Royal Caribbean's Star of the Seas has just wrapped up its first full year in service, and it's been a busy one. Delivered on July 10, 2025 from the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, the 250,800-ton vessel is the second ship in the line's Icon class — currently the biggest ships afloat. At 5,610 passengers, it's essentially a floating resort town.
The ship's path to service had a few twists. After leaving the building dock, it crossed the Atlantic for the first time with no guests onboard, stopping in Puerto Rico for technical work before reaching its homeport at Port Canaveral, Florida on August 9, 2026. The christening also made headlines: with singer Diana Ross stepping back from godmother duties on short notice, astronaut Kellie Gerardi took the honours, naming the ship in a ceremony held in the vessel's AquaDome.
Once preview sailings wrapped, the inaugural cruise departed on August 31, 2026 — a seven-night Western Caribbean run calling at Roatán in Honduras, Cozumel in Mexico, and Royal Caribbean's private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas.
That first year settled into a clear pattern: weeklong sailings from Port Canaveral, alternating between the Western and Eastern Caribbean. Eastern routes have included St. Maarten, St. Thomas, St. Kitts and Puerto Rico, while western runs hit Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatán and more. Every itinerary, without exception, includes a stop at CocoCay — the line's heavily invested private island with its waterpark, beach clubs and no-tender pier.
Looking ahead, the published deployment keeps Star of the Seas doing what it does best: seven-night Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral through April 2028, with upcoming itineraries adding Falmouth in Jamaica and Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private beach destination on Haiti's north coast.
Why should a traveller care? If you've been eyeing an Icon-class ship but baulked at the price or availability of Icon of the Seas itself, Star of the Seas is the more accessible sibling — same sprawling suite of slides, surf simulators, neighbourhoods and shows, sailing a predictable weekly rhythm that's easy to plan around. The alternating east/west structure also means repeat cruisers can book two back-to-back weeks and see entirely different islands. Booking window matters too: with a fixed schedule locked in to spring 2028, cabins on school-holiday sailings tend to go early, so planning ahead pays off.
