It’s nearly here!

Royal Caribbean has officially taken delivery of its brand-new Star of the Seas, the cruise line’s second ship in the massive Icon Class, from Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland on July 10, 2025. 

This means the new Star of the Seas will soon be sailing to Florida – after a few more weeks of final touches – where it will operate Caribbean itineraries out of Port Canaveral starting in late summer.

Jason Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, called the handover a major step.

“The completion of Star of the Seas is another significant step in Royal Caribbean Group’s journey toward a completely new type of vacation experience,” he said.

The delivery is the final phase of the 248,663-gross-ton vessel’s construction, which began steel cutting at Meyer Turku in February 2023. 

Throughout its construction phases, eager wannabe passengers have watched in delight as Star of the Seas completed its successful float out in October 2024 and then began a series of successful sea trials in June 2025. 

The multi-day testing period took place in open waters near Turku beginning June 14, and included assessments of the ship’s propulsion systems, maneuverability, safety features, and overall performance. 

And all of the construction went faster than expected, noted senior leadership at Meyer Turku, with the shipyard working on Star of the Seas on the heels of delivering the vessel’s sister and first Icon Class ship, Icon of the Seas, in January 2024.

“Star of the Seas is already the second world’s most advanced Icon class cruise ship built on our dock,” said Casimir Lindholm, CEO of Meyer Turku.

“In good cooperation with the subscriber and the companies of our network, we were able to make use of the lessons we gained during the prototype ship building process, and the Star was finished in record time,” he added.

Now that the ship is delivered, crew are boarding and beginning the final onboard preparations, with teams setting up departments from culinary and housekeeping to entertainment and engineering, ahead of test sailings and media previews.

Final Outfitting Underway

With Star of the Seas now officially in Royal Caribbean’s ownership, the vessel is in its final phase before entering service.

The final outfitting is scheduled to take place in Turku until July 17, 2025, and then in Cadiz, Spain, from July 24 to 26, 2025.

Next, the vessel will compete a transatlantic crossing to Port Canaveral, where it will undergo final inspections and host a series of preview cruises for media and travel agents, including one scheduled for the weekend of August 7 through 10, 2025.

Read Also: Icon of the Seas Amenities and Everything You’ll Love Onboard

Three additional preview sailings will take place on August 20, 23, and 27, 2025, and the ship’s first official passenger sailing will depart on August 31, 2025. That will be a 7-night inaugural voyage to the Caribbean.

Its schedule includes alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean routes, both of which include a call at Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean’s private destination in the Bahamas.

Star of the Seas can carry up to 7,600 guests at full capacity (5,610 at double capacity) with 2,350 crew members.

Said Liberty of the ship, “We are proud to bring this new generation vacation experience to life at Meyer Turku shipyard together with our esteemed partners.”

Meanwhile, Legend of the Seas, the cruise line’s third Icon Class ship, is also under construction at Meyer Turku. That vessel will move to the outfitting dock at Meyer Turku following Star of the Seas’ departure. 

Every cruise guest wants to maximize their time on board, whether that means selecting the earliest possible terminal arrival time, strategizing those first few chaotic minutes after embarkation, or heading straight to one’s stateroom.

Guests boarding Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas in Los Angeles, California on Friday, July 11, 2025, however, will have to wait a bit longer to get started on their cruise vacation.

The cruise line has emailed booked guests with an update, notifying them that the ship will be undergoing cleaning and maintenance just prior to embarkation. During that time, the cruise terminal will not be open.

“Prior to boarding, Navigator of the Seas will conduct routine cleaning and maintenance. During this time, the terminal will not be open for embarkation, and we will need to push back our boarding,” the email explained.

Guests must now arrive anywhere from 30-90 minutes later than their originally selected cruise terminal arrival times. Earlier arrival windows have the longest delay, while the latest (and typically least popular) arrival times are not delayed as much.

For example, guests who selected to arrive at 10:30 a.m. must now arrive at noon, and likewise, guests who planned to arrive at noon must now wait until 1:30 p.m.

