Royal Caribbean Announces Utopia of the Seas for 2024

April 6, 2022 Randy Young

Last Updated on July 11, 2022

Royal Caribbean announced the name of its sixth Oasis-class ship during the ceremonial steel cutting ceremony in the shipyard in St Nazaire, France. It will be named Utopia of the Seas and will sail in mid-2024.

Last scheduled Oasis-class ship

Since their debut in 2009, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships have been the largest cruise ships in the world. Their split structure design with their unique outdoor neighborhoods was innovative and changed how people thought of mega-ships. The Utopia of the Seas will be the last scheduled Oasis-class ship to be built with no more currently on order. The Utopia of the Seas could be as large as 250,000 gross tons, which means it’ll take over the title of the largest cruise ship in the world from its sibling, the Wonder of the Seas.

ultimate abyss thrill slide on boardwalk — Oasis-class ships have a split down the middle to accommodate two outdoor neighborhoods

Utopia of the Seas changes

The only change we know for sure at this point is that the Utopia of the Seas will run on Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). That’s a surprising twist, as all other Oasis-class ships run on traditional diesel fuel. Royal Caribbean is investing heavily in this cleaner-burning fossil fuel, with their next flagship, Icon of the Seas, to be their first to feature this technology. This change will require significant redesigns of the ship’s inner workings. For example, reports state that there will be 50 fewer cabins than the Wonder of the Seas due to LNG tank requirements.

Lots of unknowns about Utopia of the Seas

We still don’t know where the Utopia of the Seas will sail from or the itineraries. Originally, the Wonder of the Seas was supposed to serve the Asian market but relocated to North America after COVID restrictions. Utopia of the Seas could replace that and sail the China market, or it could be an additional Oasis-class ship to serve North American cruisers.

royal caribbean utopia of the seas renders — Utopia of the Seas press event

In their Utopia of the Seas Construction Update video, Royal Caribbean stated that there will be “new firsts” to be revealed at a “later date.” One thing we can see from the footage of the steal cutting ceremony, is that the Utopia of the Seas will likely have the same enclosed Solarium that debuted on Wonder of the Seas. It’s likely the new ship will also feature some of the new things found on its sibling such as the dedicated suite neighborhood, and the replacement of one of the Flowriders with the Wonder Playscape kids area.

sun loungers in solarium — The Solarium on the Wonder of the Seas featured the first enclosed Solarium for Oasis-class ships

More information on Utopia of the Seas to come

This information is just the first tidbit coming out, and Royal Caribbean hasn’t made any official press releases or announcements. Likely, we won’t hear much about Utopia of the Seas until after all the information on their next class of cruise ship, the Icon of the Seas, is released later this year. That ship will be a whole new design with some new and innovative takes on cruising.