Icon is "here"- So what's next?

[Vancity Cruiser]

30 minutes ago, Xaa said:

Yeah, that's the tradeoff if they prefer only larger ships to reposition from caribbean to AK.

Alaska cannot handle the larger ships. Most ports are over run when 2 or more medium size ships are there on the same day

[Rackham]

9 hours ago, steverk said:

For my two cents worth...

@twangster raises excellent points as always and I appreciate the perspective. 

However, as the ships age out, Royal will lose the ability to send ships through the Panama Canal.  That means they will not be able to reposition between Alaska and the Caribbean.

Perhaps there's enough of a market in Asia,  Australia and the United States west coast that it isn't an issue, but I don't think so. A neo panamax vessel would preserve this capability while still having decent economy of scale.  Therefore, I believe that will be the next class of ship from Royal. 

Btw neo panamax would be about the size of a voyager class vessel.

Interesting thoughts. About Voyager class size would allow for a bit of Royal's active amenities aboard. Running the numbers quickly, Voyager class doesn't have too much more typical life remaining either. Maybe Royal will be rightsizing over time to a single class which carries less than 4,000 passengers? Guess we'll be finding out in the next decade.