The biggest cruise ship in the world is 70% complete and on track to be delivered on October 26, the Royal Caribbean International president and chief executive has said.
Michael Bayley praised the progress that has been made on 5,610-passenger Icon of the Seas, which is being built at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, and welcomed media on board for the first time.
Speaking on a panel held at the shipyard, Bayley announced the vessel is more than two thirds complete, and the “one million hours” of work that have taken place already have created a “mind-blowing” offering.
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“Everything about Icon is unbelievable,” he said. “We are positioning it as the ultimate family vacation and when you step back and look at all the energy and time that has gone into creating this ship it is mind-blowing. As I walk around the ship I’m delighted.”
Bayley went on to say the ship is an “evolution” of ships that came before it, as all knowledge, expertise and data collected through the creation of every previous vessel in the brand had been accumulated and used to develop Icon of the Seas.
“We use not only our experience, knowledge and customer interaction, but a huge amount of data collected over years,” Bayley said.
“We ask a lot of questions of our data and try to understand what our guests love, like and don’t like from our experiences, and we are constantly improving those elements.
“Our guests have expectations of Royal Caribbean and we are respectful of that so we are constantly innovating and creating excitement, vibrancy and new concepts and that is what you see with Icon.”
Bayley continued: “When we opened Icon for sale, we had the biggest booking days and weeks in our 50-year history for the launch of a new product.
“It speaks to how the consumer relates to Royal Caribbean as a brand as well as the product.”
Harri Kulovaara, executive vice-president maritime and newbuilding for Royal Caribbean Group, added: “The amount of innovation put in one ship blows my mind, as well as how the ship has stuck true to the history of the brand.”
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