Royal Caribbean is growing its fleet of megaships, with plans to build three more Icon of the Seas-style vessels. 

The cruise company, which currently operates 68 ships, this week said it is partnering with Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku to build the additional Icon-style ships. The deal includes options for Royal Caribbean to order fourth and fifth vessels. In addition to other Royal Caribbean ships, Meyer Turku built Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, which made its maiden voyage in January.

A sister ship, called Star of the Seas, will set sail from Cape Canaveral in the summer of 2025. The third Icon class ship, which will launch in 2026, has not yet been named, according to Royal Caribbean Group. 

Royal Caribbean Group president and CEO Jason Liberty said the company ordered the forthcoming ships based on enthusiastic customer response to Icon of the Seas, a ship so big it dwarfs The Titanic in size. The 250,800-ton ship, accommodates roughly 8,000 people and features dozens of restaurants, theme parks and “neighborhoods.”

“Building on the incredible momentum and market response to the launch of Icon of the Seas and the excitement for its sister ship, Star of the Seas, coming in 2025, we’re thrilled to join with Meyer Turku once again to expand our roster of Icon class ships and continue our future growth plans,” Liberty said in a statement on the repeat partnership. “Since its debut, Icon has changed the game in vacation experiences and exceeded our expectations in both guest satisfaction and financial performance.” 

“We’re just getting started”

Royal Caribbean said Icon is just the beginning of a new trend in cruising. 

“Icon of the Seas is unlike anything the world has seen before, and we’re just getting started,” Royal Caribbean International president and CEO Michael Bayley said in a statement. “We are leading the vacation industry in developing new experiences for our guests to create lifelong memories, and we continue dreaming and evolving to deliver more ways to chill and thrill.” 

While the cruise industry was momentarily battered by COVID-19, statistics show that cruising remains a popular way to vacation. In 2023, 31.7 million passengers took cruises, surpassing 2019’s record 20.7 million passengers, according to industry trade group Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). CLIA expects that trend to continue, and forecasts that the number of cruise passengers will reach 34.7 million by the end of 2024. 

But while Icon has proved popular among cruisers, it’s drawn the ire of environmental advocates, who say cruise ships’ increasingly large sizes are not climate-friendly. 

The world’s biggest cruise ships are now twice as big as they were in 2020, according to a Transport and Environment report. CO2 emissions from cruise ships were nearly 20% higher in 2022 than they were in 2019, the Brussels-based group that advocates for clean transportation found.

Icon of the Seas features energy-efficient technology designed to reduce its carbon footprint, and Royal Caribbean has pledged to introduce a net-zero ship by 2035. But climate advocates say these advances aren’t enough to mitigate pollution from these ships, and that their sheer size and capacity is proof that the industry isn’t prioritizing sustainability. 

Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment about its ships’ sustainability.