Royal Caribbean confirms Discovery class rumours, smaller newbuild planned

During a media briefing aboard Utopia of the Seas, Royal Caribbean International’s latest Oasis class mega cruise ship, CEO Michael Bayley confirmed that the cruise line is planning to introduce a new class of ships.

The Discovery class vessels will be smaller and better-able to access ports and waterways that cannot accommodate Royal Caribbean’s larger ships, but few other details were revealed about the new ship class.

The announcement comes following months of speculation about the so-called Project Discovery being worked on within Royal Caribbean.

The new Discovery class will likely sit somewhere between the Empress and Vision classes of ship

“The Discovery class will be really exciting, but we can’t say anything about it,” Bailey told media aboard Utopia of the Seas during a preview cruise out of Port Canaveral, her new homeport.

Later at a Q&A event for travel advisors, Bailey suggested the new class may be smaller ships that would visit ports where bridges prevent larger ships from visiting, such as Baltimore and Tampa. 

“It’s not as simple as making [the ship] broader and less high, but we constantly look at the ability to get ships in these places. So, maybe Discovery class will have the great solution for that,” he said.

The Discovery class ships may see Royal Caribbean attempt to balance out its fleet, which has skewed toward ever-larger ships following the COVID-19 pandemic, during which it sold its last remaining Sovereign class ship, the 78,941 gross ton Sovereign of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean sold several of its 69,000 gross ton Vision class ships, and its last remaining 48,000 gross ton Empress class ship, in the years prior to the pandemic. The three current Vision class ships in the fleet, Vision, Enchantment, Rhapsody and Grandeur, are almost 30 years old.

The Discovery class is a likely replacement for these vessels, and earlier in the year, Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO, acknowledged that the majority of the cruise line’s smallest ships are aging.

During a media briefing aboard Icon of the Seas in January 2024, Bayley hinted that Royal Caribbean’s smallest ships would soon need to be replaced, “from a brand perspective, we recognise we’ve got two classes of ships, Radiance and Vision, that are doing phenomenal. They’re beautiful ships, beautifully constructed. “

“But… they’re getting older. So we’re obviously concepting thoughts and ideas on how we would ultimately replace those ships with a new class of ships,” he said.

While Utopia of the Seas (230,000 gross tons) is the sixth Oasis class cruise ship for Royal Caribbean International, the line has two more even larger Icon class ships on order.

Star of the Seas (250,000 gross tons) is expected to debut in late summer 2025, and an unnamed third sister ship is due for delivery in 2026. A seventh Oasis class vessel has also been ordered for a 2028 delivery.