Has Royal Caribbean finally hit its limit for giant ships? The cruise line's CEO sparks speculation

Is the era of ever-larger ships at Royal Caribbean coming to an end? Comments that the line's CEO, Michael Bayley, made this week are sparking renewed speculation on the topic.

Speaking during a preview event for the line's new Utopia of the Seas, Bayley suggested Royal Caribbean's next new class of ships (to be called the Discovery Class) would be smaller than the giant ships the line has been rolling out in recent years, according to several media outlets that were on board.

Bayley told a room full of travel advisers and other attendees that the new class might feature vessels small enough to sail into ports such as Baltimore and Tampa where bridges block the arrival of the line's bigger vessels, Travel Weekly reported.

"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," Bayley said, according to Travel Weekly.

Separately, Bayley told a room full of journalists at a press briefing during the event that the new class "will be really exciting," but he didn't give details on what sort of attractions and venues would be on board the vessel, Travel Weekly reported.

Related: Royal Caribbean's new Utopia of the Seas christened in Miami

Bayley also didn't give a timetable for when the new ships would be ordered and built.

Cruise Fever also reported on Bayley's comments, as did Travel Pulse and Australia's Cruise Passenger; the latter outlet speculated that the new ships might be small enough to fit under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Many large cruise ships can't dock at Sydney's White Bay Cruise Terminal because of the low clearance of the bridge. The clearance for Sydney Harbour Bridge is about 161 feet. The clearance for bridges that cruise ships must pass under when sailing into Baltimore and Tampa is roughly 180 feet.

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Royal Caribbean's most recently built ships — including Icon of the Seas, Utopia of the Seas and five sisters to Utopia of the Seas (known collectively as the Oasis Class) — are among the biggest cruise ships in the world and have "air drafts" of well over 200 feet. That means they can't fit under the bridges in Sydney, Baltimore or Tampa.

Bayley's comments this week weren't the first he has made hinting that the line was developing a new, smaller class of ships. Over the past year, he has dropped small clues about a new class of smaller ships at several other Royal Caribbean events, including at a press conference in January aboard the line's new Icon of the Seas.

At some of these events, Bayley has noted that the line was looking to order new ships that could replace its eight older Radiance Class and Vision Class vessels — all of which are more than 20 years old.

At 90,090 gross tons or less, the eight ships in the Radiance Class and Vision Class are far smaller than the rest of the 28 ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, and they are often used for voyages to places where big ships can't go. They hold around 2,100 or fewer passengers apiece, assuming two passengers per cabin — a small fraction of the 5,000 passengers or more that can fit on the line's bigger vessels.

Royal Caribbean, the world's biggest cruise line, is known for operating the world's biggest, most amenity-filled cruise ships. But like all big cruise lines, it likes to have a mixture of vessel sizes so that it can offer a wide array of itineraries.

Not all cruise itineraries are suited to giant ships — and not just because port towns on some itineraries have bridges that block bigger ships. Some port towns don't have docking facilities that can handle giant ships. Additionally, some itineraries don't have the consumer demand to justify the deployment of a giant ship.

Still, if Royal Caribbean were to order smaller ships, it would be a significant departure from its recent strategy of building ever-bigger vessels. All the ships the line has ordered in the past decade have been giant, measuring 200,000 gross tons or more.

Related: Every Royal Caribbean ship ranked by size

Royal Caribbean currently has just three new ships on order, all of which are set to be among the biggest cruise ships in the world. Two are sisters to Icon of the Seas and will be among the three largest ships in the world when they debut in 2025 and 2026. The third vessel is an Oasis Class ship that will be among the world's 10 biggest vessels when it debuts in 2028.

Should Royal Caribbean's next ship order be for smaller vessels, it doesn't necessarily mean the line is done with larger ships. While Royal Caribbean hasn't hinted at any new classes of larger vessels in development, it still could order more ships in its Icon Class or Oasis Class series.

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