Discovery of the Seas

[smokeybandit]

Totally guessing, but I would think they'd make them as big as is viably possible to still serve the air draft-restricted ports like Baltimore and Tampa.

The Icon design really maximized the gross tonnage without making the linear dimensions all that much bigger than Oasis. That will definitely help with Discovery.

[Southern Dan]

If I had to guess they will make them as large as they possibly can and still do the inside passage in Alaska, get across the Panama Canal and service ports like Baltimore/Tampa.  That is Radiance class size, no?  Would a ship sized in between Radiance Class and Voyager Class fit all the above criteria?

[USFFrank]

3 hours ago, Southern Dan said:

If I had to guess they will make them as large as they possibly can and still do the inside passage in Alaska, get across the Panama Canal and service ports like Baltimore/Tampa.  That is Radiance class size, no?  Would a ship sized in between Radiance Class and Voyager Class fit all the above criteria?

Radiance and Vision size ships sail in and out of Tampa & Baltimore. Voyager class and above are too tall. These new ships need to be able to sail under bridges in order to get into open water from those 2 ports. Not sure of the size criteria for Alaska & the Panama Canal, but maybe they could be a little longer and wider than the Vision & Radiance class and have a retractable smokestack like the Oasis class ships.

[fireclan]

Has a Radiance class ship ever sailed from Baltimore? 

[Jill]

Retractable smokestacks yes. I would assume these new ships will definitely be LNG (which is smokeless) so what would you call the smokestacks with no smoke? Lol 

[Cakemeister]

19 hours ago, Southern Dan said:

If I had to guess they will make them as large as they possibly can and still do the inside passage in Alaska, get across the Panama Canal and service ports like Baltimore/Tampa.  That is Radiance class size, no?  Would a ship sized in between Radiance Class and Voyager Class fit all the above criteria?

The maximum weight of a Panamax ship is only 52,500 "deadweight" tons. I think Discovery-class will be a Neo-Panamax ship, which can fit into the new locks. To get to the canal, ships must pass under three bridges, which will constrain height. The design should include providing for sailing to and from Tampa, Baltimore, and other ports that have low bridges. They will also take the width of the ship into account. The lifeboats on the Discovery can't obstruct the ship from getting into the lock. 

Discovery should be, therefore, a little smaller than Voyager-class and shaped a little differently. 

Panamax - Wikipedia

[Rackham]

On 2/1/2024 at 12:59 PM, Southern Dan said:

If the rumors are true and the new Discovery Class ships are going to be a similar size to the Radiance Class then I think you will see a few things that don't take up a massive footprint (Rock Climbing Wall obviously, Mini Golf, Flowrider and perhaps a couple water slides) but you can't put too much on that size of ship.  I'm curious if they will try to do a promenade like Voyager Class and above or will they do the traditional Atrium Style like the older ships.  Also curious if they bring back the Viking Crown Lounge.  Either way I'm looking forward to seeing what's next...

I'm wondering if Royal wouldn't try a promenade with enhanced sea views leading to a Two70 or AquaDome-ish (minus the water) style venue.

[JasonOasis]

20 hours ago, Cakemeister said:

The maximum weight of a Panamax ship is only 52,500 "deadweight" tons. I think Discovery-class will be a Neo-Panamax ship, which can fit into the new locks. To get to the canal, ships must pass under three bridges, which will constrain height. The design should include providing for sailing to and from Tampa, Baltimore, and other ports that have low bridges. They will also take the width of the ship into account. The lifeboats on the Discovery can't obstruct the ship from getting into the lock. 

Discovery should be, therefore, a little smaller than Voyager-class and shaped a little differently. 

Panamax - Wikipedia

How then is Norwegian able to get both the Bliss and Joy through the Panama Canal?  They are both Breakaway-Plus size ships, with capacity for over 4,000 passengers and over 1,600 crew with 16 deck above the water line. 

I'm  not saying Discovery should be the size of NCL's Breakaway-Plus sized ships, in fact I hope Discover is closer in size to Voyager-class ship.  I just don't understand how NCL is getting these massive ships through the canal on multiple 15, 16, even 18 night cruises.

[bobroo]

22 hours ago, Jill said:

Retractable smokestacks yes. I would assume these new ships will definitely be LNG (which is smokeless) so what would you call the smokestacks with no smoke? Lol 

They are really called funnels but are often just referred too as "stacks". So you are not incorrect.

Instead of a chimney, think of them as an exhaust that many things are vented through. Boilers release steam, the galleys vent their overhead hoods, the venting for the onboard septic tanks, fan exhaust of hot air from working areas on deck 0 (think: the ships laundry), the ships incinerator, even a LNG engine has a tailpipe. It's pretty easy to see that there are many systems aboard the need to be vented safely to the atmosphere; the spewing black smoke of unburnt fuel is what has to go.

Make no mistake about it, job #1 of a new Discovery class is all about emissions! There is ever increasing pressure from popular port areas like Alaska, Montenegro, and Northern Europe that are safeguarding their environment. It's getting to the point where Radiance class and their excellent on top of excellent turbine engine design will not be compliant a short time down the road.

I am not dismissing the importance to get under the bridges of New York, Vancouver, Baltimore, or Tampa. I am not saying the importance of the passenger experience of having a really tall rock climbing wall with waterfalls on the side or cool restaurants is not a consideration. Nor, what no one here has mentioned--draft (how low in the water  ship sits)-- is a crucial consideration.  It really is all about approaching ship builders with the question "what kind of ship can you build me with a power plant of anything other than oil?." 

[smokeybandit]

7 minutes ago, bobroo said:

"what kind of ship can you build me with a power plant of anything other than oil?." 

That's pretty much going to be any ship built from here on out

[Jill]

53 minutes ago, bobroo said:

They are really called funnels but are often just referred too as "stacks". So you are not incorrect.

Instead of a chimney, think of them as an exhaust that many things are vented through. Boilers release steam, the galleys vent their overhead hoods, the venting for the onboard septic tanks, fan exhaust of hot air from working areas on deck 0 (think: the ships laundry), the ships incinerator, even a LNG engine has a tailpipe. It's pretty easy to see that there are many systems aboard the need to be vented safely to the atmosphere; the spewing black smoke of unburnt fuel is what has to go.

Make no mistake about it, job #1 of a new Discovery class is all about emissions! There is ever increasing pressure from popular port areas like Alaska, Montenegro, and Northern Europe that are safeguarding their environment. It's getting to the point where Radiance class and their excellent on top of excellent turbine engine design will not be compliant a short time down the road.

I am not dismissing the importance to get under the bridges of New York, Vancouver, Baltimore, or Tampa. I am not saying the importance of the passenger experience of having a really tall rock climbing wall with waterfalls on the side or cool restaurants is not a consideration. Nor, what no one here has mentioned--draft (how low in the water  ship sits)-- is a crucial consideration.  It really is all about approaching ship builders with the question "what kind of ship can you build me with a power plant of anything other than oil?." 

Re:emissions. This is why I booked Norwegian fjords for 2025 (with celebrity because better ship than Indy and better itinerary). Come 2026 Norway is cracking down on emissions 

[Cakemeister]

On 2/3/2024 at 10:12 AM, JasonOasis said:

How then is Norwegian able to get both the Bliss and Joy through the Panama Canal?  They are both Breakaway-Plus size ships, with capacity for over 4,000 passengers and over 1,600 crew with 16 deck above the water line. 

I'm  not saying Discovery should be the size of NCL's Breakaway-Plus sized ships, in fact I hope Discover is closer in size to Voyager-class ship.  I just don't understand how NCL is getting these massive ships through the canal on multiple 15, 16, even 18 night cruises.

It has to do with width.

A widened Panama Canal will accommodate bigger cruise ships: Travel Weekly

[Al Miller]

On 2/2/2024 at 11:35 PM, Rackham said:

I'm wondering if Royal wouldn't try a promenade with enhanced sea views leading to a Two70 or AquaDome-ish (minus the water) style venue.

I like the idea of a scaled down 270 lounge on a ship that size. Like a Mini-Quantum class ship.

