If you like mapping future holidays with confidence, this is quietly big news. Royal Caribbean Group has signed a long-term framework with Finland’s Meyer Turku shipyard that reserves shipbuilding slots through 2036, confirms Icon 5 for 2028, subject to financing, adds options that include Icon 7, and signals a fresh class beyond Icon. The result is a clear pipeline, steadier innovation, and calmer planning for travellers.
Announced on 23 September 2025, the agreement between Royal Caribbean Group and Meyer Turku secures construction rights at the yard through 2036. It confirms Icon 5 for 2028 (subject to financing), retains options for Icon 6 and Icon 7, and outlines intent for a new class beyond Icon. The framework supports reliable deliveries, operational improvements, and guest benefits through smarter design and deployment across the decade ahead.
Why the Meyer Turku Agreement Matters
Big ship news often sounds corporate, yet the outcomes are personal. When a brand locks a decade of build capacity at a top yard, suppliers commit, design teams iterate rather than reinvent, and delivery windows become predictable. That predictability shapes your week on board, from how queues flow to what time you watch sail away with a coffee rather than a crowd at your back.
A Decade of Build Rights Secured
Securing slots into the mid-2030s means less scrambling for capacity and a more thoughtful cadence of launches. Across a decade, quiet refinements add up. You see it in smoother embarkation, better signage, lifts that keep up on sea days and theatre layouts that feel obvious the first time you sit down. Consistency improves comfort, which is what most guests notice first.
Icon 5 Confirmed and Options for 6 and 7
Icon 5 is slated to arrive in 2028, subject to financing, and the company holds options that include Icon 7 alongside a previously discussed Icon 6. For travellers, this sets a rhythm. If you love the buzz of new hardware, you will know roughly when to pounce on inaugural itineraries. If you prefer to let the playbook settle, you can target season two with confidence.
A New Class Beyond Icon
The framework also sketches a future after Icon. Expect guest spaces that flex between daytime and evening, outdoor areas that make sea days feel like destinations and efficiency gains that reduce energy draw without asking you to compromise. That next class will not just look different, it should feel easier to live in from breakfast to last orders.
What This Means for Travellers
The value of a pipeline is felt on deck. It is the way public spaces breathe, how quickly dining rooms reset, whether you get your morning flat white at the right temperature and how serene a balcony feels when the ship is full. Long-term planning translates directly into the little wins that make a week at sea relaxing.
Smoother Deliveries and Better Operations
When the orderbook is set, the brand can phase crew training, show development and tech rollouts with fewer surprises. That reduces teething on the first season, shortens queues at peak times and stabilises app functions that manage dining and show reservations. You might not think about the project plan behind it, but you will feel the calm.
Environmental Gains You Can Feel
Finland’s maritime cluster is strong on energy and emissions technology. Improvements in propulsion, waste heat recovery and air handling show up as cooler interiors on warm days, quieter nights in your stateroom and cleaner air on pool decks in port. Sustainability here is not a brochure line; it is comfort.
Design Consistency Across the Family
Royal Caribbean Group includes Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea, with joint ventures in Europe. As new ships arrive, you will notice shared design logic where it makes sense, intuitive wayfinding, sensible bar placement and stateroom layouts that respect how people move. If you swap brands within the family, the learning curve stays gentle.
Finland’s Role in the Future Fleet
Turku is not just a shipyard address; it is an ecosystem. The yard, suppliers, universities and design studios pull in the same direction. For guests, that alignment means complex ships delivered on time and tuned to work well in daily use, not just at the christening.
Shipyard Scale and Skill
Meyer Turku builds some of the world’s most demanding cruise ships. Scale matters because repetition breeds reliability. When teams have installed a system ten times, the eleventh goes in clean, and the fifteenth goes in better. That saves months and prevents the sort of surprises that turn into delayed openings or closed venues.
Supply Chain and Innovation
From cabins to public spaces, specialist Finnish suppliers contribute repeatable quality. You see it in doors that fits, air that moves quietly and finishes that stand up to heavy use. Innovation is not just a lab exercise here; it lands in working hardware that makes your day easier.
Economic Stability Supports Quality
Large builds sustain skilled careers across the region. Stable workforces return season after season, carrying hard-won knowledge from one hull to the next. In hospitality terms, it is like sailing with the same kitchen brigade and theatre crew who already know the menu and the cues.
How to Plan Around the Pipeline
A predictable delivery schedule is only useful if you use it. Set your priorities, then pick the window that suits how you like to travel. Newbuild energy is fun, but a bedded-down second season can be bliss.
Booking Strategy for Newbuilds
If you want the first season vibe, prepare to book early when itineraries release. Built in flexibility on dates and stateroom categories, because connecting options and certain balconies vanish quickly. If you value quiet over firsts, aim for year two, when the show timings, traffic patterns and service rhythms are fully refined.
Picking the Right Stateroom
Choose a location before you chase marginal differences in size. Light sleepers should avoid decks below late-night venues. Early risers will love a sheltered balcony for sunrise coffee on sail-ins. Families and travellers with prams or mobility needs benefit from being near lifts and launderettes. Your cabin is your reset button, so plan it like one.
Matching Itineraries to Your Style
A steady pipeline allows smarter deployment. Expect seven-night patterns for busy schedules, longer repositioning voyages for collectors and well-timed Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific seasons that sync with school holidays. Decide if you want culture-heavy city calls, lazy island days or scenery-led runs, then choose the ship that fits.
What to Watch on the Orderbook
Keeping a light eye on timing helps you align life events, leave calendars and the ships you want to try. The outlines are already visible.
Timeline From Legend to Icon 5
Legend of the Seas is set to sail in 2026, with Icon 4 slated for 2027. Icon 5 is targeted for 2028, subject to financing. That sets a neat, near-annual heartbeat. Watch for deployment announcements six to eighteen months before delivery so you can plan a milestone or family gathering around a ship that suits.
Dry Dock Windows and Refreshes
New arrivals often coincide with refits on existing favourites. If a refreshed theatre, kids’ splash zone or lounge would change your week, check refurbishment schedules as you shortlist. A ship coming out of dry dock can feel like a quiet newbuild without the scramble.
Shoreside Destinations in Sync
As ships evolve, so do private destinations and port partnerships. That usually means longer port days, better shore power availability and simpler transfers. The upshot is less friction in the middle of your day and more time doing the thing you came to do, whether that is snorkelling, a wine tasting or a market wander.
Before you pick dates, it helps to view calendars side by side. Our Cruise Finder shows voyage length, port order and sea day placement clearly, so you can compare options without juggling tabs.
If you already know your window or have a milestone in mind, use the filters to surface sailings that match, then check stateroom availability and entertainment schedules in one flow. It is a quick way to build a clean shortlist for couples, families and friend groups.
Plan Your Next Royal Caribbean Journey Now
A framework like this is more than an order book; it is a promise of better weeks at sea. Tell us your pace, the kind of evenings you enjoy, and the memories you want to bring home, and an S.W. Black Travel adviser will map ships, dates and routes to fit. When you are ready to compare itineraries and secure the right stateroom, talk to a cruise specialist, and we will shape a voyage that works for guests departing Australia and travellers meeting the ship in ports around the world.
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