FORT LAUDERDALE -- Approaching one year in service, Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas has lived up to the hype.
Strong customer satisfaction scores and high ticket prices have landed Icon in a "beautiful sweet spot," Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley said during the Royal Caribbean Group Presidents Panel at CruiseWorld on Thursday.
At least three more Icon-class ships are coming, including Star of the Seas next August.
It's kind of a tough act to follow, Bayley acknowledged, but Royal Caribbean is undeterred with the new Discovery class of ships under development.
"The pressure on the team to create something absolutely phenomenal is intense," Bayley said. "We're spending an extraordinary amount of time in meetings designing this next class of ship."
Details on the Discovery class are sparse, and Bayley told the CruiseWorld audience that Royal Caribbean wasn't ready to reveal anything specific. In an interview with chief marketing officer Kara Wallace this past August, she hinted that the Discovery ships could be smaller.
"It is about the experience, and from the experiences that we put together, we get to the size," Wallace said at the time. "What are guests looking for that we don't offer today, and how can we deliver that through our product?"
At CruiseWorld, Bayley said that catering to families is a Royal Caribbean strength, and that the Discovery class "is going to be positioned for a certain segment of our customer segment."
"One of the reasons we're calling it Discovery is it truly will be an extraordinary discovery, something quite unique and special," Bayley said. "The way we're designing the ship is going to be quite revolutionary."
Can you top Perfect?
Presidents panel moderator, editor in chief Arnie Weissmann, asked Bayley about Perfect Day Mexico, pointing out that the acreage Royal Caribbean has acquired for the private destination is twice the size of Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas.
"It's going to be absolutely epic," Bayley said. "The fact that it's twice the size and space, you can imagine what we're thinking about creating."
Perfect Day Mexico will be built next to the Costa Maya cruise port, which Royal Caribbean Group also has purchased and plans to redevelop. The "thrill-and-chill" destination is expected to open in 2027, and its presence will enable Galveston to rise higher as a homeport, Bayley said.
Bayley called Perfect Day at CocoCay a "ginormous success." Opened in 2019, CocoCay is Royal Caribbean's top-rated destination globally among its customers. The resort-style private island is expected to welcome 3.25 million guests this year, Bayley said.