Curated Travel
The Dorian List
New Cruise Ships: 84 Are on Order and the List Runs to 2039
Co-Founder & Travel Advisor, Dorian Destinations · Published October 26, 2026 · ET
Plan a sailing around the hardware →
Somebody has already ordered the ship you will sail in 2033. It has no name yet, and the yard has not cut steel, but the order exists and the delivery slot is booked.
Cruise Industry News keeps a public orderbook of every passenger vessel on order worldwide, and as of its last update on 7 September 2026 it counts 84 new cruise ships, 229,384 berths and 89 billion dollars. What makes it worth an afternoon is not the total. It is the right-hand column, because the new cruise ships do not stop at the end of the decade — they run to 2039.
That is a thirteen-year forward book for a holiday most people decide on eight months out. It is the clearest published statement anybody makes about where the industry thinks its customers will be, and almost nobody outside the trade reads it.
Everything below comes from that orderbook and from Cruise Industry News’s own reporting, linked at the foot of the article. Where we draw a conclusion from the shape of the list rather than quoting it, we say so in the sentence.
Two caveats, both the source’s own and both worth stating up front. The orderbook marks its cost figures “may be estimated,” and a number of entries carry TBD for cost and tonnage. And the tables will not reconcile to the headline if you count rows: they include 2026 ships already delivered and a separate section of nine American coastal vessels, so a row count comes out well above 84. We have used the published headline figures and counted rows only to describe the shape of each year, never to contradict the total.
What we are not doing is recommending any of these new cruise ships. We name vessels and lines here only as entries in a public register, in the order that register puts them. No line pays us to say any of this, we hold no allocation on any of these hulls, and nothing below is a review.
84 ships. 229,384 berths. 89 billion dollars. And a delivery list that does not finish until 2039.
What the new cruise ships orderbook actually shows
Read down the years and the new cruise ships book has a shape. The late twenties are dense, the early thirties thin out, and then a scatter of single orders runs on into the late thirties. Roughly: thirteen entries for 2026, fifteen for 2027, thirteen for 2028, ten for 2029, twelve for 2030, nine for 2031, seven for 2032, then three, two, two, two, two, one and one through to 2039.
Three markers run alongside the names and they are the most useful thing on the page. The book flags alternative-fuel ships, expedition vessels and vessels built specifically for the China and Asia market. You can therefore read the new cruise ships orderbook not just as a list of hulls but as a list of bets — on fuel, on where people want to go, and on which market grows.
1. 2026 — thirteen entries, and most have already sailed
The current year is nearly closed out. Of its thirteen entries, eight are marked delivered, including Explora III, Viking Mira and Mein Schiff Flow. The remainder are still to come, among them Viking Libra, World Asia and Seven Seas Prestige, plus an expedition vessel for Antarctica21.
A year this far advanced is useful for one thing only: it tells you what is already in the water and therefore already bookable. If a 2026 hull interests you, the question is no longer whether it arrives but whether its first season is priced as an introduction.
Best for: anyone who wants one of the new cruise ships without waiting.
Book by: now — a maiden season sells on novelty and does not usually get cheaper.
2. 2027 — the peak of the new cruise ships book
Fifteen entries, the largest single year on the list, and the most varied. Named vessels include Explora IV and V, the Orient Express Olympian, Norwegian’s Aura, Royal Caribbean’s Hero class, Viking Astrea, Oceania’s Sonata, Four Seasons II, MSC’s World Atlantic, Disney’s Believe, Carnival’s Festivale, Emerald’s Raiya and the Aranui Aranoa.
That list of new cruise ships crosses every tier the industry has, from mass-market to small-ship luxury, in a single twelve-month window. Our reading, and it is a reading rather than a figure: a year that busy puts more beds on the water at once than any other on the book, and capacity arriving together is the condition under which introductory pricing usually appears.
Best for: travellers flexible on line who want the widest choice of new cruise ships.
Book by: mid-2026 for a maiden sailing, later if you are happy with a second or third voyage.
3. 2028 — thirteen new cruise ships and the expedition tilt
Still heavy. Thirteen entries, including Viking Lyra and Leda, Scenic’s Ikon, Crystal’s Grace, Explora VI, Celebrity’s Xcite, Carnival’s Tropicale, Emerald’s Xara and Atlas’s Adventurer, alongside unnamed hulls for Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and a Disney order.
What stands out is how many of the smaller names appear here. Expedition and small-ship operators are ordering new cruise ships into the same window as the giants, which is a different competitive picture from the one most coverage describes.
Best for: anyone watching the expedition and small-luxury end rather than the megaships.
Book by: 2027, once itineraries are published — small ships sell out faster than large ones.
4. 2029 — ten entries and the first real taper
Ten entries, and the first year where the new cruise ships book visibly thins. Carnival’s Destiny, Viking Vega, SeaDream III and Oceania’s Arietta are named; the rest are unnamed orders for Royal Caribbean, Disney, MSC and a United/Poseidon hull.
From here on the proportion of unnamed entries rises sharply, which is the honest signal that these are slots rather than ships. The order is real. The vessel is still an argument inside a company.
Best for: nobody yet — this is a year to watch, not to plan around.
Book by: not applicable. Revisit when names appear.
5. 2030 — twelve entries and a second bulge
Twelve entries, almost every one unnamed: AIDA, three for MSC, Regent, Crystal, Norwegian, Disney, two Viking Ocean plus an expedition Viking hull, and Royal Caribbean. A bigger year than 2029 and the last substantial one on the book.
A bulge of new cruise ships this far out is not a schedule, it is an intention. Yards allocate berths years ahead and lines take slots to keep options open, so the useful information is which companies are repeatedly present rather than what any single row says.
