Top 10 Cruise Lines By Fleet Size
So, if you are just starting off, it may be beneficial to first cruise with a cruise line with a huge range of ships, but just which lines have the biggest fleets at sea? That just what I look at in this list.
It’s not just those who are new to industry that this sort of list is interesting for however as if you are looking for a new line, them having a large fleet of ships could really be to your advantage.
So here they are, the cruise lines with the largest fleet of ships.
Our Top 10 Cruise Lines By Fleet Size
Royal Caribbean International (30)
Royal Caribbean have the biggest fleet of ships in the world and the biggest cruise ships in the world but if the thought of those behemoths of the sea put you off, they have a wide range of sizes in their fleet meaning there is likely a ship for everybody.
Known for their action-packed cruise ships that offer family friendly getaways the line is often the perfect starter line for those new the industry, so cruisers have plenty of time to work their way through the entire fleet.
Unfortunately for those who want to try that, the line is constantly growing their fleet with the Legend of the Seas set to launch in 2026.
The ships of Royal Caribbean can be split into a number of classes of size and style including smaller and older ships with a more traditional feel to larger and modern ships with a resort style of cruising to them.
Smaller Ships
These are the ships smaller ships which have been the mainstay of the line for much of this century and continue to be amongst the most popular for long term cruisers.
Vision Class:- Grandeur of the Seas (built 1996), Enchantment of the Seas (built 1997), Rhapsody of the Seas (built 1997), Vision of the Seas (built 1998)
Voyager Class:- Voyager of the Seas (built 1999), Explorer of the Seas (built 2000), Adventure of the Seas (built 2001), Navigator of the Seas (built 2002), Mariner of the Seas (built 2003)
Radiance Class:- Radiance of the Seas (built 2001), Brilliance of the Seas (built 2002), Serenade of the Seas (built 2003), Jewel of the Seas (built 2004)
Larger Ships
These are larger cruise ships that are some of the more moderner ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet that also offer the widest range of facilities for cruisers to enjoy.
Freedom Class:- Freedom of the Seas (built 2006), Liberty of the Seas (built 2007), Independence of the Seas (built 2008)
Quantum Class:- Quantum of the Seas (built 2014), Anthem of the Seas (built 2015), Ovation of the Seas (built 2016), Spectrum of the Seas (built 2019), Odyssey of the Seas (built 2021)
Mega Ships
These are record breaking ships that have each been the largest ship in the world from launch and became the first true resort style of ships with a city at sea feel.
Oasis Class:- Oasis of the Seas (built 2009), Allure of the Seas (built 2010), Harmony of the Seas (built 2016), Symphony of the Seas (built 2018), Wonder of the Seas (built 2022), Utopia of the Seas (built 2024)
Icon Class:- Icon of the Seas (built 2023), Star of the Seas (built 2025), Legend of the Seas (built 2026)
Carnival Cruise Line (29)
The Carnival Cruise Line is one that is always evolving as not only do the line launch new build ships, but their parent company, the Carnival Corporation, move ships between lines.
At the time of writing this list, the line has 29 ships and whilst many of those are older and smaller ships, they have started to build their fleet with brand new ships.
Known as the fun line, it can be a great choice for those who find the idea of traditional cruising boring, so the attack many newcomers to the industry who will likely want to experience as many of their ships as they can- and with so many, it will take quite some time to do that.
MSC Cruises (24)
MSC are a Swiss-headquartered, Italian based line that offer a different style of cruising to many on this list as it offers a Mediterranean flair to your getaway.
Something else that the line offer is a low base fare where just about everything costs extra once your onboard, so choosing the right ship really makes a difference to your holiday.
Thankfully, they have one of the largest range of ships to help with that including their recent focus on launching some of the biggest cruise ships in the world.
The ships of MSC can be split into a number of classes of size and style including.
These are all smaller ships of under 100,000 tonnage and whilst they cannot match the facilities and activities of the larger ships, they can visit ports that the larger ships cannot.
