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INTERNATIONAL WATERS

Caribbean Group’s longstanding relationship with
Meyer Turku. With this order, Meyer Turku will have
built 21 ships for the Royal Caribbean Group over
28 years.
The anticipation for the Royal Caribbean Group’s
newbuild pipeline continues to grow, with seven
new ships on order, and two shipyard options.
This year alone, the company welcomed four new
industry-leading ships, including the Royal Carib-
bean International’s Icon of the Seas and Utopia
of the Seas, Silversea’s Silver Ray and TUI Cruises’
Mein Schiff 7. This order also comes on the heels
of the company’s announcement for a seventh
Oasis Class ship, set to debut for Royal Caribbean
International in 2028.

“EXPLORA II” JOINS MSC CRUISES’
FLEET
The Cruise Division of the MSC Group and Fin-
cantieri celebrated on Thursday, 12 September
three significant events in Genoa related to the
Explora Journeys fleet, the luxury lifestyle brand
recently launched by the MSC Group: the delivery
of EXPLORA II, the coin ceremony for EXPLORA
III, and the steel cutting for EXPLORA IV.
The ceremony, held at the historic Sestri Ponente
shipyard, was attended by Edoardo Rixi, Deputy
Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, the Mayor
Credit: PASSENGER of Genoa, Marco Bucci, Executive Chairman of the
Εxlpora Journeys Cruise Division of the MSC Group, Pierfrancesco
SHIPPING Vago, CEO and General Manager of Fincantieri,
Pierroberto Folgiero, Chairman Biagio Mazzotta,
and General Manager of the Merchant Ships Divi-
ROYAL CARIBBEAN GROUP SIGNS sion, Luigi Matarazzo.
AGREEMENT WITH MEYER TURKU TO The event celebrated three key moments in mari-
ORDER FOURTH ICON CLASS SHIP time tradition and the construction of the Explora
The Royal Caribbean Group recently announced Journeys fleet, which currently includes six ships,
that it has signed an agreement with Finnish ship- with the first delivered in July 2023. All vessels
builder Meyer Turku to order a fourth Icon Class are built in Italy by Fincantieri, with the total MSC
ship for delivery to Royal Caribbean International investment exceeding €3.5 billion, of which around
in 2027. The agreement also includes options to €500 million was allocated for EXPLORA II. This
build a fifth and sixth Icon Class ship. investment has an economic impact of over €15
The first ship in the Icon Class launched in January billion on the country, with significant downstream
2024 as a first-of-its-kind vacation and introduced effects and the creation of thousands of jobs. The
an all-encompassing lineup of experiences that construction of each ship requires over seven mil-
combines the best of every vacation – from the lion work hours and provides employment for an
beach retreat and the resort escape to the theme average of 2,500 people for two to three years.
park adventure. The next ship in the lineup will The Explora Journeys ships are highly innovative
continue to deliver revolutionary experiences as it and cutting-edge in terms of design and naval
joins Icon, Star of the Seas (launching in 2025) and technology. They represent the best of “Made
the yet-to-be-named third Icon Class ship (launch- in Italy” and serve as splendid “Ambassadors”
ing in 2026). With this announcement, the Royal on the seas worldwide. MSC, like Fincantieri, is
Caribbean Group continues to drive its moderate deeply committed to innovation, research, and
capacity growth to help guests turn a vacation of development. The luxury segment vessels are no
a lifetime into a lifetime of vacations. exception. Four of them – including Explora III
Known for its history of delivering best-in-class and Explora IV, currently under construction at
ships, the agreement also expands upon the Royal the Sestri Ponente yard – will be powered by LNG.

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