Christened by football legend Lionel Messi in January 2024, Icon of the Seas is the biggest cruise ship in the world. We looked under the hood.
After more than seven years of dreaming,
planning and building, Royal
Caribbean International’s highly anticipated
Icon of the Seas has become a reality.
Constructed over the course of 900
days in Turku, Finland, the ship is jampacked
with innovative entertainment
features.
Along the way, the Turku shipyard
has witnessed some never-before-seen feats, such as the installation of the single
largest glass and steel structure to be
lifted onto a cruise ship.
“Installing AquaDome was certainly
memorable,” says Olli Jantunen, the
Project Manager for Icon of the Seas. At
the time, Jantunen was still recovering
from Covid and could have stayed home
with good cause. Nevertheless, he stole
away to the shipyard to see how the installation of the massive glass dome
got started.
“But I didn’t stick around for the
entire thing,” he laughs.
AquaDome is a solid business card
for both Caribbean and Meyer Turku. “Our
customers may have some wild ideas, but
we work hard to make them come true,”
confirms Jantunen who has made a career
working with these big ships.
“Actually, the Icon was the 13th prototype
that I’ve been involved with,” he
says.
TOTAL PACKAGE
Icon’s impressive entertainment roster features
both industry-firsts and old favorites
spread across eight “neighborhoods”.
There are hair-raising, adrenaline-pumping
thrills (record-breaking six water slides
alone), more than 40 ways to dine – and
always plenty of ways to chill (did we mention
the seven pools?).
Icon is also the cruise line’s first ship
that can be powered by liquefied natural
gas (LNG). The dual-fuel engines work alongside a lineup of energy efficiency initiatives
and industry-leading environmental
programs on board, such as the first
waste-to-energy plant at sea.
Also, Icon is 24 percent more energy
efficient than the standards required for
ships being designed today. Being hailed
as the cruise line’s most sustainable ship
to date, Icon is certainly an important
step in parent company Royal Caribbean
Group’s green journey to introduce a netzero
cruise ship by 2035.
“Climate-wise, Icon represents the
very best expertise we have,” says Jantunen.
FOUR DECADES OF INNOVATION
Having started his career building ships
already in 1986, Jantunen has had a front
row seat into the evolution of the industry
for a long time. He comments that the two
“E’s” have only gained more momentum
over the decades: entertainment and environment
are big priorities in all the modern
cruise ships.
“Over the years, we’ve been pushing
the envelope on what kind of exciting
features you can put on a ship, that’s
for sure. Also, environmental issues have
climbed higher and higher on the agenda
over the last, say, 20 years – and are now
more important than ever.”
Furthermore, Jantunen perceives a
fundamental shift in the mindset of the
business itself: “It used to be that we build
ships that take vacationers to their holiday destination. Now, the ship is the destination.”
OVERCOMING ALL CHALLENGES
Planning and building the Icon came with
plenty of challenges, from pandemic and
war to energy crisis and inflation. “During
Covid, we had to take an 18-month break
from construction and concentrate on
finalizing architectural design vie remote
meetings,” he looks back.
“We had a tight schedule to keep,
but we did it.”
Jantunen participated on the Icon’s
pre-inaugural sail for VIPs on the Caribbean
and had a chance to see the vessel
in action – as well as the clearly smitten
client. Returning to Turku, he kept hearing
great things about the ship:
“The sales for Icon are better than
with any other ship – and the feedback
from the cruise patrons is the best Royal
Caribbean has ever had.”
TEAM TURKU
For Jantunen, delivering these giant vessels
is very much a team sport. “What I
find motivating in this work is that nobody does it alone. We have great team spirit at
the shipyard,” he says.
Seeing a ship built from scratch is
always a journey all on its own.
“Every day is different. And while
there are some really rough and tough
days, too, that’s balanced out by those
days when things are going your way and
work proceeds nicely.”
by: SAMI J. ANTEROINEN
photos: ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD
Royal Caribbean International has
commissioned Meyer Turku with the
construction of three new ocean liners.
The first – the lead ship in the Icon Class
– was constructed in Finland with yard
number NB 1400. The Icon of the Seas
was delivered to the client on November
27, 2023.
This new series of ships consists of three
luxury liners, each with a tonnage of
around 250,800 GT and enough room
for up to 5,610 passengers. All three
luxury liners will feature completely new
propulsion technology, using an ecofriendly
LNG drive system that will ensure
a significant reduction in emissions.
The second cruise ship in this class – Star
of the Seas – will be delivered in 2025,
and the third will follow in 2026.
AQUADOME: AN INSTANT HIT
A tranquil oasis by day and vibrant hot spot at night, this new neighborhood is
filled with wraparound ocean views, new and returning restaurants and bars, a
55-foot-tall water curtain, and the next-level AquaTheater, debuting the first cast
of robots, skateboarders, divers and more.
There’s also Royal Caribbean’s first food hall, AquaDome Market;
new Overlook bar and pods; as well as the cruise line’s marquee aqua shows.
ICON BY THE NUMBERS
Tonnage: 248,633 GT
Length: 365 m
Passengers: 5,610
Passenger cabins: 2,813
Class: Icon Class
Type: Cruise Liner
Shipyard: Meyer Turku
Cruise Line: Royal Caribbean