[Doug_Texas]

We just got off Independence and was chatting with the Captain - he said a couple of interesting things.  He said he considered Icon class assignment but the training curriculum was extremely long because of all of the LNG onboard considerations and local port requirements.  He said LNG and biodiesel don't solve RCLs long term propulsion issues.

He said the line will definitely go nuclear as this is the only way to meet environmental requirements without needing port refueling for different size ships (energy density).  Don't know if this was spit balling as opposed to an informed comment but I was stunned.  There is no place less nuclear tolerant than the USA and future of fusion nuclear isn't soon enough for Discovery.  Time will tell.

[smokeybandit]

The fact there are only a handful of nuclear powered non-military ships shows how far off such a thing is for commercial use. Especially for a civilian transport vessel.

The Viking ship being built with a hydrogen fuel cell for limited use (environmentally sensitive areas and port stops) is probably what larger ships will aim for.

[Doug_Texas]

19 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

The fact there are only a handful of nuclear powered non-military ships shows how far off such a thing is for commercial use. Especially for a civilian transport vessel.

The Viking ship being built with a hydrogen fuel cell for limited use (environmentally sensitive areas and port stops) is probably what larger ships will aim for.

Hydrogen fuel cells only have 40% - 50% of LNG energy density.  LNG tanks are problematic for RCL from a density standpoint so I can't see them going less dense.

[Chili]

This is getting around, don’t know how genuine it is .

 

[Plumlee2028]

They just ordered Oasis Number 7 this morning.  Due in 2028.  

 

https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2024/02/royal-caribbean-group-signs-agreement-with-chantiers-next-oasis-class-ship/

[markinct]

On 5/25/2023 at 3:12 AM, Chili said:

A captain on Ovation in Australia was talking about Discovery class .

A ship somewhere between Radiance and Voyager class in size.

That would be great - as long as the ship has the "visibility" of a Radiance class ship.... with a small-ish Royal Promenade....

[markinct]

7 hours ago, Chili said:

This is getting around, don’t know how genuine it is .

 

Nova... No Va....

[Southern Dan]

Between 2026 and 2028 all 4 Vision Class ships will hit their 30 year mark so something should be announced with regards to the Discovery Class in the next few months I’d think…

[Nathan adams]

5 hours ago, Southern Dan said:

Between 2026 and 2028 all 4 Vision Class ships will hit their 30 year mark so something should be announced with regards to the Discovery Class in the next few months I’d think…

Bailey said hopefully something to announce this year.

[Rackham]

I'm anticipating if Discovery is officially announced this year, it'd be in September to coincide with the ending month of the Ultimate World Cruise for the marketing potential.

[smokeybandit]

Discovery class will debut 2028-2029 according to captains corner. He said this was announced internally recently at a captain's conference. 

[smokeybandit]

He also said this class will focus on the med and alaska, as well as maybe florida 

[twangster]

My money is still a variation of the Celebrity Edge class platform.  Instead of engineering a hull from scratch they'll take the Edge class hull and modify the interior space to Royal-ify it.  Probably flex fuel engines like Xcel as I don't think a new low emissions engine platform is ready today which is when it would needed for a building a ship that will debut in 2028.  

That should put it around 3,000 passengers or a bit more but it does make Tampa and Baltimore no-go ports which I suspect is inevitable.   

[Cakemeister]

5 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Discovery class will debut 2028-2029 according to captains corner. He said this was announced internally recently at a captain's conference. 

The timeline fits, anyway. 

2024 Utopia

2025 Star

2026 Icon 3

2027 Oasis 7

2028 Discovery 1

 

[JulietTango]

Royal has also promised to debut their first carbon-neutral ship by 2035. The Discovery Class seems like a good candidate as the final stepping stone toward that considering they'll most likely want to send it to places with stricter environmental regulations like Northern Europe. Maybe Discovery 3 or 4 will become that first carbon-neutral ship if they build one every 2-3 years. It'll be interesting to see what future-proofing they put into it, I would think it would include features such as flex-fuel cells. I was at the Captain's Corner on Symphony a few weeks ago and the captain mentioned hydrogen fuel as a possibility in the future, though he said it's still a few years away. 

