Speaking exclusively to TTG, Michael Bayley described the 5,000-passenger Icon of the Seas – which will the first new class of ship for Royal Caribbean since 2014 – as the line’s “newest class of genuinely game changing ships”, which he said the line had spent five years designing.

“We rented a movie theatre in Miami last week and we invited about 150 of our key marketing and sales and revenue people from Royal Caribbean to spend a whole day reviewing Icon,” Bayley said. “All I can say is wow. I’ve been involved in it for five years, but I sat in this movie seat and watched and it was mind blowing.”

He stressed the importance of the UK market which he said had been significant to the line “almost since the beginning of the company”.

“I don’t see that ever changing,” he added. “In fact, it’s so important that I promise you will bring Icon of the Seas into Southampton. The UK will be the first country and market that we will bring this incredible ship into [when it launches] in 2023.

“We’ll do a huge trade event in the UK and Ireland – we’ll invite all of our travel partners to see the biggest, best, most stunning exciting product on the planet. I can’t commit on the date,” he said, adding: “But it’s going to be around October time."

Bayley also revealed plans for a UK trade showcase in New York later this year for UK travel agents. “We’re probably going to do a big interactive event in New York," he said. "We’re still debating the date but as soon as we know we’ll start sending out save the dates.”

You can read and watch TTG’s full interview with Bayley here.