Royal Caribbean introduced Icon of the Seas in Miami this year taking on the title of world’s largest cruise ship with sister ship Star of the Seas coming to Port Canaveral in 2025.

A third unnamed Icon-class ship is already under contract, but Royal Caribbean Group, the parent company to the cruise line, announced Tuesday its plans for a fourth ship to be built out of the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland with an option for a fifth and sixth ship in the future.

“Building on the incredible momentum and market response to the launch of Icon of the Seas and the excitement for its sister ship, Star of the Seas, coming in 2025, we’re thrilled to join with Meyer Turku once again to expand our roster of Icon Class ships and continue our future growth plans,” said Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty in a press release. “Since its debut, Icon has changed the game in vacation experiences and exceeded our expectations in both guest satisfaction and financial performance.”

With the third Icon-class ship coming in 2026, the newly announced fourth vessel would follow in 2027.

The new contract is contingent upon the line securing financing for the order.

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“This is great news for Finland. Royal Caribbean Group’s long-term partnership will continue to have a positive impact on our employment and economy,” said Petteri Orpo, Prime Minister of Finland. “Their commitment and investment in Finland speaks volumes about the strength of our maritime cluster and our world class shipyards.”

Similar to the six Oasis-class vessels in the fleet, Icon class features a neighborhood design concept including the popular open-air Central Park neighborhood nestled in the middle of the ship. As the largest ships in the world, they carry close to 10,000 people on board including crew and passengers.

Icon of the Seas comes in at 248,663 gross tons, about 15,000 more than Oasis-class vessels. It’s 1,196 feet long, 159 feet wide with 20 decks and 2,805 staterooms. Its most iconic feature is the massive glass-and-metal dome at the top of the ship called the Aquadome.

Construction of the dome on Icon of the Seas back in 2022 at Meyer Turku constituted an engineering feat. The feature weighs 363 tons with 673 glass and 712 aluminum panels. Teams at the shipyard took more than 80 hours to install what Royal Caribbean officials said was the largest single glass and steel structure to be lifted onto a cruise ship, standing at 82 feet tall and 164 feet wide.

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Shipbuilders used a 155-ton rig with 1,640 feet of suspension cables to get it into place, having to wait for good weather for the precise operation.

The ships are designed to run on liquefied natural gas, a cleaner burning fuel that is part of the industry’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

“This order is an important milestone for the future of shipbuilding in the maritime network in Finland,” said Meyer Turku CEO Tim Meyer. “With Icon of the Seas, our team, consisting of the shipyard and partners, have built an extraordinary ship in respect of naval architecture, energy efficiency and customer experience. This is yet another recognition of the professionalism of our personnel and of our leadership in the maritime industry’s innovation and green transition. The options underline the strong outlook of our order book.”

The new order will bring the 21 the number of ships the Finnish shipyard will have constructed for Royal Caribbean Group over 28 years. The cruise holding company runs Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises and has 50% ownership of TUI Cruses and Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.

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Royal Caribbean International has 28 active ships in the fleet including the 2024 additions of Icon of the Seas and sixth Oasis-class vessel Utopia of the Seas out of Port Canaveral this summer.

It now has four more ships officially in the works with three more Icon-class vessels and an unnamed seventh Oasis-class ship.

It also has a new Discovery class planned that will be smaller vessels aimed at replacing its oldest ships in the fleet. Its oldest vessel Radiance of the Seas debuted in 1996 and cruise ships in general have a lifespan of about 30-35 years with their original brand.