Icon 4 ordered with options for Icon 5 and 6.

[DutchCruiseFan]

Icon 4 has been ordered with Meyer Turku in Finland together with options for Icon 5 and 6. This in combination with Oasis 8 and the upcoming Discovery class means a very well filled order book soon! Exciting!

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2024/08/27/royal-caribbean-icon-class-ship-order

[PhillyFan33579]

RCG announced today that a 4th Icon class ship is being built for delivery in 2027 with options to build a 5th and 6th ship. Possibly bad news (at least short term) for those who keep waiting for a formal announcement concerning the long rumored Project Discovery class ship. Personally I think this is a direct response to Carnival’s recent announcement that they are building three new ships roughly the size of Oasis class ships. 

Edited August 27 by PhillyFan33579

[Southern Dan]

Not too surprised, I will be surprised if/when they announce Icon V and VI.  That is a lot of huge ships between Oasis/Icon Class.  Royal ship roll out now looks like...

 

2026 Star
2027 Icon IV
2028 Oasis VII
2029 Discovery 1?

[loman]

Bigger is better as far as i am concerned ,  Rock on !

Maybe then , they will lower the price on the older Icon ships when they launch the newer ships .

[Southern Dan]

Just now, loman said:

Bigger is better as far as i am concerned ,  Rock on !

Maybe then , they will lower the price on the older Icon ships when they launch the newer ships .

Due to limited time off and more importantly pricing, the earliest I will sail on an Icon Class ship will be 2027.  In January 2026 I'm doing an 8 Nt on a freshly amplified Allure in an OVB for 1,700 less than a 7 Nt on Star.  As much as I'd love to check out an Icon Class ship I cannot talk myself into dropping that kind of cash currently...

[DutchCruiseFan]

I'm just curious about the homeports when they have 7 Oasis ships and 6 Icons. It can't all be Florida and Galveston in winter.

Perhaps one in Asia, but that still leaves 12 huge ships!

[Southern Dan]

Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale, Miami could be homeports for 2 each and Galveston 1 so that is 7. 

 

Perhaps San Juan for Southern Caribbean sailings and one in Asia  That is 9...where would the other 3 go?  I'm going to be surprised if they go ahead with Icon V and VI for this very reason...

[DutchCruiseFan]

3 minutes ago, Southern Dan said:

I'm going to be surprised if they go ahead with Icon V and VI for this very reason...

First thing I thought when I read this was that Icon V and VI could be placeholders for Discovery class ships to be build.

Edited August 27 by DutchCruiseFan

[smokeybandit]

8 minutes ago, DutchCruiseFan said:

First thing I thought when I read this was that Icon V and VI could be placeholders for Discovery class ships to be build.

Interesting thought, and possibly dead on. Just reserve the shipyard slots now, then worry about what gets built in those slots later.

Edited August 27 by smokeybandit

[RFerrington]

13 minutes ago, Southern Dan said:

Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale, Miami could be homeports for 2 each and Galveston 1 so that is 7.

These ports (and all of them, in actuality) can have more than 2 big ships homeported there....they just have to be scheduled so that they aren't in homeport at the same time.  That means more and more of the shorty/non-weekend schedules, which seems to be the way things are going, even now.

[Newcruiser215]

33 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

RCG announced today that a 4th Icon class ship is being built for delivery in 2027 with options to build a 5th and 6th ship. Possibly bad news (at least short term) for those who keep waiting for a formal announcement concerning the long rumored Project Discovery class ship. Personally I think this is a direct response to Carnival’s recent announcement that they are building three new ships roughly the size of Oasis class ships. 

 

I didn't know Carnival was building 3 Oasis sized ships. I do wonder if one of these Icon ships will have a Utopia-like schedule (short cruises). 

[DutchCruiseFan]

1 minute ago, Newcruiser215 said:

didn't know Carnival was building 3 Oasis sized ships. I do wonder if one of these Icon ships will have a Utopia-like schedule (short cruises). 

Yep, and Norwegian is building 4 Oasis sized ships. Fascinating to see and I'm so curious to see how other companies will design these ships. 

There has also been genuine talk with the cruise industry growing so much (DCL also going from 5 to 13 ships), that Florida ports are soon full. Especially in winter.

[tidecat]

Michael Bayley made a remark to travel agents about Ovation of the Seas being based in Los Angeles that if they "sell the hell out of this ship, we’ll send you an Icon."

 

In some ways the ship-as-destination works better for the West Coast because of the limited number of destinations.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Its a statment from royal that destination ships will be the norm with less port stops. 

Personally as i want to go on Icon to experience it i am not too worried about that.

Now where they place them will be intresting. 

