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Royal Caribbean is building 3 more Icon of the Seas-style megaships
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.
Tupperware and some of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the once-iconic food container maker said in a statement late Tuesday.
The company has suffered from dwindling sales following a surprise surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, when legions of people stuck at home tried their hands at cooking, which increased demand for Tupperware’s colorful plastic containers with flexible airtight seals.
A post-pandemic rise in costs of raw materials and shipping, along with higher wages, also hurt Tupperware’s bottom line.
Last year, it warned of “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating in light of its poor financial position.
“Over the last several years, the Company’s financial position has been severely impacted by the challenging macroeconomic environment,” president and CEO Laurie Ann Goldman said in a statement announcing the bankruptcy filing.
“As a result, we explored numerous strategic options and determined this is the best path forward,” Goldman said.
The company said it would seek court approval for a sale process for the business to protect its brand and “further advance Tupperware’s transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company.”
The Orlando, Florida-based firm said it would also seek approval to continue operating during the bankruptcy proceedings and would continue to pay its employees and suppliers.
“We plan to continue serving our valued customers with the high-quality products they love and trust throughout this process,” Goldman said.
The firm’s shares were trading at $0.5099 Monday, well down from $2.55 in December last year.
Tupperware said it had implemented a strategic plan to modernize its operations and drive efficiencies to ignite growth following the appointment of a new management team last year.
“The Company has made significant progress and intends to continue this important transformation work.”
In its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Tupperware listed assets of between $500 million and $1 billion and liabilities of between $1 billion and $10 billion.
The filing also said it had between 50,000 and 100,000 creditors.
Tupperware lost popularity with consumers in recent years and an initiative to gain distribution through big-box chain Target failed to reverse its fortunes.
The company’s roots date to 1946, when chemist Earl Tupper “had a spark of inspiration while creating molds at a plastics factory shortly after the Great Depression,” according to Tupperware’s website.
“If he could design an airtight seal for plastic storage containers, like those on a paint can, he could help war-weary families save money on costly food waste.”
Over time, Tupper’s containers became popular that many people referred to any plastic food container as Tupperware. And people even threw “Tupperware parties” in their homes to sell the containers to friends and neighbors.
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