Royal Caribbean International has marked the initial milestone – the first cut of steel – for the second ship in the Icon Class.
In celebration of the next in the lineup, a steel-cutting ceremony was held at Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland.
The soon-to-be-named ship will set sail in 2025, following the debut of Icon of the Seas in January 2024, according to a press release.
The Royal Caribbean and Meyer Turku teams dedicated to building the second Icon Class ship were in attendance at the traditional ceremony.
The major milestone represents the official start of production, beginning a series of key moments in the design and construction that spans months and involves thousands of innovators across design, naval engineering, architecture and more.
Ahead of its first complete season in the Caribbean, the two-week repositioning cruise sailed from Barcelona. It included visits to four additional ports in Spain: Palma de Mallorca, Valencia, Cartagena and Malaga.
Before arriving in Florida, the vessel also paid a visit to Nassau, the Bahamas.
Now set to sail from Port Canaveral on a weekly basis, the Oasis-Class ship will offer a year-round schedule of cruises to both the Western and Eastern Caribbean.
For its first sailing from Central Florida, the Wonder offers a seven-night itinerary to the Eastern Caribbean.
In addition to three full days at sea, the voyage features visits to St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Perfect Day at CocoCay.
A highlight of the deployment, the Royal Caribbean International private island in the Bahamas is set to be featured on most of Wonder’s cruises.
Other destinations set to be visited by the 5,448-guest ship include Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatán, Labadee, San Juan, Falmouth and more.
Built-in 2022, the Wonder is the latest vessel in the company’s Oasis Class and debuted as the world’s largest cruise ship.
Following the 2009-built Oasis of the Seas, the 2010-built Allure of the Seas, the 2016-built Harmony of the Seas and the 2018-built Symphony of the Seas, the vessel debuted new features, such as a lineup of more than 20 dining venues that include the all-new The Mason Jar Southern Restaurant & Bar.
With a menu of Southern staples and new twists on classics, the venue offers live music, a collection of more than a dozen American whiskey and more.
Completing the ship series, a sixth Oasis-Class vessel, the Utopia of the Seas, is set to debut in 2024.
Construction work began today on the Costa Smeralda, including her steel-cutting ceremony held at the Meyer shipyard in Turku, Finland.
The new Costa Cruises ship will be the brand’s first ship powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the world’s first cruise ship to be broadly marketed to consumers from multiple countries throughout Europe, the Italian cruise line said.
The Costa Smeralda, which will enter service in October 2019, will exceed 180,000 gross tons and offer more than 2,600 passenger cabins, the company said.
A second ship, sister to Costa Smeralda, will be delivered by Meyer Turku in 2021.
“These ships will strengthen the leadership position for the Costa Group, which is already the market leader in all the major continental Europe markets,” said Michael Thamm, CEO of the Costa Group and Carnival Asia. “The multibillion dollar contract with Meyer, which also includes two new LNG-powered ships to be built for our German brand, AIDA Cruises, reflects our strategy of constantly innovating our vacation offerings and providing our guests with an unmatched cruise experience.”
“The two new Costa Cruises ships are a true global innovation and set new standards for the entire sector,” added Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises. “They will be among the first cruise ships powered by LNG, spurring the development of this green technology, especially in the Mediterranean area, and they will be the world’s first LNG-powered ships that will be marketed to consumers from multiple countries, including Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. The new ships will also offer unique services and present a state-of-the-art interior design, serving as the perfect expression of our Italy’s Finest concept, which is a distinguishing feature of the Costa Cruises brand around the world for providing guests with a truly immersive Italian experience.”
“In the last two years, we have had a very intense design collaboration with our customer and the outcome is a really fresh and new design fused with the latest of technology. We are happy to bring our experience with building LNG powered passenger ships to bear. Today is a very special moment in shipbuilding, when all the ideas, creativity, technology and signature design that is going into Costa’s new ships, are finally starting to become reality,” stated Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku.
The Costa Smeralda will be offering cruises in Western Mediterranean, sales open early 2018.
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