Royal Caribbean's second Icon Class cruise ship is on its way to becoming a reality.
A steel cutting ceremony was held yesterday for the second Icon Class cruise ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet.
When the first piece of steel is cut, it marks a pivotal point in the ship building process, setting off an array of crucial landmarks to follow. This major milestone indicates that the groundwork has been set and the foundations have been laid for any further adjustments
The first piece of steel was cut at a ceremony at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, which is the same shipyard that is building Icon of the Seas and where Allure and Oasis of the Seas were built as well.
The second Icon Class ship is unnamed as of yet, but she will begin her first cruises in 2025.
Royal Caribbean has an order for a third Icon Class ship as well, which has a delivery date in 2026.
Both Royal Caribbean and Meyer Turku celebrated this event at the shipyard.
Essentially, when the first piece of steel is cut, it's one of the major milestones for ship construction. Other milestones include keel laying, floating out, and delivery.
Moreover, this is also a positive sign about the health of this project and Royal Caribbean's intention to continue forward with the new cruise ship.
What's different about the Icon Class?
The Icon Class is Royal Caribbean's newest class of cruise ship, and it's the first new class of ships in many years.
While we don't yet know anything about what Royal Caribbean has planned for the second Icon Class ship, there's no doubt it will inherit many aspects of Icon of the Seas.
These vessels represent the very best the cruise line has to offer going forward, and as we've seen with Icon of the Seas (the first ship in the class), there's a lot of innovations.
The Icon Class ships are not only bigger than the Oasis Class, coming in about 6% bigger, but they can hold more passengers too. Icon of the Seas has a maximum capacity of 7,600 passengers.
Royal Caribbean has already revealed a great deal of new concepts for Icon of the Seas. Boasting an impressive 20 decks and 7,600 passenger capacity, it's actually two decks higher than the Wonder of the Seas.
With new entertainment, 23 food venues, 8 fantastic neighborhoods, 7 pools and a waterpark, the ship offers something for everyone, including a vast array of cabin options not seen on other Royal Caribbean ships.
The Icon Class ships will be powered by LNG (liquefied natural gas). LNG and the state-of-the-art ship’s additional environmentally friendly applications, such as shore power connection, will boost energy efficiencies and reduce carbon footprint.
What will be the name of Icon 2?
Royal Caribbean did not announce a name for the second Class ship, so it's anyone's guess at this point what to expect.
In November 2022, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President and Chief Product Innovation Officer Jay Schneider talked about naming the next two Icon Class ships, "I'm still taking ideas on Icon two and Icon three. I feel really confident in the name we have for Icon three, it's actually two that we're still working on."
Then in January 2023, Royal Caribbean launched an online poll to let the public vote on the name of its second Icon Class ship.
Royal Caribbean posted on social media the choices of Star of the Seas, Idol of the Seas, Love of the Seas, or Queen of the Seas. There's been no indication of which, if any, of these names won.
On Twitter, Star of the Seas won the poll with 44% of the vote.