The only times that aren’t delayed by a full 90 minutes are the 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. arrival times. Guests with those pre-selected arrival times should all plan to arrive at the Los Angeles Cruise Terminal by 2:30 p.m.

It must be noted that 2:30 p.m. is the latest possible arrival time and all guests should be checked in an onboard Navigator of the Seas no later than 3 p.m.

At this time, there is no change to the ship’s 7-night Mexican Riviera itinerary, and there have been no adjustments to the visits to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.

Why Is the Cleaning Necessary?

Royal Caribbean has not given any further details about why the “routine cleaning and maintenance” may be necessary, as it is certainly not something that happens before every cruise departure.

There has been no official report of a gastrointestinal illness outbreak onboard Navigator of the Seas. It is possible there may have been some cases reported but without reaching the threshold of an official outbreak, and this extra cleaning could be simply a precaution.

Another possibility could relate to the previous cruise, ending on July 11, which is a themed Art Cruise sailing. It may be that different spaces could have been converted for that voyage’s special activities, and now those spaces must be cleaned and restored for regular sailings.

Read Also: How You Can Make Cruise Embarkation a Breeze

This would take extra time and could necessitate the slight delay for the next embarkation.

Guests booked on future cruises might be concerned that their sailings could be similarly impacted, but there is no indication that any other departure dates will have delayed embarkation.

The 140,000-gross ton, Voyager class Navigator of the Seas is homeported from Los Angeles year-round, offering 3-, 4-, 6-, and 7-night Mexican Riviera itineraries.

The ship can welcome 3,386 guests at double occupancy, or up to 4,000 guests when fully booked with all berths filled. Also onboard are 1,200 crew members who work hard to ensure everyone aboard has a fun and relaxing cruise vacation, no matter when they board the ship.

The cruise industry has been absolutely booming, and the new mega-ships that are coming out this year are more sophisticated and innovative than ever before.

In 2025 alone, Royal Caribbean, MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Virgin Voyages have either launched or are about to debut new ships.

This makes now a perfect opportunity to reflect on all the planning and effort it takes to bring these giant marvels to the high seas – and Royal Caribbean agrees.

The topic of building a cruise ship is the focus of the first episode of Royal Caribbean’s new video series, called “Engineering the Experience,” that premiered on YouTube on July 7, 2025.

Utopia of the Seas, which launched a year ago in July of 2024, was the star of the short video.

The completion of the Oasis-class ship was an engineering triumph in its own right, with 2,834 staterooms, over 40 dining venues and bars, and major amenities like an ice rink onboard the 236,860-gross ton ship.

The interesting episode went through the approximately two-year construction process that Utopia of the Seas went through, and that the upcoming Icon-class ships are in the middle of now.

Star of the Seas has passed her sea trials and is nearly ready for her August 2025 launch, while Legend of the Seas is much earlier in the process and won’t debut until July 2026.

Construction always starts with a traditional steel-cutting ceremony, after which the steel is sent off to be turned into blocks.

Next up is the keel laying ceremony in dry dock, which is the official starting point of assembling the cruise ship.

The keel is the bottom of the ship and sort of functions like a backbone. It is the first major piece of the ship’s structure and is ultimately the base for which the blocks are installed upon once they are pre-fabricated and ready to go.

A coin ceremony for good luck is also held during the keel laying ceremony, during which a special coin is placed under the ship’s keel.

The blocks are usually put into place during the first year or so, with the second year (more or less) spent welding everything together and installing major systems onboard, such as the engines and air conditioning.

Once the ship’s structure is complete, she moves on to the big, public milestones that cruise fans look forward to, such as floating out, undergoing sea trials, and officially being delivered to the cruise line.

What Happens Before Construction Begins?

Considering the massive size of the cruise ships of today, it’s truly remarkable that they can be fully built within just a couple years.

But in reality, the process of designing and planning for a new ship actually can take closer to a decade.

Read Also: How Long Does It Take to Build a Cruise Ship?

