Following 7+ years of envisioning and 900 days of intricate design and construction works involving a multitude of experts, Finland's Meyer Turku Shipyard has delivered - currently the world's largest cruise ship - Icon of the Seas.
With LOA length of 365 m (1198 ft) and GT/volume of 248,655 tons, the vessel showcases a remarkable capacity to accommodate 7,600 passengers, in addition to a crew complement of 2,350.
On October 10, 2016, Meyer Turku Oy (Finland) and RCG-Royal Caribbean Group signed the MoU agreement (memorandum of understanding) and officially announced the building order for two vessels under the project name "ICON". The units are LNG-powered (by liquified natural gas), employ fuel cell technology, and are classified by DNV GL (Hovik Norway-headquartered international ship registrar and classification society).
The vessel's construction officially started on June 14, 2021, with the steel-cutting ceremony (yard/hull number 1400) held at Meyer Turku Shipyard in Turku Finland. The same yard also built RCI's first two OASIS-class boats - Oasis OTS (2009) and Allure OTS (2010).
All blocks (hull+superstructure sections/201 total) were made in Germany (at Neptun Werft in Rostock), then transported/tugged on heavy-lift barges to Finland for assembly.