If you like new-ship smell, 2026 is your year. The order books are full of everything from family mega-resorts and all-suite yachts to tiny polar ships that run more on sunshine and wind than bunker fuel.
Most of these ships are still at the glossy-render and steel-cutting stage, which is why you will not see a full photo gallery here. In many cases the images simply do not exist yet, beyond a designer’s hard drive. What we do have are the key facts, the interesting tweaks and a sense of what each new arrival means for anyone planning a cruise in the next couple of years.
Below, we have grouped the new and nearly-new ocean ships, small ships and expedition vessels currently due in 2026, plus a few major reinventions that are essentially new ships in old hulls.
After a delay, Disney’s next newbuild is now due to start sailing from Singapore in March 2026, operating three- and four-night cruises that are essentially floating short breaks with no traditional ports of call.
Disney Adventure is being positioned heavily at families in Asia, but international guests will also be welcomed. On board, expect an all-out assault of Disney IP: Pixar characters, Marvel zones and what is billed as the first Iron Man roller coaster at sea. Under the skin, the ship is designed to run on lower-emission methanol, part of Disney’s slow but steady move towards cleaner fuels.
If your idea of a cruise is Broadway-style shows, elaborate kids’ clubs and meeting several costumed characters before breakfast, this is very much that ship.
Explora Journeys is quietly building a proper modern luxury fleet, and Explora III is where it starts leaning harder into “future-proof” hardware. Due in summer 2026, it will be the line’s first LNG-powered ship, keeping the broad look and feel of Explora I and II but with some useful tweaks.
The suite count goes up slightly to 463 and the mix shifts upwards: roughly a quarter of all accommodation will be in larger Ocean Penthouses and around nine per cent in more expansive Ocean Residences, plus an extra Owner’s Residence at the very top. Spa, fitness and wellness facilities are being consolidated into a single, more coherent space, while the youth areas are being split more clearly by age.
If you like the idea of a contemporary, design-led ship with a strong food focus and fewer people than a small town, Explora III looks like an incremental but meaningful step forward.
MSC’s World-class ships are the spiritual home of the “floating city” model: vast, bright, busy and very pleased about their waterparks. The third in the series, MSC World Asia, is currently due in December 2026. Despite the name, early deployment is expected to be in the Mediterranean, with itineraries likely to move around over time.
The key upgrade here is the Yacht Club, MSC’s ship-within-a-ship enclave. World Asia is set to have the largest Yacht Club yet, with more suites and an expanded selection of top-tier categories, including a new Royal Duplex Suite of about 570 square feet with big outdoor space.
In other words, if you like the idea of a big, exuberant mainstream ship but want your own bubble of calm (and butler service), this is the one MSC will point you towards.
Norwegian’s Prima-class ships are already relatively modest by mega-ship standards. Norwegian Luna, due in April 2026, is their slightly larger sibling: about ten per cent bigger than Prima and Viva, with the extra space used for more attractions and more generous public areas rather than packing in extra cabins.
The headline toy is the Aqua Slidecoaster, a hybrid waterslide and coaster that wraps around the upper decks. Inside The Haven, Norwegian’s suite enclave, there will be new three-bedroom duplex suites aimed squarely at extended families or groups of friends who want to lock the door and pretend the rest of the ship is not there. Entertainment-wise, one of the main shows will be “Rocket Man: A Celebration of Elton John,” which feels about right for NCL’s slightly camp, slightly tongue-in-cheek theatre style.
Regent has not introduced a completely new class of ship for a decade, so Seven Seas Prestige, due in December 2026, is a big moment for the ultra-luxury line. The new Prestige class comes in at around 77,000 gross tons for 850 guests, giving one of the most generous space-to-guest ratios at sea and sticking firmly to Regent’s all-suite, all-balcony format.
Dining is being dialled up as well. Expect seven specialty restaurants and eleven distinct dining experiences, including Azure, a new Mediterranean concept, alongside the familiar French, steak and pan-Asian favourites. New suite categories are planned, including two-deck loft suites that feel more like small apartments than cabins.
If your holiday style is “I would like the hotel to remember my favourite champagne, please,” this is firmly in that territory.
Royal Caribbean is reviving an old name for a very new ship. Legend of the Seas, scheduled to join the Icon class in July 2026, will follow Icon of the Seas and Star of the Seas as the line’s third supersized family resort.
New for Legend is the Royal Railway dinner show, a theatrical restaurant that mimics a journey along the Silk Routes, with the scenery changing on giant screens as you eat. The returning Supper Club will be rethemed around the golden age of Hollywood, and the main theatre production is slated to be “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which feels almost too on-brand for a line that already puts a theme park and several neighbourhoods on one hull.
Viking continues to quietly roll out near-identical ocean ships aimed at adults who like their cruising with more lectures and fewer water slides. Viking Mira arrives in spring 2026, with a first season in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.
Later in 2026 comes Viking Libra, which is designed to be one of the first large cruise ships to use hydrogen fuel cells as part of its power mix, nudging the line closer to its long-stated emissions goals. Otherwise, both ships follow Viking’s established formula: around 1,000 guests, Scandinavian design, included wine with meals, no casinos and plenty of enrichment.
