Cruise & Cruise Line

Watch as Giant Sphere Added to Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas

Image: A keel-laying ceremony marks the start of physical construction of Icon of the Seas. (Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean International)
Image: A keel-laying ceremony marks the start of physical construction of Icon of the Seas. (Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean International)
Patrick Clarke
by Patrick Clarke
Last updated: 9:00 PM ET, Tue May 31, 2022

Royal Caribbean International's Icon of the Seas remains on track to make its highly anticipated debut next year but recently took a key step with the addition of its 175-metric-ton sphere.

First seen this past December, the impressive feature can be seen coming together in a 50-second video shared on Facebook by Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley on Tuesday.

"Exciting construction update on Icon of the Seas! A top-secret piece of the revolutionary ship is on the move in Turku, Finland," he wrote.

Measuring 46 feet tall and 50 feet in diameter, the sphere required a pair of tugboats capable of producing as much as 2,540 horsepower and a 5,600-metric-ton crane to install.

Royal Caribbean says that a whopping 45,000 working hours have gone into constructing Icon of the Seas' sphere.

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Patrick Clarke

Patrick Clarke

Senior Editor

A Maryland native and wanderer who has lived across the U.S. from North Carolina to SoCal, Patrick Clarke graduated from Towson University with a B.S. in journalism. He previously worked for Bleacher

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