World’s largest cruise ship arrives at Port of Miami after industry record year

The world’s largest passenger cruise ship arrived in Miami early Wednesday morning. The long-awaited arrival has the potential to further boost South Florida’s tourism economy, strengthen the Magic City’s global and national relevance, and expand cruise ridership and purpose.

The 1,198-foot ship, an icon of the sea, can accommodate 5,610 passengers and entered Government Cut near 7 a.m., where it met up with a pilot boat and entered the Port of Miami.

Six undulating water slides in a unique adventure theme park, more than 40 restaurants and dining options including two piano bars, a three-story townhouse for large families, and more than 33,000 plants. It has a refreshing park and hopes to attract a variety of people. Traveler.

Miami-based owner Royal Caribbean International has frequently said the Icon has been decades in the making. “You’ll find bits and pieces of everything we’ve built over the years on Icon,” Royal Caribbean chief product innovation officer Jay Schneider said in an interview with the Miami Herald. ” he said.

Icon of the Seas is Royal Caribbean’s first new class of ship in about 10 years, said Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic, a trade publication owned by TripAdvisor. The last new class was Quantum in August 2014, she noted.

With a gross weight of more than 250,800 tons, 2,850 staterooms, 18 guest decks, seven pools and a crew of 2,350, the ship is “currently the largest cruise ship in the world,” McDaniel said.

Growth for Cruise Means Growth for Miami

Icon will be based in PortMiami year-round, so Miami will benefit in some way.

The ship’s immediate focus will be on itineraries in the Caribbean within a week. “This ship is actually built for five-day and seven-day itineraries,” said the head of Cruise Review. This could potentially bring thousands of new visitors to Miami each week, many of whom will stay for a day or two before or after their cruise.

“This will be an economic boon for PortMiami and the city,” said Travel Leaders Group President John Lovell. This includes hoteliers, restaurants, ride-sharing or taxi drivers, and retail stores. “They will all benefit.”

Icon is currently preparing for its first cruise to the public, scheduled to depart from Port Miami on January 27th.

Prior to that, Royal Caribbean organized an event for members of the press to tour the ship on Thursday. Afterwards, the company plans to take several three-night cruises with employees, travel agents, and VIPs, followed by a naming ceremony.

Icon’s arrival will add further excitement to the already booming cruise industry.

Port Miami, Florida’s largest port, set a record for passenger numbers in a single year, according to data disclosed in December. According to the port, 7.3 million passengers entered and exited the port during the 12-month period of fiscal year 2023. The fiscal year for the cruise industry began on October 1, 2022 and ended on September 30, 2023. This is almost double the 4 million passengers in 2023. Previous fiscal year.

Travel to the port was 7% higher than the previous record of 6.8 million passengers set in fiscal year 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted one of the most popular vacation industries. .

The recent year’s record activity is reflected in several new ships departing from the Port of Miami, including Oceania’s Vista, Carnival Cruise Line’s Costa Venezia and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Viva. Since the pandemic, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Corp. and Virgin Voyages Corp. have built new terminals in PortMiami. Royal Caribbean Group plans to open the new facility in late 2027.

Meanwhile, Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale is also growing. Last November, Disney Cruise Line began sailing from there, beginning a minimum 15-year agreement between the two parties. The same goes for Port Canaveral. Just one season ago, it was the world’s busiest cruise port.

Remarkably, all this growth has come despite soaring ticket prices. The average minimum cost for a five-night cruise from the U.S. to the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda last December was $736, a 37% increase from December 2022, according to Cruise Critic. This is 10 times higher than the US inflation rate of 3.7%. State for the 12 months ending in September.

This is a remarkable change from just a few years ago. The coronavirus pandemic shut down the cruise industry for more than a year starting in March 2020 due to outbreaks onboard ships. Some passengers were initially stranded at sea, and many were struggling to get refunds or credits for canceled trips.

This was a particularly hard blow to South Florida’s economy, given the importance of the cruise industry. Activities in PortMiami contribute $43 billion annually to the local economy and support more than 334,500 jobs.

But the cruise industry is making a strong comeback. Many of our longest sailings, departing through early 2024, are nearly full. People pay him anywhere from $25,000 to more than $100,000 to travel around the world over several months.

And now, Royal Caribbean is giving the cruise industry a big boost.

make the ship a destination

The icon has been a long time in the making, with its creation dating back to at least 2017.

The ship’s general plans and deck layout were all finalized by 2018, and the interior design and number of rooms were finalized by 2019.

Work then moved to Meyer Turku Shipyards in Turku, Finland, a shipyard that Royal Caribbean has hired and worked with for many years.

Construction began in June 2021 with steel cutting, and liquefied natural gas tanks were installed two months later.

The first sea trials began in June last year. After closing in November, Mayer Turk handed over her ship to Royal Caribbean.

It then sailed to Cadiz, Spain, where it put the finishing touches and planted more than 33,500 real plants in Central Park before heading to Puerto Rico.

Still, there was no shortage of work to do in the two months leading up to my arrival.

One of Mr. Schneider’s interviews with the Herald took place on November 13, a few days after his return from Helsinki and shortly after his final maritime trial.

He said he has compiled a list of about 30 change requests. Some included creating more storage space and moving walls to improve passenger flow.

Will this attention to detail help Icon redefine who cruises and make cruising even more popular?

Cruise experts not affiliated with airlines also seem impressed.

“What they’ve done with this ship is pretty impressive,” said David Crooks, senior vice president of products and operations for World Travel Holdings, a global cruise and travel agency based in Wakefield, Massachusetts. It was raised to the highest level,” he said.

He had been bothered by the cabins and guest rooms on Royal Caribbean’s other ships, but said the Icon’s cabins were “more comfortable and accessible for families.” Mr. Crooks visited Icon at the Finnish shipyard in August.

With this ship, Royal Caribbean appears to be tapping into people who are already tired of cruising to the Caribbean.

Cruise destination is an important factor in people’s decision to take a cruise. But the icon is so huge that for many people, “the ship itself is a destination,” McDaniel said. That means some may choose to stay on the ship for the entire trip.

Lovell believes Icon has the potential to spur a lot of innovation in this area, especially in large ships.

Icon “gives you a sense of open space. You don’t feel confined,” he said.

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