Royal Caribbean will build more of the world's largest cruise ships.
The company confirmed on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to build a fourth Icon Class ship, with options to build a fifth and sixth Icon Class ship.
The options essentially mean that while Royal Caribbean has not committed to ordering them, the space is allocated within the shipyard if they decide later on to place an order.
The fourth Icon Class cruise ship is expected to be delivered sometime in 2027.
Royal Caribbean did not announce the ship's name or any new features we can expect on the fourth ship yet.
Just like the first three Icon Class ships, the order has been placed with Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku. The first Icon Class ship, Icon of the Seas, was delivered in January 2024 and Star of the Seas is expected to enter service in August 2025.
A third unnamed Icon Class ship will be delivered in 2026.
Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty issued a statement celebrating the order, “Building on the incredible momentum and market response to the launch of Icon of the Seas and the excitement for its sister ship, Star of the Seas, coming in 2025, we’re thrilled to join with Meyer Turku once again to expand our roster of Icon Class ships and continue our future growth plans.
“Since its debut, Icon has changed the game in vacation experiences and exceeded our expectations in both guest satisfaction and financial performance.”
The new standard in the cruise industry
Ever since Icon of the Seas launched in January 2024, Icon of the Seas has set a new standard that all other cruise ships are judged against.
While new cruise ships generate hype, Icon of the Seas delivered on it with a number of innovations and accolades beyond her size.
The Icon Class ships have the largest waterpark and ice rink at sea, eight neighborhoods to explore, a food hall, and so much more.
Icon of the Seas measures an astonishing 250,800 gross registered tons and can carry a maximum of 7,600 passengers. There are 28 different stateroom categories.
Matching other cruise line new ship orders
One trend within the cruise industry is placing new ship orders.
Royal Caribbean joins a number of other lines that placed new cruise ship orders this year, and this has been a big year for orders.
The cruise industry refrained from placing new orders over the last 4 years due to the sizeable debt they accrued related to the cruise industry shutdown of 2020-2021.
Carnival Cruise Line placed an order in July for 3 new ships, which was placed a few months after Carnival ordered two more ships for its Excel Class series of vessels.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings ordered a whopping 8 new ships in April 2024.
No orders yet for its rumored plans
While Royal Caribbean placed an order for more Icon Class ships, it did not order the other ships many have expected.
The Discovery Class of ships is expected to be a new smaller class of cruise ship by Royal Caribbean, with the word "smaller" being a relative term.
Executives have hinted at the project's existence, but nothing has been officially announced or confirmed.
In August 2024, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley talked about the plans in an interview he did, "We’re working now on another class of ship called Discovery Class. So, that’s going to be super exciting. That’ll come in about another 3 to 4 years from now."
Rumors have been circling for years about Royal Caribbean’s upcoming plans to build new ships of smaller size. However, the cruise line has not confirmed many details about Project Discovery.
