The world’s major cruise lines appear ready to keep on building newer, and most often bigger, ships as they anticipate a continuing appetite for cruise vacations and compete to top their competitors.
While the first year or two of the pandemic saw dozens of older ships taken out of service and sold for scrap, most fleets are now back at their previous size or beyond.
Among the newest and notable:
Royal Caribbean, which only last month debuted Icon of the Seas, its largest and first of a new class, carrying 10,000 passengers and crew, has now ordered a seventh version of its Oasis class ships, each of which became the world’s largest when launched. The sixth, to be launched in July and the seventh one, due in 2028, will miss that distinction because of Icon.
Not to be outdone, Carnival, the largest operator by number of lines and number of ships, is adding another copy of its largest class of ships, the Excel class, which includes Carnival Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee. The line also recently added Carnival Firenze, transferred from its Italy-based subsidiary, Costa Cruises.
But not all goes smoothly with new ships, as Princess (another Carnival line) can testify: Its latest ship, Sun Princess, was scheduled to make its first cruise from Barcelona on February 8, but “technical difficulties” put that off and a new maiden voyage was scheduled to leave Rome on February 18. That’s now been canceled due to “additional technical work.” Check back next week to see if it sails on its new date of February 28.
