“Biggest launch ever" planned for Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas

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Royal Caribbean's EMEA Vice-President and Managing Director Gerard Nolan

Royal Caribbean sales executives have promised to deliver “the biggest launch ever” for Legend of the Seas in July 2026.

The pledge was made at a showcase hosted by the line held at Fulham Pier on 24 November, attended by 80 trade and media partners.

Speaking at the event, EMEA Vice-President and Managing Director Gerard Nolan pledged to make the launch of the next Icon Class ship “the biggest” ever, with “as many of you on board as possible”.

He said: “I cannot tell you how excited myself and the team are [for Legend] and we will welcome her like we’ve never welcomed a ship into Europe.

“The first sailing is in July and we are working hard to make sure we’re ready to go. We will have an amazing showcase that we can get as many of you together for.”

Nolan added: “We want to put our mark on it and it will be the first time since 2022 [that a Royal Caribbean ship has launched in Europe]. It is too big an opportunity in our backyard, taking the biggest ship in the world and the best holiday in the world, not to do it justice.”

Legend of the Seas’ inaugural sailing will depart from Civitavecchia (Rome) on 11 July and will call in Naples, Barcelona, Palma De Mallorca and Marseille.

Legend of the Seas will debut in July 2026

New terminals and virtual tools set sail for line’s next chapter

Nolan also discussed Royal Caribbean’s plans to invest in cruise terminals in Ravenna, Barcelona and Fiumicino, which will be visited by each of the three cruise lines in the group.

Nolan said: “It is not just ships or private destinations we are building, but we are also building new homes.

“We spend our time thinking about how to make the journey seamless for our consumers, and we are currently working on three sizeable projects.”

Ravenna and Barcelona will both be “zero emissions terminals” with shore power available.

On Fiumicino, Nolan said: “It is a smaller project for us at the moment and still a little bit further on the horizon, but again we are trying to take away that pain point. Civitavecchia is great, but we all know it is a little bit further away from where we would like to be in terms of people flying in.”

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Nolan promised “immersive” training and marketing tools for the trade, which will include the use of virtual reality to show off new spaces for sales and marketing purposes, which are normally used by designers and engineers when building the ship.

Speaking from Miami, virtual design and construction director Alix Loiseau said: “The technology is only getting better and we are expanding beyond the Cave Room [the virtual reality space where ships are designed] to make these immersive virtual environments mobile, more collaborative and accessible from anywhere in the world.”

Trade partners were given on screen demonstration of the virtual reality feature for Icon of the Seas and had the opportunity to try Apple Vision Pro headsets.

“If you have never sold a cruise before, that type of content is what we are really focused on and we want to bring more of that,” Nolan said.

To partner with Royal Caribbean Arabia call UAE +971 4 331 4299, KSA 800 897 1419, or email book@rccl.ae. For more information, visit www.royalcaribbean.ae