Perelló wrote on Facebook that The Icon of the Seas is the largest cruise ship ever built and will sail the Caribbean in the coming months. However, it also poses a significant risk to the environment. According to Tim Meyer, Managing Director of the Meyer Turku shipyard, in charge of the construction, the Icon of the Seas was commissioned by Royal Caribbean and it has every chance of becoming a floating city.

The new ship has seven swimming pools, a park, shops, an esplanade, more than 40 restaurants, a water park, an obstacle course, and even an ice rink.

Weighing 250,800 tons, it can carry 10,000 passengers on 20 decks across the Caribbean, departing from Miami (the United States) in January 2024.

This giant ocean liner, five times the size of the Titanic, will help revive the cruise industry, which was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The expert noted that the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) reports that 31.5 million passengers are expected to sail aboard a cruise ship in 2023, surpassing the pandemic high reported in 2019.

While this renewed interest in cruising is good news for the industry, environmentalists see it as another setback in the fight against global warming, as this industry is one of the biggest polluters of both the oceans and the atmosphere.

Cruise ships are one of the most polluting means of transportation nowadays,” the Cuban professor noted.

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