what corporate is planning 🙃 

 

 

 

I forgot to mention that the Captain gets his information from Cruise Critic. 😄

 

Just kidding but the info I reported does match up with what others have reported recently. Maybe they've heard it from the same Captain? Obviously, the Captain is not sitting in on the corporate planning meetings so his information is third-hand and maybe not the latest & greatest but I have no doubt that it was true at some point.

 

As with any long range 5 year project, details & the scope of the project may change and the timeline with shift. As for the 2027 projection, i think that was just hopeful thinking on the part of a CC member and not any official or unofficial timeline.

 

[eel]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

As with any long range 5 year project, details & the scope of the project may change and the timeline with shift. As for the 2027 projection, i think that was just hopeful thinking on the part of a CC member and not any official or unofficial timeline.

Actually it was based on a quote from an interview with Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean CEO

 

“We’re working now on another class of ship called Discovery Class. So, that’s going to be super exciting. That’ll come in about another 3 to 4 years from now,” states Bayley in the interview.

 

Since then, Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty has backtracked on that and said 2029.

Edited August 19 by eel

[Biker19]

On 7/24/2024 at 2:21 PM, Nathan Graveson said:

Meyer Werft do have the capability of producing 2 large ships a year,

That might be but RCI may consider things like this when going with a particular shipyard:

German chancellor pledges to keep Meyer Werft afloat (seatrade-cruise.com)

[Nathan Graveson]

5 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That might be but RCI may consider things like this when going with a particular shipyard:

German chancellor pledges to keep Meyer Werft afloat (seatrade-cruise.com)

Considering Disney just ordered 4 more ships, shows their confidence in the yard to stay afloat, the situation at Meyer Werft is bad, however, isn't as bad as it could be.

From my very reliable sources, the conversations between Royal and Meyer Group have been successful, however a deal has not yet been struck. ICON 4 is very much in consideration at the Turku yard, so that could be the yard that build Discovery-Class, however, the Meyer Werft site makes more sense for ships of their size... 

[cruiseboy89130]

31 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That might be but RCI may consider things like this when going with a particular shipyard:

German chancellor pledges to keep Meyer Werft afloat (seatrade-cruise.com)

Meyer is the safest shipyard in the world now - German government owns 80% now - they are great again!

[cruiseboy89130]

25 minutes ago, Nathan Graveson said:

Turku yard, so that could be the yard that build Discovery-Class,

Turku is part of the Meyer Company - so all the same.....

[Nathan Graveson]

And just like that ICON 4 ordered at Meyer Turku for 2027! Options for 5 & 6 have been made available too!

[Cruising89143]

On 7/25/2024 at 11:38 AM, Nathan Graveson said:

From what I know:

 

Icon 4 - Fall 2027

Oasis 7 - Summer 2028

Discovery 1 - Spring 2029

Oasis 8 - Summer 2029

Discovery 2 - Spring 2030

I think that you have nailed it. I think we will see the Discovery orders soon but they will be booked at the Meyer Werft in Germany. I’m guessing it’s already a done deal. 

[Nathan Graveson]

34 minutes ago, Cruising89143 said:

I think that you have nailed it. I think we will see the Discovery orders soon but they will be booked at the Meyer Werft in Germany. I’m guessing it’s already a done deal. 

Thanks!

Meyer Werft’s schedule at the minute looks like this:

 

Disney Treasure - October 2024

Asuka III - March 2025

Disney Destiny - October 2025

Carnival Excel 4 - Spring 2027

Disney New Project 1 - Fall 2027

Carnival Excel 5 - Spring 2028

Oriental Land Company/Disney Wish 4 - Fall 2028

Disney New Project 2 - Fall 2029

Disney New Project 3 - Fall 2030

Disney New Project 4 - Fall 2031

 

There is room to start Discovery-Class for a Spring 2029 delivery, and then yearly for 4 ships…

Oasis 8 order should go ahead pretty soon too, Gen 4 Oasis-Class is gonna be mega!

 

 

[DutchCruiseFan]

21 minutes ago, Nathan Graveson said:

Oasis 8 order should go ahead pretty soon too, Gen 4 Oasis-Class is gonna be mega!

Wasn't Oasis 7 widely believed to be the last Oasis class?

[Nathan Graveson]

9 hours ago, DutchCruiseFan said:

Wasn't Oasis 7 widely believed to be the last Oasis class?

It is mostly speculation and rumour to be honest… the Oasis-Class generation come in pairs, so it would make sense for Gen-4 to be Oasis 7 and 8…

 

[Engineroom Snipe]

12 hours ago, DutchCruiseFan said:

Wasn't Oasis 7 widely believed to be the last Oasis class?

No, you have to remember that everyone thought that CREED (2015), the seventh movie of the ICONIC Rocky series, was the last movie only to have CREED II (2018) in less than three years.

 

🤣

[eel]

 

This was posted in another Cruise Critic thread. Apparently someone that works at Chantiers De L'Atlantique shipyard posted it on a popular social media site. The talk is this will be announced by year end.

 

[Nathan Graveson]

10 hours ago, eel said:

 

This was posted in another Cruise Critic thread. Apparently someone that works at Chantiers De L'Atlantique shipyard posted it on a popular social media site. The talk is this will be announced by year end.

 

I have heard that Discovery-Class will be built at Meyer Werft, with talks nearly finished and a deal nearly struck. However, you never know…

[blt23]

On 8/29/2024 at 2:36 AM, Nathan Graveson said:

I have heard that Discovery-Class will be built at Meyer Werft, with talks nearly finished and a deal nearly struck. However, you never know…

This feels crazy to even suggest, but is there any chance that the Royal and Chantiers speculation is actually because they're negotiating a new class of mega ships? (In addition to Discovery from Meyer Werft)

 

There's going to be a lot more competition in the 200k+ tons category starting around 2029/2030, and if Royal wants to be aggressive in defending their industry leading position, Chantiers de l'Atlantique has the largest drydock and no bridge height restrictions...

[Scotty G]

On 8/28/2024 at 5:26 PM, eel said:

 

This was posted in another Cruise Critic thread. Apparently someone that works at Chantiers De L'Atlantique shipyard posted it on a popular social media site. The talk is this will be announced by year end.

 

Chantiers De L'Atlantique shipyard is not overly busy just now and is doing Edge and Harmony ships to finish those contracts. https://chantiers-atlantique.com/en/our-activities/passenger-ships/ongoing-contracts/

[smokeybandit]

27 minutes ago, Scotty G said:

Chantiers De L'Atlantique shipyard is not overly busy just now and is doing Edge and Harmony ships to finish those contracts. https://chantiers-atlantique.com/en/our-activities/passenger-ships/ongoing-contracts/

Doesn't seem like that page has been updated in a few years since the unnamed 4th "Harmony Series" was just launched this summer.

[RCTransatlanticLover]

On 8/27/2024 at 4:57 PM, DutchCruiseFan said:

Wasn't Oasis 7 widely believed to be the last Oasis class?

I didn’t think that Royal had ordered an eighth Oasis-class ship yet. It wouldn’t surprise me if they do. 
 

I think it’s essential that Royal Caribbean gets the Discovery class out sooner than later. There’s a growing vocal chorus of people who really want smaller ships. The large ships are nice, but they need to get smaller ships as well so they can access more ports worldwide. 

[Hoopster95]

1 hour ago, RCTransatlanticLover said:

There’s a growing vocal chorus of people who really want smaller ships.. 

 

I think I've seen overwhelming support for Oasis Class here on this forum, of veteran cruisers.

 

2 hours ago, RCTransatlanticLover said:

The large ships are nice, but they need to get smaller ships as well so they can access more ports worldwide. 

 

Other than Vancouver, Tampa & Baltimore (home ports spoken about ad nauseum on this forum), what are the "ports worldwide" that Royal regularly visit that a Voyager Class or Quantum Class doesn't visit already? 

