Royal Caribbean wants you to have your European vacation, and it's sending five ships across the continent in the summer of 2026. Those ships, which include an Oasis-class and a Quantum-class ship, will sail to over 60 ports from Athens (Piraeus), Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Rome (Civitavecchia) and Ravenna, Italy; and Southampton, England.

Royal Caribbean older ships are smaller "And of course, the other thing ... that's important when you think about ship classes, whether they could be small, they could be larger,

The cruise operators were unfortunately locked into an epicenter industry in the consumer discretionary sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. The spread of the disease onboard cruise ships spurred fears that no one would ever want to take a cruise again and risk catching a fatal infection.

Royal Caribbean Group has placed all its new cruise ship orders through 2027, said Jason Liberty, president and CEO, speaking on the company’s third quarter earnings call in late October. “You certainly have seen all of our orders through 2027 and maybe even into 2028,

With this in mind, Royal Caribbean will be re-routing its ships that are embarking on cruises in the Bahamas and the Western Caribbean. This includes Radiance of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas, and Vision of the Seas – out of an abundance of caution.

Booking a cruise is as much art as science. Prices change regularly, cruise ships sell out, and it's especially challenging when family and friends want to book more than one room on the same cruise.

Royal Caribbean ( RCL) also delivers that with the added convenience of having a dock and not forcing passengers to tender (take a ride in a small ship) to the island, which has been the case for most cruise lines' private islands.