Royal Caribbean International has begun reaching out to travel agents and booked guests to alert them to a delay for the second Icon-class ship, Star of the Seas.
This unfortunately means the inaugural sailing must be cancelled, but travelers will have options to choose from for their cruise vacation plans.
Star of the Seas Delayed
Travel partners and cruise agents have begun receiving notifications that confirm the delay of the second Icon-class ship, Star of the Seas. The ship is scheduled to debut in August 2025, but her inaugural sailing must be cancelled as the ship will be unable to make the originally scheduled delivery.
“While we’re working hard on completing our newest Icon Class ship, Star of the Seas, and after a review of the work that remains to be done, we’re unfortunately forced to delay the ship’s delivery date,” the cruise line said.
This means that the ship’s first sailing – a 7-night Eastern Caribbean & Perfect Day itinerary scheduled to depart Port Canaveral on August 17, 2025 – must be cancelled.
The itinerary was to have included visits to St. Thomas and St. Kitts, in addition to CocoCay. The second cancelled cruise was also an Eastern Caribbean itinerary, this one calling on CocoCay, San Juan, and St. Maarten.
Instead, Royal Caribbean has confirmed that the new Star of the Seas inaugural sailing will be the ship’s August 31, 2025 departure. This is a 7-night Western Caribbean itinerary, visiting CocoCay, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.
Bookings only opened for Star of the Seas in early December 2023, and while the ship has undoubtedly been popular, her numbers are unlike to rival the phenomenal booking when the first reservations opened for Icon of the Seas, the first ship in the revolutionary Icon class.
One option for guests booked on either of the first two now-cancelled cruises is to move to the new first cruise, the August 31 departure.
Other options include other alternative sailings on Star of the Seas or any other Royal Caribbean ship, as well as a full refund if passengers no longer wish to plan a cruise vacation.
No details about why the ship’s delivery must be delayed have been released. This could be related to design changes, labor shortages, supply chain issues, shipyard work schedules, or other factors that all have a knock-on effect for how a cruise ship’s construction can proceed.
The Icon-class vessel is currently under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland and still has several major milestones to reach, including floating out onto the water for the very first time and sea trials. Once completed, she will be similar to the sister ship Icon of the Seas, at approximately 248,663 and a passenger capacity of 5,610 at double occupancy.
Will the Next Inaugural Date Actually Happen?
Cruise travelers might be nervous about this new inaugural date. Delays for newly built ships are not unusual, and while two cruises for the new ship are now cancelled, it would not be unheard of for additional sailings to be cancelled in the months to come.
Read Also: Icon of the Seas Size Comparison – Facts and Stats
For example, Princess Cruises’ upcoming Sun Princess has had her inaugural sailing cancelled twice, with guests left scrambling at the last minute to rearrange their travel plans and make alternative cruise arrangements if they still wanted to sail.
Fortunately, guests hoping to enjoy Star of the Seas‘ inaugural cruise still have more than 17 months before the now-cancelled cruises were to have set sail, a plentiful margin of time for rebooking a different cruise, rearranging pre- or post-cruise plans, or making airfare arrangements with little or no penalties.
For the moment, only itineraries through April 2026 have been released, with Star of the Seas homeported year-round from Port Canaveral and offering alternating Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean cruises.
