Confirmed: RCI developing new ship class

[woodscruise]

Confirmed: RCI developing new ship class Royal Caribbean International (RCI) Chief Executive Michael Bayley (pictured) has confirmed the veracity of swirling rumours the cruise line is currently working on a new class of ships to follow its high-profile Icon-class. Bayley said the next phase of RCI’s ship development plan, currently in preliminary plan stages, will be to ultimately replace its ageing Vision- and Radiance-class vessels with a revamped model. “They are beautiful ships and beautifully constructed but like me and others they are getting older so we are now concepting thoughts and ideas about how we are going to replace those ships with a new class for Royal Caribbean,” he added. “We have already done a fair amount of work within the brand in terms of the concepting process, but these still have to go through the corporate machine, through the board and through a process, but we are actively working on trying to figure out what that would look like”. Bayley added from what he has seen from the early planning phases, the new class of RCI ships “look fantastic”. “We really do have some great ideas on the table and I could tell you a few now but I’m not going to,” he quipped. At a later immersion session, RCI Chief Product and Innovation Officer Jay Schneider declined to be drawn on the exact size of the new class, but confirmed it won’t be as large as the Icon class. “The new class of ships will not be the world’s largest class of ship, we are starting smaller and have not put a size to it yet but it will definitely be a ‘mic drop ship’ [like Icon],” Schneider noted. “It will take the same attention to detail [of Icon], that same level of focus on experience to achieve something like this but just at a different scale,” he added. RCI has two more Icon-class ships on order to launch next year (Star of the Seas) and in 2026. Schneider said the name of the third vessel has been chosen (CW 16 Jan), but has not yet been released to the public. 

 

Source Cruise Weekly 23January 2023

[sewgood]

Good to hear that one of the mainstream cruise lines is actually designing a smaller ship than the last one they built.

Well done RCI.

[arxcards]

Great news, you can say that again. Lets hope it starts a trend.

[MicCanberra]

Wish they don't  go bigger than Radiance but most likely will be Ovation size or larger.

[mr walker]

10 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Wish they don't  go bigger than Radiance but most likely will be Ovation size or larger.

 

Us too - Radiance class is the best for us, or Voyager as second choice -any bigger just doesn't suit as well for us.

[arxcards]

Given there are size restrictions in a handful of their homeports, the new class is designed to go in those places that will only accommodate relatively smaller ships. As they have been touting themselves, they are to replace some of their older vision & radiance class ships.

 

I expect that rather than the shapes of older ships that size, they will be rather "block of flatish" to maximise GRT within their height/length/width/draft restrictions for those ports. I would expect something around about 100 -110K GRT.

[cruiselvr04]

Hoping that these are innovative but not floating amusement parks. 

[subaru94]

Thats really pleasing to hear as really like the Radiance class of ship size, the new ships are getting too big and just are not what I believe is a true cruise ship.

[MicCanberra]

4 hours ago, subaru94 said:

Thats really pleasing to hear as really like the Radiance class of ship size, the new ships are getting too big and just are not what I believe is a true cruise ship.

I don't think they will go as small as a Radiance class but we can hope.

[Chiliburn]

43 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I don't think they will go as small as a Radiance class but we can hope.

About the size of Edge class mic ,just small enough to get through the Panama Canal and running on dual fuel Diesel / Methanol.

[MicCanberra]

Maybe electric will be better, although the extension cord will need to be very long and no surge protection.

[Chiliburn]

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Maybe electric will be better, although the extension cord will need to be very long and no surge protection.

How about the treadmills in the gym?

[arxcards]

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

About the size of Edge class mic ,just small enough to get through the Panama Canal and running on dual fuel Diesel / Methanol.

When vision & radiance class have been phased out, what ships are they going to base in Tampa Bay & Baltimore? I don't think even Voyager class will squeeze into those ports.

 

They don't appear to be talking about this on the Royal board, so maybe it is just the Iconic stuff that interests on the other side of the Pacific.

[MicCanberra]

56 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

How about the treadmills in the gym?

Wouldn't have enough passengers generating power.

[Chiliburn]

50 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Wouldn't have enough passengers generating power.

Not with your age group.

[MicCanberra]

30 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Not with your age group.

True, I am a lot younger and lazier than most here.

[Chiliburn]

25 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

True, I am a lot younger and lazier than most here.

I recon you could run that fast when the buffet opens mic

[MicCanberra]

8 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I recon you could run that fast when the buffet opens mic

I am more of a MDR type of diner.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

True, I am a lot younger and lazier than most here.

Half rat power, from the good achilles.

[MicCanberra]

57 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Half rat power, from the good achilles.

Cannot run for at least the next 8 months

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

Cannot run for at least the next 8 months

That's a bugger. Rehab vs surgery I gather?

[MicCanberra]

10 hours ago, arxcards said:

That's a bugger. Rehab vs surgery I gather?

I have to have surgery in March and the 6 months of rehab before I am supposed to run again.

[arxcards]

38 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

I have to have surgery in March and the 6 months of rehab before I am supposed to run again.

Ouch. Not far away then.