Details revealed for world’s newest largest cruise ship
MIAMI — Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas will get the title of world’s largest cruise ship when it debuts sailing out of Miami in 2024, but that’s beside the point.
“It’s not like we start with each ship and we say, ‘OK, this one’s going to be the biggest in the world.’ That actually isn’t the purpose,” said Jay Schneider, chief product innovation officer for Royal Caribbean. “It really comes down to going through the creative process and the customer insight process to say what are we really seeking out to achieve?”
So while the 20-deck ship’s 250,800 gross tons and 1,198 feet in length tops the most recent Oasis-class ship and current world’s largest ship Wonder of the Seas’ 235,600 gross tons and 1,188-foot-length, Icon of the Seas will actually have less passenger capacity based on double occupancy — 5,610 compared with Wonder’s 5,734.
“We are providing more space for people than we’ve ever done before, so even though we take great pride that the Oasis class was the most space, this ship is designed to give more space to everybody both in public spaces as well as in staterooms,” Schneider said.
The size of the rooms among 28 categories, and the expected growth of family traveling, though, means Icon of the Seas’ maximum capacity of 7,600 exceeds Wonder’s 7,084.
“Every stateroom except interiors is bigger than any other stateroom that we’ve had before,” he said. “They are bigger but are laid out in a unique and creative way that we’ve never done before.”
He said the line didn’t want to compromise on venue space, though.
“So you’ll find facades that are open for the first time in a grand way,” he said. “You’ll find connectivity between decks that we’ve never done before, and a lot of that design and ingenuity came from this notion of giving people more space. As you kind of put the pieces and parts together, you suddenly find yourself with a fairly large footprint.”
That footprint, while similar to the Oasis class, allowed designers more room to play with familiar spaces such as the Royal Promenade, the open-air Central Park and what will be the largest exclusive area for suite guests to date for the line covering three decks.
But it’s the new spaces that have ship designers excited, and company officials detailed some, but not all, of the ship’s new features in a media preview at its headquarters in Miami this week, including a virtual 3-D tour of the spaces at its Innovation Lab.
What is that dome?
The most iconic feature of Icon of the Seas is the massive geodesic dome that lords over the bow of the ship’s top decks. This is the AquaDome, and the centerpiece of what’s inside is familiar to Royal fans as it’s home to the new version of the AquaTheater. Diving and aerialist performances will take place in the evening, but now in a controlled atmosphere that allows for more digital lighting and other effects including the addition of four robotic arms to the production stage.
Throughout the day, a 55-foot-tall waterfall will flow as cruisers can enjoy dining and get wraparound views through the glass enclosure. The space’s bars and restaurants will allow for even more people to view the shows at night.
The migration of the AquaTheater to the top deck means it’s no longer at the aft of the ship at the end of The Boardwalk neighborhood like on Oasis-class vessels. The Jersey shore-inspired space makes way to a more whimsical neighborhood called Surfside that targets families. Don’t worry, though, the Zoltar fortune telling machine will find a home somewhere, officials promised.
There’s also still a carousel, but instead of classic amusement park horses, people will get to ride on a narwhal, an octopus, a giraffe or in a VW bus among other choices. Surfside is also still home to the Sugar Beach ice cream and candy venue — perfect for the target demographic of 6 and under — but it’s also designed to keep mom and dad happy so they can relax in a pool, lounge and bar while the kids run around Splashaway Bay. It’s also adjacent to an arcade, the kids Adventure Ocean club and teen spaces.
“Surfside is specifically designed for young families,” said Royal Caribbean President and CEO Michael Bayley. “We think that once we get that message out to that demographic that we’ll see a lot more new-tocruise coming to Icon.”
It includes the line’s largest, and most expensive suite on board, the threestory Ultimate Family Townhouse, that has its own slide, and private access to Surfside.
It used to be Royal Caribbean didn’t deal in water slides, but now they’re a signature fixture, especially on Oasis class, which all have three intense options. Icon of the Seas has doubled that, offering six slides on two towers for what will be the largest water park at sea called Category 6.
“We’ve called the classic Oasis-class The Perfect Storm,” Schneider said. “We’ve used storm metaphors. We kind of had this a-ha moment of you know we had six waterslides and so if you think of this storm experience and Royal creating experiences the world has never seen before, it’s kind of a Cat 6 experience.”
It’s the prime offering of a neighborhood called Thrill Island that includes the free-fall slides Pressure Drop and Frightening Bolt; Storm Surge and Hurricane Hunter, which is the first family raft slide for the line that can sport four riders per raft; and a pair of mat racer slides called Storm Chasers.