Icon of the Seas - The New Disney Cruise Line

[cr2000]

6 hours ago, SeanGR said:

So. Many. Kids. 
and not just in kids areas. 
The only swim-up bar? Full of kids splashing pool water in your drink.

Karaoke Bar on adult night? Full of kids listening and singing.

Playmakers bar? More like kids arcade.

 

running around screaming unchecked. Not a parent in site. Was on the Allure before this, much better than Icon…

Get over it. Icon of the Seas is designed for families (which means LOTS AND LOTS of Kids). You don't like it? Cancel your cruise and go Virgin or Celebrity. There is nothing to "fix" here, childless travelers are not the target customer and have no standing to complain.

[sgmn]

8 hours ago, Td6462 said:

 I'm not surprised. It is designed for families..... 

Everyone's money is good. It should be a cruise for all. Very shortsighted to exclude a high spending demographic who may cruise multiple times a year IMO. 

Would be nice to try the newest and the bling-y-est but unlikely we will unless they have a season in Europe 

 

Edited February 29 by sgmn

[bg2310]

It's literally marketed as the ultimate family vacation and designed for families especially? It's also a brand new ship, massive, and RCCL is catering heavily to families with this class.

 

What exactly did you expect? Less kids? 😅

Edited February 29 by bg2310

[3CatsInMA]

Wow. You booked a trip on Six Flags Of The Seas and were surprised that there were tons of kids.

 

Bless your heart.

[alfaeric]

+1 to the many that find it odd to complain about kids for a ship deigned for complete families. This is exactly the “problem” Royal wants.  Which is fine for us. 

[SeanGR]

7 hours ago, bg2310 said:

It's literally marketed as the ultimate family vacation and designed for families especially? It's also a brand new ship, massive, and RCCL is catering heavily to families with this class.

 

What exactly did you expect? Less kids? 😅

Its not that there are kids thats the problem. 
its absentee parents and kids in what should be adult areas problem.

what crappy parent brings their kids into bars so they can get wasted?

who allows their kids to do cannonballs in a small swimup bar area?

what parent ignores “adult only” events/venues and brings thier kids?

[time4u2go]

14 minutes ago, SeanGR said:

Its not that there are kids thats the problem. 
its absentee parents and kids in what should be adult areas problem.

what crappy parent brings their kids into bars so they can get wasted?

who allows their kids to do cannonballs in a small swimup bar area?

what parent ignores “adult only” events/venues and brings thier kids?

I agree that the parents shouldn't allow their kids to do these things, but it would also be nice if the cruise line enforced their own rules.

[cruisegirl1]

In the quarterly earnings report, most of what you read is competition with theme parks and Royal hopes to attract new passengers, multigenerational families with lots of $$ to spend (grandmom taking everyone on a family cruise).   So if you’re saying that Icon is the new Disney (cruise), that is exactly what Royal was hoping for 

 

m

[alfaeric]

For us, I would be more condemning of the adults who don’t wash their hands compared to controlling their kids. The number of times we’ve witnessed adults leave a public bathroom stall and NOT wash their hands is alarming. It’s no accident that last week was a Noro cruise and this week we are constantly reminded about cold and flu season. 
 

Yea, it sucks to get water in your drink or visit every deck on the elevator. But that’s minor compared to getting sick on a ship. 

[SquishTheWhale]

Children not only singing but LISTENING? My lord, alert the media!

[SeanGR]

Just now, SquishTheWhale said:

Children not only singing but LISTENING? My lord, alert the media!

Changes the choices of music…. 
all these people defending this are probably the same parents letting their kids run rampant instead of actually parenting them

[SeanGR]

2 minutes ago, SeanGR said:

Changes the choices of music…. 
all these people defending this are probably the same parents letting their kids run rampant instead of actually parenting them

For example, one of the people at the table next to us wanted to sing “Baby Got Back”, but the rest of the table were telling him not to because there were kids in the room.

wasnt fair to that guy, i was thinking about finding the raunchiest song in the catalogue and just singing in spite of them.

