The construction of Royal Caribbean's third Icon Class cruise ship reached an important milestone this week when the keel was laid.
At a ceremony held at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland on Monday, October 7, the official start of construction was celebrated.
Icon of the Seas was the first Icon Class ship, and it launched to great fanfare earlier this year. It's bold new design caught the attention of the cruise industry, and now work is beginning on its third ship.
Royal Caribbean has not even announced the name of the ship, let alone what features or details we can expect from the ship.
Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku, shared his thoughts on the significance of this moment, "Icon 3 is a very important vessel for both the shipyard and the partner network. During its construction process, we get to see what a combination of high-level know-how and sister ship experience can achieve today. "
The ship's keel is the first block, and it is maritime tradition to commemorate this phase of a new ship construction.
Another maritime tradition is to place the "lucky coins", which represent the shipyard and cruise line.
The coins are meant to bring luck during construction, and they will be retrieved and given to Icon’s captain and crew before setting sail.
Icon 3's keel laying comes just a few days after Icon 2 was floated out.
Known as Star of the Seas, this ship was put into water for the first time at the end of September. Having two of the same class of ship under construction at the same time is not unusual. In fact, Star of the Seas' construction journey began when Icon of the Seas was still being built.
Cruise lines commonly place orders for a few ships at a time, and they stagger construction so that they can launch each ship a year apart or so.
What will be Icon 3's name?
Royal Caribbean hasn't announced the name of the third Icon class ship yet, but there's always a lot of speculation as to what it can be.
The rumor mill believes Royal Caribbean will revive an old name for this ship, but it's still unconfirmed.
The alleged name of Icon 3 will be Legend of the Seas, which was a name of a Vision Class cruise ship that was sold to another cruise line in 2017. It's still in operation as Marella Discovery 2.
There's a few sources for the rumor that Legend could be the name.
During a Top Tier event on Harmony of the Seas in May, the ship's Hotel Director told passengers the ship's name will be Legend of the Seas.
Prior to that, metadata within Royal Caribbean's website seemed to indicate the company would re-use Legend.
Of course, cruise fans love a juicy rumor and the good ones tend to get shared a lot.
Royal Caribbean trademarks ship names with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, most of which never get used.
Examples of recent trademarks Royal Caribbean have made include:
- Happy of the Seas
- Fun of the Seas
- Idol of the Seas
- Love of the Seas
- Nova of the Seas
- Titan of the Seas
- Sun of the Seas
- Marquee of the Seas
- Hero of the Seas
- Fantasia of the Seas
The company purposefully trademarks ship names they never intend to use as a means to obfuscate the ones they really want to use.
What's next for Icon 3?
The third Icon class ship won't launch until 2026 and you can't book cruises yet for it, partially because there's still a lot of work left on it.
Construction of the ship will continue for many months, with the ship's steel infrastructure being assembled to form the vessel.
The ship's keel is the first block, and other blocks will be joined together until the ship's primary structure is assembled. Then more of the ship's features are added in, such as cabins, interior structures, and paneling.
Icon 3 has a tonnage of 250,800 GT and enough room for up to 5,610 passengers.
Royal Caribbean will reveal the ship's name, home port, and sailings, and other important details in the months to come.