Mistral Class:- MSC Armonia (built 2001, joined MSC in 2004), MSC Sinfonia (built 2001, joined MSC in 2004), MSC Lirica (built 2003), MSC Opera (built 2004)
Musica Class:- MSC Musica (built 2006), MSC Orchestra (built 2007), MSC Poesia (built 2008), MSC Magnifica (built 2010)
These are larger cruise ships that are over 100,000 tonnes and below 200,000, that offering the full Yacht Club experience and the widest range of onboard facilities.
Fantasia Class:- MSC Fantasia (built 2008), MSC Splendida (built 2009), MSC Divina (built 2012), MSC Preziosa (built 2013)
Meraviglia Class:- MSC Meraviglia (built 2017), MSC Bellissima (built 2019)
Meraviglia Plus Class:- MSC Grandiosa (built 2019), MSC Virtuosa (built 2021), MSC Euribia (built 2023), Norwegian Encore (built 2019)
Seaside Class:- MSC Seashore (built 2021), MSC Seascape (built 2022)
These are some of the biggest ships in the world that are capable of hosting around 7,000 passengers and offer the widest range of facilities for the line
World Class:- MSC World Europa (built 2022), MSC World America (built 2025), MSC World Asia (built 2026)
Norwegian Cruise Line
The Norwegian Cruise Line are known for their laid-back style, where there promote themselves as offering the chance to do what you want, when you want but whilst things don’t often work that way, it is a line when you can forget your suit or cocktail dress.
With a huge range of ships, you will likely be able to find a ship that suits your way of cruising with their older ships such as the Spirit offering not too much in the way of attractions onboard to their new builds that offer Go-Karts and food courts.
The ships of NCL can be split into a number of classes of size and style including.
These are all smaller ships under 100,000 tonnage and whilst they cannot match the facilities and activities of the larger ships, they can visit ports that the larger ships cannot.
Leo Class:- Norwegian Spirit (built 1998, formally Superstar Leo)
Sun Class:- Norwegian Sky (built 1999, formally Pride of Aloha), Norwegian Sun (built 2001)
Dawn Class:- Norwegian Star (built 2001, ordered as Superstar Libra) and Norwegian Dawn (built 2002, ordered as Superstar Scorpio)
Pride of America Class:- Pride of America (built 2005, the only US flagged cruise ship in the world as of 2020)
Jewell Class:- Norwegian Jewell (built 2005), Norwegian Jade (Built 2006, formally Pride of Hawaii), Norwegian Pearl (built 2006), Norwegian Gem (built 2007)
These are larger cruise ships that are over 100,000 tonnes, with some amongst the largest cruise ships in the world and offering the full Haven experience and the widest range of onboard facilities.
Epic Class:- Norwegian Epic (built 2010)
Breakaway Class:- Norwegian Breakaway (built 2013), Norwegian Getaway (built 2014)
Breakaway Plus Class:- Norwegian Escape (built 2015), Norwegian Joy (built 2018), Norwegian Bliss (built 2018), Norwegian Encore (built 2019)
Prima Class:- Norwegian Prima (built 2022), Norwegian Viva (built 2023)
Princess Cruises (17)
Princess Cruises are a premium cruise line, owned by the Carnival Corporation that are known for offering a more traditional style of cruising.
You can forget about climbing walls and go-karts with Princess as their focus is more on quality entertainment, food and offering cruisers the chance to relax.
The line continue to launch new ships to increase their fleet size that include a good variety of ship sizes to suit most cruisers.
The ships of Princess can be split into a number of classes of size and style including smaller and older ships with a more traditional feel to larger and modern ships with a resort style of cruising to them.
Smaller Ships
These are the ships smaller ships which have been the mainstay of the line for much of this century and continue to be amongst the most popular for long term cruisers.
