Things To Do In SW Florida

Royal Caribbean announced the name and home port for its third Icon-class ship that is set to inherit the title of world’s largest cruise ship when it debuts in 2026.

Just like 2024’s Icon of the Seas that sails in Miami and this year’s sister ship Star of the Seas set to debut out of Port Canaveral, Royal Caribbean will be docking the newly named Legend of the Seas in Florida by sending it to Port Everglades, according to a news release Tuesday.

The cruise line likes to tout incremental size increases for each new ship in what is now the largest class of cruise ship sailing. The class features 20-deck ships that weigh around 250,000 gross tons, which is about 15,000 more gross tons than the six Oasis-class ships the line sails.

Icon-class ships can sail with nearly 8,000 passengers at full capacity and can top 10,000 people on board including crew.

The second Icon-class ship, Star of the Seas, remains under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, and will likely take on the title of world’s largest cruise ship when it debuts this summer. Its maiden voyage from Port Canaveral is set for Aug. 31. read more

Households are carrying record levels of debt. Balances climbed to $18.04 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2024, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data.

By MICHAEL BIESECKER, SAM MEDNICK and GARANCE BURKE

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. tech giants have quietly empowered Israel to track and kill many more alleged combatants more quickly in Gaza and Lebanon through a sharp spike in artificial intelligence and computing services. But the number of civilians killed has also soared, fueling fears that these tools are contributing to the deaths of innocent people.

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH

WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s the executive in a U.S. supply-chain company whose voice breaks while facing the next round of calls telling employees they no longer have jobs.

By MAE ANDERSON

NEW YORK (AP) — Small business owners that rely on eggs for their products are facing sticker shock because the usually reliable staple is in short supply.