Royal Caribbean’s Next New Cruise Ship Floats for the First Time

Royal Caribbean’s next new cruise ship, Legend of the Seas, touched water and floated for the first time today at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland.

Legend of the Seas will be the 3rd Icon class ship, the largest class of cruise ships in the world at close to 250,000 gross tons. The ship is currently scheduled to debut in August 2026.

The float-out marks a significant construction milestone for Legend of the Seas. Now that the ship is out of dry dock, it will move to the final stage of construction, the outfitting (interior build-out).

Meyer Turku posted a few photos on their Facebook page showing the dry dock being filled with water.

Casimir Lindholm, CEO of Meyer Turku, gave the following statement:

“Legend of the Seas continues the state-of-the-art Icon Class, which allows the Finnish maritime industry to showcase its unique expertise at its best.

“The shipyard, Royal Caribbean, and an extensive network of partners work together to develop the processes and concepts from ship to ship. Alongside its sister ships, Legend of the Seas will also mark an important milestone in increasingly responsible shipbuilding.”

Legend of the Seas will sail a series of cruises in the Mediterranean staring next August before repositioning to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for the winter season.

Once the ship is at Port Everglades, it will offer six- and eight-night cruises to the Caribbean that also visit CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island in The Bahamas.

Now that Legend of the Seas is out of dry dock, the keel can now be laid for a 4th, and currently unnamed, Icon class ship.