Royal Caribbean International’s Icon of the Seas is expected to be the world’s biggest cruise ship when it enters service early next year.
This month, the vessel began its first phase of sea trials.
Set to be the world’s largest cruise ship and the company’s first Icon-class ship, the vessel has been under construction at Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland.
Royal Caribbean International’s Icon of the Seas is a mammoth 365 metres long (nearly 1,200 feet) and will weigh a projected 250,800 tons.
When it sets sail on Caribbean waters in January 2024, it will comfortably hold some 5,610 passengers and 2,350 crew. The boat’s piece de resistance will be the world’s largest waterpark at sea. Named Category 6, it’ll feature six record-breaking water slides, but guests who want a more leisurely experience can also relax in the boat’s seven pools and nine whirlpools.
The current title holder of world’s largest cruise ship is another vessel in the Royal Caribbean fleet, Wonder of the Seas, which made its inaugural voyage just last year and is a slightly teensier 1,188 feet in length, with a mere 18 decks to explore.
Royal Caribbean International is pitching Icon of the Seas as the cruise line’s evolutionary peak, using the latest technology and building on 50 years of learnings through the company’s history.
