Tag Archives: Wonder of the Seas

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

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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.

Royal Caribbean Newbuild Outlook: ‘Market Underpenetrated’

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Royal Caribbean Group and its portfolio of cruise brands will launch 11 new ships between 2023 and 2026, culminating in the third Icon Class ship in 2026 being delivered from Meyer Turku to Royal Caribbean International, and a newbuild for TUI Cruises from Fincantieri, according to the cruise ship orderbook.

In the near term, Jason Liberty, president and CEO, said that the business would grow capacity by 10 per cent in 2024, 5 per cent in 2025 and 6 per cent in 2026.

“I think the first thing to point out is, that’s not just one brand in one market, in one destination,” he said. “So this reflects our three wholly owned brands and how they’re going to grow in their different segments and also for these ships to be in other parts of the world.

“If you look at the orderbook, as you get into ’27 and ’28, it’s lighter orderbook. We believe that at Royal Caribbean that the addressable market is underpenetrated, especially in all the different markets in which we operate. We work very hard to create global brands that attract guests from all over the world and build revenue management systems to effectively harvest that quality demand. And we think that apparatus more than supports our expected supply growth over the coming years.”

Royal Caribbean Names Wonder of the Seas

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Royal Caribbean International officially welcomed Wonder of the Seas into the family on Friday at Port Canaveral.

The cruise line’s latest ship was named by its Godmother and Wonder Mom Marie McCrea from Pennsylvania. The evening ceremony also marked the start of a new chapter for Wonder as it makes waves as Port Canaveral’s new, year-round family vacation, the company said.

Royal Caribbean executives and teams, families, friends, travel advisors, the cruise line’s partners and more came together on board the world’s largest cruise ship to celebrate the occasion.

In the time-honoured role of Godmother, Marie bestowed a blessing of safekeeping on Wonder, its crew and the millions of families who will make lifelong memories on board in the years to come. On stage with Marie were Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley, and her daughter, Allie, who nominated her mother for the role as part of a nationwide search started by Royal Caribbean on Mother’s Day.

“Wonder of the Seas exemplifies Royal Caribbean Group’s focus on unparalleled innovation, sustainable cruise ship design and our commitment to delivering world-class, memorable vacations, responsibly,” said Jason Liberty, president and CEO, of Royal Caribbean Group. “This milestone represents the culmination of millions of hours of work, from the most innovative minds in the industry, to deliver the world’s latest wonder.”

Designed for memory-making from end to end, Wonder inspires awe and adventure in kids and vacationers of all ages with feats and experiences across eight neighbourhoods – a first in the revolutionary Oasis Class. To find the Godmother to match, Royal Caribbean took to TikTok and launched the #SearchforWonderMom contest, which saw 16,000 videos posted and 10.6 billion hashtag views.

The search was complete when the cruise line heard Marie’s story, one of a devoted mother, wife and cancer survivor whose spirit inspired her family and those around her to set out on adventures and enjoy every moment together despite the hardships they faced.

“It was an honour to officially welcome Marie, and Wonder of the Seas, to the Royal Caribbean family,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, of Royal Caribbean International. “Marie’s story is one of incredible strength and family memories to last a lifetime, and those are the types of memories we’ve committed to creating with our guests and crew on every Royal Caribbean ship for more than 53 years. Wonder is the adventure of all adventures that combines what families know and love on our revolutionary Oasis Class ships with brand-new experiences, and it’s already delivered memorable vacations to more than 180,500 guests since first setting sail in March.”

“Carrying out my role as Godmother and a part of such an important moment for Royal Caribbean and Wonder of the Seas was such an honour,” said Marie McCrea, Godmother of Wonder of the Seas. “Having my family by my side to celebrate this incredible ship was yet another memory we’ve made together – and with our new Royal Caribbean family – that I’ll never forget.”