Construction for Royal Caribbean’s Next Ship is Officially Underway
by Daniel McCarthy /
Icon of the Seas, the next ship for Royal Caribbean International and the first in a new class of ships for Royal, is now officially on the road to its debut.
Royal Caribbean celebrated the steel cutting for Icon this week with Richard Fain, chairperson and CEO, Royal Caribbean Group; Michael Bayley, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International; and Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku, all on hand to mark the occasion at the Meyer Turk shipyard in Finland.
The ship is expected to debut in 2023, the first of three ships to be powered by LNG, which Royal says will start its own next chapter “in building a clean-energy future as the leader in innovative ship design,”
We made our commitment to making clean power at sea a reality – and soon the norm – when Icon Class was first announced in 2016, and we’re excited to see construction underway on what will truly be a ship unlike any other,” said Bayley.
“Our decades of work in ocean conservation, energy efficiency and continuous improvement will be evident all throughout Icon. We look forward to revealing more of the game-changing features our guests and crew have in store as she begins to take shape.”
Aside from the focus on clean power, Royal has yet to reveal much about Icon or the Icon class of ships. In its marketing, Royal says that “this is not just another ship. This is an extraordinary new class of adventure.”