Ship shape: Watch as giant sphere is lifted onto Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas

The pearl-like structure is 46 feet tall and 50 feet in diameter

Excitement is building for Royal Caribbean’s soon to launch Icon of the Seas, as cruise fans watch an enormous, purpose-built sphere being lifted onto the mega-ship.

Icon of the Seas is the cruise operator’s first in a new class of ship, which they’ve dubbed “Icon Class”.

“Exciting construction update on Icon of the Seas! A top-secret piece of the revolutionary ship is on the move in Turku, Finland,” wrote Royal Caribbean’s CEO Michael Bayley as he unveiled the clip on Facebook.

In the video, the mysterious 175-tonne sphere is completed and polished up before being wrapped in protective white material and lifted onto a barge for a day-long journey to the Meyer shipyard in Turku.

According to the manufacturer, the pearl-like structure measures 46 feet (14 metres) tall and 50 feet (15.3 metres) in diameter.

Construction started on the Icon in Turku last June, with the ship set to make its first sailing from Southampton in autumn 2023.

The operator says it will be “the first of three Royal Caribbean ships powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) – the cleanest fossil fuel available to cruise ships today”, and will carry 5,600 passengers at full capacity.

Michael Bayley has said: “We made our commitment to making clean power at sea a reality, and soon the norm, when Icon-class was first announced in 2016, and we’re excited to see construction underway on what will truly be a ship unlike any other.”

A keel-laying ceremony for the vessel took place last month - a long-standing maritime tradition which involves a 3,000-tonne crane lifting a massive steel block on to the ship’s building dock, on top of freshly minted coins representing the shipyard and cruise line.

In March 2022, Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas became the world’s largest cruise liner, setting off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on its maiden voyage on 4 March.

Its launch means Royal Caribbean has five of the 10 largest cruise ships at sea - the new Icon will be somewhat smaller than the Wonder, which weighs in at 236,857 gross tonnes and accommodates 5,734 guests at full capacity.