The Future of Cruising.
The journey, not the arrival matters.
T.S. Eliot
I’ll skip the details of every single cruise ship coming out in the next decade but I will give you the cold hard facts.
* Over 100 new cruise ships on order through 2027
* Over 60 of those ships are over 100,000 gross tons. (Almost half of these are over 150,000 gross tons.)
* 33% of large cruise ships on order are powered by LNG (Liquified Natural Gas)
* Biggest and most aggressive growth to date.
CARNIVAL’S “MARDI GRAS”
1. Carnival Cruise line:
Fleet Size: 26
On Order: 3
With the Carnival Panorama coming to the west coast of the us in 2019, The 183,900 gross tons LNG powered carnival Mardi-Gras coming to Port Canaveral in mid 2020 and another Mardi Gras class ship in 2022, I would say that carnival cruise line (not Carnival Corporation) is the least aggressive player in the cruise market for the next decade relying heavily on its aging fleet to do the heavy lifting.
Carnival is using its near term Dollars, two billion of them, refurbishing it’s older ships in the “fun ship 2.0 project.” This is including 2 huge ship transformations of the recently completed carnival sunrise (formally carnival destiny) and the upcoming transformation of the carnival victory which will be renamed carnival radiance once completed. Both of these transformations are worth a reported 200 million dollars each.
RCCLS “PROJECT ICON”
2. Royal Caribbean
Fleet Size: 26
On Order: 5
With a fifth and final quantum class ship (Odyssey of the Seas) is to be completed in 2020 and 2 more unnamed oasis class ships coming in 2021 and 2023 respectively, where does Royal Caribbean turn towards the future?
We do know that there are 2 LNG powered “project icon” ships on order for the cruise giant. However, most details have yet to be released. The only interesting things we can note is they are almost the exact same weight (gt) as the oasis class and carry almost the exact same number of passengers. These leaves us to all wonder whether RCCL will be keeping a similar oasis design giving its success and popularity.
NORWEGIANS “PROJECT LEONARDO”
3. Norwegian Cruise Line:
Fleet Size: 16
On Order: 7
The Norwegian Encore (pun intended) will be the final ship of the very popular breakaway class and is to be delivered by the end of 2019. This leaves us with 6 orders, all confirmed, of the new “Project Leonardo” ships.
Confident Much, NCL?....
While we do know that these ships are slightly smaller then the breakaway class and about 30,000 gross tons smaller than the breakaway plus class, we have confidence that NCL is going wow us once again. We are likely to see all six ships debut from 2022 to 2027
These ships utilize the same fuel saving hull design as MSC’s seaside class that has been named Project Mille by shipbuilder Fincantieri. What this projects, is a taller but narrower ship so the overall feel of the ship will be quite different then the existing breakaway class.
Rest assured, we can be confident that NCL goodies such as The Haven, specialty restaurants and freestyle cruising will carry over grime the rest of the fleet.
MSC’s “WORLD CLASS”
4. MSC Cruises:
Fleet Size: 16
On Order: 13
A newcomer to the Caribbean and to most Americans ears, MSC is by far the most aggressive cruise line out there trying to almost double its fleet by 2027. It can do this because it is privately (not publicly) owned.
In the autumn of 2013, MSC deployed the “Divina” to Miami as part of its launch in the us. The owner was quoted on record calling the inaugural season a “bloodbath” I myself can remember the prices as low as $199.00 per person for a seven day cruise. But I guess there is a price to pay when you have no previous exposure in a market.
Fast forward 6 years later and while prices are still a bargain, MSC is still pushing most of its new builds stateside with plans for a 2 berth terminal in Port Miami and not to mention its own private island (MSC’s Ocean Cay Reserve) 66 miles off the coast.
MSC “Seaside” and “Meriviglia” will be the 2 new (but very different) ships sailing from Miami, with the older “Armonia” doing 7 night Cuba runs every Monday. The “Divina” will also join the above ships for the winter of 2019-2020 and be doing longer, port intensive cruises.
With some of the largest ships on order, I would call this move risky especially since I don’t think they are ready to tackle the American market quite yet. MSC is known for having a very diverse passenger and crew base as well as being cited for poor food and dismal entertainment.
CELEBRITY “EDGE”
5. Celebrity Cruise Lines:
Fleet Size: 10 (big ships)
On Order: 4 (edge class)
This Mainstream “modern luxury” brand has committed to its new “edge” class ships. The celebrity edge debuted with mixed reviews due to its forward thinking thought process including its “magic carpet” which is a floating platform that transports guests to different decks while serving as a bar and tender platform and “infinite veranda” staterooms which gets rid of the traditional balcony and replaces it with a full-size window that goes up and down, transforming the actual room into the balcony.
These have not been proven to be popular on this ship but celebrity is planning to pump another 4 of these edge class ships in the next 5 years.
PRINCESS “SKY PRINCESS”
6. Princess Cruises:
Fleet Size: 17
On Order: 5
With the success of the royal class in 2013, Princess has committed to building a total of six in this class with the fourth arriving later this year and 2 more by 2022. Then, they will debut 2 LNG powered mega ships shortly after. Nothing is known yet about this class except size and amount.
DISNEYS “PROJECT TRITON”
7. Disney Cruise Line:
Fleet Size: 4
On Order: 3
Disney is almost doubling it’s fleet to a total of 7 ships by 2023, the 3 ships on order code named “triton” class will be slightly larger then it’s 2 newest ships, the “Dream” and the “Fantasy”. Expect new innovations from the mouse brand when it’s first new ship debuts in 2021.
VIRGIN VOYAGES "SCARLET LADY"
8. Virgin Voyages:
Fleet Size: 0
On Order: 3
Startup cruise line, Virgin Voyages, is poised to have its first ship (scarlet lady) delivered by early 2020. The brand promises an adults only posh resort styled ship with all inclusive dining and tips included. Virgin has ditched the typical style buffett instead bringing open air cooked to order venues to the top of it ships.
