Cruise Ships

Star of the Seas Coming To Port Canaveral

There’s been a ton of news about Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas over the past few weeks. The ship was just delivered to Royal Caribbean by the shipbuilder, and it’s now on its way to being fully customized. While its debut is just around the corner, attention has turned to the next new ship, Star of the Seas. Royal Caribbean finally announced that this sister ship will sail from Port Canaveral. 

Star of the Seas will sail from Port Canaveral 

Star of the Seas’ homeport will be Port Canaveral, which is located around 45 minutes from Orlando airport. It’ll let families who are visiting the Orlando area check out local attractions before embarking on a fantastic sailing aboard this new ship. 

Port Canaveral has been getting increasingly busy, with Celebrity and Princess Cruises announcing they’ll bring ships to Port Canaveral in late 2024. In addition, Disney will bring their new ship, Disney Treasure, to Port Canaveral when it debuts. 

If you want to sail Icon-class, you have to go to Florida

Unfortunately, if you want to sail on Royal Caribbean’s newest and most innovative ships, you’ll have to go to Florida. None of the Icon-class ships have any plans to depart from New York City or Galveston, TX. There’s still one more Icon-class ship on order, so there’s a possibility one of the other ports will see them in the future. 

Still not many details on Star of the Seas

icon of the seas aft
Star of the Seas is expected to have many of the attractions of Icon of the Seas including a large waterpark, dedicated family neighborhood, and suspended infinity pool.

Royal Caribbean has been keeping its cards close to the vest on Star of the Seas and hasn’t released a lot of details. They haven’t even released preliminary deck plans yet. Being the second in the Icon-class, it’s safe to assume it’ll have many features that make Icon of the Seas a hot ticket. That includes the glass-enclosed AquaDome, the dedicated family neighborhood Surfside, the suspended infinity pool “The Hideaway,” a swim-up bar, and the Category 6 water park. They might change some restaurants or bars aboard, but likely, there won’t be any dramatic differences. 

Star of the Seas goes on sail on December 6th

Bookings for Star of the Seas will begin on December 6th. We don’t yet know where the ship will be sailing, but there’s a high likelihood that it’ll run 7-day sailings with a stop in Perfect Day at CocoCay, like its sister ship. Sailings will start in Summer of 2025.

Demand for the Icon of the Seas broke Royal Caribbean’s records, so it’ll be interesting to see if they can repeat that feat for Star of the Seas. 

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Randy Young

Randy Young is the founder and editor-in-chief at Cruise Spotlight. He has been in marketing for 20 years and has been cruising for just as long. Over the years, he's worked with products like TVs, copiers, light bulbs, and EV chargers, but cruising has always been his passion. There's nothing Randy likes more than the first couple of hours on a ship, exploring every nook and cranny and seeing how it's different from everything else out there. He's known for providing detailed and analytical coverage of cruising to help cruisers get a comprehensive picture of a ship's offerings.