Royal Caribbean Announces 7th Oasis Class Ship, But Is It Time to Go Back to Smaller Ships?

Royal Caribbean Announces 7th Oasis Class Ship, But Is It Time to Go Back to Smaller Ships?

Royal Caribbean Group has announced that it has ordered a 7th Oasis class ship, which is scheduled to be delivered to its brand Royal Caribbean International in 2028. French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique has entered into an agreement with the cruise company to construct the mega ship. The order is contingent on financing, which is expected to be completed later this year.

Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group said “While we eagerly anticipate the debut of Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas this summer, we’re already dreaming up her sister ship and the next installation in the brand’s extremely popular Oasis Class. Across our three brands, we are focused on continuously challenging ourselves to deliver the ultimate vacation experience.”

Royal Caribbean International’s president and CEO, Michael Bayley, said “These are exciting times for Royal Caribbean, and we have an incredible partner in Chantiers de l’Atlantique to bring to life the lucky seventh Oasis Class vessel of what is a remarkable class of ships.”

This announcement surprised many cruise fans — including us. Many generally believed that Utopia of the Seas was the final Oasis class ship, given Royal Caribbean is currently debuting and building its next mega ship class, the Icon class. The first in that class, Icon of the Seas, debuted about a month ago in Miami. The second Icon vessel, Star of the Seas, is currently under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. Its expected debut date is August 2025.

In many ways, the Icon class is an evolution of the Oasis class. The ships that have many of the same spaces, but also new and reimagined ones based on both the successes and shortcomings of the Oasis ships.

Up until Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class ships were the largest cruise vessels in the world. With every debut of a new ship in the class, a new world’s largest cruise ship was born. Oasis of the Seas, the first in the class, debuted in December 2009. Since then, four additional Oasis class ships have launched: Allure, Harmony, Symphony, and Wonder of the Seas. The sixth — Utopia of the Seas — debuts this July.

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What do Royal Caribbean cruisers really want?

With the current construction of Utopia and Star of the Seas, as well as a third Icon-class ship and the announcement that there will be a seventh Oasis-class ship, it’s full steam ahead with massive cruise ships for Royal Caribbean. But is this what loyal Royal Caribbean cruisers (and cruisers in general) really want?

Even before this announcement, many cruisers have expressed a desire for Royal Caribbean to build new, smaller ships. The smaller vessels in their fleet are getting older and lack many of the fun features and modern design details that its newest ships possess. Mega ships also have limited ability or inability to dock at many ports. This means mega ship itineraries are pretty predictable with not as much variety as a smaller ship could offer.

In Facebook comments on a post about this Oasis class announcement, a cruiser named Audrey said “They need to think about SMALLER ships that can get into new ports”. While Chris, also on Facebook, said “Think it time to get some smaller ships! Not everyone wants to sail with 6,000+ people!”

Madeline commented “We love Oasis Class, really excited for this one! But I agree, more smaller ships are needed.” Bob echoed the sentiment by saying “Love the big ships but would like to see, at least one, smaller class ship come out.” Craig remarked “As an avid Royal cruiser. I’m pretty disappointed by this. We really need ships that cater to the smaller ports.”

Lots of people also say that the Oasis and Icon class ships are just too large for them. In comments on our Eat Sleep Cruise posts, people have remarked about Icon of the Seas, saying things like “Just. Too. Big.,” “Sorry. No thanks. I am going small,” and “Too big for me.”

What are the other cruise lines doing?

Despite many people calling for mainstream cruise lines to start building smaller ships again, they’re still going to be building them — at least for now. Carnival Corporation just announced last week the order for a fourth Excel-class ship for Carnival Cruise Line. This is the largest class of ships for that cruise brand. Further, Princess Cruises’ first Sphere-class ship (its largest class to date) will debut later this month with another on the way. MSC Cruises’ mega World class launched in 2022 with MSC World Europa; three more are also on the way through 2027.

While cruisers have mixed feelings about the current trend of the biggest and most exciting vessels to date, there is a potential ray of hope for Royal Caribbean fans looking for new, smaller options. In reply to a Facebook comment asking whether the cruise line was considering building smaller ships, Michael Bayley said that the “Royal team is working on a new class” and that he hopes they’ll be able to make an announcement this year. The rumors are that Royal Caribbean is referring to this new class as Project Discovery, and potentially the Discovery class.

If a smaller ship class comes to fruition for Royal, the line would be following in similar footsteps to Norwegian Cruise Line. After debuting its fourth Breakaway Plus class ship Norwegian Encore in 2019, the line debuted the first in its Prima class, Norwegian Prima in 2022. Prima and its sister ship Norwegian Viva are about 25,000 gross tons smaller than the line’s largest Breakaway Plus class vessels.

Comments

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