Edited February 29 by SeanGR

[ticketsunlimited]

Fire up the Funky Cold Medina

[pyrateslife4me84]

Who would’ve expected children on a ship with 6 water slides? Parents who don’t parent are an issue across society, unfortunately. Not sure what the solution is on a ship. Lock unsupervised kids in the brig and see how many days it takes mom and dad to notice? My bet is 3 days. 

Edited February 29 by pyrateslife4me84

[PhillyFan33579]

10 hours ago, sgmn said:

Everyone's money is good. It should be a cruise for all. Very shortsighted to exclude a high spending demographic who may cruise multiple times a year IMO. 

Would be nice to try the newest and the bling-y-est but unlikely we will unless they have a season in Europe 

 

I think RCI has a better understanding of their business model than you do. If you don’t like the family demographic that RCI is clearly focused on, there are other cruise lines out there that are more adult centric. 

[SquishTheWhale]

1 hour ago, SeanGR said:

For example, one of the people at the table next to us wanted to sing “Baby Got Back”, but the rest of the table were telling him not to because there were kids in the room.

wasnt fair to that guy, i was thinking about finding the raunchiest song in the catalogue and just singing in spite of them.

 

I've sung Baby Got Back to my 4yr old a fair few times 😂😂 Kids wouldn't even know what it means and he thinks the word butt is hilarious. 

If the venue/event isn't specified as 18+ though then perhaps no songs with lots of profanity in them. However if I was in a venue with my son and we didn't enjoy the music we'd leave rather than suggest it should be changed. 

Edited February 29 by SquishTheWhale

[PhillyFan33579]

4 minutes ago, SUgwoz said:

Families should take kids on luxury cruise lines where average demographic is 50+? I would think adults with no kids who are paying to go on Icon at luxury prices is the one making the odd choice. 

I have a handful of friends with younger kids (not adult kids like mine) who only cruise on Oceania and the kids love it. Your comment about sailing on Icon with no kids is a better example. 

[SUgwoz]

4 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have a handful of friends with younger kids (not adult kids like mine) who only cruise on Oceania and the kids love it. Your comment about sailing on Icon with no kids is a better example. 

I'm sure there is some kids that do, and people have posted pictures on this forum of kids sitting at a bar in suits drinking mocktails.  However, the average kid probably rather want to go on waterslides and such.  Disney World seems to be pretty successful, along with Icon/new Cococay.

[CleverUserNameHere]

Not for nothing, but when we found out our family of three (w/a 4 year old) could go for a week in may for 5k in a oceanview balcony guaranteed we signed up. We then told my father and mother inlaw about it and when they looked for two adults it showed $6,600 for an oceanviw balcony guaranteed. It was not a mistake, we checked with our travel agent who recommended we add a child onto their reservation to get the cheaper rate...

[Julienatul]

18 hours ago, SeanGR said:

I know now it was for families. Havent cruised as much as many of you, so I was unaware.

just giving others like me a heads up.

 

thinking about trying Celebrity next time, even though we are “gold” lol

 

Celebrity will status match your RC "gold"  so you are good to go. 

 

[LobsterStalker]

5 hours ago, SeanGR said:

Its not that there are kids thats the problem. 
its absentee parents and kids in what should be adult areas problem.

what crappy parent brings their kids into bars so they can get wasted?

who allows their kids to do cannonballs in a small swimup bar area?

what parent ignores “adult only” events/venues and brings thier kids?

Exactly ! 

So many people on here seem to grasp onto 1 point (usually the wrong one ) And think there are never any valid concerns that may trump that point . Kids behaving properly or improperly is  not the main issue  . Parents behaving as poor parents with no regard for other cruisers IS the main issue here . We fully understand the whole (kids will be kids) when vacationing , and sometimes that means they may be a little more rambunctious than we may like. That's understandable.  If all these cheerleaders really believe that watching a 10 year old Diving into a hot tub over and over while parents watch and laugh , is just something that should be expected because it's a "family" cruiseline , I can only imagine what kind of parents they themselves must be .

