As the full moon sank below the horizon, silhouetting palm trees at Jetty Park, the light of dawn ushered in the arrival of the world’s largest cruise ship to its new homeport on Florida’s Space Coast.
Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas, the company’s second Icon-class ship, docked at Port Canaveral for the first time Saturday and will begin sailing with vacationers on Aug. 16. Weighing 250,800 gross tons, the floating behemoth features 20 decks, seven pools, six waterslides and more than 40 venues for dining and drinking. The giant vessel can accommodate 5,610 passengers at double occupancy and more than 7,000 passengers at full capacity, plus 2,350 crew.
Playing host to both Royal Caribbean’s newest and second-newest ship, the Oasis-class Utopia of the Seas, is a sign of growth for Port Canaveral — the second busiest cruise terminal in the world by passenger movements, just behind PortMiami.
“Port Canaveral has been getting a lot of new ships lately. I think having Star of the Seas, which is sort of the crown jewel of Royal Caribbean’s fleet, is a huge sign of the incredible impact that Port Canaveral has on the cruising industry and how important it is,” said Colleen McDaniel, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic. “I think passengers are going to really love having a ship of this size sailing from Port Canaveral.”
Capt. John Murray, CEO of the Canaveral Port Authority, said that growth has been driven by the arrival of newer, larger ships that can accommodate more passengers per itinerary.
“We’ve done double-digit growth every year for the last several years. That’s being driven largely by the bigger ships. While we might have the same two Royal Caribbean ship calls at Cruise Terminal 1, the ships are exponentially larger than they were, say, 8-9 years ago,” he said. “Success breeds success. When you have ships like this, more people want to come down and have a great experience. Then they want to come back to Port Canaveral.”
Murray also pointed out that as frequent cruisers grow tired of port destinations they’ve visited time and time again, the ships themselves become the destination.
“You want to go on the Carnival Mardi Gras because it’s got a roller coaster, or you might want to be on one of the Norwegian Cruise Line ships that has a race track on the upper deck,” he said. “If you’ve been to a port 10 times, you couldn’t care less about getting off. You get the ship to yourself because a lot of people do get off.”
Having so many amenities onboard gives passengers plenty to do — and it’s good for business.
“Cruising really makes the money from the way that people spend on board,” McDaniel said. “When they have more options to spend on board and more people on board to spend, that’s where you see a lot of profit.”
In addition to its numerous waterslides and pools, Star of the Seas features the Crown’s Edge aerial adventure course, a rock climbing wall, a miniature golf course, a sports court, a FlowRider surf simulator, laser tag, an escape room and karaoke. Families can also enjoy entertainment from ice skating shows, “Back to the Future: The Musical” and other theatrical experiences imagined for the 82-foot-tall, 164-foot-wide glass-and-metal AquaDome.
Like the Icon of the Seas, which currently sails out of Miami, Star of the Seas is organized into eight neighborhoods each designed for different activities and age groups. For example, Surfside caters to young families, while Central Park hosts dining and drinking destinations and Chill Island hosts four of the vessel’s seven pools.
McDaniel, who experienced the Star firsthand during a preview sailing, said the ship is accessible to passengers of all ages.
“It’s a beautiful ship. It’s especially made for families with how the ship is set up,” she said. “One of the things this class of ship does very well is it manages passenger flow. People find their spots where they want to hang and then move efficiently from one spot to another without ever feeling like there’s thousands and thousands of people to share the ship with.”
The ship will sail seven-night alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries, partnering alongside Royal’s Utopia of the Seas, which debuted in summer 2024 at Port Canaveral and will continue three- and four-night Bahamas itineraries. Many sailings include a stop at Royal Caribbean’s Perfect Day at CocoCay.
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