Fifth Royal Caribbean Icon Class Ship Build Starts for 2028

Royal Caribbean has started physical construction of its fifth Icon Class ship. Meyer Turku laid the vessel’s keel on September 14, 2026, at its shipyard in Turku, Finland, placing the first major steel block in the dry dock where the hull will take shape over about two years, according to reports from Cruise Hive and Cruise Fever on the shipyard’s announcement.

The milestone changes nothing bookable today: the ship has no name, no homeport, and no published itineraries. Travelers weighing a future big-ship sailing can use Deep Arrival’s Icon of the Seas guide to understand the class product while the fifth hull moves through its construction program toward an expected summer 2028 delivery.

First Steel Block Placed September 14 in Turku Dry Dock

The keel forms the backbone of the ship along the bottom and center of the hull, and its placement marks the formal start of structural assembly. Cruise Fever reports that the first major building block was lifted into position in the Turku dry dock during the September 14 ceremony, beginning the two-year process of joining blocks into a complete hull.

The keel-laying team named in the reports pairs the builder with the buyer: project managers Saku Jaatinen of Meyer Turku and Janne Auvinen of Royal Caribbean. Their naming follows shipbuilding practice for a program of this scale, where yard and line engineers share responsibility for each hull from first steel through delivery.

To mark the milestone, Royal Caribbean and Meyer Turku placed freshly minted coins beneath the steel block before it was set down, a longstanding maritime tradition meant to seal good fortune for the ship’s working life. Royal Caribbean described the moment as the kickoff of the next two years of construction, noting the coins were laid under the keel in the building dock, as reported by Cruise Hive.

Shipyard Cites Partnership Behind Five Icon Hulls

Meyer Turku chief executive Casimir Lindholm said the start of construction reflects the strength of the long-term partnership between Royal Caribbean and the yard, adding that building a series lets each new vessel benefit from expertise gained across the program. The comments were carried in both trade reports on the September 14 announcement.

All five Icon Class ships have been built, or are being built, at Meyer Turku: Icon of the Seas, Star of the Seas, Legend of the Seas, Hero of the Seas, and now the fifth hull. The program overlap is visible at the yard now, with one ship in outfitting while the next begins hull assembly.

Lindholm also pointed to the yard’s partner network and the shipbuilding capability developed in Turku, framing the fifth hull as a continuation of the same program, with each new vessel drawing on expertise gained across the series.

Summer 2028 Delivery Expected While Name Stays Undecided

The fifth ship is expected to be delivered in summer 2028, though Royal Caribbean has not confirmed an exact date for its first sailing. Both trade reports describe about two years of construction from the September 14 keel laying to that delivery window.

Nothing about the ship’s commercial identity has been revealed. No name, no homeport, and no itineraries have been announced, so there is no deck plan to study and no voyage calendar to compare. Readers deciding between today’s big-ship options can compare the established classes in Deep Arrival’s Icon Class versus Oasis Class guide while Icon 5 remains a hull number.

Scale is the one product fact already fixed by the class program. Icon Class ships measure close to 250,000 gross tons, which Cruise Fever notes makes them the largest cruise ships in the world. Whatever name the fifth hull receives, it is expected to enter service in that same size bracket.

Hero of the Seas Float-Out Shows the Road Ahead

Icon 5 is rising beside its predecessor. Shipyard photos shared with the keel-laying announcement show the fifth hull’s single block in the building dock while Hero of the Seas sits in a forward wet berth continuing interior outfitting, after floating out on September 4, 2026. The two ships will remain side by side as one hull grows and the other is finished.

Hero of the Seas is slated to welcome her first guests in August 2027, giving planners a nearer Icon Class reference point with a fixed debut season. Sister-ship milestones continue to arrive in sequence, including the Legend of the Seas handover, and each step narrows the wait for concrete Icon 5 details such as deployment.

What Planners Should Do While the Hull Takes Shape

Treat the keel laying as a schedule signal, not a booking trigger. A keel laid in September 2026 supports the summer 2028 delivery expectation, but with no name, homeport, or itineraries announced, there is nothing concrete to book. Planning travel around Icon 5 now would mean guessing at dates the line has not published.

The practical move is to watch for three reveals in order: the name, which fixes how the line will market the ship; the homeport, which fixes which travelers can reach it easily; and the itineraries, which fix what the sailing actually visits. Until that sequence starts, keep any big-ship decision anchored in ships with published calendars.