These Are the Cruise Lines with the Biggest Fleets

Cruise lines are only getting bigger and better as time goes on. Ships themselves are becoming gigantic, and each major cruise line has an absolutely massive fleet. But what are the cruise lines with the biggest fleets, and how many ships do they have? Here’s a quick overview of the three companies at the top of the list. When it comes to sheer variety and options, these cruise lines have you covered.

Honorable mentions

There are two cruise lines that, despite being among the most recognizable brands in the cruise industry, don’t actually belong in the top three of this list. They are Celebrity and Princess. Both of these brands have 14 ships in their fleets. That’s still a sizable number of ships, but the next three companies blow them out of the water (excuse the pun).

Norwegian Cruise Line (17)

As of right now, Norwegian has a fleet made up of 17 different ships. That means that they have the third biggest collection of vessels out of all of the major cruise lines. The fleet has ships that are both new and quite old, with the oldest ship being Norwegian Spirit which was built in 1998. The 17 Norwegian ships are split across seven different classes defined by size. The smallest is the Leo class, which contains only the aforementioned Norwegian Spirit. The biggest class is Breakaway Plus, which has four different ships between 164,600 and 169,145 tons. And that’s not all: Norwegian plans to add a multitude of new ships to the fleet over the next few years.

MSC Cruises (19)

While MSC may not be as well-known among casual travelers as, say, Princess or Royal Caribbean, they still have the second largest fleet currently. As of 2022, they have 19 different ships sailing for them. They have seven classes in total, with most of their ships now being in classes that contain only ships above 100,000 tons. The crown jewels of their fleet are the sister ships MSC Grandiosa and MSC Virtuosa, which are both 181,541 tons. They plan to add ten ships to the fleet by 2027, with two of those ships setting sail this year.

Royal Caribbean (25)

If you know anything about cruises, you probably guessed that Royal would check in at first place here. It’s true: the world’s most successful cruise line has 25 ships in total. They are currently known for their Oasis class, a group of four ships that push the limits in terms of cruise ship size. The largest (and newest) is Symphony of the Sea, an absolutely massive vessel that is 228,081 tons and the largest cruise ship in the world.

While these are currently the three companies with the largest fleets, there’s no reason to expect that other cruise lines won’t surpass these numbers. We expect the post-pandemic era to usher in a lot of innovation in the industry. All cruise lines will likely boost these numbers by quite a bit!