Royal Caribbean’s Discovery Class To Debut in 2029

January 29, 2026 Randy Young

Today, Royal Caribbean placed an order for the highly anticipated Discovery Class of ships. This new class is expected to reverse the industry trend of going bigger and bigger, instead focusing on a ship size designed to access more unique and hard to reach destinations. Here is what we know so far.

Discovery Class to Launch in 2029

The first Discovery Class ship is scheduled to debut in 2029, with a second ship planned for delivery in 2032. The vessels will be built at Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint Nazaire, France. Royal Caribbean has a long standing relationship with the shipyard, which previously built the cruise line’s Sovereign Class ships in 1988 and, more recently, the Oasis Class.

At this time, the order includes just two ships, though Royal Caribbean holds options for up to four additional vessels in the future. These options essentially reserve shipyard capacity but do not represent firm orders. Even with those options, the initial commitment is smaller than several recent new class orders across the industry, including Carnival’s three Ace Class ships, Disney Cruise Line’s three new class vessels, MSC Cruises’ four New Frontier Class ships, and Norwegian Cruise Line’s four ship order for its latest class.

Discovery Class Size Still Unknown

The Discovery Class has drawn significant attention due to ongoing speculation that the ships will be smaller than Royal Caribbean’s most recent megaships. However, the cruise line has not yet confirmed the exact size or passenger capacity.

What is known is that the Discovery Class is expected to replace some of the older ships in the fleet, including vessels from the Vision Class that are nearing the end of their typical service life. Celebrity Cruises President Lauren Hodges Bethge has previously indicated that a cruise ship’s service life is generally around 30 years.

Class	Gross Tons	Years Built	Maximum Guests
Vision Class	~78,000	1996–1998	~2,500
Voyager Class	~140,000	1999–2003	~3,800
Radiance Class	90,000	2001–2004	~2,500
Freedom Class	155,000	2006–2008	~4,500
Oasis Class	225,000	2009–2024+	~6,700
Quantum Class	168,000	2014–2021	~4,900
Icon Class	249,000	2024–2025+	~7,600

Not every port can accommodate the largest ships in Royal Caribbean’s fleet, such as the Oasis and Icon Class. Royal Caribbean President Michael Bayley has stated that the Discovery Class will be smaller in order to access more destinations, similar to how the Vision Class operates today. He has also indicated that the ships are expected to be capable of transiting the Panama Canal, which would naturally place limits on their overall size.

The Discovery Class introduces a bold new concept that puts our guests at the center of it all. It will deliver extraordinary, one-of-a-kind experiences — from cutting edge design to immersive moments — every detail crafted to surprise and delight guests in ways they’ve never imagined, all while visiting truly breathtaking destinations around the world,” Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean.

More Information Will Be Released in the Months to Come

In Royal Caribbean’s Q4 Earnings Call, Michael Bayley Shared, “We’ve been working on Discovery for the last couple of years. And from the business perspective, we are really excited with the innovation, creativity, and the kind of product that we’ve now created with Discovery. It really is going to be a game changer. Just as ICON was introduced, and kind of changed the game, Discovery is going to do exactly the same thing. We are really looking forward to sharing more details about Discovery with the marketplace, but we’re not planning on saying much about it today or in the next couple of months.”

Even more surprising is ” The many of the assumptions that are currently out there in social media, etcetera, in terms of size, capacity, etcetera, etcetera are probably, it’s fair to say, inaccurate. So looking forward to introducing it. “