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Royal Caribbean Orders Discovery Class Ships in France

Royal Caribbean Discovery Class ships order in France, new cruise ship underway near Saint Nazaire on the Atlantic coast
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5 min read

Royal Caribbean Discovery Class ships moved from concept to signed construction slots after Royal Caribbean Group reached new agreements with Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint Nazaire, France. The company said it placed two firm orders, with options for four additional ships, and set an initial delivery cadence with one ship slated to debut in 2029 and a second scheduled for 2032. For travelers, this is a long lead capacity signal rather than an immediate booking opportunity, because ship size, onboard features, and deployment details have not been released yet.

The practical change is that a new ship platform is now on the build plan with named target years, which is the step that eventually leads to itinerary announcements, homeport decisions, and the opening of bookings.

Who Is Affected

Future Royal Caribbean cruisers are the direct audience, especially travelers who plan major anniversary trips, multigenerational sailings, or peak season vacation windows several years out. These guests often anchor plans around specific ship features, family cabin layouts, and entertainment offerings, so a new class can change which sailing is the best fit once details are known.

Travel advisors and group planners are also affected because long horizon ship launches are often used as decision triggers for when to hold off on a booking versus when to lock in a known ship and itinerary. Until Royal Caribbean publishes ship specifications and deployment, advisors should treat the Discovery Class as a developing option, not as a replacement for existing ships on any particular route.

Port cities and excursion operators are indirectly affected later in the cycle. When a new class is designed to serve a wider range of ports, it can redistribute calls across regions, change which days see the heaviest shore demand, and reshape how early travelers should book excursions and private transfers for high demand days.

What Travelers Should Do

Start by separating what is confirmed from what is speculation. The confirmed elements are the shipyard, the number of firm orders, the option structure, and the target years. Everything else, including ship size, homeports, and itineraries, should be treated as unknown until Royal Caribbean publishes official details.

Use a clear threshold for acting versus waiting. If you are planning a 2029 cruise because of school calendars, milestone birthdays, or limited vacation windows, your best move is to build flexibility into the trip skeleton, but avoid nonrefundable flights, hotels, and tours tied to a specific port sequence until a specific sailing is actually on sale. If your priority is simply sailing in that time frame, booking an existing ship and itinerary later, if pricing and terms remain favorable, can be safer than waiting on an unannounced product.

Over the next 24 to 72 hours, monitor for three types of information that typically follow a newbuild order. First are official ship fact sheets that clarify passenger capacity, hardware features, and any sustainability or propulsion claims. Second are deployment hints, such as which regions the line emphasizes when describing the guest experience and destination access. Third is booking timing, because early inaugural season sailings can sell quickly once they open, and early pricing can be volatile.

For a reminder of how operational realities can still reshape plans even on established Royal Caribbean ships, recent examples include Freedom of the Seas Port Swap After PortMiami Evac and Fern Galveston Cruise, Cozumel Stop Canceled, which show why travelers should wait for concrete sailing details before stacking nonrefundable add ons.

How It Works

Cruise ships are ordered years in advance, and that long lead time is why a 2026 agreement can point to service entry in 2029 and 2032. The first order effect happens at the shipyard, where build slots, design work, and supplier commitments are reserved, which then determines when the operator can realistically launch a new platform.

The second order effects show up across the travel system once deployment is announced. A new class can add capacity on certain routes, which can influence fare trends, cabin availability, and the availability of family friendly room configurations during peak weeks. It can also change port demand patterns, because a ship that can call at more ports or fit within different berth constraints can open up different itinerary mixes, which in turn shifts shore excursion inventory and private transfer demand in gateway cities.

A third layer is operational, and it is often invisible to travelers until the first season launches. New ships require crew hiring and training, repositioning voyages, and port coordination, and those elements can ripple into schedule planning for existing ships that are moved to new routes or seasons to balance fleet coverage. That is why early signals like a firm order plus options matter, even without a published itinerary, because they indicate how much future capacity the line is positioning to add, and how many follow on ships could enter the pipeline if the option clauses are exercised.

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