LIVE!!! ICON OF THE SEAS INAUGURAL

[Tree_skier]

3 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

Goodbye, Icon of the Seas.  It’s been a fun week.  It was so nice to see our friends @Ozark_Kid, @Ourusualbeach and @ReneeFLL again.  It was sort of our little Hawaii/Bella cruise reunion.  And also to meet new friends @cruisinghawg.  Thanks for the wonderful memories.  It ended too soon.  

 

 

We went in with an open mind and took in all that it had to offer and we enjoyed every minute of it- from the ship, crew, food, service, activities, entertainment- was all exceptional.  Like the song says “I don’t want to close my eyes, I don’t want to fall to sleep….and I don’t want to miss a thing”.  That was how I felt this week on Icon so I’m a little sleep deprived.  I’ll sleep when I get home.  
 

There are still some photos that I want to share with you all but it won’t be live if you don’t mind.

 

We are at the airport now.  Our flight is not until 7:25 PM so we didn’t rush to get off the ship but it was so smooth and easy when we did disembarked.

 

Our last sunset on the ship yesterday 

Our last sunrise on the ship this morning 

 

Thanks for all your great pictures Helen!  Please greet Marty.  I’m glad you had such a good time.  Looking forward to seeing you all again.

[Tree_skier]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Already booked for next March.  Tried to see if I could add another one in as well.  

I hope Vicki is on the March trip.  I’d fear for your marriage if not.

 

🙃

[barbeyg]

Somehow I missed this and now I have 39 pages of reading to do. 🤦‍♀️🫣😵‍💫

 

Thanks for sharing….and headed back to the first page. Hope you all had a great time! 🙂

[joand452]

Thank you for sharing your cruise with us!  I especially enjoyed all the photos and videos. 
 

Less than 100 days until we see the sea again… 

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

Sun is setting.  We’re still at the FLL Airport waiting for our departure at 7:25pm.

 

[LATTELOVE]

6 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

Goodbye, Icon of the Seas.  It’s been a fun week.  It was so nice to see our friends @Ozark_Kid, @Ourusualbeach and @ReneeFLL again.  It was sort of our little Hawaii/Bella cruise reunion.  And also to meet new friends @cruisinghawg.  Thanks for the wonderful memories.  It ended too soon.  

 

 

We went in with an open mind and took in all that it had to offer and we enjoyed every minute of it- from the ship, crew, food, service, activities, entertainment- was all exceptional.  Like the song says “I don’t want to close my eyes, I don’t want to fall to sleep….and I don’t want to miss a thing”.  That was how I felt this week on Icon so I’m a little sleep deprived.  I’ll sleep when I get home.  
 

There are still some photos that I want to share with you all but it won’t be live if you don’t mind.

 

We are at the airport now.  Our flight is not until 7:25 PM so we didn’t rush to get off the ship but it was so smooth and easy when we did disembarked.

 

Our last sunset on the ship yesterday 

Our last sunrise on the ship this morning 

 

WOW, stunning!!!

 

[BonTexasNY]

Your pictures, videos, comments were wonderful and very well received. I don't remember enjoying a group cruise report as much as this one.  Thank you all for that!

 

Congrats to Toby for his Best of the Best win.  An achievement he'll remember always and congrats also to beaming papa  @Ourusualbeach Ken. Hopefully, Vicki will be able to join you on Icon 2.

 

Safe travels home to everyone.

[Trixie21]

I've very much enjoyed this thread - thank you to everyone who took some time out from their cruise to post pictures and thoughts.

I've just watched a 1 hour video tour of Icon on YouTube from someone who was on the cruise and was fully expecting not to like the ship , but was actually , in their own words , completely blown away by it and totally in love with it. This was a couple with no kids.

On watching the tour video , I must say I was quite blown away by it as well. We are a couple with no kids and have sailed on every class of Royal Caribbean ship over the years . In recent years we have come to prefer the smaller ships for the atmosphere. 

But Icon seems to actually have loads of spaces for adults and loads of nooks and crannies where you could get away from it all and read a book or whatever. The overlook area in particular is stunning. And the pearl cafe area is beautiful. In fact the whole ship looks stunning and very well thought out. 

No doubt there will be some things which don't work as well as planned , but they will have the opportunity to fix those with Star and the next one.

