When it comes to new ocean ships, luxury cruise lines will steal the spotlight in 2026. Two new luxury lines — Four Season Yachts and Orient Express Sailing Yachts — will enter the market, and two more will roll out new ship classes.
There’s plenty coming for contemporary lines, too. Norwegian Cruise Line, MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean International will all introduce new megaships this year. But for them, it’s a year of sister ships as they continue to build for their existing ship classes.
Four Seasons Yachts will be the first of the two new cruise lines to debut with its 34,000-gross-ton Four Seasons I, scheduled to begin sailing in March. The ship completed sea trials in December and will spend the summer on the Mediterranean.
Its largest suite: A whopping 9,975 square feet.
Orient Express will follow with a June launch of a 110-passenger tall ship, the Orient Express Corinthian. The accommodations on the Corinthian will range from 485 to 2,476 square feet.
Orient Express is already building a second yacht, the Orient Express Olympian, which is coming in 2027. Both ships will have three masts and will operate under sail whenever weather allows.
The Orient Express and Four Seasons debuts at sea represent not only a growth in the luxury cruise space but also in luxury hospitality brands expanding into cruise. Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection was the first to market, and there will be another when Aman takes to the seas in 2027.
The Skyview Regent Suite on the upcoming Seven Seas Prestige will be the largest cruise ship suite ever built. Photo Credit: Regent Seven Seas Cruises
New era for Regent Seven Seas Cruises
From traditional luxury lines, meanwhile, one of the most anticipated of the new ships is the Seven Seas Prestige, the largest vessel to join Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ fleet. The 822-passenger ship opens the line’s first new ship class in a decade, and while its overall size is 40% larger than the next-largest Regent ship, the passenger capacity is only 10% greater. That means bigger accommodations, including the 8,794-square-foot Skyview Regent Suite.
The Prestige will be among the last to launch this year. Its debut in December will be a transatlantic sailing from Barcelona to Miami.
Emerald Cruises & Tours is also launching a new ship class with the Emerald Kaia in April. The Kaia is the first of three 128-passenger yachts joining the fleet in the next three years.
Other new ships include Explora Journeys’ third ship, Explora III, in July and two new Viking ocean ships, the Viking Mira and the hydrogen-powered Viking Libra.
Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas was floated out in September at Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. Photo Credit: Royal Caribbean
An Icon in Europe
Of the three contemporary megaships launching this year, Norwegian Cruise Line will be first. The Norwegian Luna is the fourth ship in the line’s Prima class and will take to the seas in March. The Luna is a sister ship to 2025’s Norwegian Aqua, which was about 10% larger than the first two Prima-class ships, the Norwegian Prima and the Norwegian Viva. It will homeport in Miami while the Aqua sails from New York for the summer.
Shortly following will be Royal Caribbean’s third Icon-class ship, Legend of the Seas, launching in July. The Icon-class vessels are the largest cruise ships in the world, and the Legend will be the first to operate a Mediterranean season.
Rounding out the trio is the MSC World Asia, the cruise line’s third in the World class, in December. The ship will spend the winter in the Mediterranean.
While it will be a slow year overall for new developments from premium lines, Disney Cruise Line is headed to Singapore with the Disney Adventure. The ship’s launch had been planned for 2025 but was postponed to March due to shipbuilding delays.
The Disney Adventure will be the cruise line’s largest ship, accommodating more than 6,000 guests.
