Carnival is building the worlds biggest cruise ship – will Royal Caribbean respond?

• Carnival Destiny has been revealed to be the first ship of Carnival’s Project Ace – their three biggest ships.
• Little is known about the vessel so far, but it’s predicted to be the largest in the world in terms of passenger capacity, carrying almost 8000 passengers at full capacity.
• Royal Caribbean, MSC and Carnival are locked in a race to have the worlds biggest ships.

Carnival has finally lifted the lid on its next generation of megaships, revealing that Carnival Destiny will start sailing from 2029. The ship is expected to carry around 8000 passengers, which would be more than Royal Caribbean’s Icon-class ships and 1500 more passengers than any other Carnival ship.

For now, details are still sparse on the new ship, but we know a few fast and fun facts. 

• The ship will contain more than 4.5 acres of glass to offer as many ocean views as possible.
• Carnival Destiny will have more balcony staterooms than any other ship at sea.
• More than 70% of onboard experiences, such as dining and entertainment, will be new.

The last point is perhaps the most exciting. Carnival have revealed that nearly all venues and experiences onboard will be new, meaning Carnival Destiny will feel like a truly fresh and exciting ship.

We also got some insight into where Carnival Destiny will be sailing, which is unsurprisingly in the Caribbean. Itineraries will visit a range of Caribbean islands, including Carnival’s private destinations in the Bahamas and Roatan. 

It looks like from 2029 onwards Carnival will be firmly following Royal Caribbean’s model of building megaships for the Caribbean and sailing to their own private destinations. 

The big ships ‘arms race’

While Carnival Destiny will be the first Carnival ship of this magnitude, she won’t be alone for long. More ships are planned for 2031 and 2033. 

These new Carnival ships are not set to eclipse Royal Caribbean’s biggest ships by gross tonnage, but how they will shake things up is by potentially having more capacity. This would give both lines their claim to having the biggest ships in the world in a different way.

In terms of overall tonnage, Royal Caribbean will continue to be unmatchable, with more Icon class ships arriving in 2027 and 2028, and it appears likely that more could arrive after, due to the success of the ship class until now. 

However, there’s another key player who could shake things up which is MSC Cruises. MSC already has some of the biggest ships in the world, such as MSC World America and MSC World Europa, and they’re planning on building even bigger.

MSC plans on building a new Constellation class of ships, and these will not only be the biggest ships yet for MSC, but they’re also set to eclipse Royal Caribbean’s ships in terms of gross tonnage. 

If this eventuates, it would mean MSC have the biggest ships by size and weight, and Carnival by capacity, and Royal would be left without its crown for having the worlds biggest ships. Whether this means Royal Caribbean could have plans to build even bigger and keep their crown, we might not know for the next year or two. 

At previous Q&A’s during the construction of Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean had hinted that there were future plans to build bigger, and there’s little doubt that having the worlds biggest ships is a point of pride for the line.

For now, cruisers will enjoy the excitement of Carnival Destiny’s announcement and the other info that is to come, and Royal Caribbean, Carnival and MSC will continue to compete to build the world’s biggest ships.