Welcome to Cruise News, your daily update on
everything happening at sea. Visit cruisenews
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alerts. Hello everyone, it is Monday, January
19, 2026. Hope you had a great weekend. I am
really excited for today's deep dive because
we have a stack of stories that I think really...
paints a picture of where the industry is heading.
It feels like we're looking at three completely
different facets of cruising today, doesn't it?
It really does. So here's what we've got. First,
we are heading to China. Adore Cruises is putting
up numbers that are just staggering. They're
about to hit a huge passenger milestone and they're
building this new flower themed mega ship. Almost
entirely homegrown, which is the key part of
that story. Exactly. Then we're going to look
at Royal Caribbean International's Star of the
Seas. It's been out for a few months, but we're
learning it's basically a floating laboratory
for energy efficiency. And finally, we'll switch
gears completely to something a little more,
you know, tangible for the guest. Princess Cruises
just took home a major global award for its food.
Right, so quick tone check. I am caffeinated
and ready to geek out on these ship specs. And
I am ready to explain why supply chains are actually
the most exciting part of that first story. Of
course you are. Okay, let's unpack this. Adora
Cruises. If you haven't been watching the Asian
market, you might have missed just how fast this
is all moving. I mean, it's incredibly fast.
We are talking about a cruise line that launched
less than three years ago, and they are already
closing in on their one millionth passenger.
Which is a massive number in that time frame.
You know, to start a cruise line from scratch
and hit seven figures that quickly is, well,
it's practically unheard of. It is. According
to their CEO, Roger Chen, they've carried nearly
a million people on 300 voyages. And here's the
stat that just blew my mind. They now hold 43
percent of China's cruise capacity. And that
43 percent figure is really the headline here,
isn't it? It has to be. Yeah, because the conversation
a few years ago was all about the big international
alliance moving ships into China. What we're
seeing now is that the Chinese rebound is being
built on domestic ships. It's a localized product.
A completely localized product. And speaking
of that, let's talk about the hardware. They
have the Adora Mediterranean. Which was the old
custom Mediterranean. Right. And the Adora Magic
City. But the real news is about ship number
three. The Adora Flora City. Yes, the Flora City.
It's targeted for delivery this December in 2026.
And they aren't just, you know, copying the last
design. It's going to be 17 meters longer. And
the atrium, the central hub of the ship, is going
to be twice the size. With a design concept centered
on flowers, which sounds lovely. But you mentioned
something about the supply chain being the real
story here. Oh, absolutely. So usually when we
talk about building these massive ships, we're
talking about a European supply chain. Italy,
Germany, Finland. Right. All the big shipyards.
Exactly. The glass, the furniture, the systems.
It's all coming from Europe. But Adore is just
flipping that script entirely. For the Flores
City, Chinese suppliers are expected to provide
85 % of the interior components. Wait, say that
again? 85 %? 85%. And you compare that to maybe
10 % on their earlier ships. They are actively
trying to reduce their reliance on international
suppliers from 90 % all the way down to 15%.
Wow. This isn't just about building a ship. It's
about building an entire industrial ecosystem
inside China. So they are manufacturing the experience
from the carpet up. It's a move toward total
self -sufficiency. It is. And that plays right
into their deployment strategy, too. The CEO
is calling it the 1314 strategy. I do love a
good corporate strategy name. What does 1314
actually mean? It's all focused on the Greater
Bay Area. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong. The
idea is to have a regional base with year -round
sailing. They're moving ships around to just
blanket the area. So they're covering northeast
and south China. That's the goal. But they do
face this one huge challenge, and it's demographics.
Okay. Chen noted that China's population, age
60 and over, has hit 310 million people. 310
million. That's almost the population of the
entire United States. Exactly. And Chen's argument
is that the industry just can't scale there without
getting those seniors on board. It's all about
the silver economy. Which makes sense. But they
are also going after them in a way I've never
seen before. This is where it gets really interesting.
We know booking windows in the West can be a
year out. In China... It's one to three months.
Super last minute. Very impulse driven. So to
lean into that, they're using live streaming.
Adora tested a 24 hour TikTok or Douyin live
stream sales campaign. Like a 24 hour infomercial.
Yes. On TikTok. And it reached six million viewers.
They are literally selling cruise cabins like
influencers sell makeup. Well, it makes sense.
If your booking window is that short, you need
these high volume instant sales channels like
WeChat. It's a completely different model. Okay,
let's move from the east to the west, specifically
to Port Canaveral. We have to talk about Royal
Caribbean International and the Star of the Seas.
The second icon class ship, a monster of a vessel.
It is. It entered service last August. It's a
beast. 250 ,000 gross tons, 5 ,600 passengers.
But what's interesting is Royal Caribbean isn't
just calling it a vacation spot. They're calling
it an efficiency testbed. Right. And this is
so important because the criticism of these huge
ships is always their environmental footprint.
