What is clearly better on Icon class vs Oasis?

[Moltar]

Just got back from Icon of the Seas. Here is my opinion on what really got improved upon vs Oasis class.

 

1. Royal Promenade: So much wider and spacious. True full 2 levels. Ocean views FINALLY in the promenade.

 

2. Drink Stations: Remember the Lemonade, Fruit Punch, Kiwi Strawberry, etc. juices in Windjammer? Now they are at multiple venues through out the ship. Pearl Cafe, Aquadome Marketplace, Park Cafe, etc....

 

The Lookout in AquaDome: 2 in 1. Better spot for aqua shows to now utilize all of the surfside area and 2 much better use of the old solarium venue.

I just can't get enough of this place. The views from Dawn til Dusk are amazing and then the transformation at night is just beautiful. I just don't have the words to describe how special this spot is.

 

Thrill Waterpark: Its open from 9am till 9pm. 6 slides, Flow Rider & Crowns Edge. Every single waterslide is LEGIT. Wwent multiple times through out the cruise. Best of all was going to Thrill Waterpark at night in the middle of the ocean without any lines. Me and my son spent 2 straight hours from 7 till 9pm on the last night. Amazing and really cool at night. This blows away the 3 slides on Oasis Class.

 

The 2 level Pool Deck: I didn't swim much but what I can attest to is there more than enough loungers in the sun and in the shade, Never ever had an issue finding a spot close to a pool.  Also, never felt crowded, not in the least. In August of 22 the pool decks on oasis felt PACKED.

 

Oceanviews: Biggest complaint about Oasis class is I dont really feel like I'm on a cruise, Im having a blast but I rarely see the ocean unless on the Jogging track or at the edge of the pool decks, Almost every restaurant and bar has windows to the seas on Icon. The most amazing Oceanview aspect to me? YOU CAN GET OCEANVIEWS FROM CENTRAL PARK!!!! Somehow someway they figured it out. I find that amazing.

 

Aquadome and Absolute Zero:  You will just have to experience it yourself to understand...

 

 

Any questions feel free to ask.

Edited February 18 by Moltar

[hollon]

wonderful - love the fact that you can see the ocean.  I can't wait to sail

[ticketsunlimited]

All great things to look forward to!!  Thanks for your feedback.

[PhillyFan33579]

The one thing I didn’t like about Icon was there was literally no quiet place where you could layout in the sun and read. The quietest place I found was the Cloud 17 area, but it definitely wasn’t quiet there. I definitely missed the solarium where I spend a lot of time on other ships. Despite this one issue (I just didn’t read much this cruise) I really like Icon. I have a NYE cruise booked on her this year and during our cruise on Icon (2/3 - 2/10) we booked a cruise on Star in September 2025. As much as I liked Icon, I am looking forward to cruising on an Oasis class ship again (Symphony) in less than two weeks. 

[Callan33]

Agree with all of the above. However, we are on the 2/17 sailing and there are double the kiddos of the 2/10 sailing. Pools and jacuzzis are packed and mostly filled with kids on deck 15 and 16. Thought they’d be somewhat contained to Surfside -  literally every pool with the exception of Hideaway and lesser on Cloud 17 are completely full. If you want quite peaceful - don’t go on this ship during holidays or summer. Oasis class ships didnt seem to feel this busy so just a warning. This sailing is more like a Disney cruise. This is a miss on Icon, they need more than one Adult area. But otherwise, amazing ship and so much to do! 

[blueslily]

11 minutes ago, Callan33 said:

Agree with all of the above. However, we are on the 2/17 sailing and there are double the kiddos of the 2/10 sailing. Pools and jacuzzis are packed and mostly filled with kids on deck 15 and 16. Thought they’d be somewhat contained to Surfside -  literally every pool with the exception of Hideaway and lesser on Cloud 17 are completely full. If you want quite peaceful - don’t go on this ship during holidays or summer. Oasis class ships didnt seem to feel this busy so just a warning. This sailing is more like a Disney cruise. This is a miss on Icon, they need more than one Adult area. But otherwise, amazing ship and so much to do! 

 

Is this week considered a holiday week? 

 

Thanks for the update!

[mikegrip]

6 minutes ago, blueslily said:

 

Is this week considered a holiday week? 

 

Thanks for the update!

President's Day some schools take the week now for Teacher Development or just one less day to take kids out of school

[blueslily]

Just now, mikegrip said:

President's Day some schools take the week now for Teacher Development or just one less day to take kids out of school

 

Wow, a full week so soon after winter break. Ok. They don't do that here. Thanks 

[Moltar]

 

 

[Twenty2020]

Re: crowds. I understand they are still not sailing at full capacity, correct?