Grand Class:- Grand Princess (built 1998), Diamond Princess (built 2004), Sapphire Princess (built 2004), Caribbean Princess (built 2004), Crown Princess (built 2006), Emerald Princess (built 2007), Ruby Princess (built 2008)
Coral Class:- Coral Princess (built 2002), Island Princess (built 2003)
Larger Ships
These are larger cruise ships that are some of the more moderner ships in the Princess fleet that also offer the widest range of facilities for cruisers to enjoy.
Royal Class:- Royal Princess (built 2013), Regal Princess (built 2014), Majestic Princess (built 2017), Sky Princess (built 2019), Enchanted Princess (built 2020), Discovery Princess (built 2022)
Sphere Class:- Sun Princess (built 2024), Star Princess (built 2024)
Celebrity Cruises (16)
Long-term readers of this website or viewers of the CruiseHols YouTube channel will know that Celebrity Cruises is my personnel favourite line and a big part of that is down to their ships.
There larger ships have a great mix of plenty of activities and attractions but still lots of quiet spots allowing you to be as busy or as quiet as you want to be.
They also push the boundaries of what a cruise ship can offer, with their new launches featuring the iconic Magic Carpet that allows you to have a drink whilst dangling over the edge of the ship!
Millennium Class (M Class, 91,000 GT): Celebrity Millennium (entered service in 2000, capacity 2,137), Celebrity Infinity (entered service 2001, capacity 2,170), Celebrity Summit (entered service 2001, capacity 2,158) and Celebrity Constellation (entered service 2002, capacity 2,170).
Solstice Class (S Class, 121,878-125,366 GT): Celebrity Solstice (entered service in 2008, capacity 2,850), Celebrity Equinox (entered service 2009, capacity 2,850), Celebrity Eclipse (entered service in 2010, capacity 2,850), Celebrity Silhouette (entered service in 2011, capacity 2,886) and Celebrity Reflection (entered service in 2012 capacity 3,046).
Edge Class (130,818-140,600 GT): Celebrity Edge (entered service in 2018, capacity 2,918), Celebrity Apex (entered service in 2020, capacity 2,918), Celebrity Beyond (entered service 2022, capacity 3,260), Celebrity Ascent (entered service 2023, capacity 3,260) and Celebrity Xcel (enters service 2025, capacity 3,260).
Expedition ships: Celebrity Expedition (entered service 2001, capacity 48, 2,842 GT), Celebrity Xploration (entered service 2017, capacity 16, 319.5 GT) and Celebrity Flora (entered service 2019, capacity 100 and 5,739 GT).
Silversea Cruises (12)
Silversea Cruises offer a mix of smaller, luxurious cruise ships and expedition ships that have one of the widest ranges of destinations you can visit.
That is down to most ships do not have a homeport per se as they just keep moving around the globe.
By having smaller ships, they visit many ports and regions the other lines on this list cannot go to and their expeditions style ships go to some of the remotest places on earth.
AIDA Cruises (11)
The AIDA cruise line is the only German based line to feature on this list, so whilst they may not be as well known as the other, the chances are you will have noticed one of their ships on your travels.
That is thanks to their bright livery’s finished off by 2 giant’s eyes on the side of the ship with a equally huge pair of lips on the front hull of the ships.
Operating mostly in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, their ships offer a more German style of cruising including pool resorts and beer halls.
Holland America Line (11)
Holland America, or HAL as they often called, are a Dutch based line that are part of the giant Carnival Corporation that are both one of the most historic cruise lines in the world but with one of the most modern fleet of ships.
An interesting titbit of the line is that they often re-use names, which gives their ships a historic and modern juxtaposition and the same can be said to the style of the ships as they offer a tradition offering but onboard ultra-modern ships.
Costa Cruises (10)
Costa Cruises are an Italian brand owned, as so many are on this list, by the Carnival Corporation.
They have a heavy focus on the Mediterranean, especially from homeports around Italy, and thanks to huge investments in their fleet, they have a growing number of large ships offering a budget getaway.
