Icon of the Seas was floated out in December 2022. Her cost has been stated as $1.3 billion and, in addition to LNG, she uses fuel cell technology and is equipped to run on shore power.
MEYER TURKU
The next Royal Caribbean ship to enter service, and its largest to date, Icon of the Seas, was floated out at the Meyer Turku yard on 9 December 2022. She was originally ordered in 2016, and steel cutting began in June 2021, with the ship’s keel being laid in April 2022.
In the meantime, the engine room block, together with LNG tanks, had been built at Meyer’s Neptune Yard in Rostock and towed to Turku. Although initially reported to be smaller than the Oasis class ships, more recently a figure of 250,800 has been given as her approximate gross tonnage, which will make her the largest passenger ship ever built.
Delivery of Icon of the Seas is scheduled for late 2023 and she will enter service, sailing from Miami in January 2024, after a delay of almost two years as a result of the pandemic and related supply issues. She will operate alternate Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries from Miami, with a maximum passenger capacity of 7,600 and a crew of almost 2,400, making her a true city at sea, a destination in her own right.