Discovery of the Seas

[NRD]

Royal mega ship is not for everyone. A lot of people are leaving Royal for other cruise lines.  Some have started to say Carnival has better rules for children so everyone can enjoy their cruise, not just parents that want to let their kids run unsupervised all over the ship. 

[smokeybandit]

4 hours ago, NRD said:

. A lot of people are leaving Royal for other cruise lines

Um, no.

[baltodave]

4 hours ago, NRD said:

...A lot of people are leaving Royal for other cruise lines.  ...

"You can't please all the people all the time"   How do you explain that RCL's stock price is around $200, the ships are full and prices are up?

[smokeybandit]

18 minutes ago, baltodave said:

"You can't please all the people all the time"   How do you explain that RCL's stock price is around $200, the ships are full and prices are up?

Good thing that poster got an NRD

[USCG Teacher]

6 hours ago, NRD said:

Royal mega ship is not for everyone.

Very true!

6 hours ago, NRD said:

A lot of people are leaving Royal for other cruise lines.

Some people?  Maybe.  A lot?  I don't know...

6 hours ago, NRD said:

Some have started to say Carnival has better rules for children so everyone can enjoy their cruise

Nope, there's the bridge too far.

[Heymarco]

13 hours ago, NRD said:

Royal mega ship is not for everyone. A lot of people are leaving Royal for other cruise lines.  Some have started to say Carnival has better rules for children so everyone can enjoy their cruise, not just parents that want to let their kids run unsupervised all over the ship. 

This is antidotal at best. If anyone is leaving, it's people willing to pay less on cruises and being replaced by people willing to spend more. Numbers are currently at all-time highs.

[Jmccaffrey]

Has anyone heard any updates on the Discovery of the Seas? I am looking forward to a new smaller class of ship.

[Matt]

12 hours ago, Jmccaffrey said:

Has anyone heard any updates on the Discovery of the Seas? I am looking forward to a new smaller class of ship.

There's not been any new updates recently.

[steverk]

13 hours ago, Jmccaffrey said:

Has anyone heard any updates on the Discovery of the Seas? I am looking forward to a new smaller class of ship.

I just asked the Captain on Explorer. He didn't add much other than the current plan is for a class of ships the same size as Voyager class.

I'd take that as confirmation that the program is still in progress. However, there was no indication of timing.

[smokeybandit]

I doubt anything new comes out until it all officially comes out.

[ScottishRobbie]

The same size as the Voyager class, and expected to be in service in 2027 is what was said at Captain's Corner on Ovation last week. Captain Espen added that there are renderings of the new class out there but that he personally hadn't seen them.

[Chili]

3 hours ago, ScottishRobbie said:

The same size as the Voyager class, and expected to be in service in 2027 is what was said at Captain's Corner on Ovation last week. Captain Espen added that there are renderings of the new class out there but that he personally hadn't seen them.

On Quantum’s repo from Singapore.The captain talked at the top tier about the future of Royal Caribbean .

He said Icon is a big success along with Oasis. He said there’s plans for a smaller ship and he just said let’s see what happens there. He didn’t sound confident.

He said the next big project will be a private destination on the west coast of Mexico.

[baltodave]

5 hours ago, ScottishRobbie said:

The same size as the Voyager class, and expected to be in service in 2027 is what was said at Captain's Corner on Ovation last week. Captain Espen added that there are renderings of the new class out there but that he personally hadn't seen them.

I hope it will be able to fit under the bridges in Tampa and Baltimore (Voyager class ships do not).

[smokeybandit]

If it's in service by 2027, it basically needs to be announced by the end of the year to get a shipyard slot. Unless those future Icon slots are really for Discovery.

[steverk]

5 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

If it's in service by 2027, it basically needs to be announced by the end of the year to get a shipyard slot. Unless those future Icon slots are really for Discovery.

While I agree that an announcement has to be very, very soon to be here by 2027, I wonder if it is possible for Royal to hide the slots using a shell company or some other way to obscure the orders.

[smokeybandit]

5 minutes ago, steverk said:

While I agree that an announcement has to be very, very soon to be here by 2027, I wonder if it is possible for Royal to hide the slots using a shell company or some other way to obscure the orders.

What would be the reason to hide it though? It's not like they've denied that Discovery is coming.

[Vancity Cruiser]

10 hours ago, Chili said:

He said the next big project will be a private destination on the west coast of Mexico.

WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!

