Carnival Cruise Line won't challenge Royal Caribbean's title
All the major cruise lines appear to have stopped fighting over what used to be a key title.
Cruise ships keep getting bigger. Over the past 20 years or so there has been a massive change from cruise ships being floating hotels that take you places to the ship being the destinations themselves.
Now, Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Cine, and, to a lesser extent, MSC Cruises have built giant ships whose main stops are cruise line-owned private islands. That’s partially because it seems to be what consumers want and partially because these large ships don’t fit in every port.
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Even if a port can accommodate a mega ship, the local stores and restaurants will be overwhelmed by 6,000-plus passengers.
What actually makes a large cruise ship has changed quite a bit in a not very long period of time. In 2006, Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas was the largest cruise ship in the world. That ship currently has a gross tonnage of 156,271 tons.
It actually was a little bit smaller at launch but has undergone multiple improvements, including a recent dydock that added a new non-smoking casino. It's size at launch, however, was enough at the time to be the largest cruise ship in the world.
Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, the current largest ship in the world, is about 100 tons bigger. At 250,800 tons, the cruise line made claim to that crown — one it has held for decades — but being the biggest no longer seems like a priority for Royal Caribbean (and maybe any of its rivals).
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Royal Caribbean's Star of the Seas won't claim the title
While Icon of the Seas claimed the "World's largest cruise ship" title, the ship in the Icon line, Star of the Seas, won't make that claim. In fact, the cruise line is saying that the two ships will be exactly the same size.
That does not seem like an accident. It appears that Royal Caribbean has decided to get out of the game when it comes to claiming that title.
In fact, no cruise line seems to want to seize that mantle. MSC Cruises could have built its new U.S. flagship, World America, to take the "largest ship" crown, but it didn't.
Clearly, Royal Caribbean could have made Star of the Seas just a tiny bit bigger than its sister ship, but I chose not to. Carnival Cruise Line President Christine Duffy also, did not play up the idea that her cruise lines new ship class would become the biggest in the world.
She was asked that question and specifically said she did not know during an April 6 media event on the Carnival Celebration.
It almost seems like the cruise industry has decided that the largest cruise ship title is one that perhaps needs to be retired.
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What we know about Carnival's new class
Duffy shared very little information about the new class during the media event. She did say it would house 8,000 passengers. That's more than the capacity of Royal Caribbean's upcoming Star of the Seas, which is identical to what is claimed for Icon of the Seas.
Carnival's president did share that the new class is being called "Ace" class internally, but that's not its official name.
Duffy shared a statement on Carnival's plans for the next five years.
“Looking ahead, we have the opening of Celebration Key this July, followed by our expansion at RelaxAway, Half Moon Cay in 2026; the delivery of our fourth and fifth Excel ships in 2027 and 2028; and then the introduction of three ships in our new platform, Project Ace, beginning in 2029, plus fleet enhancements and new investments at some of our existing destinations," she shared.
Carnival also shared a small statement on the project Ace ships.
"Looking further ahead, Carnival’s exclusive new ship platform, currently called Project Ace, includes three ships at 230,000 gross tons each being built by Fincantieri that will be delivered in 2029, 2031 and 2033, respectively. With over 3,000 guest staterooms, the new ships will be the largest in the Carnival Corporation global fleet and will be able to deliver fun to more guests than any ship in the world when carrying almost 8,000 guests at full capacity," it shared.
That tonnage would not claim the "largest cruise ship" title, but that no longer seems to be something any cruise line really wants.
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