From Sip2Shore.it

The US cruise group will spend 900 million USD to refurbish 10 ships and another 200 million to upgrade an island in the Caribbean

Royal Caribbean International (RCI) announced it is to embark on a USD multi-billion investment in new buildings, vessel upgrades as well as new private island destinations.

The ‘Royal Amplified’ plan involves to spend USD 900 million over the next four years upgrading 10 vessels, starting with 2008-built Independence Of The Seas in April at Freeport’s Grand Bahama Shipyard, then followed by the 2003-built Mariner Of The Seas this May/June at Spain’s Navantia Cadiz shipyard, with sistership Navigator Of The Seas following in 2019 with an even larger upgrade package.

The 10 vessels include all RCI vessels engaged on short Caribbean itineraries as well as all Voyager- and Freedom-Class ships, as well as 220,000gt Oasis Of The Seas (in the autumn 2019) and sister ship Allure Of The Seas (spring 2020).

Next month of April will see the arrival of the 228,021gt Symphony of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship followed by the 168,666gt Quantum Ultra-Class Spectrum Of The Seas in 2019, a second Quantum Ultra-Class in 2020, a fifth Oasis-Class ship in 2021 and a new 200,000gt LNG-powered class – ICON – with vessels being delivered in 2022 and 2024.

Also RCI will spend USD 200 million transforming its existing private island in the Caribbean, Coco Cay, the first in the cruise line’s new Global Private Island Collection, a series of unrivalled and exclusive private island destinations around the world, including Asia, Australia and the Caribbean.

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