The immense floating ship Icon of the Seas leaves the port of Miami with passengers for the first time on Saturday. Brightly colored slides, an infinity pool dozens of meters above the blue waves and a theater with an indoor waterfall. The new, largest cruise ship in the world defies the imagination.
Lovers of the cruise world have been kept in suspense with teasers and small glimpses of the Icon of the Seas. The new nautical showpiece of cruise company Royal Carribean promised a lot, the superlatives are flying around your ears. ‘Largest water park at sea’, ‘largest swimming pool at sea’, ‘the first high-altitude infinity swimming pool at sea’: you name it.
Fully booked
The ship also offers seven swimming pools, cabins with a slide, clubs, a kind of survival track at a height of 50 meters, numerous restaurants, a theater and an indoor waterfall. You would almost forget that the ship also visits heavenly places. It is not surprising that less than five days after the digital unveiling, the first cruise in 2024 was fully booked. All more than 7,600 spots.
“These are really family ships. I compare it with a very expensive 5-star hotel in Turkey. You have crowds around you all day long,” says cruise specialist Danielle van Oeveren of The Travel Club. Tourism researcher Goof Lukken from the Breda University of Applied Sciences adds: “You see that everything that comes with a holiday comes together on these types of ships. And due to the increase in scale, it still remains affordable.” But, he continues, this is only part of the cruise market. Each shipping company has its own target group and opens its bag of tricks to attract them. “Disney sees a growth market in cruises and often visits an exclusive island with its ships. Cast Away Island , that’s what it’s called. MSC actually has its own island with a huge water park.”
‘Floating amusement parks’ such as the Icon of the Sea mainly attract Americans. The Dutchman? He prefers a little more space and peace. It is not without reason, for example, that Holland America Line cruises accommodate more than half as many people as the largest cruise ships. With other shipping companies you also have much more square meters at your disposal. The price is often higher, but several speakers at the Cruise Event in The Hague emphasized that Dutch people are happy to pay for this.
In fact, the often very expensive expedition cruises with small ships to unique destinations are extremely popular. They often offer more luxury, instead of bright pink slides.
“Then you visit Antarctica, for example, where only a limited number of people are allowed to visit. At the same time, the cruise market is growing worldwide and Dutch people are also cruising more. So they will also feel free to sail on those mega ships,” says Lukken. And what is also almost certain is that the Icon of the Seas will be over-topped again. The ‘previous’ largest cruise ship in the world only held that title for seven months.