Royal Caribbean International’s Utopia of the Seas floated for the first time over the weekend and is now one step closer to her debut in Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida, in July 2024.
This marks a major milestone for the Oasis Class ship, leading to the next phase of construction at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France.
Known as the float out, this key moment in the construction of Utopia took 17 months to reach. The process itself took nearly 15 hours, beginning with filling the new ship’s dry dock with more than 46 million gallons of water overnight. Utopia was then moved into an outfitting dock, where she will be completed in summer 2024. The ship will soon come to life as her features are installed, such as the 295-foot-long Ultimate Abyss – the longest dry slide at sea – to a first-of-its-kind immersive train car dining experience.
Utopia will introduce to vacationers more than 40 ways to dine and drink, more pools and many ways to chill and more. The three-night weekend and four-night weekday getaway will be the first in the Oasis Class to offer short escapes when she debuts. Every voyage will feature visits to Nassau, The Bahamas, and Perfect Day at CocoCay – Royal Caribbean’s private island – that will feature its first adults-only slice of paradise, Hideaway Beach, starting in January 2024.
Utopia will be the first Oasis Class ship powered by liquefied natural gas technology, and will combine this with a line-up of the brand’s already-established environmentally-friendly initiatives and features, from waste heat recovery systems to shore power connection.
