Construction is going so well for Royal Caribbean's next new cruise ship that it is moving up the first sailing.
The plan was for Star of the Seas to debut with a 7-night cruise on August 31, 2025.
Guests booked on that sailing received an email to inform them that the new ship will enter service sooner than expected.
"We have an updated timeline for the arrival of Star of the Seas at Port Canaveral! Constructing such a large and amazing ship is challenging, and while delivery can sometimes be delayed, there are other times where we get to sail our new ship earlier."
Royal Caribbean is adding two shorter sailings before the August 31st sailing, calling them "showcase sailings."
There will be two additional 4-Night Perfect Day Cruises on August 23rd and August 27th, 2025.
According to the cruise line, the August 31, 2025 sailing will still take place, "as the first full sailing and inaugural with all of the events and goodies."
What this means is the two four-night cruises that are being added are being treated as pre-inaugural cruises, but the August 31st sailing is the official inaugural sailing.
Those that were originally booked on the August 31, 2025 sailing received an email on Tuesday to inform them of the addition, and to get first dibs on booking rooms on the new cruises.
What's interesting about the addition of the two new sailings prior to the official inaugural, is Royal Caribbean previously pushed back the inaugural sailing in February 2024.
The original Star of the Seas inaugural was scheduled for August 17th, 2025, but then had to be delayed until August 31.
Sister brand Celebrity Cruises did something similar with new cruises prior to the inaugural with the launch of Celebrity Ascent.
Before its official inaugural sailing, Celebrity Ascent added "pre-inaugural sailings" before its official maiden voyage.
New choices
Guests booked on the original sailing have the choice to book either (or BOTH) of the new showcase sailings, or to move their existing booking to one of the new inaugural 4-Night Perfect Day Cruises as of January 30, 2025.
They could also do nothing and remain as-is on the 7-night sailing to take place on August 31, 2025 as previously scheduled.
Those that were booked in a suite on the original inaugural sailing will have their same suites held as courtesy until February 6, 2025 to make a decision.
Guests in the Interior, Oceanview, and Balcony staterooms will have like-for-like staterooms available to choose from.
If you opt to transfer your reservation to the new sail date in the same room originally booked, Royal Caribbean will prorate the cruise fare for the change in sailing nights, meaning, they'll adjust the cost of your cruise fare to reflect 4 nights instead of 7 nights.
Those that already prepaid will get a refund for 3 nights worth of the cruise fare.
This complimentary transfer covers the cruise fare for the new sail date only and does not include taxes, fees, gratuities, and other non-cruise fare items.
Guests have until next week to decide
If you want to move reservations, you need to act quickly.
Royal Caribbean is giving everyone about a week and a half to contact the line to make the change. Change requests must be made no later than February 06, 2025.
If you do not make a change by February 06, 2025, anyone booked on the August 31 sailing will remain booked on that sailing, and you can still choose to add the new Star of Seas showcase sailings based on availability.
What you can expect on Star of the Seas
The new cruise ship is under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, and it's expected to be a sequel to Icon of the Seas.
It will be the second in the Icon Class, so she should be right around the same dimensions as Icon of the Seas, so it should be about 250,800 gross tons and carry approximately 5,610 passengers at double occupancy or up to 7,600 passengers at maximum occupancy.
When you add crew members, that brings the theoretical total amount of people up to 10,000.
Beginning with the August 31 sailing, the new ship will sail 7-night cruises to the Caribbean. Her placement with a homeport in Port Canaveral is a shot across the bow of the mega theme park market a short drive away in Orlando.
Star is designed to be a floating family resort, just as compelling (if not better) than a theme park vacation.
"Icon will be the best family vacation in the world," is what Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President and Chief Product Innovation Officer Jay Schneider said about the plans for this ship.
It's going to have an entire area designed for just families, plus it will have a water park, thrill attractions, multiple shows, more pools than ever, and plenty more.
