Yet another giant Royal Caribbean ship is switching to short cruises
It's official: Short cruises on giant ships is the flavor of the month in the cruise world.
Royal Caribbean on Wednesday announced it would reassign its massive 18-deck-high Wonder of the Seas — the world's second-biggest cruise ship — to short three- and four-night sailings out of Miami starting in August 2025.
The 2-year-old vessel, which can hold up to 7,084 passengers, currently sails seven-night voyages out of Port Canaveral in Florida.
The announcement comes just four months before the debut of Royal Caribbean's giant new Utopia of the Seas, a sister ship to Wonder of the Seas that also will sail short three- and four-night sailings, out of Port Canaveral.
Together, the two deployments will mean that two of the world's four largest and newest cruise ships will sail quickie trips out of Florida — something that is unprecedented in the history of cruising.
Traditionally, major cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean have devoted their newest and biggest ships to longer seven-night sailings out of Florida — a more lucrative market — and placed older and smaller vessels on shorter runs.
Royal Caribbean's moves with Wonder of the Seas and Utopia of the Seas amount to a bold bet that placing two of its latest and greatest vessels in the short-cruise market will drive a surge of new customers.
Related: Why Royal Caribbean is about to own the market for short cruises from Florida
In an interview with TPG in advance of the Utopia of the Seas announcement, Kara Wallace, Royal Caribbean's chief marketing officer, suggested that Royal Caribbean was specifically going after the "new to cruise" market with such sailings. The term refers to people who have never cruised before.
It's a segment of vacationers that often is wary of booking a cruise longer than three or four days in case they don't love it.
Putting one of Royal Caribbean's newest and most amenity-filled ships on short cruises will let the line "make that first impression, the best impression" with first-time cruisers, she added at the time.
Other relatively new and big ships that have been deployed to short cruises of late for at least part of the year include Carnival Cruise Line's 4,126-passenger Carnival Firenze and 4,208-passenger Carnival Venezia. Both ships have joined the Carnival fleet in the past year after sailing briefly for sister line Costa Cruises.
In addition, a third Royal Caribbean ship that's roughly the same size as Wonder of the Seas and Utopia of Seas but more than a decade older, Allure of the Seas, recently switched to sailing short three- and four-night sailings out of Port Canaveral, Florida. But it'll switch back to longer sailings in 2025.
Quickie cruises to the Bahamas
The new short cruises to be operated by Wonder of the Seas out of Miami will be all-Bahamas itineraries with stops at two places: Nassau on the island of New Providence and Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas.
Fares for the sailings, which will kick off Aug. 25, 2025, start at $321 per person, based on double occupancy, for the three-night sailings. Four-night sailings start at $341 per person, based on double occupancy.
Both Wonder of the Seas and Utopia of the Seas are part of Royal Caribbean's enormously popular Oasis Class of ships.
Launched in 2009 with the debut of Oasis of the Seas, the Oasis Class ships have dominated the world of mega-size cruise ships since that year and still account for five of the world's six largest cruise ships. Only Royal Caribbean's recently unveiled Icon of the Seas is bigger.
Related: Our likes, dislikes about Wonder of the Seas
When the Oasis Class began rolling out, the vessels in the series were around 40% bigger than the next-biggest cruise ships. The Oasis Class ships and the new Icon of the Seas have continued to be the biggest and most amenity-laden ships in the world ever since.
Until just a few months ago, the Oasis Class ships had focused on seven-night sailings, mostly in the Caribbean but occasionally in Europe. Three of the five ships in the class that currently are sailing — Symphony of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas — continue to focus on seven-night sailings.
The fourth vessel in the series, Allure of the Seas, currently is sailing short cruises out of Port Canaveral, as noted above. It'll move to Miami in July to operate short cruises before switching back to longer sailings in Europe in April 2025.
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