After nearly 1000 days of construction in a Finnish shipyard, the Icon of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, departed from Miami on its inaugural voyage last Saturday. Lionel Messi successfully christened the ship by breaking a champagne bottle against its bow, in front of a crowd of passengers equivalent to a small town.
With a price tag of around $2 billion, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of The Seas has been likened to a floating amusement park. This massive ship, registered in the Bahamas, boasts seven pools, including a 40,000-gallon “lake,” six water slides, a carousel that doubles as the largest ice rink at sea, and over 40 dining and drinking establishments. Spanning 20 decks, it can accommodate a maximum of 7,500 passengers, including both crew members and tourists.
Measuring 365 meters long, the Icon cruise ship will take the title of the world’s largest from the slightly smaller Wonder of the Seas. Despite its massive size, the new Royal Caribbean ship is outfitted with advanced technology that prioritizes environmental sustainability over some smaller vessels.
Icon operates using liquefied natural gas, but there are concerns from experts that these systems could potentially emit harmful levels of methane gas into the air.
Director of the Marine Program at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), Bryan Comer, stated that this is a move in the opposite direction. He believes that it is not a positive step. Reuters news agency and published in a BBC Mundo story.
He stated that the use of LNG as a marine fuel results in over 120% higher greenhouse gas emissions throughout its entire life cycle compared to marine diesel.
Regarded as a marvel of contemporary engineering, the Panama Canal has now become a popular tourist destination for cruises. Major companies like Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Carnival Cruise Lines offer routes through the Caribbean that include traveling through the Panama Canal. This has sparked curiosity among many about whether the Icon of The Seas will also pass through the famous waterway.
Regrettably, the current response is negative. As stated on the Royal Caribbean website, the Icon of the Sea is only offering three cruise routes at the moment: Western Caribbean, Eastern Caribbean, and the Eastern Caribbean Cruise, with prices ranging from $1,723 to $2,500 per person.