Not everything in 2026 is about size. A lot of the more interesting projects are happening down at the small-ship end, where lines can experiment with new technology and different kinds of itineraries.
Antarctica21 has built its business on “air-cruises” that skip the Drake Passage by flying guests into Antarctica to meet the ship. Magellan Discoverer, due for the 2026–27 season, is a purpose-built hybrid-electric polar vessel with PC6 ice-class, carrying around 76 guests on air-cruises and up to 96 on traditional sea voyages.
The idea is boutique expedition rather than a floating lecture hall: fewer people on each landing, modern Scandinavian-style interiors and a power system designed to reduce noise and emissions in sensitive areas.
American Cruise Lines continues its quiet takeover of US rivers and coastal routes. American Maverick and American Ranger, both Patriot-class small ships, are scheduled for summer and late 2026. They will carry around 130 guests each on itineraries stretching from New England to the Florida Gulf Coast, helped by deeper drafts that allow for more varied coastal routes.
On board, expect all-balcony accommodation, several dining options and lounges that feel more upmarket hotel than traditional riverboat. These are very much designed for guests who want US-only cruising with a modern, low-faff ship.
Emerald Kaia is the third in Emerald’s little fleet of oceangoing yachts, joining Azzurra and Sakara. Launching in spring 2026, it will carry about 128 guests with 92 crew, and most suites will come with verandas or large windows, ranging from roughly 340 to over 1,400 square feet.
Kaia’s maiden season is planned for the Mediterranean, starting with Greek Islands itineraries, before moving on to classic small-ship playgrounds such as the Adriatic. The vibe is relaxed, yacht-style cruising rather than “formal night and a captain’s table.”
Four Seasons is taking its hotel formula to sea with Four Seasons I, now due to launch in early 2026 after a schedule shuffle. The yacht will have around 95 residential-style suites, 11 bars and restaurants, a large aft pool deck and the sort of spa complex you would expect from a five-star brand.
Pricing is closer to private-yacht territory, with suites priced per cabin rather than per person, and most food and drink charged à la carte, just as in the hotels. Maritime geeks will also note that Captain Kate McCue, well known from Celebrity Cruises, has been appointed as one of the inaugural masters.
The Orient Express brand is no longer content with trains and hotels. Orient Express Corinthian, billed as the world’s largest luxury sailing yacht, is due in summer 2026. It will carry just 54 suites and run highly priced itineraries in the Mediterranean before heading to the Caribbean in winter.
On board, the tone is very French: La Table de l’Orient-Express by Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alléno, multiple other dining spaces and a long, linear pool deck that looks made for people who own several linen shirts.
Selar is a new French operator with a very 2026 brief: build a polar yacht that runs mostly on wind and sun. Captain Arctic, due in November 2026, is a 70-metre expedition ship using rigid solar sails, electric propulsion and batteries, with biofuel as a backup. The line claims around 90 per cent of operations will be powered by wind and solar in normal conditions.
The ship will take only about 36 guests on itineraries in Norway, Svalbard and Greenland, and in a neat twist there are no fixed routes. The captain and expedition leader will choose the plan day by day, based on weather and wildlife.
Windstar’s first ever newbuild, Star Seeker, is a 224-guest all-suite ship that brings the line’s small-ship model firmly into the modern luxury space. It is scheduled to debut in January 2026, with most suites offering a full veranda or floor-to-ceiling infinity windows.
There will be Windstar’s hallmark watersports platform, a two-storey spa and new spaces such as the Basil + Bamboo specialty restaurant, with itineraries planned for Alaska, Asia and the Caribbean.
A few 2026 “new ships” are actually serious rebuilds of existing vessels, to the point where the steel is familiar but almost everything else is different.
Aqua Lares started life decades ago as an ice-class vessel, but is currently being completely reworked as a 15-suite superyacht within the Ponant Explorations Group. When it launches in February 2026, it will focus initially on East Africa, sailing the Seychelles, Aldabra Atoll, Zanzibar and the Tanzanian coast with five- to eleven-night itineraries.
The ship will carry around 30 guests with a near 1:1 crew-to-guest ratio, and will be available both for private charter and as a cabin-by-cabin ultra-luxury product, which is still rare in this part of the world. Later, the plan is for Aqua Lares to migrate seasonally to the Norwegian Arctic.
Vidanta Elegant is not brand new, but the adults-only “ultra mega yacht” is essentially being relaunched for an international audience in late 2025 and throughout 2026, with a strong focus on the Mediterranean. The 298-guest ship promises a near one-to-one crew ratio, 13 restaurants and lounges, a casino, spa and pool-rich deck layouts.
Early 2026 itineraries include French and Italian Riviera routes, Greek island circuits and other classic Med weeks, with pricing pitched firmly at the luxury end.
Star Explorer will join Windstar at the end of 2026 as a sister to Star Seeker, but the hull is already well travelled: it currently sails as World Explorer on charter to Quark Expeditions. Before entering service for Windstar, it will be refitted with the line’s watersports platform, spa and yacht-style public spaces to match Star Seeker as closely as possible, again carrying 224 guests in all-suite accommodation.
Shipyards are busy and launch dates move, so think of all of the above as “best current information” rather than promises carved into the funnel. But if you are the kind of person who likes to be on a ship’s first season, this is the shortlist to watch.