[Southern Dan]

[DutchCruiseFan]

41 minutes ago, tidecat said:

Michael Bayley made a remark to travel agents about Ovation of the Seas being based in Los Angeles that if they "sell the hell out of this ship, we’ll send you an Icon."

 

In some ways the ship-as-destination works better for the West Coast because of the limited number of destinations.

Sending an Icon or even Oasis to the West Coast would be quite the statement and surely make Carnival feel uncomfortable. I wonder how many ports in that area could actually handle a ship that size tho?

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, Southern Dan said:

Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale, Miami could be homeports for 2 each and Galveston 1 so that is 7. 

 

Perhaps San Juan for Southern Caribbean sailings and one in Asia  That is 9...where would the other 3 go?  I'm going to be surprised if they go ahead with Icon V and VI for this very reason...

The ports you listed are not limited to 2 large ships (or 1) each. In theory a single terminal at a port could support 7 Icon class ships, if one ship left port every day of the week. Most of RCI’s terminals in Florida are not used on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so there is plenty of room for growth just in the state of Florida. If future Icon class ships generate the revenue Icon is generating, it will be a no brainer for RCI to build six Icon class ships. Of course the big unknown is what will happen in the future as RCI and other cruise lines bring on more and more new big ships.  Just my personal opinion, but I think at some point in the future it will get to the point where there are no longer enough passengers to fill all these ships. But that doesn’t seem to be an issue for the forseeable future. 

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, DutchCruiseFan said:

I'm just curious about the homeports when they have 7 Oasis ships and 6 Icons. It can't all be Florida and Galveston in winter.

Perhaps one in Asia, but that still leaves 12 huge ships!

I know that would make @billaraneta very happy!

 

[DutchCruiseFan]

5 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

The ports you listed are not limited to 2 large ships (or 1) each. In theory a single terminal at a port could support 7 Icon class ships, if one ship left port every day of the week. Most of RCI’s terminals in Florida are not used on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so there is plenty of room for growth just in the state of Florida. If future Icon class ships generate the revenue Icon is generating, it will be a no brainer for RCI to build six Icon class ships. Of course the big unknown is what will happen in the future as RCI and other cruise lines bring on more and more new big ships.  Just my personal opinion, but I think at some point in the future it will get to the point where there are no longer enough passengers to fill all these ships. But that doesn’t seem to be an issue for the forseeable future. 

I agree. The cruise industry is having unprecedented growth and it's great to see. But that will stop, and the amount of new ships coming is astonishing. There will be a very interesting time in the future where it won't be as easy to fill these ships and the profits of these big cruise lines will drop dramatically.

[RobInMN]

1 hour ago, DutchCruiseFan said:

First thing I thought when I read this was that Icon V and VI could be placeholders for Discovery class ships to be build.

Discovery class would not necessarily be built at the same ship yards. Is there just the 2 (Turku and the one in France) that can build Oasis & Icon class? A Discovery class that is no larger than a Quantum/Quantum Ultra can be built at the Meyer Werft Papenburg shipyard

[Ken at the beach]

1 hour ago, Southern Dan said:

Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale, Miami could be homeports for 2 each and Galveston 1 so that is 7. 

 

Perhaps San Juan for Southern Caribbean sailings and one in Asia  That is 9...where would the other 3 go?  I'm going to be surprised if they go ahead with Icon V and VI for this very reason...

PC, FLL and MIA could each hold 3 if you add in the ones they are using for Short cruises

[constable145]

1 hour ago, Southern Dan said:

Not too surprised, I will be surprised if/when they announce Icon V and VI.  That is a lot of huge ships between Oasis/Icon Class.  Royal ship roll out now looks like...

 

2026 Star
2027 Icon IV
2028 Oasis VII
2029 Discovery 1?

 

People were surprised when the announced Oasis 4....

 

There seems to be an insatiable demand for these mega ships.

 

As one who cruises more for ships than the ports,I'm all for it.

[DaniMSCRoyal_85]

WOW!!!

Edited August 27 by DaniMSCRoyal_85

[DaniMSCRoyal_85]

1 hour ago, DutchCruiseFan said:

I'm just curious about the homeports when they have 7 Oasis ships and 6 Icons. It can't all be Florida and Galveston in winter.

Perhaps one in Asia, but that still leaves 12 huge ships!

Perhaps one in Europe?

[loman]

1 hour ago, Southern Dan said:

Due to limited time off and more importantly pricing, the earliest I will sail on an Icon Class ship will be 2027.  In January 2026 I'm doing an 8 Nt on a freshly amplified Allure in an OVB for 1,700 less than a 7 Nt on Star.  As much as I'd love to check out an Icon Class ship I cannot talk myself into dropping that kind of cash currently...

I wont sail the Icon either at those prices. 

Oasis class is fine for me