Icon of the Seas Lucky Coins Almost Lost!

A longstanding tradition of the shipbuilding process is the lucky coin ceremony. These so-called lucky coins are usually placed under in the dry dock under the new ship’s keel, as the first section is lower, marking the keel laying.
 
The coins are normally retrieved when the new ship is floated out of the dry dock for the first time, but on the new world’s largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, the coins were almost lost!

Featured Image: Meyer Turku

When Royal Caribbean International’s new giant 250,800-ton mega cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, was floated out of the dry dock at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, the coins were nowhere to be seen! It was a mystery, and the coins were feared to have been lost.
 
Unbeknownst to everyone at the shipyard, the lucky coins were in fact with the ship all along! The lucky coins placed under the new ship’s keel many months ago during the construction process had become stuck to the keel. Fortunately, the rather lucky coins remained stuck on the bottom of the ship under the water throughout the ship’s first series of sea trails in June 2023.
 
The lucky coins were only eventually rediscovered when divers who were cleaning the underside of Icon of the Seas’ hull, in preparation for the second series of sea trials, spotted the coins, attached to the bottom of the ship. Somehow, they had not fallen off during the demanding tests during the first trails at sea.
 
Now the coins were located and returned, the coin ceremony was able to be completed. The coins were sealed inside a special box, which has been placed on board the ship.
 
Project Manager, Olli Jantunen said: “Icon of the Seas has the most powerful lucky coins ever, and they certainly brought luck to Icon on her sea trials, where all tests were completed with great results.”
 
Icon of the Seas is expected to be delivered to Royal Caribbean International later this year, before her official debut in Miami, Florida in January 2024.