 

If so, then I don't know if an honest comparison of pool deck crowds can be yet made. 

Edited February 23 by Twenty2020

[Moltar]

29 minutes ago, Twenty2020 said:

Re: crowds. I understand they are still not sailing at full capacity, correct?

 

If so, then I don't know if an honest comparison of pool deck crowds can be yet made. 

I’m just basing it on my experience on the oasis in August 2022 and my experience on the icon on February. Oasis, there was no place to sit on the pool deck on sea days. For years, I’ve been hearing about the oasis class and how spacious it is in the pool decks. Well in August 2022 it was the farthest thing from that.

[jbrinkm]

I haven't been on Icon, just read a detailed trip report, but I think that I would greatly enjoy the Aquadome Market i.e. food court over any of the complementary options on Oasis class ships. What did you think?

[PhillyFan33579]

8 hours ago, Twenty2020 said:

Re: crowds. I understand they are still not sailing at full capacity, correct?

 

If so, then I don't know if an honest comparison of pool deck crowds can be yet made. 

The pool decks were very crowded during our cruise on Icon (2/3 - 2/10). While I understand your point about Icon not sailing at full capacity yet, I think it is safe to say if the pool decks are crowded now, they will only get more crowded as capacity increases. 

[cruiseboy89130]

15 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I think it is safe to say if the pool decks are crowded now, they will only get more crowded as capacity increases. 

They are not even at 80% right now ....wait until they hit 110% - what a s*** ship!😱

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Seeing the videos and reading the reviews the pools decks when sailing full are a concern of mine. I just dont think there is enough in the sun area around the small pools on ICON. Of course i could be wrong but will wait till full ship reviews and price drops before i consider ICON.

[Moltar]

If Icon is bad, Oasis is 3 times worse than on sea days on the pool deck. I've experienced it on Oasis. It's not fun. The whole Oasis class is so spacious is a myth on sea days. Also, no more whole one side of the pool deck is a smokefest. No more of that on Icon. One section far away from the pool is the smoking ara, no longer the whole pool deck on one side. Never had a problem during my Icon cruise with loungers. They 5,610 people onboard the Icon.... Also the promenade and Central park blow away Oasis class, so much wider and more room, no congestion. Central Park was so tight in the pathways on Oasis class, not anymore on Icon.

 

Basically if you ever sailed Oasis class full capacity and enjoyed, you won't have a problem here in my opinion. There are so many more loungers to choose from, Promenade way more spacious without those islands in the middle to sell crap and the central park pathways are wide, no more getting stuck behind slow pokes or someone constantly stopping to take a photo..  Lines for waterslides? Oasis class has 3 slides, Icon has 6.

 

I wouldnt pay these prices either, I got a balcony room in Oct of 22 for 3 people for 4,100 dollars.

 

It will be 3-4 years before the demand for Icon class wanes, these ships are Oasis perfected.

Edited February 24 by Moltar

[PhillyFan33579]

18 minutes ago, Moltar said:

If Icon is bad, Oasis is 3 times worse than on sea days on the pool deck. I've experienced it on Oasis. It's not fun. The whole Oasis class is so spacious is a myth on sea days. Also, no more whole one side of the pool deck is a smokefest. No more of that on Icon. One section far away from the pool is the smoking ara, no longer the whole pool deck on one side. Never had a problem during my Icon cruise with loungers. They 5,610 people onboard the Icon.... Also the promenade and Central park blow away Oasis class, so much wider and more room, no congestion. Central Park was so tight in the pathways on Oasis class, not anymore on Icon.

 

I wouldnt pay these prices either, I got a balcony room in Oct of 22 for 3 people for 4,100 dollars.

 

It will be 3-4 years before the demand for Icon class wanes, these ships are Oasis perfected.

Which Icon sailing were you on? I was on the 2/3 - 2/10 sailing. It was challenging finding a lounge chair in the sun every where on the ship. One of the things I didn’t like about Icon was there was a lot of shaded areas around the pools, which contributed to the lack of lounge chairs in the sun. 
 

I agree the promenade is nicer on Icon. It literally felt and looked like a mall with lots of area to walk around, especially on deck 5. However, I like Central Park better on Oasis class ships. I think the Central Park area on Icon is tacky with the colored shutters every where, but that is just personal preference. I have also never experienced Central Park being crowded on any Oasis class ship, although I have only done a dozen cruises on Oasis clas ships. That will increase soon. I am on Symphony in 2 weeks and Allure in 6 weeks. 

