• Royal Caribbean plans to launch its third Icon-class ship, Legend of the Seas, in July 2026.
• The mega-ship is scheduled to debut in Europe instead of the Caribbean.
• The European cruise market is growing — and Royal Caribbean is taking notice.

Royal Caribbean? More like Royal European.

The cruise line's coming Legend of the Seas is expected to set sail in 2026, but it won't debut in Florida to run classic Caribbean voyages, as most of its mega-ship predecessors have. Instead, the third ship in this class of vessels — the world's largest — will debut in Europe.

The decision to debut Legend of the Seas across the pond may come as a surprise. After all, the Caribbean is synonymous with the behemoth American cruise market. These warm-watered voyages will make up 57% of Royal Caribbean Group's deployments in 2025, Naftali Holtz, the cruise giant's CFO, told analysts in late January.

Europe is also becoming a burgeoning frontier for the traditionally American way of vacationing.

According to trade group Cruise Lines International Association, a record 8.2 million Europeans went on cruises in 2023 — a 6.5% bump from 2019. It's the second-largest vacation-at-sea market, though still relatively small compared to the 18.1 million North American cruisers in 2023.

Royal Caribbean Group has seen substantial demand in the region both from European guests and for European itineraries, Jason Liberty, the company's CEO, told analysts.

Europe is now expected to account for 15% of Royal Caribbean Group's 2025 capacity, a 5% increase from the prior year, Holtz said, adding that these voyages "continue to perform very well on both rate and volume basis."

According to CLIA, the majority of these international cruisers opt for Mediterranean voyages. As such, Legend of the Seas is expected to spend its first three months operating western Mediterranean itineraries from Barcelona and Civitavecchia, Italy, before crossing the Atlantic for its long-term homeport in Fort Lauderdale.

The first Icon-class vessel, Icon of the Seas, launched in Miami in 2024 as the world's largest — and the company's most successful — cruise ship. Its second iteration, Star of the Seas, is scheduled to debut in August from Florida's Port Canaveral.

When Legend of the Seas eventually arrives at Fort Lauderdale, Royal Caribbean could have three of the world's biggest cruise liners sailing out of the US' three most popular cruise ports.