Royal Caribbean is working on a new class of smaller ships

ABOARD UTOPIA OF THE SEAS — Royal Caribbean International is working on a new ship class that “will be really exciting but we can’t say anything about it,” CEO Michael Bayley said Tuesday aboard the new Utopia of the Seas.

It will be called the Discovery class.

He made the comments during a media briefing on a preview cruise of Royal’s sixth Oasis-class ship, which will sail short cruises out of Port Canaveral. Later at a Q&A event for travel advisors, he suggested the new class may be smaller ships that would provide new product in ports where bridges hamper the big ships from visiting, such as Baltimore and Tampa. 

“It’s not as simple as making [the ship] broader and less high, but we constantly look at the ability to get ships in these places. So, maybe Discovery class will have the great solution for that,” he said.

Another ship in Los Angeles

At the event, Royal’s leadership team also announced it will move a second ship to Los Angeles next spring. The Ovation of the Seas will sail three-, five- and six-night cruises starting May 28, said Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean’s senior vice president of sales, trade support and service.

The Navigator of the Seas, a 22-year-old ship, is currently based in Los Angeles. The Ovation is a Quantum-class ship that debuted in 2016.

Bayley said that if travel advisors “sell the hell out of this ship, we’ll send you an Icon,” referring to the ship class that debuted in January with the Icon of the Seas. 

Freed said, “The more you sell, the bigger the ships get out of Los Angeles.”

Bayley has previously hinted about plans to station future Icon class ships. He pointed to Texas during a preview cruise of the Icon of the Seas in January. He hinted again at the line’s Galveston plans Tuesday, saying the line is looking to go “big” in Texas, but did not comment further. 

The line has two more Icon class ships in the pipeline, with the Star of the Seas expected to debut in late summer 2025.