Watch: World’s largest cruise ship sets sail from Miami
Watch as the Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas embarks on its maiden voyage from Miami on Saturday, 27 January.
The 1,198-foot (365-meter) vessel is the world’s largest cruise ship and has 20 decks with a maximum capacity of 10,000 people.
The ship, which comes with a 55ft indoor waterfall, is longer than the Eiffel Tower and called the “biggest, baddest ship on the planet” by Royal Caribbean president Jason Liberty.
But the ship has been ridiculed on social media, having been described as a “human lasagne.”
Despite running on the “cleanest-burning marine fuel” Royal Caribbean came in second place on Friends of the Earth’s list of polluters in the cruise industry in 2022, leading to climate activists to accuse the company of greenwashing.
The company claimed the “eco-friendly” vessel is built to run on electricity supplied from shore when it is docked, which is a more environmentally sustainable alternative to running highly polluting generators.
The ship’s departure follows several European cities, such as Venice, Barcelona, and Amsterdam, introducing restrictions on cruise ships in their ports to curb their environmental impact.
