day destination . Now , the ship is the destination .”
OVERCOMING ALL CHALLENGES
Planning and building the Icon came with plenty of challenges , from pandemic and war to energy crisis and inflation . “ During Covid , we had to take an 18-month break from construction and concentrate on finalizing architectural design vie remote meetings ,” he looks back .
“ We had a tight schedule to keep , but we did it .”
Jantunen participated on the Icon ’ s pre-inaugural sail for VIPs on the Caribbean and had a chance to see the vessel in action – as well as the clearly smitten client . Returning to Turku , he kept hearing great things about the ship :
“ The sales for Icon are better than with any other ship – and the feedback from the cruise patrons is the best Royal Caribbean has ever had .”
TEAM TURKU
For Jantunen , delivering these giant vessels is very much a team sport . “ What I find motivating in this work is that nobody
does it alone . We have great team spirit at the shipyard ,” he says .
Seeing a ship built from scratch is always a journey all on its own .
“ Every day is different . And while there are some really rough and tough days , too , that ’ s balanced out by those days when things are going your way and work proceeds nicely .” n
ICON BY THE NUMBERS |
Tonnage |
248,633 GT |
Length |
365 m |
Passengers |
5,610 |
Passenger cabins 2,813 |
Class |
Icon Class |
Type |
Cruise Liner |
Shipyard |
Meyer Turku |
Cruise Line |
Royal Caribbean |
International |
16 seatec 2024