Royal Caribbean International has announced that world football superstar Lionel Messi will serve as the official Icon of its Icon of the Seas cruise ship debuting in January 2024.
The Inter Miami CF star, eight-time winner of the prestigious Ballon d’Or award and TIME 2023 Athlete of the Year will be on hand for the ship's exclusive naming celebration in Miami next year, where he'll take part in the longstanding maritime tradition of bestowing safekeeping onto the new ship, its crew and the millions of passengers it will sail.
Messi's new role as Icon of Icon of the Seas comes on the heels of Royal Caribbean and Inter Miami CF's partnership in which the cruise line is the club's Main Partner and Official Vacation Partner.
Royal Caribbean and Inter Miami CF will celebrate the arrival of Icon with the next phase of the partnership, with details being revealed at a later date.
“I’m thrilled and honored to join the Royal Caribbean family to celebrate the arrival of the game-changing Icon of the Seas," Messi said in a statement. "Icon is beyond anything else that’s out there for family vacations, with incredible never-before-seen features, all designed for making memories together."
"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," added Royal Caribbean International president and CEO Michael Bayley.
Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas (Photo Credit: Royal Caribbean)
"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 U.S.," concluded Bayley.
The highly anticipated ship features as many as six record-setting waterslides, seven pools, the first neighborhood designed specifically for young families and more than 40 ways to dine, drink and be entertained.
Icon will sail seven-night eastern and western Caribbean itineraries from Miami featuring stops in Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico; and Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas in addition to Royal Caribbean's private island destination in Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas.
Icon of the Seas' reveal in October 2022 prompted the single largest booking day and highest volume booking week in Royal Caribbean's 50-plus-year history.
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