Royal Caribbean Lists Discovery-Class Ships at 4,300 Guests
The orderbook also lists Legend of the Seas near its double-occupancy capacity; with all berths filled, that ship can carry about 7,600 guests.
Royal Caribbean Group's latest quarterly SEC filing lists the first two Discovery-class ships at approximately 4,300 guests at double occupancy, giving the first public capacity figure for the new Royal Caribbean International class. The filing schedules the ships for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2029 and the second quarter of 2032, with construction at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France.
The disclosure narrows an open question from the January 2026 order, when Royal Caribbean said little about the class beyond the shipyard and quantity. That capacity puts Discovery closer to the Quantum and Voyager ranges than to Royal Caribbean's smallest Vision-class ships, while remaining below the company's Oasis and Icon classes.
Capacity sits near Quantum and Voyager ranges
The Form 10-Q uses approximate berth counts in Royal Caribbean Group's orderbook. The 4,300 figure appears to reflect double occupancy because the same filing lists Legend of the Seas at approximately 5,600 guests, close to its 5,610 double-occupancy capacity; when all berths are filled, Legend can carry up to about 7,600 guests.
Odyssey of the Seas, which entered service in 2021, carries 4,198 guests at double occupancy and up to 5,510 at maximum capacity. Freedom of the Seas is listed at 3,926 guests at double occupancy and 4,515 at maximum capacity, while Royal Caribbean's Vision-class ships carry about 2,416 to 2,730 guests.
Royal Caribbean executives have addressed the smaller-ship question directly. Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty said in 2024, "We're looking at smaller ships that will replace some of those older ships." After the January Discovery order, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said the company was "not planning on saying much" about the new class in the near term and pushed back on assumptions that the ships would be comparable in size to the fleet's smallest vessels or designed to replace them.
Discovery joins a broader newbuild schedule
The two Discovery-class ships are part of a large Royal Caribbean Group orderbook extending into the next decade. Royal Caribbean International is scheduled to receive Legend of the Seas in summer 2026, followed by additional Icon-class ships through 2030, including Hero of the Seas in 2027, Icon 5 in 2028 and the sixth and seventh Icon ships in 2029 and 2030.
An additional Oasis-class ship is under construction at Chantiers de l'Atlantique for mid-2028 delivery with capacity for about 5,700 passengers. Elsewhere in the group, Celebrity Cruises is scheduled to receive Celebrity Xcite in late 2028 and 20 vessels for its new riverboat fleet between 2027 and 2028.
Royal Caribbean has not confirmed Discovery's gross tonnage, length, exterior design, onboard features or neighborhood concepts. It also has not announced first-sailing dates; delivery from the yard establishes handover, not the start of revenue service.
