Waterfall and ice skating rink on board: The largest cruise ship in the world left the port of the US metropolis of Miami on Saturday evening (local time) for its first cruise. The Icon of the Seas has 20 decks and is 365 meters long. The ship can carry 7,600 guests and 2,350 crew members at full capacity.
The first cruise takes the ship from the US shipping company Royal Caribbean International to the Caribbean. The Icon of the Seas was built by the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku and runs on liquefied natural gas.
World footballer Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates officially christened the ship on Tuesday. The shipping company advertises it as the “largest water park at sea,” “seven pools to suit every mood” and a dedicated area, called the Neighborhood, for families. Environmental organizations criticize the megaship. “If you really thought about sustainability and not your profit, you wouldn’t build a cruise ship with a capacity of almost 10,000 people,” the New York Times quoted Marcie Keever of the organization Friends of the Earth as saying.