Icon is expensive - there is no getting away from it. But I have seen some good deals with travel agents with flights from here in the UK included .

We are actually looking now at booking Icon or Star just for the ship, and we never thought we would be.

Just our thoughts on what we have seen so far- not sure what the general consensus is.

[ecslady]

Thanks to everyone that contributed and posted live from the Icon. 

[cruisinghawg]

3 hours ago, Trixie21 said:

I've very much enjoyed this thread - thank you to everyone who took some time out from their cruise to post pictures and thoughts.

I've just watched a 1 hour video tour of Icon on YouTube from someone who was on the cruise and was fully expecting not to like the ship , but was actually , in their own words , completely blown away by it and totally in love with it. This was a couple with no kids.

On watching the tour video , I must say I was quite blown away by it as well. We are a couple with no kids and have sailed on every class of Royal Caribbean ship over the years . In recent years we have come to prefer the smaller ships for the atmosphere. 

But Icon seems to actually have loads of spaces for adults and loads of nooks and crannies where you could get away from it all and read a book or whatever. The overlook area in particular is stunning. And the pearl cafe area is beautiful. In fact the whole ship looks stunning and very well thought out. 

No doubt there will be some things which don't work as well as planned , but they will have the opportunity to fix those with Star and the next one.

Icon is expensive - there is no getting away from it. But I have seen some good deals with travel agents with flights from here in the UK included .

We are actually looking now at booking Icon or Star just for the ship, and we never thought we would be.

Just our thoughts on what we have seen so far- not sure what the general consensus is.

Trixie, Thank You for the kind words. Some times people form an original opinion and never deviate from said opinion, I know I did but I said "you know its only 7 days and its new so what the heck lets give it a spin". Best decision we have made in cruising. So give it a try and see what happens.

Most of us are creatures of habit by staying with something tried and true and rarely changing course. This may be one time we break away from our "comfort zone" and fly. Any way whatever you decide to do best of cruising!!!!!! 

[cruisinghawg]

19 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

Hey, did anybody have the 1400 Bars signature drink?  With big bubble on top?  Just wondered, looks interesting!

DW did she states it is very delicious, taste something like a margarita.

[BecciBoo]

OK  my first is always a mojito, but I think I'll spring for the 1400 since its right there when we board!

 

Again thank you guys and to all who are cruising again tout suite, YOU LUCKY DOGS YOU!

[cruisinghawg]

5 minutes ago, BecciBoo said:

OK  my first is always a mojito, but I think I'll spring for the 1400 since its right there when we board!

 

Again thank you guys and to all who are cruising again tout suite, YOU LUCKY DOGS YOU!

1400 WAS the go to bar. Bartenders were top notch and loads of fun.

[Luckynana]

On 2/2/2024 at 10:24 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

Toby ended off the week on a high note by winning the Best of the Best competition on the Flowrider.  The first one to sign the board.  Thanks to his cheering squad of @Ozark_Kid (John and Sharon) and @FromSea2ShiningSea (Marty and Helen) ascwell as friends of mine who were also on this sailing along with a bunch of new friends he met on board.

Congratulations Toby!  What an honor!!!!!

[Luckynana]

A great big thank you to all of our contributing friends who shared their wonderful experiences and many great pictures while onboard the Icon.  Thank you @Ozark_Kid, @FromSea2ShiningSea, @ReneeFLL, @Ourusualbeach, and @cruisinghawg!!!!

 

One last question..did any of you bother with MTD?  If so, was it chaotic, or did it run smoothly?  TIA

 

@ReneeFLL  Enjoy your cruise with @Ocean Boy this week!

[karebare22]

On 2/2/2024 at 10:24 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

Toby ended off the week on a high note by winning the Best of the Best competition on the Flowrider.  The first one to sign the board. 

Awesome!  That’s a moment he’ll always remember! My daughter is hoping to be in the Best of the Best on our Feb 17 sailing, but there are a lot of great competitors out there. She’s been in a couple of them, just hasn’t won (yet!).

 

A big thanks to everyone who took the time out of their cruise vacation this past week to post photos and videos and answer questions. It’s been very helpful, and allowed the readers to get a better feel for this new ship. 👏👍

[thjeepster]

The icon ship was amazing!  We enjoyed the cruise!!!  Loved the flow and our balcony cabin!

