Earlier this year, Carnival Corp. ordered an 180,000-gross-ton ship that will be the fourth in its Excel class. The very next day, Royal Caribbean International came through with another order for another Oasis class vessel -- its seventh. And after the episode was published, Carnival ordered a fifth Excel class ship. These ships, which all clock in the 6,000-passenger-plus size, will join megaships from MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line.

With Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class Utopia of the Seas debuting in Port Canaveral this week, it seemed like a perfect time to revisit this phenom. In this episode, Host Rebecca Tobin, cruise editor Andrea Zelinski and Geoff Cox, the vice president of sales and marketing for KHM Travel Group discuss: What these ship orders mean for Carnival and Royal in terms of corporate direction and passenger demands; the prevailing love for big, big ships; and how far the industry’s come since its Sovereign days.

This episode is part of our annual Summer Series, where we feature some of our favorite recent Folo by Travel Weekly discussions. This episode was recorded Feb. 16 and has been edited for length and clarity.

Episode sponsor:

This episode is sponsored by JOIA Aruba by Iberostar. https://www.iberostar.com

Related reports:

Cruise Insight: How cruise lines organize megaships: Inside the 'zone' trend https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Insights/how-cruise-lines-organize-megaships

Carnival to add fifth Excel-class ship https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Carnival-Cruise-Line-will-add-fifth-Excel-ship

Royal Caribbean orders a seventh Oasis-class ship https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Royal-Caribbean-orders-seventh-Oasis-class-ship?ct=cruise

Royal Caribbean sets a new benchmark with Icon of the Seas https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Royal-Caribbean-sets-new-benchmark-with-Icon

KHM Travel Group https://khmtravel.com/