“Bigger is better” has been the mentality in the cruise industry in recent years, especially for Royal Caribbean. The “world’s largest cruise ship” title has passed from ship to ship in its fleet for years as the cruise line has launched mega ship after mega ship.
Other mainstream cruise lines have followed Royal Caribbean’s lead, introducing bigger and bigger ships as they expand their fleets. MSC Cruises is even aiming to take on Royal Caribbean as it grows its footprint in the U.S. market, reportedly exploring plans to build a ship even bigger than Royal Caribbean’s largest, the 248,663-gross-ton Icon of the Seas.
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Disney Cruise Line is going bigger with its latest ships too. Its Wish-class ships, which include the new Disney Treasure and upcoming Disney Destiny, are significantly larger than the cruise line’s older ships. The Wish-class ships are about 144,000 gross tons with a passenger capacity of 4,000.
Surpassing the Wish-class ships, another new Disney cruise ship, the Disney Adventure, will set sail from Singapore in December as the largest Disney Cruise Line ship by far. At 208,000 gross tons, the Disney Adventure will have a passenger capacity of about 6,700.
But after going bigger, Disney Cruise Line plans to go smaller. And that’s something Royal Caribbean has hinted at too.
Disney’s next cruise ship class will be smaller than the Treasure.
Image source: Daniel Kline/ComeCruiseWith.com
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Disney Cruise Line will introduce a smaller class of ships
After its fourth Wish-class ship is delivered in 2027, Disney Cruise Line will introduce a new smaller class of ships as it expands its fleet to a total of 13 ships by 2031.
According to Seatrade Cruise News, the new class of ships will include three new Disney cruise ships to be delivered in 2029, 2030 and 2031. Each will be approximately 100,000 gross tons with a passenger capacity of about 3,000.
The new class of ships will be smaller than both Disney Cruise Line’s Wish and Dream classes but still about 20% larger than the cruise line’s original Disney Magic and Disney Wonder ships.
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Smaller ships will allow Disney Cruise Line to access a broader range of ports, offering more destinations for passengers to explore. Some ports cannot accommodate large cruise ships, and others have restrictions against them.
The new class of ships will also support Disney Cruise Line’s environmental goals. Designed to be more fuel and energy efficient, the ships will be able to run on a variety of fuels and be among the lightest cruise ships of their size. They’ll feature a more hydrodynamic design, lighter materials and energy-efficient technology.
Royal Caribbean has plans for smaller ships too
Similarly, Royal Caribbean has alluded to plans for a smaller class of ships to replace some of its aging vessels. Since 2023, Royal Caribbean’s top executives have been suggesting that their team has a smaller class of ships in development called the Discovery class.
While nothing has been formally announced just yet, Royal Caribbean CEO Jason Liberty shared an update on the smaller ships during Royal Caribbean’s second-quarter-earnings call in July.
“We’re looking potentially at smaller ships that will probably replace some of those older ships,” Liberty said as he discussed the cruise line’s classes of smaller, older ships that will eventually reach their end of life.
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Like Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean wants to take smaller ships to new ports.
“It’s a little bit less about the sourcing market,” Liberty said. “It’s more about where those ships can go. It’s getting them into maybe some of the more unique and bespoke destinations to further diversify our footprint around the world.”
Although a new smaller class of ships is in the works, the cruise line hasn’t yet placed an order for a smaller ship or announced a timeline for adding Discovery-class ships to its fleet.
Royal Caribbean has, however, set a course to introduce a net-zero cruise ship by 2035. Perhaps the smaller Discovery class is also being developed to achieve that ambitious goal.
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