Royal Caribbean holds steel-cutting for Icon of the Seas

Royal Caribbean International held a steel-cutting ceremony at Finnish shipyard Meyer Turku to mark the construction of Icon of the Seas.

Projected to debut in autumn 2023, the vessel will be the cruise line's first of three ships to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). Click here to watch a video. 

"We made our commitment to making clean power at sea a reality – and soon the norm – when Icon Class was first announced in 2016, and we're excited to see construction underway on what will truly be a ship unlike any other," said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International.

"Our decades of work in ocean conservation, energy efficiency and continuous improvement will be evident all throughout Icon. We look forward to revealing more of the game-changing features our guests and crew have in store as she begins to take shape." 

Royal Caribbean confirmed the first few scheduled sailings of Odyssey of the Seas will be cancelled due to positive cases of Covid-19 onboard the ship among crew members.

Up to 2,500 jobs are lost each day that cruises are not operating, according to the Cruise Lines International Association, which added that the worldwide disruption to the industry from COVID-19 has been $50 billion.