Icon of the Seas will become the biggest cruise ship in the world when she launches in 2024, but how does that stack up against other ships?
When Royal Caribbean announced it would build a new class of cruise ship, the Icon Class wasn't set to be the biggest in the world. But those plans changed along the way, and Icon of the Seas will overtake the Oasis Class ships for rank of the biggest ships.
Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President and Chief Product Innovation Officer said it wasn't their intention to build a giant ship, it just organically happened, "We didn’t start with the world’s largest ship. The ship was actually smaller in its initial design. But as we went through the creative journey, we did more research with our guests, and we found that this is what they want."
That might lead you to wonder how much bigger will Icon of the Seas be, and how does she rank compared to other Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
Read more: See how Royal Caribbean ships stack up by size
How big is Icon of the Seas?
Icon of the Seas is indeed really big. The new ship measures 1,198 feet long with 250,800 gross tonnage and is capable of carrying 7,600 guests and 2,350 crew members. The ship is encompasses 20 decks, has seven pools, and six waterslides that make up an entire waterpark.
If you were to stand Icon of the Seas up on its end, it would be taller than the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas and the Chrysler Building in New York City.
Icon of the Seas is divided into 8 neighborhoods, which are distinct areas of the ship meant to make it easier to navigate.
- AquaDome is at the front of the ship, offering 220-degree views and a 55-foot waterfall
- Suite Neighborhood has a Mediterranean restaurant and two-floor sundeck
- Central Park is a five deck open-air park that has living plant walls
- Chill Island has four pools and a swim-up bar
- Thrill Island is where you'll find the Category 6 waterpark, FlowRider surf simulator, rock climbing wall, mini-golf course and more.
- Surfside neighborhood designed for young families
- Royal Promenade shopping and entertainment district
- The Hideaway at he back of the ship offering 180-degree views and an infinity pool
There are over 2,800 staterooms on Icon of the Seas, as well as over 40 bars and restaurants onboard (23 of them are completely new to Royal Caribbean).
Is Icon of the Seas the biggest cruise ship in the world?
Icon of the Seas will become the biggest cruise ship in the world, overtaking Wonder of the Seas by gross tonnage, passenger capacity, and length.
It's unlikely any other cruise ship will overtake Icon of the Seas, until Star of the Seas debuts in 2025.
Royal Caribbean hasn't confirmed that Star of the Seas will be bigger than icon, but it's been Royal Caribbean's tradition to build slightly bigger ships than the previous one in the class.
How much bigger is Icon of the Seas compared to other ships?
Let's look at Icon of the Seas' specs to see how she measures up to Royal Caribbean's other big ships.
Gross tonnage
- Icon of the Seas: 250,800
- Utopia of the Seas: 236,860
- Wonder of the Seas: 236,857
Length
- Icon of the Seas: 1,198
- Utopia of the Seas: 1,188
- Wonder of the Seas: 1,188
Total decks
- Icon of the Seas: 20
- Utopia of the Seas: 18
- Wonder of the Seas: 18
Maximum passengers
- Icon of the Seas: 7,600
- Wonder of the Seas: 6,988
- Symphony of the Seas: 6,680
Crew capacity
- Icon of the Seas: 2,350
- Utopia of the Seas: 2,300
- Wonder of the Seas: 1,551
How about other cruise lines? Here's how Icon of the Seas compares to the biggest cruise ships of the major cruise lines.
Gross tonnage
- Icon of the Seas: 250,800
- MSC World Europa: 215,863
- Carnival Jubilee: 183,521
Length
- Icon of the Seas: 1,198
- Carnival Jubilee: 1,130
- MSC World Europa: 1,093
Total decks
- MSC World Europa: 22
- Icon of the Seas: 20
- Carnival Jubilee: 18
Maximum passengers
- Icon of the Seas: 7,600
- MSC World Europa: 6,762
- Carnival Jubilee: 6,631
Crew capacity
- Icon of the Seas: 2,350
- MSC World Europa: 2,138
- Carnival Celebration: 1,735
It can be confusing how to measure a cruise ship, because gross tonnage is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume.
What this means in layman's terms is that cruise ships are measured by volume and not weight. This is because their designs can vary greatly, so it makes more sense to measure a ship in this manner.
At 250,800 tons, Icon of the Seas will measure 6% bigger than Utopia of the Seas, which amounts to a difference of 13,940 GT.
As you can see, the difference in size between Icon and the Oasis Class ships isn't enormous, but it's enough to call it the biggest cruise ship in the world.
When Royal Caribbean set out to design Icon of the Seas, they didn't have a particular tonnage in mind. According to Mr. Schneider, they had a completely different goal in mind, "We’ve been working on Icon since 2016–2017, if you go back to our original memo that starts off a new class of ship. Typically, that process is about aspiration. It doesn’t detail things like we want a ship that weighs 250,000 tons."
"Instead, it’s aspirational and rooted in what we would say as a headline. This ship’s headline is: this is the best family vacation on the planet."
And in case you're wondering, Icon of the Seas is about 5 times bigger than Titanic.
All the new features are a bigger difference maker
While Icon of the Seas might not be substantially larger than Utopia of the Seas or Wonder of the Seas, what Royal Caribbean is adding to Icon is more notable.
Royal Caribbean wants this ship to offer more for families to see and do with additional attractions and amenities that the line hopes will attract customers away from land resorts.
The cruise ship's water park, family neighborhood, and staterooms designed for families with five and six passengers are at the heart of this drive.
So far, the demand for a cruise ship this big and with this much to do for families has been a mega hit for the cruise line. It's broken sales records and forced the company to release more sailings earlier than planned in order to meet demand for new bookings.