Best for: reading which lines are committing hardest, not for booking.
Book by: no date exists. Treat 2030 as the last year with real density.
6. 2031 to 2034 — the thinning out
Nine entries in 2031, seven in 2032, three in 2033, two in 2034. Almost all unnamed, and the same handful of names recur: MSC, Viking Ocean, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Regent, Oceania, TUI, AIDA, Crystal and Four Seasons.
This is where the new cruise ships orderbook stops being a product announcement and becomes a capital plan. The entries that survive this far out are the ones from companies confident enough to hold a yard slot for the better part of a decade, and the recurrence of the same names across consecutive years is the most durable thing on the whole page.
Best for: anyone judging which operators are still ordering new cruise ships for the long term.
Book by: nothing to book. The value here is the pattern.
7. 2035 to 2039 — the new cruise ships nobody talks about
Two entries in 2035, two in 2036, two in 2037, one in 2038 and one in 2039. Oceania, Princess, Norwegian and Regent. Every one unnamed, every delivery date marked to be announced.
This is the part of the book worth sitting with. A ship delivering in 2039 was ordered by people making a judgment about demand more than a decade out, in a business that has had two of the most disrupted years in its history inside the last ten. The orders are there anyway.
It also means something concrete for a traveller, and it is the one genuinely actionable idea in the whole list: the fleet you can choose from in the late thirties is already, substantially, decided. Not the itineraries, not the prices, but the hulls. If you care about sailing a particular size or style of vessel, the orderbook tells you years ahead whether anyone is still building it.
Best for: anyone who has noticed their preferred style of ship getting rarer and wants to know if that is real.
Book by: no date. But check whether your kind of ship still appears at all.
| Delivery year | Entries listed | What the year is for |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 13 (8 delivered) | Already bookable |
| 2027 | 15 — the peak | Widest choice of new hardware |
| 2028 | 13 | The expedition and small-luxury window |
| 2029 | 10 | First taper; mostly unnamed |
| 2030 | 12 | Last year with real density |
| 2031–2034 | 9, 7, 3, 2 | Capital plans, not products |
| 2035–2039 | 2, 2, 2, 1, 1 | The long tail |
Entry counts are rows in the Cruise Industry News orderbook as published on 7 September 2026, and include some already-delivered 2026 vessels; they will not sum to the headline figure of 84 ships. The right-hand column is our characterisation, not the source’s. Nine American coastal vessels are listed separately and are excluded here.
How to read the new cruise ships orderbook before you book
Three things, and none of them needs trade access.
Check whether your kind of ship is still among the new cruise ships
Scan the markers rather than the names. The book flags expedition vessels and alternative-fuel ships separately, so you can see at a glance whether the category you like is still attracting orders or quietly stopped. A style of ship with no new cruise ships after a certain year is a style that is ageing out of the fleet.
Count the unnamed entries, not the named ones
A named ship with a cost and a tonnage is a real project. An unnamed row with TBA against it is a yard slot somebody is holding. Both are genuine orders, but only the first tells you anything about what you might sail.
Watch the same names recurring
The operators appearing in four or five consecutive years are building a fleet of new cruise ships rather than a ship. Over a decade that is what changes the average age and size of what you can actually book — which matters more to most travellers than any single launch.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many new cruise ships are on order?
Cruise Industry News counts 84 ships, 229,384 berths and 89 billion dollars in its public orderbook, last updated on 7 September 2026. Counting rows in the year-by-year tables gives a higher number, because those tables include 2026 ships already delivered and a separate list of nine American coastal vessels.
How far ahead do cruise lines order ships?
Much further than most people assume. The current orderbook runs to 2039, with single entries scattered through 2035 to 2039 for Oceania, Princess, Norwegian and Regent. Those are yard slots and capital commitments rather than finished designs, and almost all are still unnamed.
Which year has the most new cruise ships arriving?
2027, with fifteen entries, the largest single year on the list. It spans the whole market, from mass-market hulls to small-ship luxury and expedition vessels, which is unusual for one twelve-month window.
Does a bigger orderbook mean cheaper cruises?
Not reliably, and we will not pretend otherwise. More berths arriving at once is the condition under which introductory pricing tends to appear, but that is our judgment about a pattern, not a figure anybody publishes. Fares depend on demand, fuel and itinerary far more than on hull count.
Should I book a ship on its first season?
Only if the newness is the point. A maiden season sells on novelty and rarely gets cheaper, and a brand-new vessel is also the one whose service routines are least settled. We often suggest the second or third voyage instead.
The Dorian Destinations Verdict
Stop reading launch announcements about new cruise ships and read the book they come from. A press release tells you one ship is coming. The orderbook tells you how many, for whom, in what order, and — far more usefully — when the building stops.
Our position, plainly: the interesting years on this list are not the crowded ones. 2027 will get the coverage because fifteen hulls arrive at once, but the year that should change anyone’s plans is 2029, when the named entries give way to unnamed slots. That is the point at which the industry stops telling you what it is building and starts telling you only that it intends to build.
And if your taste runs to smaller ships, read the long tail first. Four orders between 2035 and 2039 is not a fleet renewal. It is a handful of companies keeping a door open.
Sources: Cruise Industry News, the cruise ship orderbook (last updated 7 September 2026) and its daily reporting. Entry counts by year are rows in that orderbook; the headline totals of 84 ships, 229,384 berths and 89 billion dollars are the source’s own. Cost figures there are marked as possibly estimated. Related Dorian reading: which lines actually ban children, a river sailing read through its locks and which reaches the fleet actually serves.
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