122 New Ships in the Order Book

Just when you thought we’d had our fill of sparkly new vessels hitting the waves lately Cruise Industry News are reporting that the order book is jam packed full of exciting build orders for the years ahead.

In the last month alone we saw the delivery of 3 new beauties ready to whisk guests away on adventures across the seas. Costa launched the Venezia – 135,000 tonnes capable of carrying just over 5200 guests. MSC this weekend launched the hugely anticipated Bellissima (meaning Beauty in Italian and she certainly lives up that!) at a star studded naming ceremony held in Southampton presented by the nations sweetheart Holly Willoughby. Bellissima weighs in at 171,000 tonnes and is capable of carrying 4500 guests. Lastly the small but luxurious Viking Jupiter, the newest addition to Viking River Cruises fleet carrying just 938 guests along the waterways of Europe and beyond.

The Costa Smerelda will be the largest ship introduced in 2019 when she is delivered in October capable of carrying 5224 guests and weighing 189,000 tonnes :O

That’s enough to see us through to the next decade no? Apparently not. The March order book for new vessels currently stands at a whopping $68,500,000,000 with 122 planned by 2029.

Another 21 ships are set to follow this year, followed by 24 ocean-going ships in 2020 and five coastal vessels. The average size of the planned vessels is approximately 2,226 guests and 90,896 tons, while the number of berths on the order book is 262,650.

Between 2019 and 2027, the ever expanding Luxury market will add 43 new ships with a value of $12,500,000,000 which is great news for those of you who like to splash out and cruise with a little more finesse.

So where does this take us? There is no denying that with the average size of the ships coming out around the 90,000 tonne mark which will consist mainly of huge liners and small river ships that cruise ship building is only go one way and that is bigger. Have we lost sight of the special touches and intimate service provided on the smaller vessels? Not to mention the ability to visit smaller ports which simply don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate large ships. Why is size so important when it comes to ships do you think?