The valves were opened and more than a thousand workers gathered at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland to watch the “float out” of Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas. The nine-hour process — which involves flooding a special dock with more than 92 million gallons of water to push the 250,800-ton mega-ship onto a pier for the final stages of construction — had begun.
Like its sister ship, Icon of the Seas — the world’s largest cruise ship — the Star measures 1,196 feet long and towers 20 decks high. Capable of carrying nearly 8,000-passengers, the behemoth is scheduled to launch on Aug. 31, 2025, from Port Canaveral, Fla., and will have many of Icon of the Seas’ features: eight “neighborhoods,” six water slides, seven swimming pools and more than 40 dining, drinking and entertainment venues.
Icon of the Seas, which cost $2 billion to build and launched in Miami earlier this year, has been a hit among cruise-goers, despite criticism over its size and potential to harm the environment. While Royal Caribbean does not release booking figures, the company revealed that the ship has exceeded expectations both in terms of guest satisfaction and financial performance; 2025 bookings from July through October have outpaced 2024 levels for the same time period.
In response to the demand, the company has started construction on the third Icon Class ship, which will be completed in 2026, and plans to order a fourth for 2027, with options for a fifth and a sixth.
“The Icon Class ships we have on order are consistent with these growth plans,” said Jason Liberty, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean Group. “We are attracting more new customers into our vacation ecosystem, particularly younger demographics.”
Business is up across all major cruise lines, and many of them, like Carnival, Norwegian and MSC, are expanding their fleets. Last year, 31.7 million passengers took cruises, an increase from 29.7 million in 2019. This year, that number is expected to reach 34.7 million, according to the Cruise Lines International Association, the industry’s trade group. As of June 2024, there are 430 oceangoing cruise ships in operation and 76 ships on order through 2036, the group reported.
After sailing on Icon of the Seas, I became intrigued by how ships of this scale are built. Here’s what I found when I visited Meyer Turku last month.
The shipbuilding process
From a distance, Star of the Seas looked like a giant Lego structure. Surrounding it were massive cranes slotting in the building blocks, including prefabricated cabins that appeared tiny dangling next to the huge hull.
The ship’s keel, which acts as an underwater stabilizer, was laid last December in the first stage of the shipbuilding process, and now, nearly a year later, the ship is 71 percent complete.
The ship’s interior was a construction site with more than 1,000 workers scrambling to complete the mechanical and electrical outfitting. The interior furnishings were also underway, with floor tiles being laid and attractions being built.
Hanging from the ceilings were endless loops of electric cables totaling 7,600 kilometers, or about 4,722 miles — the equivalent of the European Divide bike trail, which runs across 10 countries from Norway to Portugal.
Once the outfitting process is complete, inspections will be carried out, engines and boilers will be ignited, and preparations will be made for sea trials before the ship is delivered next year.
The Pearl and Aquadome
One of the most striking architectural features of the Icon of the Seas is “The Pearl,” a gigantic kinetic art installation that doubles as a structural centerpiece holding up the staterooms and one of the neighborhoods on the deck above. The installation’s rounded shape allows for floor-to-ceiling windows that fill the Royal Promenade thoroughfare with natural light and bring passengers closer to the water.
The Royal Promenade on the Star of the Seas is currently a maze of scaffolding, wires and construction materials. But the round steel structure of “The Pearl” is in place, and behind a giant sheet of protective tarp, workers were carefully laying down the steps for the stairs, which, the company said, have been modified after some passengers on the Icon of the Seas tripped while looking up at the moving tiles that fill the interior of the installation.
Another eye-catching feature, the Aquadome, is a 367-ton structure made up of 673 glass panels. It is 82 feet tall and 164 feet wide. The glass and steel modules, assembled at the shipyard over the course of eight months, were lifted onto the ship using a 15-ton custom rig with cables longer than the height of the Empire State Building. It took six hours to attach the structure to the bow of the ship. When I visited in October, the shipbuilders inspected each glass panel and replaced ones where they found cracks.
Last January, I found the Aquadome on Icon of the Seas to be the most tranquil area on the ship, with its 220-degree ocean views and extensive lounging areas.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges of building a ship of this scale is doing it outdoors when weather conditions are not always favorable, said Jon Sandhan, the project production manager at Meyer Turku. The shipyard can reach -7.6 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and can be hit by harsh frigid winds. To install the Aquadome, the shipyard had to ensure the wind speed was below 10 miles per hour.
Another challenge is coordinating the many contractors — usually 10 to 15 — needed to complete each section of the ship.
“It’s a very technical and complex process, like the water park,” which, Mr. Sandhan said, involved multiple contractors. “But it’s amazing how seamless some parts of it can be and how it all comes together in the end.”
Environment
Royal Caribbean says its Icon Class ships are setting a new standard for sustainability by using energy-efficient technology designed to minimize their carbon footprints.
These include a waste management system that converts onboard waste into energy that can be used to power the water park; an advanced purification system that treats wastewater onboard; and technology that would allow the ship to run on shore power electricity in ports.
The Icon Class also runs on liquefied natural gas, or L.N.G., a fossil fuel that the cruise industry says is a clean alternative to heavy fuel oil because it cuts carbon dioxide emissions. However, environmental groups are concerned by how quickly cruise operators are adopting the fuel, arguing that the methane emitted from L.N.G. is more potent and can trap more heat in the atmosphere over time than carbon dioxide.
Royal Caribbean says L.N.G. was the most viable alternative fuel available at scale when the ship was designed seven years ago, and future Icon Class ships will all have L.N.G.-powered engines.
“We continue to grow and advance our portfolio of energy sources, and future-proof our ship designs so we can adapt as alternative fuel sources become viable and scalable,” the company said in a statement.
Environmental groups have welcomed some of the energy-efficient features on the Icon Class ships, but they argue that building such large megaships undermines the industry’s long-term sustainability goals.
The Meyer Turku shipyard has its own sustainability program called NEcOleap, which focuses on energy efficiency, sourcing responsible materials and optimizing ships’ hull and steel structures to reduce fuel consumption, among other things.
Waiting in the wings: A third ship
Dwarfed behind the giant Star of the Seas hull in the dry dock is the keel — essentially a vessel’s backbone — of the third Icon Class ship that has not yet been named.
While the shipyard’s focus is on finishing Star, construction on the third ship is underway and scheduled to be finished in 2026.
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