Carnival Cruise Lines' Project ACE versus Royal Caribbean's Discovery Class
Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean are continuing to set themselves apart with their upcoming ship classes.
If you’ve been on a cruise in the past decade, you’ve likely noticed that the ships keep getting bigger, especially across mass-market cruise lines. Every couple of years or so the newest ship has been bigger than the last.
While bigger has meant larger water parks, more restaurants, more spaces for entertainment, it raises a critical question: is this what cruisers want now?
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Some cruisers crave the allure of a floating city where the ship itself is a destination, while others are looking for a comfortable launchpad in between destinations focusing on adventures ashore rather than onboard.
Two cruise industry giants — Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line — are preparing to answer that question with their next-generation ships. Image source: Shutterstock
The mega cruise ship trend may not continue forever for some cruise lines
Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line are two of the cruise lines with the largest cruise ships in the world. Royal Caribbean holds the title for the largest cruise ship in the world: the Icon of the Seas, which can hold up to 7,600 passengers.
Currently Icon of the Seas is the only one in its class so far, with the Star of the Seas to make its debut in August 2025.
Legend of the Seas is next in line, set to launch in the summer of 2026.
Royal Caribbean’s Oasis Class ships and Carnival’s Excel Class ships can all hold a minimum of around 5,400 passengers and up to around 6,700 guests, depending on the number of guests in each room.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line warns against a hot cabin hack
MSC is also in the running for the bigger-is-better competition, with it recently launching the World Class series, including the World America currently home-ported in Miami and holding up to around 6,700 guests.
The next in line will be World Asia scheduled for 2026, followed by World Atlantic to debut in Port Canaveral, Florida, and set to make its appearance in the winter of 2027/2028. Two more World Class ships are on order for delivery in 2029 and 2030. They will be of similar size and capacity.
Larger cruise ships tend to focus on maximum thrills and appeal to diverse demographics, whereas smaller cruise ships lean toward offering more laid-back and intimate experiences.
Smaller ships have an edge of being able to visit more destinations, since some ports cannot accommodate larger vessels and their large number of passengers.
Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line to go in different directions
Carnival Cruise Line recently announced Project ACE, which refers to the development of a brand-new class of mega ships, with the first one scheduled to debut in 2029.
Carnival will continue its trend of producing mega-thrill ships with the next class. These vessels will have a passenger capacity of over 8,000, which will take the title for largest cruise ship in passenger capacity, but not in tonnage.
The new ACE Class ships will offer more interconnecting rooms that can offer more options for families and groups traveling together.
Related: Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line dealing with booking issues
The ships will offer new dining experiences and enhanced spaces for youth, including Waterworks Ultra, which will feature an expanded water park with four new water slides and six slides total.
Two of the new slides will be designed as family raft slides, allowing multiple passengers to ride together.
Royal Caribbean seems to be taking a different route for its next class of ships.
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Royal Caribbean has not revealed many details about the Discovery Project, referring to its next class of ships, which will proceed, the newest Icon Class.
But, Royal Caribbean’s CEO’s Jason Liberty and Michael Bayley have mentioned that smaller class ships have been discussed as well as the need for replacing ships that are nearing the end of their time at sea.
The oldest Royal Caribbean ship is the Grandeur of the Seas, which first set sail in Dec. 1996.
A smaller class of ships has the potential to expand itinerary options. The Discovery Class could offer more diverse itineraries in some popular destinations such as the Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Alaska.
There has been no debut date revealed for the Discovery Project’s ships, but based on the time frames of previous launches, it could be 2027 or 2028.
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