 

the specialty restaurants mostly served warm to cold food. Not worth the price of the the ultimate dining package. Will probably never do that again. 
 

the one night we used the dining room (lobster night) the service was amazing and food was perfectly served and very hot!!  Should have stuck to the MDR all week lol. 
Had to ask our room steward twice for our free swag gifts as he forgot. 
 

had a great time and the shows were amazing!!!

[karl_nj]

On 1/28/2024 at 5:11 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

I doubt they will ever hit max capacity.  Too many cabins to fill with 4 guests. 

 

When they report to stockholders they say 100% is when they have two passengers in each room, so 100% is going to be 5610 passengers (2805 rooms x2). If they do ever hit 7600 passengers on a spring break/summer cruise they will be able to claim 135% full. 

 

[goldfish65]

23 hours ago, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

Goodbye, Icon of the Seas.  It’s been a fun week.  It was so nice to see our friends @Ozark_Kid, @Ourusualbeach and @ReneeFLL again.  It was sort of our little Hawaii/Bella cruise reunion.  And also to meet new friends @cruisinghawg.  Thanks for the wonderful memories.  It ended too soon.  

 

 

We went in with an open mind and took in all that it had to offer and we enjoyed every minute of it- from the ship, crew, food, service, activities, entertainment- was all exceptional.  Like the song says “I don’t want to close my eyes, I don’t want to fall to sleep….and I don’t want to miss a thing”.  That was how I felt this week on Icon so I’m a little sleep deprived.  I’ll sleep when I get home.  
 

There are still some photos that I want to share with you all but it won’t be live if you don’t mind.

 

We are at the airport now.  Our flight is not until 7:25 PM so we didn’t rush to get off the ship but it was so smooth and easy when we did disembarked.

 

Our last sunset on the ship yesterday 

Our last sunrise on the ship this morning 

 

My long-time travel agent was on a pre-inaugural cruise and said, it "spoiled (him) for any other ships." Would you agree with that statement? 

[BecciBoo]

13 minutes ago, goldfish65 said:

it "spoiled (him) for any other ships."

That's what I'm thinkin....but we need to save more pennies.  LOL

[Tall-Cruiser]

23 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Just saw a post on FB that this week's guests are getting the same fabulous seafood lunch that we did in the WJ.

Maybe they will still offer it in April 😀

[cruisinghawg]

31 minutes ago, goldfish65 said:

My long-time travel agent was on a pre-inaugural cruise and said, it "spoiled (him) for any other ships." Would you agree with that statement? 

Not completely for us. Is it a game changer then YES IT IS. But we are not just looking to book this ship or waiting for the Star to come out as we will continue to cruise on other ships in the fleet. In fact we are looking at an Indy TA for next Oct. I certainly understand his statement as it can spoil one but I am to the point where there seems to be nothing RC does, as far as their ships are concerned, that surprises me any longer.

[cruisinghawg]

1 hour ago, Luckynana said:

A great big thank you to all of our contributing friends who shared their wonderful experiences and many great pictures while onboard the Icon.  Thank you @Ozark_Kid, @FromSea2ShiningSea, @ReneeFLL, @Ourusualbeach, and @cruisinghawg!!!!

 

One last question..did any of you bother with MTD?  If so, was it chaotic, or did it run smoothly?  TIA

 

@ReneeFLL  Enjoy your cruise with @Ocean Boy this week!

You mean RC time dining yes? 

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

2 hours ago, goldfish65 said:

My long-time travel agent was on a pre-inaugural cruise and said, it "spoiled (him) for any other ships." Would you agree with that statement? 

 

I wouldn’t say that it’d spoiled me for any other ships.  While Icon is beautiful and different in many ways from the other RC classes and ships, it really is a destination in itself.  Every other ship on Royal is special and beautiful in their own way.

 

It’s like your children.  You love them all. 🥰

[LobsterStalker]

3 hours ago, cruisinghawg said:

5 hours ago, Luckynana said:

One last question..did any of you bother with MTD?  If so, was it chaotic, or did it run smoothly?  TIA

 

@ReneeFLL  Enjoy your cruise with @Ocean Boy this week!

You mean RC time dining yes? 

And was RC time dining chaotic or did it run smoothly ?