[Heymarco]

On 12/4/2024 at 1:14 AM, ScottishRobbie said:

The same size as the Voyager class, and expected to be in service in 2027 is what was said at Captain's Corner on Ovation last week. Captain Espen added that there are renderings of the new class out there but that he personally hadn't seen them.

They originally said Icon class would be smaller than Oasis so will believe it when I see it.

[Rackham]

7 hours ago, Heymarco said:

They originally said Icon class would be smaller than Oasis so will believe it when I see it.

I'd believe it's a real possibility that Discovery is around Voyager class sizing. Originally, rumors had it around Radiance class. Then between Voyager and Radiance classes. So the final ship tonnage being Voyagerish would be par for the course.

What I'm really interested in seeing is if there's any truth to a rumor that Royal is going wide with Discovery instead of tall. Something like the height of Radiance, but with the beam of Quantum, so that they don't have to think about bridge heights and have the deck space for amenities.

[JasonOasis]

8 hours ago, Heymarco said:

They originally said Icon class would be smaller than Oasis so will believe it when I see it.

With Oasis 7 coming and Icon 4 on order as well I do think this time around they are going to build a smaller class ship.  Their smaller ships are continuing to age and earlier this year Royal CEO spoke directly about the fact Royal knows not everyone who cruise is interested in the ship being the destination there is that group of customers where the destination is the priority and he stated Royal does not want to loose those customers.   I do think Discovery class most likely will be around the size of Voyager Class ships which should allow it to get into a lot of unique ports around the world where ships like Oasis Class and Icon Class could never visit. 

[Heymarco]

9 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

With Oasis 7 coming and Icon 4 on order as well I do think this time around they are going to build a smaller class ship.  Their smaller ships are continuing to age and earlier this year Royal CEO spoke directly about the fact Royal knows not everyone who cruise is interested in the ship being the destination there is that group of customers where the destination is the priority and he stated Royal does not want to loose those customers.   I do think Discovery class most likely will be around the size of Voyager Class ships which should allow it to get into a lot of unique ports around the world where ships like Oasis Class and Icon Class could never visit. 

Oasis and icon are more limited by the fact that they are warm weather ships. I think discovery class will be built for colder climate and will be less about size.

[Plumlee2028]

It is interesting to me they had a Quantum class, typically well suited for colder weather, scheduled (Odyssey) that they chose to manipulate and change into what was described as a "Caribbean Cruiser." But I do also see a Discovery class having indoor type pools and be more inward facing for space, but hopefully with a large outward facing window type design.  

The Celebrity Edge platform exists, with some tweaks, it could work well for Royal.  

[twangster]

2 hours ago, Rackham said:

I'd believe it's a real possibility that Discovery is around Voyager class sizing. Originally, rumors had it around Radiance class. Then between Voyager and Radiance classes. So the final ship tonnage being Voyagerish would be par for the course.

What I'm really interested in seeing is if there's any truth to a rumor that Royal is going wide with Discovery instead of tall. Something like the height of Radiance, but with the beam of Quantum, so that they don't have to think about bridge heights and have the deck space for amenities.

It's almost like rumors are inaccurate

[JasonOasis]

2 hours ago, Heymarco said:

Oasis and icon are more limited by the fact that they are warm weather ships. I think discovery class will be built for colder climate and will be less about size.

There are so many port in the Caribbean that neither an Oasis or Icon Class ship can visit because of their size that smaller vessels can get into.  Being a warm weather ship is not a limiting factor the size of the ship is and not just in the Caribbean but in many ports around the world, port Royal would have to pull Royal Caribbean ships out of if they don't have a smaller class of ship that can get into these ports in the 2030s and 2040s as some of their older smaller ship get closer to retirement within the next decade.

[FionaMG]

At Captain's Corner on Freedom this morning, Captain Mattias said it would likely be 2029 and size-wise a bit smaller than Freedom. I guess we won't know anything for sure until they officially announce it.

Captain Mattias said he was very excited about this new class and that he had applied to command it, although I couldn't tell if he was serious about that or just kidding.

[Rackham]

2029 would have Discovery launched on the 30th anniversary of Voyager class. Here's hoping there'd be a similar video to this for the new class. 

 

[pat8635]

On 5/24/2023 at 5:44 PM, ScubaEagle said:

At the CAS meeting this week while on the Radiance in Alaska, our Captain Merrek, said a new ship and class similar in size to the Radiance is being planned in the next 3 or 4 years.  The name of the ship is to be the Discovery of the Seas.

