Gene Sloan

USA TODAY

It's time to say goodbye to a legend of the cruise world.

Royal Caribbean Thursday announced that one of its oldest ships, Legend of the Seas, will leave its fleet in 2017.

Unveiled to much fanfare in 1995, the 21-year-old vessel was the first of six ships in Royal Caribbean's successful Vision class series, which was groundbreaking in the cruise industry at the time.

The 1,832-passenger vessel will be transferred to Britain's Thompson Cruise after a final sailing in March 2017.

Five things to love about Royal Caribbean's new Harmony of the Seas

At 69,130 tons, Legend was one of the larger ships in the cruise world when it debuted. But over the years, Legend and its sisters have been eclipsed by ever-larger, more-amenity-filled megavessels, and by today's standards they're considered almost small. At 226,983 tons, Royal Caribbean's new Harmony of the Seas is more than three times larger.

Thursday's announcement came just weeks after another Vision class vessel, Splendour of the Seas, left the Royal Caribbean fleet. The 20-year-old ship also is moving to Thompson Cruises.

With the departures, Royal Caribbean will be left with 24 vessels.

USA TODAY in recent days received exclusive access to Royal Caribbean's newest ship, Harmony of the Seas, in advance of its first sailing. For our exclusive first photos of the vessel, scroll through the carousels below.