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Royal Caribbean's Bananas Icon of the Seas Cruise Ship

This thing is almost 1/4-mile long

By Rain Noe - July 24, 2023

in Object Culture

I'm not a cruise ship person, but it's hard not to be impressed by their sheer audacity, from a design and engineering perspective. This here is Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, which is set to launch next year (and has received a flood of pre-bookings, according to the company).

Icon is a nearly-quarter-mile-long behemoth with 20 decks, a 7,600-guest capacity and eight "neighborhoods." There's no less than seven pools, six waterslides and over 2,800 staterooms. The amount of crew required to run the ship is 2,350 people.

Incredibly, the ship generates 93%+ of its own fresh water on board, using a reverse osmosis/desalination plant.

Here's a video showing both the making of the ship, and what's offered on board:

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Amritt Flora

a year ago

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This encapsulates why design is complicit in destroying the planet. The only reason to publish this is to criticise it for its waste.

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simon a.

a year ago

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1/4 mile is about 400 meter.
It would be nice if you could mention both metric and imperial sizes in your articles, since the Core77 audience is not limited to the US (by far I think)

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Charles Flynn

a year ago

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Sources differ about the total human carrying capacity of the ship, in terms of passengers versus crew. A New York Post article titled "Icon of the Seas labeled a 'monstrosity' ahead of first sail" has this:
As for technical specifics, the boat is equipped with 17 lifeboats with the capacity for up to 450 people — meaning it has room for 7,650 people, despite its capacity for 7,960. Specifically, it holds up to some 5,610 passengers and 2,350 crew across 19 floors — the height alone comparable to a New York City building.
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In commercial aviation in the USA, a plane should be able to be evacuated in 90 seconds, making use of the evacuation slides.
I have three questions about this floating color-riot:
1. What happens if a rouge wave appears under the bow and stern simultaneously?
2. How long does it take to safely evacuate 7,650 people from a ship?
3. How does the answer to question #2 change if more than 20% of the 7,650 people have been taking advantage of the "15 bars and nightlife spots" touted by Royal Carribeans's own website ("Royal Caribbean reveals 15 bars and nightlife spots on new Icon of the Seas cruise ship", by Matt Hochberg, March 28, 2023)?.

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