Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, embarked on her inaugural voyage from PortMiami Florida USA on Saturday, January 27.
With LOA length ~1200 ft (365 m) from bow to stern, the vessel is embarking on a 7-day island-hopping journey through the tropics.
Icon OTS was officially christened on Tuesday with the assistance of soccer star Lionel Messi (godfather) and his Inter Miami teammates.
Constructed in ~900 days at Mayer Turku shipyard (Turku Finland), Icon OTS boasts 19 decks and has a maximum capacity 7600 passengers and a crew of 2,350.
As the liner embarks on its sold-out maiden voyage, it will feature entertainment from 50 musicians and comedians, along with a 16-piece orchestra.
With a price tag of US$2 billion (EUR 1.84 billion), Icon OTS incorporates cutting-edge technology and is touted to be more environmentally friendly than some smaller ships as it is LNG-powered /by Liquefied Natural Gas.
However, some experts caution that LNG systems have the potential to leak damaging amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere.