Royal Caribbean International held a welcoming ceremony for Icon of the Seas, taking delivery of its first Icon Class ship ahead of her January 2024 debut. The handover ceremony in Turku, Finland marked 900 days of construction and design on the ‘first-of-a-kind family holiday’ at sea.
Icon of the Seas will now make her way to Cadiz, Spain for finishing touches before her January 2024 cruise debut in Miami.
The brand-new Icon of the Seas features a series of firsts and next-level favourites across eight neighbourhoods plus Thrill Island, Chill Island, more than 40 drinking and dining options and four stages of entertainment.
There’s also 28 different ways to stay on board, including the new three-level Ultimate Family Townhouse.
Each seven-night Eastern or Western Caribbean adventure from Miami aboard Icon of the Seas features destinations across the Caribbean and RCI’s private island Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas, which includes the brand-new Hideaway Beach.
Welcoming Icon of the Seas aboard RCI
The transfer of ownership between Royal Caribbean and Meyer Turku, aka the delivery of a new ship, also commemorated the series of never-before-seen feats accomplished during more than two years of construction.
These include the installation of the AquaDome, the single largest glass and steel structure to be lifted onto a cruise ship, engineering more water on board than ever before across seven pools, six record-breaking waterslides and more.
Marking the milestone were more than 1,200 crew members and workers, joined by Royal Caribbean Group President & CEO Jason Liberty, Royal Caribbean International President & CEO Michael Bayley and Meyer Turku CEO Tim Meyer.
“Welcoming Icon of the Seas to the Royal Caribbean family is a remarkable accomplishment years in the making for thousands of innovators, engineers, architects and designers,” Mr Bayley said.
“Seven years ago, we had an ambitious idea to create the first holiday truly made for every type of family and adventurer; now, it’s in our hands, and in this final stretch, we’ll bring it all to life for the biggest debut in our history in January 2024.”
For more info, head to royalcaribbean.com