Does nybody have any further information  or confirmation?

Capt. On jewel a few weeks ago said the same!

[smokeybandit]

3 hours ago, Rackham said:

2029 would have Discovery launched on the 30th anniversary of Voyager class. Here's hoping there'd be a similar video to this for the new class. 

 

"All our competition did was take go out and take one of their existing ships and made it bigger"

Says the guy talking about a ship that later would be stretched and made bigger to become Freedom class ships.

[Al Miller]

Do you think these would be LNG powered ships? If so, since they burn cleaner with less soot, perhaps they don't need stacks as tall. Just a thought. I'd love a mini Quantum class in Baltimore for sure.

[smokeybandit]

I can't see any new RC ship not being LNG-capable anymore

[JasonOasis]

On 12/13/2024 at 5:42 PM, Rackham said:

2029 would have Discovery launched on the 30th anniversary of Voyager class. Here's hoping there'd be a similar video to this for the new class. 

 

Thank you so much for posting this it's so amazing and easily forgotten how Royal went from Voyager Class being celebrated as the largest cruise ship in 2000 to Oasis OTS first sailing just 9 years later.  Oh yes let's not forget  Freedom Class was launched in-between both Voyager and Oasis Class ships.  It makes me wonder given all the work a cruise line has to do behind the scenes even before they announce a deal with a ship yard to build a new class of ship if Royal wasn't already working or thinking about Oasis Class back in 2000 but hadn't publicly announced it yet while celebrating Voyager Class.

I think Royal knows what they want to do with Discovery Class but they are going to keep everything about Discovery Class under wraps for a long a possible. They don't want to tip their hand too early given how competitive the cruise industry has become.  And if Discovery isn't going to be an mega class ship Royal really wants to keep this one under wraps for as long as possible given the fact Discovery if the right size could be deployed to markets like Norway, Northern Europe, Panama Canal, Alaska, Asia, and if Royal decides to get into South America/Antarctica with Royal branded ships. The competition is fierce in markets where Discovery could potentially be deployed so I understand Royal wanting to keep anything Discovery related under wraps for as long as they possibly can.   

[Southern Dan]

Just wanted to say thank you for posting that video, I watched the 3 part series on building Project Eagle/Voyager last night and I enjoyed it a bunch.

[NRD]

On 10/24/2024 at 10:45 AM, baltodave said:

"You can't please all the people all the time"   How do you explain that RCL's stock price is around $200, the ships are full and prices are up?

Half the ship is new people that travel once a year. They are one and done and move on. 

[Nathan adams]

I thought for under the bridges and in the canals were the 2 definite criteria. 

 

[Cakemeister]

With the incredible success of Utopia and Icon, maybe they have scrapped Project Discovery altogether. Oasis 7 will likely generate more beans to count than Discovery would.

All they would need is homeports for them. 

[J_Keeble]

Personally I think Discovery will happen, it has been discussed for years and most probably in the late late design phases with just finer details being confirmed. if work is to start in 2026/27 then the designs will already be out there.

[twangster]

If Discovery moves forward then ports like Baltimore and Tampa will be excluded unless they raise their bridges or move the cruise terminals to the ocean side of the bridge.  If the Bay bridge can be replaced which is on the table and the Key bridge replaced with something higher then Baltimore could still be relevant for the cruise industry some time to come.  

I'm still not convinced Royal Caribbean International will go with something smaller than Quantum class.  I suspect they would rather entice folks onto Celebrity and keep RCI mega focused to dominate the mass market segment.  

Time will tell.

[smokeybandit]

32 minutes ago, twangster said:

If the Bay bridge can be replaced which is on the table

That's been on the table for 20 years already and it'll be 20 more before something gets done.

[steverk]

9 hours ago, J_Keeble said:

Personally I think Discovery will happen, it has been discussed for years and most probably in the late late design phases with just finer details being confirmed. if work is to start in 2026/27 then the designs will already be out there.

At the Captain's Corner on Adventure the subject came up last week. In fact, the Captain brought it up without really being asked.

He said it will be sailing by 2028. 

As people have already mentioned, this isn't definitive, but it's encouraging!

[smokeybandit]

RC's bread and butter is the big ships, that's obvious.

But they know there's still a profitable market for smaller ships and know Vision/Radiance class ships can't last forever.