New Luxury ships on the Horizon

The World of Cruising is growing so fast, significantly faster than anyone thought this time 10 years ago! The past month has seen some very exciting news.

Firstly, Regent Seven Seas have announced that they will building yet another Explorer Class Ship, it all started back in 2013 when Regent started the ball rolling by ordering the Seven Seas Explorer which was delivered in 2016, she then she has gone down a storm and her unrivalled Luxury has been hard to beat. At a cost of $425 million she is the most expensive Luxury ship ever built, at 54,000 Gross ton but home to just 750 passengers she offers the ultimate in 6* Cruising. To give you an idea on a mainstream cruise line, the Balmoral for Fred Olsen is 44,000 Gross tons – but homes 1700 passengers!

Seven Seas Explorer will be Joined shortly by her Sister the Seven Seas Splendour and then the 3^rd Explorer Class ship will be delivered in 2023 and it is said Regent will be spending more money on the 3^rd one to give passengers to ultimate Luxury cruise experience.

The news comes shortly after Oceania Cruises announced the next – ‘Oceania Next’ announcement. Oceania Next is a ongoing program that Oceania have which over time they announce major changes to the fleet, the last Oceania Next announcement was for the R Class – the smaller ships in the Fleet – Oceania Nautica, Sirena, Insignia and the Regatta that they will all be under going a massive face lift.

Now Oceania have announced the addition of the Allura Class! Really exciting news as we will see Oceania built two new ships – they have said they will be a similar size to the Marina and the Riviera which is a nice comfortable size I think, one that gives you lots of space but does not compromise on the ports they can get in to. Oceania Marina and Riviera had been purposely built for Oceania, whereas the smaller ships have come from Renaissance Cruises, who built the ship but in the late 1900, early 2000’s and then went under, the 7 sisters then had been sold off. Now you will find 4 with Oceania, Azamara have one and then Pacific Princess.

Having been on the Oceania Nautica and the Marina, both had been stunning, but the Marina definitely held the edge! I am really interested to see what they will do. What Oceania have said is a similar size, but less passengers, more speciality restaurants and a higher crew to passenger ratio – and Oceania at the moment is high! We will have to wait and see what they do but I am definitely on board!