Martin Aquatic Design & Engineering, a world-class aquatic firm, is celebrating its success at the recent World Waterpark Association Annual Conference, where the team behind Category 6, the waterpark onboard Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, was given a Leading Edge Award.
Since its launch, Icon of the Seas has received a great deal of praise and awards as the best family vacation, particularly for its Category 6 waterpark and onboard waterslides. The waterpark received a Leading Edge Award during the WWA Annual Conference 2024, honouring Martin Aquatic for its conceptual design work on the project.
Pushing the boundaries
The cutting-edge waterpark has six unique water slides, each with its own bragging rights—from the tallest to the first family raft ride—and is the biggest at sea.
Among the slides are Frightening Bolt, a 46-foot-tall waterslide with a trapdoor launch that is the tallest on a cruise ship, and Pressure Drop, the first open freefall waterslide at sea with an almost vertical incline. Guests can also enjoy Storm Chasers, the first two-person headfirst mat racers at sea; Hurricane Hunter, the first four-person raft slide at sea; and Storm Surge, the first suspended raft slide at sea with an over-the-edge clear acrylic panel.
“Working with Royal Caribbean and the rest of the project team is always an incredibly collaborative effort, and for Icon of the Seas, we were able to help completely re-imagine what could be done on a cruise ship,” says Josh Martin, president & creative director of Martin Aquatic. “Category 6 Waterpark pushes every boundary of what was thought to be possible, and Martin Aquatic was thrilled to deliver a design that turned out to be so iconic.”
With two previous wins alongside Royal Caribbean, this will be the design firm’s fourth time receiving the coveted Leading Edge award. Martin Aquatic was a member of the project team that won awards for the brand’s private island resort, Perfect Day at CocoCay, in 2019. The company also won awards in 2020 for the first cutting-edge slide packages installed as part of the Navigator of the Seas overhaul.
The firm also won a Leading Edge Award last year for the design of the Island Waterpark at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Royal Caribbean began imagining this new class of ship before 2018, when Martin Aquatic joined the development team and helped design some of the attractions for this ambitious and creative project. The day Icon of the Seas was revealed was the cruise line’s biggest booking day ever.
Meet the team
Following the WWA Show, Martin Aquatic will also participate in IAAPA Expo 2024 in Orlando later in November. The team will exhibit at booth #2854. Josh Martin will speak during two educational sessions, including Hasbro: Innovating the Waterpark, on Tuesday 19 November at 8:30 a.m. and Creating Waves: A Conversation about Surf on Wednesday 20 November, at 9:35 a.m.
Earlier this year, Martin Aquatic was also recognised by Aquatics International with a Dream Designs Award for its unique water park design for the newly opened Serengeti Springs at The Hattiesburg Zoo in Southern Mississippi.
