When it comes to cruise ships, the bigger the better…or is it?
Royal Caribbean is home to the seven biggest ships in the world including Utopia of the Seas which debuted just 10 days ago and sails 3- and 4-night voyages from Port Canaveral to Perfect Day at CocoCay. MSC Cruises comes in at number eight with MSC World Europa. Carnival Cruise Line recently announced it has ordered three new and bigger ships and, according to a recent social media post by Brand Ambassador John Heald, is not looking to build anything smaller as those ships do not attract new cruisers.
In a response to previous complaints from cruisers who are not fond of mega ships, Heald said, “There are no plans at all for us…to build smaller ships. It is not profitable, it is not something that is affordable, and it is not something that attracts the new cruiser. If we do not attract the new cruiser, we will not survive, and we will not have the money to continue to invest in the smaller ships that we have. And we will continue to invest in them.”
However, in Royal Caribbean’s second-quarter earnings call, CEO Jason Liberty spoke about the real possibility of a new “Discovery-class” of smaller ships. Some of the reasons given to create a new, smaller class of ship included replacing older ships in their fleet, the diversity of itineraries sailed by smaller ships, and some destinations simply do not allow larger cruise ships.
On the call, Liberty said, “…we also have ships that are reaching 30, 35 years.
And so some of this is not just about we want to build same size ships, ships, smaller it’s also replacing ships that will eventually kind of reach their end of life.
It’s a little bit less about the sourcing market. It’s more about where those ships can go. It’s getting them into maybe some of the more unique and bespoke destinations further diversify our footprint around the world. We go to about 1,000 different destinations today and we keep more and more and trying to spread out where our guests go size of the ship can sometimes matter. And I think our brands are always designing to how do we have the most flexible platform to deliver the experiences in which our guests are looking to go on.”
So, when it comes to cruise ships, is bigger always better, or is Royal Caribbean making the best move so it can continue to travel to more diverse destinations and reach more cruisers?