It’s no secret that cruise ships continue to get larger and larger, especially from the mainstream cruise lines.
Royal Caribbean was the first cruise line to ever build a ship over 200,000 gross tons in size when Oasis of the Seas debuted in 2009.
It wasn’t until 13 years later when a second cruise line, MSC Cruises, launched a ship over 200k in 2022.
There are currently eight ships in service over this size. They are:
- Oasis of the Seas
- Allure of the Seas
- Harmony of the Seas
- Symphony of the Seas
- Wonder of the Seas
- MSC World Europa
- Icon of the Seas
- Utopia of the Seas
Note: Gross tons is a measurement of a ship’s overall internal volume and has nothing to do with weight.
By the time 2030 rolls around, five cruise lines will have ships larger than 200,000 gross tons. They are Royal Caribbean, MSC Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line. Here is a look at these future ships.
Royal Caribbean has three more mega cruise ships coming out, two more Icon Class and another Oasis class. By 2028, Royal Caribbean will have 10 cruise ships over 200,000 gross tons in their fleet.
MSC Cruises is adding three more mega ships to their fleet, all sister ships to MSC World Europa.
MSC World America will debut in 2025, MSC World Asia in 2026, and one unnamed ship in 2027. They will be around 205,000 gross tons in size.
Disney Cruise Line will add one mega ship to their fleet when Disney Adventure debuts in 2025. This 208,000 gross ton ship was originally the first of two Global class ships from Star Cruises.
After the cruise line filed for bankruptcy, the ship which only partially finished was sold to Disney and renamed Disney Adventure. The second ship was sold for scrap since it was still early in the vessel’s construction.
Carnival Cruise Line, the first cruise line to ever have a ship over 100,000 gross tons, will add three mega ships starting in 2029.
This new class from Carnival will be 230,000 gross tons in size with a ship coming out every two years after the first in 2029.
We currently have zero details on this new class from Carnival.
The fifth cruise line adding a mega ship by the end of the decade is Norwegian Cruise Line. NCL has four 200,000 gross ton ships on order and they are currently scheduled to debut in 2030, 2032, 2034 and 2036.
Norwegian Cruise Line has not given any more details about this new class of ships.
There have been some ship prototypes that dwarf these current ships. One was a 430,000 gross ton ship that will likely never be built. Another was a mile-long Freedom ship that was more of a pipedream than reality.
