By
Laura Hyde |
Royal Caribbean International has named Argentina and Inter Miami CF footballer, Lionel Messi, as the official icon for its newest ship, Icon of the Seas. The most decorated fútbol player in history will christen the brand’s first Icon-class ship at an official naming ceremony in Miami, Florida on 23 January 2024.
Messi’s role as icon comes after Royal Caribbean partnered with Major League Soccer team Inter Miami, to become the club’s main partner and official vacation partner.
“I’m thrilled and honoured to join the Royal Caribbean family to celebrate the arrival of the game-changing Icon of the Seas,” said Messi, who won a record eighth Men’s Ballon d’Or award in October 2023. “Icon is beyond anything else that’s out there for family vacations, with incredible never-before-seen features, all designed for making memories together.”
After a record-breaking career playing for France’s Paris Saint-Germain and Spain’s FC Barcelona where he won 10 La Liga titles and the Champions League four times, Messi joined Inter Miami as a player in July 2023.
Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas is a fellow record breaker, giving the cruise line its single largest booking day and highest volume booking week when itineraries for the ship were released in October 2022. The ship has six record-setting waterslides and the largest pool at sea, Royal Bay. It’s also the first Royal Caribbean ship to be powered by LNG and to have Scanship’s microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAPs) waste-to-energy plant onboard.
“Icon of the Seas is the culmination of more than 50 years of delivering memorable vacations, and it’s set to live up to its name in more ways than one when it changes the vacation industry in January 2024,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International. “It’s that ability to make such a widespread impact and change the status quo that the Icon of Icon must personify, and Lionel Messi has proven to be the perfect example of that for years in the world of sports and most recently in introducing a new era of excitement and passion for fútbol in Miami and the USA.”
Icon of the Seas will spend its maiden season sailing seven-day Western and Eastern Caribbean itineraries from PortMiami.