Royal Caribbean is using this ship to prove they
can scale cleaner cruising. And they're putting
numbers on it. Nick Rose, their VP of environmental
programs, said the ship is about 24 % more efficient
than the Oasis -class ships. Which is a huge
jump. Usually you're fighting for 1 or 2%. So
how are they doing it? I mean, it can't be just
one thing. No, it's a marginal gains approach.
Yeah. But the big headliner is LNG liquefied
natural gas. And they're storing this fuel at,
what, minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit? And that
is the key. They aren't just letting the coldness
from that fuel dissipate when they turn it back
into a gas to be burned. actually capturing that
cold energy. Wait, so they're using the fuel
to help air condition the ship before they even
burn it to move the ship? In simple terms, yes.
They're harvesting the physics of it. They're
also capturing waste heat from the engines. It's
about squeezing every single drop of energy out
of the entire system. And they're getting really
sci -fi with the waste, too. I'm seeing microwave
-assisted paralysis here. It sounds like something
from Back to the Future, doesn't it? It really
does. But my favorite bit of tech is actually
in the cabins, this low port mode energy system.
Oh, the automation. This is brilliant because
it solves a human behavior problem. Yeah. You
know how you have to stick... your key card in
the slot by the door to keep the lights on. And
people just jam a business card in there so the
AC stays on all day. So wasteful. Right. Well,
Star of the Seas uses machine learning. It just
knows when you leave the room, it powers down
the lights and HVAC automatically. It doesn't
need a key card. And that's where the industry
is heading, taking the human error out of energy
saving. We should also mention the water. It
produces 100 % of its own fresh water. And this
isn't happening in a vacuum. I mean, Princess
Cruises launched the LNG -powered Star Princess
last year. Disney has new ships coming online.
Everyone is upgrading. They have to. The regulations
are getting tighter. And frankly, fuel is expensive.
Efficiency isn't just about being green. It's
about protecting the bottom line. That's true.
OK, so we've got the Chinese flower ship. We've
got the high -tech energy lab. Let's talk about
something a little closer to the stomach. The
Royal Princess. Yes. Princess Cruises just took
home a huge award. The Royal Princess was named
World's Best Culinary Cruise Ship for 2025 at
the World Culinary Awards. And this is a big
deal because the voters are a mix. It's culinary
pros, industry folks, and, you know, regular
consumers. It's a real validation. So why did
they win? What's happening in the dining rooms
that's so different? I think it signals that
cruise lines are finally succeeding at selling
dining as the destination itself. They're moving
away from the giant dining hall concept toward
these specialized chef -led experiences. Okay,
let's run through the menu because reading this
made me hungry. First, you have the Crown Grill.
That's their signature steakhouse. Premium aged
beef, seafood, open kitchen. A classic, but executed
perfectly. Then, Alfredo's Pizzeria, which has
been voted best pizza at sea. And it features
pizzas by Chef Tony Gimignani. And if you know
pizza, that name means something. He's a world
pizza champion. They didn't just find a recipe.
They brought in a master. That's the difference.
Then there's Sabatini's Italian Trattoria. They've
partnered with the Frescobaldi wine family for
pairings. Again, it's not just Italianite. It's
a curated event that could stand on its own on
land. And for the really fancy night, there's
the chef's table Lumiere, where you dine inside
a curtain of light. Very theatrical. And they
have a Caymus winemaker's dinner, too. It seems
like they're targeting every type of foodie.
They are. And notice the itineraries. Royal Princess
is sailing from Los Angeles to Mexico and California,
and then it's moving to Alaska. regions with
strong culinary identities. That geography really
matters. It does. They're aligning the award
-winning food with the local sourcing opportunities.
It's very smart. So if you're a foodie, it sounds
like Royal Princess is the ship to beat right
now. It definitely sets a high bar. Okay, so
let's just recap what we've learned today. We
have Adora Cruises in China building a self -sufficient
ecosystem with a new mega ship and a hyper -local
supply chain. A move that could honestly change...
global shipbuilding dynamics. Then we have Royal
Caribbean's Star of the Seas, basically a floating
computer using machine learning to get more efficient.
Proving that the biggest ships can actually be
the most efficient per passenger. And finally,
Princess Cruises, proving you can win global
awards by focusing on the details of what's on
the plate. Proving that the way to a passenger's
loyalty is still through a really, really good
slice of pizza and a great glass of wine. It's
fascinating. And here's a final thought for you
to chew on. We talked about Adore's strategy
of hyper -localizing its fleet and its supply
chain in China. My question is, how long until
we see that China model get exported? We see
it with electric vehicles. If Chinese shipyards
can build these ships with 85 % local parts,
cheaper and faster than Europe, how long until
a Western cruise line orders their next mega
ship from Shanghai? That is the multi -billion
dollar question, isn't it? If the quality matches
the price, the whole center of gravity for shipbuilding
could shift east for good. Something to watch.
That is all for today's Deep Dive. Thanks for
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