Royal Caribbean International’s LNG-powered Icon of the Seas has on Thursday returned to the Meyer Turku yard in Finland after completing its initial sea trials.
Earlier this week, Meyer Werft announced that the vessel was sailing through the Turku archipelago.
“Work on Icon continues, and the next major event on Icon’s road to delivery will be her second sea trials later this year,” the shipbuilder said in a social media post on Thursday.
The vessel’s maiden voyage is scheduled to be in January 2024, when it will set sail from Miami for a week-long cruise in the Caribbean, it said.
Meyer Werft launched Royal Caribbean International’s 365 meters long Icon of the Seas in December last year.
Royal Caribbean International, a unit of Royal Caribbean, and Meyer Werft claim this is the world’s largest cruise ship and the shipbuilder in Turku plans to deliver the vessel at the end of 2023.
Meyer Turku, a unit of Meyer Werft, started building this vessel in June 2021, and laid the keel in April 2022.
This new Icon Class series of ships will comprise three luxury liners with a tonnage of about 250,800 GT and enough room for up to 5,610 passengers.
Meyer Turku plans to deliver the second vessel in 2025, followed by the third ship in 2026.
Besides these vessels, Royal Caribbean International has also an LNG-powered ship under construction at French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique.
