The third installment in Royal Caribbean's Icon Class will debut in Barcelona in July 2026. That's right–Legend of the Seas is heading to Europe!
Legend of the Seas will be the first Icon Class ship to offer European cruises. Icon started its inaugural season sailing from Florida, and Star of the Seas will do the same in August.
However, Legend won't stay in Europe. Following a stint of 7-night cruises from Spain to France and Italy, the brand-new ship will reposition and sail year-round from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on 6- and 8-night voyages to the Western and Southern Caribbean. This means that there will be an Icon Class ship at the three busiest cruise ports in Florida: Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Port Canaveral.
The Western Caribbean itineraries will visit Falmouth, Jamaica, while the Southern Caribbean cruise will call at Aruba and Curaçao. Legend's Southern Caribbean cruises will mark the first time an Icon Class ship will sail to these ports or offer cruises longer than 7 nights.
“On the heels of celebrating one year of the record-breaking Icon Class and the memories made by vacationers of all ages on Icon, we are thrilled to announce the name of Royal Caribbean’s third Icon Class vacation,” said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International.
“Legend of the Seas is the next bold step in this exciting era of vacations and the continuation of the Icon Class legacy, and we look forward to bringing the revolutionary lineup of experiences to more families and adventurers across Europe, the Caribbean and beyond.”
Bookings open on Thursday, February 20
Get your wallets ready if you want to be one of the first on Legend of the Seas or experience an Icon Class ship while visiting bucket-list destinations like Provence (Marseille), France; Naples and Florence (La Spezia), Italy; and Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Legend of the Seas' itineraries will officially go on sale on Thursday, February 20. However, Crown & Anchor Society members will have early access to these new bookings.
Read more: I cruised on Royal Caribbean and MSC's biggest ships. Both were fun, but one was definitely the best
Icon Class highlights
Icon of the Seas made its long-awaited debut over a year ago. The new ship class revolutionized the industry with firsts like the Category 6 Waterpark, three-story Ultimate Family Townhouse, Crown's Edge, a suspended infinity pool, and more, and guests can expect the same highlights to be onboard Legend of the Seas.
We don't know much about Legend's designs yet. However, Royal Caribbean typically changes certain venues and introduces new concepts on subsequent ships in a single class, so, likely, Legend will not be a direct copy of Icon or Star of the Seas.
For example, the Empire Supper Club on Icon is themed after New York, whereas on Star, its theme was changed to Chicago and named the Lincon Park Supper Club. At one point, Royal Caribbean executives said the third supper club would be themed after Hollywood.
Additionally, Star of the Seas will have an extra hot tub compared to Icon. This is because when designing Icon, engineers weren't sure if they could add another hot tub without impacting the ship's water weight distribution.
Legend should have similar measurements to Icon and Star, coming in at around 250,000 gross registered tons (GRT) and carrying about 5,610 guests at double occupancy.
It will also be Royal Caribbean's fourth ship powered by LNG, following Icon, Utopia, and Star of the Seas, helping advance its journey toward introducing a net-zero cruise ship by 2035.
Read more: I sailed on Royal Caribbean's two largest cruise ships. They were surprisingly different
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. in Journalism in May 2023. Growing up, she had the privilege of traveling frequently with her family and fell in love with cruising after sailing on the Oasis of the Seas her freshman year of high school. She wanted to pursue a career that highlighted her passion for travel and strengths as a writer.
