In January 2024, Royal Caribbean launched the world’s greatest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas. Years of planning, designing, and developing lastly got here to fruition when Icon of the Seas sailed on her inaugural itinerary from Miami, Florida. It received’t be lengthy till her sister ship, Star of the Seas, debuts later this 12 months.
Whereas Icon of the Seas made large waves within the cruise trade in 2024, she was met with loads of pomp and circumstance. Few fashionable cruise ships have garnered as a lot consideration as Icon did.
Nevertheless, Icon of the Seas was within the works lengthy earlier than her inaugural crusing. The cruise line stated greater than seven years of dreaming are behind the inception of its latest ship class. In October 2016, Royal Caribbean and the Meyer Turku shipyard introduced the order of a brand-new ship class underneath the challenge identify “Icon.”
The cruise line additionally registered a trademark for the identify “Icon of the Seas” that very same 12 months. The cruise line introduced the order of a 3rd Icon class ship in 2019, which we all know now shall be named Legend of the Seas.
The primary metal for Icon of the Seas was lower in June 2021, and development befell over 900 days in Turku, Finland – or roughly 2.5 years of development. The ship was delivered to Royal Caribbean in November 2023 earlier than setting sail on her inaugural voyage on January 27, 2024.
Because the world’s greatest cruise ship, you may think about the associated fee to construct Icon of the Seas isn’t low-cost. Briefly, the development of Icon of the Seas value an estimated $2 billion USD to construct. This makes it some of the costly ships ever constructed!
For comparability, Royal Caribbean spent an estimated $1.4 billion USB to construct Attract of the Seas, whereas Superstar Cruises spent $900 million on Superstar Past. Equally, Carnival Celebration value round $1 billion, and Norwegian Cruise Line paid round $850 million for Norwegian Prima.
Royal Caribbean’s funding within the Icon class was monumental. The huge funding displays the cruise line’s daring imaginative and prescient for Icon of the Seas, together with her cutting-edge design and state-of-the-art facilities. To not point out, the sheer dimension of the ship clocks in at 250,800 gross tons!
Right here’s a deeper have a look at the design and development of some of the groundbreaking cruise ships ever constructed.
Design and Venture Initiative for Icon of the Seas
When Royal Caribbean started designing Icon of the Seas, the cruise line needed to make historical past. Between Royal Caribbean’s in-house groups and trusted companions in provide chain, the cruise line was decided to push boundaries with Icon of the Seas.
As a brand new ship class, Royal Caribbean had a posh journey for the primary vessel in its Icon class. The brand new vessel wanted to be the primary of its form, incorporating new components of innovation that different cruise traces had but to aim. Royal Caribbean makes use of an in-house design lab for analysis, which contains digital actuality into the design aspect.
As an example, the brand new ship design aimed to include extra ocean views, permitting passengers to see the ocean whereas cruising aboard the huge ship.
The cruise line envisioned expansive, multi-deck glass home windows to focus on the ocean. Nevertheless, this required reengineering the ship’s structural help to accommodate the burden distribution.
That is how the Pearl – a standout function within the Royal Promenade – got here to life. The metal sphere is on the ship’s middle and replaces the cumbersome port and starboard help beams.
Jay Schneider, the chief product innovation officer for Royal Caribbean Group, states how the Pearl has three completely different functions. He defined, “To tug off the total glass façade, that superstructure stress needed to go someplace. So the Pearl actually does three jobs.”
“Sure, it’s an arrival second. Sure, we expect it’s going to be an incredible, awe-inspiring expertise for folks. And the heavy beams for the superstructure of the ship basically run by way of the Pearl. And the Pearl takes on the burden at this level of the ship,” continued Schneider.
Nevertheless, the aim of the Pearl is supporting the stress of the ship: “All people else creates the identical previous cruise ships that comply with the conventional construction.”
Royal Caribbean collaborated with many esteemed design corporations to create Icon of the Seas, reminiscent of Wilson Butler Architects, 3Deluxe, RTKL, and Skylab Structure. This consists of the intricate deck layouts and integration of technological facilities. Different redesigned areas on the brand new ship class included the addition of the AquaDome, Absolute Zero ice-skating enviornment, and a reimagined Royal Promenade.
Moreover, Royal Caribbean wanted to include new applied sciences aboard Icon of the Seas
With extra ships on order, Royal Caribbean wanted to behave shortly for developmental options. Nevertheless, this isn’t all the time a clean course of. Testing new applied sciences that work on land to function effectively and correctly at sea is a protracted course of. The cruise line can be closely centered on sustainability.
Royal Caribbean acknowledged in April 2023, “From large-scale techniques, together with the primary waste-to-energy system at sea, to the smallest particulars like LED lightbulbs, each program and software will play an element in making the world’s finest trip essentially the most sustainable Royal Caribbean Worldwide ship but.”
Specifically, the Icon class ships would incorporate new liquified pure gasoline (LNG) gas know-how to energy the ship. Royal Caribbean says the ship has six multi-fuel Wärtsilä engines, which will be fueled by LNG and distillate gas.
Learn extra: How a lot does a cruise ship value to function per day?
Icon of the Seas is Royal Caribbean’s first ship powered by LNG. The sort of versatile gas doesn’t use any sulfur, which contributes to acid rain and air air pollution, and operates with decrease carbon emissions and diminished nitrogen oxides. The cruise line has additionally launched the usage of gas cell know-how, which reduces greenhouse gasoline emissions.
“We consider gas cells provide very fascinating design potentialities,” stated Harri Kulovaara, Royal Caribbean’s Chief of Ship Design in a 2016 press launch.
“Because the know-how turns into smaller and extra environment friendly, gas cells turn out to be extra viable in a major option to energy the ship’s lodge capabilities. We’ll start testing these potentialities as quickly as we are able to, and look to maximise their use when Icon class debuts,” defined Kulovaara.