[Charles4515]

2 hours ago, RCTransatlanticLover said:

I didn’t think that Royal had ordered an eighth Oasis-class ship yet. It wouldn’t surprise me if they do. 
 

I think it’s essential that Royal Caribbean gets the Discovery class out sooner than later. There’s a growing vocal chorus of people who really want smaller ships. The large ships are nice, but they need to get smaller ships as well so they can access more ports worldwide. 

They just ordered a fourth Icon Class ship. What growing chorus of people? The super size ships seem pretty popular with the Royal crowd. They will build a smaller class eventually but they don’t seem to have made it a priority. They keep ordering the super size ships. 

[RCTransatlanticLover]

1 minute ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

I think I've seen overwhelming support for Oasis Class here on this forum, of veteran cruisers.

 

 

Other than Vancouver, Tampa & Baltimore (home ports spoken about ad nauseum on this forum), what are the "ports worldwide" that Royal regularly visit that a Voyager Class or Quantum Class doesn't visit already? 

I understand that. In fact, I was on the Harmony back in April and I thoroughly enjoyed my time on her. It was a beautiful ship and the service and food were excellent 

I’m just thinking that smaller ports in the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe would appreciate smaller ships. Puntarenas, Costa Rica and Huatulco, México come to mind (two ports I visited on the Serenade, that they probably wouldn’t send a Voyager or Quantum/class to). 

[Hoopster95]

3 minutes ago, RCTransatlanticLover said:

I’m just thinking that smaller ports in the Caribbean.... and Europe would appreciate smaller ships.

 

Any Caribbean & Europe port current regularly serviced by Royal can fit both the small ships as well as the large ships.... and Alaskan ports... and Canadian ports... and Oz/NZ etc.

 

The only reason Royal even stop at Huatulco and Punta Arenas is for the Panama Canal sailings.... that's it, couple times a year. 

[RCTransatlanticLover]

3 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

They just ordered a fourth Icon Class ship. What growing chorus of people? The super size ships seem pretty popular with the Royal crowd. They will build a smaller class eventually but they don’t seem to have made it a priority. They keep ordering the super size ships. 

And where are they all going to be deployed? Principally Nassau and Coco Cay? 
 

I’ve heard mainly older people on my cruises and my parents say they want smaller ships. But apparently, they’re in the minority these days. 
 

If they keep building the super-size ships, eventually ports like Barcelona and Marseille are going to say “NO MORE” and Royal is going to lose big time. 
 

These larger ships are indeed incredible feats of engineering, but I’m just concerned for Royal’s future and ability to enter new markets. 

[RCTransatlanticLover]

2 minutes ago, Hoopster95 said:

 

Any Caribbean & Europe port current regularly serviced by Royal can fit both the small ships as well as the large ships.... and Alaskan ports... and Canadian ports... and Oz/NZ etc.

 

The only reason Royal even stop at Huatulco and Punta Arenas is for the Panama Canal sailings.... that's it, couple times a year. 

Yet I read that Juneau will be limiting the amount of cruise ship traffic due to the locals being swamped and unable to go about their daily business. 
 

Yes, it was a Panama Canal cruise that I was on…and I enjoyed Puntarenas immensely. A beautiful port! 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

The term discovery does lead its self to ship that are port intensive. Visiting smaller ports more unique places. Now i imagine they may not be full of slides and all the whistles of royals big ships. If they build them people will use them. Its almost like royal will have two streams going

 

1, mega ships to private islands and beach clubs, with lots of 3 and 4 day cruises. I would imagine suits the US vacation time people have over there. All money going into the bank of royal.

 

2, smaller ships more port intensive.

 

Not sure on how saturated miami area and the private islands will become with these mega ships or how the smalller ships will do with i imagine 7+ day sailings. Esp to the southern Caribbean area. P&O are mostly doing 14 nights around that part of the Caribbean.