Icon of the Seas: World’s largest cruise ship begins maiden voyage

Florida, United States

The world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s 'Icon of the Seas', embarked on its maiden voyage, on Saturday (Jan 27) from the Port of Miami just before sunset. The nearly 1,200-foot-long and 250,800-tonne behemoth left the US state of Florida for its first seven-day island-hopping voyage through the tropics. 

About the ship

Built over 900 days at a shipyard in Turku, Finland, the world’s largest cruise exceeds the Eiffel Tower in height and has the capacity for accommodating 8,000 passengers – 7,600 guests at full capacity, along with 2,350 crew – across 20 decks. 

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The cruise ship houses record-breaking features including, a 17,000-square-foot water park, currently the largest at sea; the first cantilevered infinity pool at sea; the largest swimming pool at sea, and the largest ice arena at sea. 

The monster ship, registered in the Bahamas, also has more than 40 dining venues and bars and the largest orchestra at sea with 16 pieces and some 50 musicians to serenade guests. Additionally, the Icon of the Seas also includes six waterslides, seven swimming pools, an ice-skating rink, and a theatre. 

“Icon of the Seas is the culmination of more than 50 years of dreaming, innovating and living our mission – to deliver the world's best vacation experiences responsibly,” said Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty, earlier this week. 

He added, “She is the ultimate multigenerational family vacation, forever changing the status quo in family travel and fulfilling vacation dreams for all ages on board.” 

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The mammoth-sized ship which costs a whopping $2 billion also claims to be more eco-friendly than some smaller cruise ships. 

The iconic ship was officially christened on Tuesday (Jan 23) with help from Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi. 

‘A step in the wrong direction’

The world’s largest cruise is full of iconic features to make a passenger’s trip at sea a memorable one, it has not been without criticism and concerns. 

“It’s a step in the wrong direction,” said Bryan Comer, director of the Marine Program at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), an environmental policy think tank, according to Reuters. 

The mammoth-sized ship has been touted as an eco-friendly one as it is built to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which burns more cleanly than traditional marine fuel. However, it also poses greater risks for methane emissions. 

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Therefore, environmental groups have raised concerns about methane leakage from the ship’s engines and called it an unacceptable risk to the climate. 

“We would estimate that using LNG as a marine fuel emits over 120% more life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions than marine gas oil,” said Comer. 

Notably, methane, a planet-warming gas, is 80 times worse over 20 years than carbon dioxide and reducing such emissions is key to not cross to limiting global temperature warming. 

(With inputs from agencies)