When the Icon class was first introduced, Royal Caribbean had already been eyeing the usage of gas cells for a couple of decade. The cruise line felt the know-how was in a stage of growth to justify the funding, banking on future regulatory requirements that wanted to be developed for the know-how to be utilized.
Kulovaara stated on the time, ”There’s a lengthy lead time for Icon class, and we are going to use that point to work with Meyer Turku to adapt gas cell know-how for maritime use.” Kulovaara stated that extra regulatory requirements would additionally should be developed for the know-how.
With Royal Caribbean’s dedication to sustainability, the cruise line wanted to speculate closely in LNG know-how for Icon class ships. The cruise line states that Icon of the Seas is 24% extra power environment friendly than required by worldwide laws. In truth, the cruise line is constant to push in direction of its bold purpose of introducing a net-zero ship by 2035.
Setting up Icon Class ships requires a major workforce and substantial materials bills
A considerable a part of Royal Caribbean’s funding went into the in depth labor required to construct the Icon class ships. As talked about, the development for Icon of the Seas spanned over the course of two.5 years.
The labor value to truly construct a cruise ship is all the time substantial, however much more so whenever you’re constructing a ship as giant as Icon of the Seas. A whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} have been possible poured into labor prices for constructing Icon of the Seas.
Your entire development course of befell within the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, which has constructed lots of Royal Caribbean’s different ships. Ships are inbuilt blocks and assembled collectively like Legos. 1000’s of staff have been required to assemble the brand new large vessel, which befell nearly solely on the Meyer Turku shipyard.
The method of constructing Icon of the Seas was lengthy and grueling, taking round 900 days for the ship to be constructed. As an example, the cruise line shared footage of the AquaDome being positioned on the ship. On the time, the cruise line stated the “unnamed, 175-metric-ton sphere” took 4 days of preparation and a day-long switch by barge earlier than being lifted onto the ship.
Most of the workers labored tirelessly across the clock to make sure the challenge was accomplished on time. Royal Caribbean acknowledged that just about 3,000 folks have been working day-after-day for the development of the brand new ship.
Learn extra: Royal Caribbean unveils adjustments to make Star of the Seas even higher than Icon of the Seas
Examples of labor mandatory included engineers, designers, security officers, welders, electricians, and extra to contribute to the development of Royal Caribbean’s newest ship. To not point out, Royal Caribbean handled the logistical nightmare of developing its new ship through the pandemic all through 2020 and 2021.
In November 2023, Royal Caribbean acknowledged, “1000’s concerned have since completed a sequence of milestones and never-before-seen feats, just like the set up of the only largest glass and metal construction to be lifted onto a cruise ship and engineering extra water on board than ever earlier than throughout seven swimming pools, six record-breaking waterslides and extra.”
Supplies are additionally costly for constructing a ship, particularly with rising prices in recent times.
With a ship as giant as Icon of the Seas, there was a major value of supplies for the cruise line. The shipyard partnered with Metalcolour Group to produce over 250,000 sq. meters of laminated metal for the development of the ship. This included supplies for wall panels, ceilings, doorways, and moist items aboard the ship.
Different mandatory supplies included elements of the six LNG-powered engines, the ship’s inside design, mandatory furnishings, stateroom facilities, and extra. Sadly, a small hearth broke out on the shipyard in February 2023 aboard Icon of the Seas that additionally broken some supplies.
Icon of the Seas is house to many various state-of-the-art facilities, that are pricey
Similar to constructing a home, outfitting a cruise ship requires an funding in furnishings, facilities, and décor to create a welcoming and immersive setting.
Given the immense dimension of Icon of the Seas, it’s no shock that Royal Caribbean possible allotted a major funds to equip the ship with high-end options and facilities.
Icon of the Seas provides unparalleled luxurious together with her eight distinct neighborhoods, together with the progressive AquaDome. That is the primary of its form, performing as a multifunctional house encased in a putting glass and metal dome.
The Icon class can be full of state-of-the-art facilities and exhilarating sights. Every of those required substantial monetary funding to carry Royal Caribbean’s imaginative and prescient to life. Nevertheless, Royal Caribbean knew these attractive options of the ship would assist enhance demand for the brand new vessel.
For instance, check out the ship’s spectacular prime deck. That is house to Class 6, the biggest waterpark at sea and a primary for Royal Caribbean. Designing, testing, and developing such a groundbreaking function was undoubtedly a pricey endeavor, because it set a brand new trade benchmark.
Past the waterpark, Icon of the Seas additionally introduces a number of first-of-their-kind experiences, together with the world’s first suspended infinity pool, the Crown’s Edge skywalk and impediment course, and the ever-popular FlowRider surf simulator.
These cutting-edge additions spotlight the cruise line’s dedication to innovation and delivering an unparalleled visitor expertise—an funding that undoubtedly comes with a hefty price ticket.
In the end, Icon Class ships are among the most costly ships to construct on the planet!
Icon of the Seas is the biggest cruise ship at sea, and Royal Caribbean’s large funding has paid off. The cruise line has reported unprecedented demand for the brand new ship, with record-breaking bookings. Royal Caribbean invested an immense quantity of sources, together with money and time, to design Icon of the Seas.
The success can’t be understated. Royal Caribbean Group reported distinctive monetary ends in the third quarter of 2024, with whole income reaching $4.9 billion and a internet earnings of $1.1 billion. The cruise line attributes a part of this monetary success to the deployment of Icon of the Seas, which has been a key issue within the cruise line’s sky-high demand.
The Icon class has set new benchmarks within the cruise trade, and the sister ships of Icon of the Seas are more likely to be simply as profitable – and costly – for the cruise line.