There are SO MANY  other examples of unacceptable , ( and dangerous ) , behavior from children , and adults , and the cheerleaders think you NEVER have a right to comment or complain .

Ridiculous

 

Cheers

[tserface]

The ship was designed for families.  Royal has really positioned themselves as a family friendly vacation spot.  There is an adult only area on Icon.  There are also tons of cruise lines (like Celebrity) that really format themselves for older folks.  Our kids and grandkids are super stocked to be going on the Icon this year and I'm glad it's there for them with so many fun things for kids to do.

 

I know our little grandkids would not be that excited about trivia in the Schooner Bar 🙂

[tserface]

22 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

Exactly ! 

So many people on here seem to grasp onto 1 point (usually the wrong one ) And think there are never any valid concerns that may trump that point . Kids behaving properly or improperly is  not the main issue  . Parents behaving as poor parents with no regard for other cruisers IS the main issue here . We fully understand the whole (kids will be kids) when vacationing , and sometimes that means they may be a little more rambunctious than we may like. That's understandable.  If all these cheerleaders really believe that watching a 10 year old Diving into a hot tub over and over while parents watch and laugh , is just something that should be expected because it's a "family" cruiseline , I can only imagine what kind of parents they themselves must be .

There are SO MANY  other examples of unacceptable , ( and dangerous ) , behavior from children , and adults , and the cheerleaders think you NEVER have a right to comment or complain .

Ridiculous

 

Cheers

To be fair, there are always lots of unruly adults on cruises we've been on as well.  I've had people older than me cut in front to get on the elevator or cram on when it's obviously full or not wash their hands on the way into the buffet or all kinds of rude people things.  I've also been plowed down by people in a hurry or almost run over by some people riding on carts.

 

Yeah, it would be nice if parents spent their whole vacation babysitting their kids, but, also, one really nice thing about cruising is it allows them a break since the kids are safer than on land cruises.  At 10y/o parents don't really have to watch them constantly on a cruise ship like they would on a land vacation.

 

That said, diving into a hot tub could cause lots of problems (like broken neck) so maybe... can't argue with that being bad for anyone to true.

[SeanGR]

2 minutes ago, tserface said:

To be fair, there are always lots of unruly adults on cruises we've been on as well.  I've had people older than me cut in front to get on the elevator or cram on when it's obviously full or not wash their hands on the way into the buffet or all kinds of rude people things.  I've also been plowed down by people in a hurry or almost run over by some people riding on carts.

 

Yeah, it would be nice if parents spent their whole vacation babysitting their kids, but, also, one really nice thing about cruising is it allows them a break since the kids are safer than on land cruises.  At 10y/o parents don't really have to watch them constantly on a cruise ship like they would on a land vacation.

 

That said, diving into a hot tub could cause lots of problems (like broken neck) so maybe... can't argue with that being bad for anyone to true.

Why on earth do you think the parents deserve a break on a cruise? So someone else has to watch them? Hire a nanny if you want to be lazy and not watch your kids. This isnt a babysitting cruise

[cr2000]

5 minutes ago, SeanGR said:

Why on earth do you think the parents deserve a break on a cruise? So someone else has to watch them? Hire a nanny if you want to be lazy and not watch your kids. This isnt a babysitting cruise

Consider that 10, 11, or 12 year olds (that are responsible) doesn't need to have a parent following them around all day. They meet up with friends and build some maturity and independency in a relatively safe environment during the day. What seems to be coming through with this thread is a lot of sour grapes from couples without kids who booked Icon. Let me be clear YOU WILL BE SURROUNDED BY KIDS - lots of them, if you don't like that cancel your cruise. For example, all the jacuzzi's were PACKED with kids. They thought nothing of piling into a Jacuzzi (and using it as a pool) that already had a few adults relaxing in it. Yes you can go hang out in the Hideway, but you best like very loud thumping music all day long. It's more like South Beach, than a Hideaway. Or go sit in the Casino. Lol.