The “Engineering the Experience” episode made sure to show some love to the process of brainstorming, designing a new ship, and collaborating with naval experts and architects.

But while Royal Caribbean leadership is heavily involved in the ideation process, the cruise line partners with skilled architects to help bring their dream to life.

These conversations happen and partnerships are formed long before the ship building process actually begins.

Among the brand’s most notable partners is Wilson Butler Architects, which has been heavily involved in creating firsts at sea since the Voyager-class ships were first coming out.

For example, this firm helped create the AquaDome for Icon of the Seas, which is the largest glass dome ever to be installed on a cruise ship.

Depending on the vision for the ship and its size, one of three shipyards is given the task of building the vessel once the design is finalized.

The cruise line works with Meyer Turku in Turku, Finland; Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany; and Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France.

Once the design is delivered and every specification is nailed down, the shipyard team places material orders to prepare for the upcoming construction, which is a big undertaking in its own right.

And I don’t know about you, but learning more about the process of taking a cruise ship from an idea to a completed vessel has made me even more excited about the new ships launching soon.

Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas will be embarking on a 9-night sailing to Bermuda and the Eastern Caribbean on August 21, 2025, but the itinerary will look a little different than expected.

The sailing, which is based out of Cape Liberty, New Jersey, originally featured calls on King’s Wharf (Royal Naval Dockyard), Bermuda; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Labadee, Haiti.

While most of those destinations are still on the itinerary (stay tuned for an update on Labadee), the times in port have shifted.

“To provide you with the best experience while onboard with us, we’ve had to make some adjustments to our arrival and departure times in Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, Philipsburg, St. Maarten, and San Juan, Puerto Rico,” Royal Caribbean notified guests.

Following a sea day, the first call on the itinerary is on Bermuda’s Royal Naval Dockyard on August 23, 2025, and was originally scheduled to last from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time.

However, the Freedom-class vessel will now depart an hour early at 3 p.m.

On August 26, the planned visit to San Juan will be shortened by a half an hour. Instead of staying in the port from 7:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., the 4,960-guest ship will depart at 2:00 p.m.

Instead of leaving early, the Royal Caribbean cruise ship will arrive late in Philipsburg on August 25. The visit will shift from 11:59 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.

“We’ll now depart Royal Naval Dockyard on Day 3 at 3:00 PM instead of 4:00 PM and we’ll now depart San Juan on Day 6 at 2:00 PM instead of 2:30 PM,” the cruise line’s update continued.

“We’ll now arrive to Philipsburg at 2:00 PM instead of 11:59 AM and depart at 8:00 PM instead of 7:00 PM.”

Royal Caribbean did not provide a reason for the changes aside from providing a good experience, but it’s not uncommon for itineraries to be tweaked to accommodate unexpected port congestion or updated port availability.

Labadee, Haiti, Gets Replaced 

It’s not just the times that will be changing on Liberty of the Seas’ August 21, 2025, sailing. Indeed, the port of Labadee, Haiti, has been removed from the itinerary entirely.

The visit to Royal Caribbean’s private destination in Haiti, which was planned as the final stop of the cruise on August 27, 2025, will be replaced with a day in Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos.

“We’ll now skip our visit to Labadee, Haiti, on Day 7 and visit Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM, giving you plenty of time to explore what this beautiful destination has to offer,” Royal Caribbean added.

Read Also: Royal Caribbean Amenities You Should Pre-Book

The cruise line did not provide a reason for the swap, but Royal Caribbean fans likely won’t be surprised by the change.

Royal Caribbean has been diverting several of its ships away from the private resort for months out of an abundance of caution due to the political unrest in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city.

Labadee itself is considered safe because it has its own private security and is nearly 100 miles away from the violence (which equates to a 6 or 7 hour drive with the terrain), but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

In addition to Liberty of the Seas, Icon of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, and Voyager of the Seas have also been recently re-routed to avoid the destination (just to name a few examples).

With Haiti still under the most severe Level 4: Do Not Travel advisory in the US, more changes will likely be coming for the fleet.