Fun Facts: Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas vs. Utopia of the Seas

Royal Caribbean International is reaching a significant milestone next year when it debuts its two largest cruise ships in the world in 2024, the Icon of the Seas and the Utopia of the Seas.

Here are some quick facts comparing the cruise line’s two newest ships:

Launch Date:
Icon of the Seas: January 2024
Utopia of the Seas: July 2024

Class:
The Icon of the Seas: Icon Class
The Utopia of the Seas: Oasis Class

Powered by:
Icon of the Seas: Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
Utopia of the Seas: Liquefied natural gas (LNG)

Capacity:
Icon of the Seas: 5,610 passengers
Utopia of the Seas: 5,668 passengers

Sailing from:
Icon of the Seas: Miami, Florida
Utopia of the Seas: Port Canaveral, Florida

Itineraries:
Icon of the Seas: Seven-day sailings
Utopia of the Seas: Three-and-four-night weekend getaways

Vacation style:
Icon of the Seas: Dubbed “the world’s best family vacation”
Utopia of the Seas: Dubbed “the world’s biggest weekend”

Inside the Construction of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas

Northern Europe’s largest gantry crane, nicknamed “Baby” at the Meyer Turku shipyard, lifted a single block of cabins for Royal Caribbean’s new Icon of the Seas, weighing more than 900 tons recently, Royal Caribbean Group officials said Tuesday.

The nine-deck, roughly 60-meter-wide block was moved in one day. It was the largest ever lifted in Europe, as far as shipyard officials knew.

Meyer Turku CEO Tim Meyer said there were no nerves in the move. His team had done a detailed study of how the steel would flex while being lifted and knew exactly how it should be handled while being moved into place.

“It’s very easy,” Meyer deadpanned. “It’s like building a Lego ship.”

While hoisting the cross-section of cruise ship cabins was a feat of engineering, it was also an example of Icon’s aggressive build schedule. Putting the blocks together shoreside is much faster than doing so on the ship, so the larger the block moved, the less schedule burden.

In all, the Icon consisted of 201 blocks, with roughly one installed a day. Each block required about 100 meters of welding once in place.

Building the world’s largest cruise ship meant roughly 2,600 workers a day coming to the Turku, Finland shipyard, representing some 20 nationalities from countless subcontractors. The ship will debut in Miami next January.

The Turku shipyard opened in 1737 — 58 years before the Meyer family started building ships.

Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty called the yard the “tip of the spear” of innovation.

In their seventh generation of ownership and 228th year in operation, the Meyer family remains both focused and humble.

Patriarch Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft, declined to spend much time looking backwards.

“We have no time to be proud; we have work to do,” he said.

Icon of the Seas Generating ‘Exceptional Demand’

When the new Icon of the Seas debuts in 2024 for Royal Caribbean International, she will become the world’s biggest ship and is already breaking sales records.

“Despite being on sale for only five months, Icon is significantly more booked for her inaugural season at materially higher rates than any other Royal Caribbean ship launch,” said Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, speaking on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.

“The Icon will join the fleet later this year and debut in the Caribbean in January 2024, with itineraries including Perfect Day at CocoCay and its new expansion, Hideaway Beach.”

Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, added: “Icon is literally the best-performing new product launch we’ve ever had in the history of our business, and we’re delighted with volume and rate, and that really is a full 2024 product … it’s really driving a huge amount of demand and a great rate.”

Following the Icon, the company has another Oasis-class ship coming in 2024, the Utopia of the Seas, plus two more Icon-class vessels, set to debut in 2025 and 2026, respectively.