Star of the Seas is on her way to start cruises!
Royal Caribbean's newest ship departed the Meyer Turku shipyard on Thursday evening, headed towards its home port, Port Canaveral.
Before that, she’ll make a stop in Cádiz, Spain.
It's a major accomplishment for the cruise line to have its next Icon Class ship join the fleet, and everything looks to be on time.
Royal Caribbean spent a full year gathering feedback from guests that sailed on Icon of the Seas, focus groups, and family travelers to understand what worked, and what could be improved.
Here's what you can expect on Star of the Seas.
Largest water park at sea
One of the best features on Icon of the Seas was the inclusion of an entire water park with Category 6.
You'll find this also on Star of the Seas, complete with:
- Two high-speed family raft slides
- A drop box free-fall slide
- Two mat racers
- And twisting body slides for solo riders
The cruise line thinks it has the boldest waterpark at sea, but will continue to tweak and refine it based on guest preferences.
More social Surfside
Icon of the Seas debuted the first area of the ship designed just for kids, but they learned something important in the process.
Surfside neighborhood is designed specifically for young families but it skewed toward kids around 10 years old. On Star of the Seas, the cruise line made several improvements:
The Playscape now offers more physical challenges to keep kids engaged
Splashaway Bay features new interactive water elements and toys
Adventure Ocean has been reimagined to focus on natural, tech-free play, helping kids and teens connect more easily in person
New spaces for more social, less tech-based play
The hope is these upgrades will match up better with how families actually travel and interact.
A New Supper Club Concept: Lincoln Park
Royal Caribbean's first supper club, Empire Supper Club, was a big hit. On Star of the Seas, Royal Caribbean is introducing an entirely new concept: the Lincoln Park Supper Club, themed after Chicago’s iconic jazz scene.
This version brings:
A brand-new menu
All-new live music programming
The same intimate, elevated feel that made Empire a hit
Bolder and brighter Pearl
The Pearl welcomes passengers as they walk onboard, and it's a big part of the arrival moment.
On Star of the Seas, Royal Caribbean is doubling down on its visual impact by adding more color, lighting, and movement, making that “wow” moment when guests first board even more memorable.
They didn't mess with what works
You'll also find the other neighborhoods that worked well on Icon of the Seas.
- AquaDome, the massive glass-covered venue with live shows and ocean views
- Chill Island, a multi-pool retreat zone perfect for relaxing
- Thrill Island, the upper deck adventure zone packed with water slides and thrills
- The Hideaway, the suspended infinity pool retreat for adults
At its core, Royal Caribbean thinks it has the winning formula to take what was already a major success with Icon of the Seas and make it even better with Star.
"The Icon Class delivered the world’s best family vacation—but we want to do that tomorrow. We want to do that next week. We want to make sure that what people see on day one is nothing but an amazing home run," Jennifer Goswami, Director, Product Development for Royal Caribbean, said in a video interview.
Taking the feedback they've gotten from passengers, it seems Royal Caribbean is ready to deliver an even more impressive ship with Star of the Seas.