[Moltar]

6 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Which Icon sailing were you on? I was on the 2/3 - 2/10 sailing. It was challenging finding a lounge chair in the sun every where on the ship. One of the things I didn’t like about Icon was there was a lot of shaded areas around the pools, which contributed to the lack of lounge chairs in the sun. 
 

I agree the promenade is nicer on Icon. It literally felt and looked like a mall with lots of area to walk around, especially on deck 5. However, I like Central Park better on Oasis class ships. I think the Central Park area on Icon is tacky with the colored shutters every where, but that is just personal preference. I have also never experienced Central Park being crowded on any Oasis class ship, although I have only done a dozen cruises on Oasis clas ships. That will increase soon. I am on Symphony in 2 weeks and Allure in 6 weeks. 

I was on 2/10-2/17. Just look at a birds eye view of the pathways on Icon vs Oasis Central Park.They are so tight n narrow on Oasis. I got people rage on it, like road rage but getting stuck behind slow slow slow walkers in Central Park because the pathways are so narrow!  Also what drove me nuts on Oasis was the whole darn one side of the pool deck is for smoking, couldnt even breathe on that side of the pool deck so essentially half the pool loungers were a no go on Oasis.

Edited February 24 by Moltar

[neurosurg]

Some of my thoughts (I was on the 2/17-24 cruise with 1700 kids on winter break):

 

 Royal Promenade: completely agree that the Icon version is much improved, ocean views, open air feel when walking through, and for the most part, never felt crowded.  I thought the pizza tasted better too.  I wish they would have made better use of space, as it was virtually impossible to get a seat in the dueling pianos / comedy clubs while Boleros and Schooners were virtually vacant.

 

AquaDome area: unfortunately impossible to get the best seats in the lookout area here unless you got here early (and I'm sure the people in the pods would get a bit annoyed having new people walk up the stairs every minute as you can't see if it is taken unless you walk up).  

 

Thrill Waterpark: also agree this is much improved, as they feel like real land based water slides (I even hurt my neck a bit on one of them!)  Lines were manageable even with 1700 kids on board. 

 

The 2 level Pool Deck:  pool chair hogs again out in force. Many of the pool chairs on the Icon seem to be in the shade compared to Oasis, and we could not find a group of 4 chairs in the sun on sea days the entire week as we didn't lay our towels out before 9am. On the February cruise, chairs in the shade were too cold with the wind to be comfortable. The actual variety of pools are nice, but all relatively small and packed the entire week.   

 

Central Park: I wish they would remove the high end shopping (I only saw one customer in the store the entire week, does this make any money for Royal?).  The addition of Lou's Jazz club seems nice in theory, but it's a large space that was never close to being filled (the jazz musicians and bartending staff/waiters outnumbered the guests every time I was there).  I did miss the Vintages wine bar experience.

 

Elevators: every single cruise ship elevator needs to start using the Icon's type smart elevator system.

 

Extra charges for food:  I can understand why Royal wants to charge extra for some food, but it's just not going to be a successful venture to do so (unless you're Starbucks).  To pay extra for wings in Playmakers or shrimp Bao buns in Basecamp is just not going to happen for most people.

 

Specialty Dining:  The quality of Giovanni's seems to have gone way down (it was nearly unanimous from everyone we talked to).  Chops Grill was also a severe disappointment (the wait staff blamed it on their new chefs, but to have your Wagyu steak extremely overcooked (three tries!) is unbelievable from a high-end steak restaurant (to their credit, they were extremely embarrassed after I cut into it the third time and refunded the entire dining charge without us asking).  I'm not sure Hooked is worth the upcharge either.  Chef's table was the best meal on the cruise.  But the Oasis seemed to have a better variety of specialty dining.

 

Embarkation/debarkation:  well done, both ways were hands down the easiest and quickest experience.  Each way was less than 15 minutes.

 

Would I do it again?  Of course.  Would I do it (and pay double compared to an Oasis cruise) as they reach capacity with an additional 2000+ people over the summer time, no thank you.

 

 

[BecciBoo]

I watched JJ Cruise' review this morning...and it is excellent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhmds4WUPGw

 

[Big_G]

Thanks. This was a good review. We're on her in May. Not a pool or sun worshiper anymore so our balcony will suffice. I'm looking forward to the expanded venues.