[Chili]

On 3/23/2024 at 4:32 AM, twangster said:

My money is still a variation of the Celebrity Edge class platform.  Instead of engineering a hull from scratch they'll take the Edge class hull and modify the interior space to Royal-ify it.  Probably flex fuel engines like Xcel as I don't think a new low emissions engine platform is ready today which is when it would needed for a building a ship that will debut in 2028.  

That should put it around 3,000 passengers or a bit more but it does make Tampa and Baltimore no-go ports which I suspect is inevitable.   

Edge is.nice I was on it a couple of weeks ago. It’s bit like a smaller Quantum.

One thing I noticed was the ceilings where higher than RC ships so they could reduce the overall height of the ship there ,so it could get under a few bridges.

[twangster]

6 minutes ago, Chili said:

Edge is.nice I was on it a couple of weeks ago. It’s bit like a smaller Quantum.

One I noticed was the ceilings where higher than RCL ships so they could reduce the overall height of the ship there so it could get under a few bridges.

More importantly Edge class goes through the Panama Canal.

[smokeybandit]

And if they want Discovery going back and forth between Alaska and Florida, canal transits would be good

[Jamesszy94]

So in terms of size what are we thinking? Smaller than Freedom-class but larger than Voyager-class? Or same as Voyager class? 

The Edge and the Apex are ~130,000 GT but the Beyond is ~140,000 GT

[Rackham]

13 hours ago, Jamesszy94 said:

So in terms of size what are we thinking? Smaller than Freedom-class but larger than Voyager-class? Or same as Voyager class? 

The Edge and the Apex are ~130,000 GT but the Beyond is ~140,000 GT

Slightly smaller than Voyager-class if twangster is correct.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_Edge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager-class_cruise_ship

[RoyalGreek]

One thing I would love to see on a new replacement design would be a nod to the past by bring back a round Viking Crown Lounge up top. This would be a fitting tribute to Royals Past and would be awesome to have an updated space that gives you that same feel as those wonderful old ships. As a long time cruiser it’s my go to spot any time of the day or night. 
 

[smokeybandit]

RC just seems at a loss on what to do with the existing Viking Crown. It'd been renamed on some ships and barely used on others. Even when it's open it doesn't seem to be an overly popular place.

[Chili]

I love the Viking crown lounge probably because it’s under used . I don’t think we will see it back.

Currently on celebrity edge I found there was a lack of public space with an ocean view. A lot of people sat in the buffet in the off hours,having a drink or playing cards. Maybe if they could incorporate a lounge or bar into the buffet,they could close some doors and have some entertainment after hours.

 

[steverk]

I just left the Captain's Corner and asked about Project Discovery. 

I was surprised when the Captain deferred to the hotel director for an answer, but the answer was interesting. 

1. There was a large brainstorming meeting held in January.  It included hotel directors, Captains and cruise directors. He stopped short of saying he attended, but it is my impression that he did.

2. The ship being discussed would be a little smaller than Voyager class. "About 120 to 130 thousand tons"

3. We should expect to be sailing on this class in 2029.

Based on this, I am even more convinced there will be some kind of announcement before the end of 2024.

[smokeybandit]

8 minutes ago, steverk said:

I just left the Captain's Corner and asked about Project Discovery. 

I was surprised when the Captain deferred to the hotel director for an answer, but the answer was interesting. 

1. There was a large brainstorming meeting held in January.  It included hotel directors, Captains and cruise directors. He stopped short of saying he attended, but it is my impression that he did.

2. The ship being discussed would be a little smaller than Voyager class. "About 120 to 130 thousand tons"

3. We should expect to be sailing on this class in 2029.

Based on this, I am even more convinced there will be some kind of announcement before the end of 2024.

On the Adventure captain's corner, he said it was announced internally at some captain's forum they had recently.

[barjpoe]

I hope I'm still around to enjoy it.

[baltodave]

58 minutes ago, steverk said:

2. The ship being discussed would be a little smaller than Voyager class. "About 120 to 130 thousand tons"

 

Would that make it small enough for Tampa, Baltimore, Panama Canal and some European Ports (e.g. Montenegro)?