After action report—Icon of the Seas April 20-27, 2024

SilkySal · May 4

1 hour ago, BecciBoo said:

And today priced a Central Park cabin, (no Surfside left) for our Sept Icon and that room is $4400 per person! twice what we paid way back in Oct. 2022 Yikes! Thought to maybe upgrade from our interior...nada!

Wow! We booked an infinite CP balcony on Icon for November, 2025 and we paid around that amount total for both of us! So glad we booked Icon early!

BecciBoo · May 4

I'm not holding my breath for Royal Up either. Our sailing is getting pretty full.

wrldtrvllr · May 4

Some pictures of the Hideaway adult only area onboard:

The hideaway bar (red umbrella) as viewed from the lounger/day bed area:

note the flow rider is right above and adjacent to the adults area—I believe the noise/announcements that “bother” people in the hideaway is more coming from there than from the little kids area 7 decks below

the pool can be quite crowded but not always:

the hot tub’s occupancy varied but I never saw them over packed:

Arriving in St Kitts the pool was closed and therefore empty:

Bar to the left in this picture (starboard) and loungers in stadium set up to the right as viewed from the camera

View of CocoCay from the ship’s hideaway and then zoomed in on the island’s hideaway area

alishac · May 10

Thank you so much for this thorough review. We board Icon on 6/1 and reading this is amping up my excitement!

BecciBoo · May 10

On 5/4/2024 at 4:08 PM, wrldtrvllr said:

the pool can be quite crowded but not always:

I plan to get my pool on EARLY and outa there before that.

BecciBoo · May 10

On 5/2/2024 at 7:49 PM, wrldtrvllr said:

I pride myself that I have never gotten sick on a cruise ship, even ones where Nora virus was rampant and credit that largely to hand washing and defensive measures.)

Same here except when we met up with a hacking coughing person at the stand up bar at back of the Theater one night, I caught what she was spewing all over everybody about 2 days later, thank goodness we had only Victoria left on our Alaska Solstice, but I came home sicker than a dog.

TheHawk1 · May 10

On 5/2/2024 at 8:49 PM, wrldtrvllr said:

And the Aquadome

One of the best experiences on Oasis class is being outside at night in the Aqua Theatre, with the fresh air and the breeze while enjoying the show. While I can understand this new indoor design allows Royal to be more creative with the production (and avoid cancellations due to weather), it doesn't look to be nearly as nice.

BallFour4 · May 10

Nice review! We sailed in March and had an amazing time. We took a decade long departure from Royal for a couple of dozen trips from here in Galveston on Carnival. After the Quantum to Alaska in June and this trip we are never going back.

We made diamond, and walked aboard the ship at 10:40AM, muster completed and early lunch before noon. Our baggage was at our door when the cabins opened. We took advantage of a travel agent deal and had a balcony cabin for two for $3400 total price. I splurged at rented a Chill Island Cabana and would do that again in a second.

The ship manages people amazingly well. We never felt crowded, loved the entertainment and in four decades of cruising have never been wowed more.
The Pearl Cafe was a solid hit, as was MDR food. We did reserve Hooked for a lunch and dinner. It was fantastic.

The Icon is a big kite, and you could feel some wind movement a couple of evenings. Our first cruise was on the Carnival Mardi Gras, so ship movement is not that big of a deal.
I am rambling, but the weather is nice at the beach house, and I am enjoying your read.

Here are a sample of my photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Lz345s9iCRRezVDz6

.

topanga49er · May 12

On 5/3/2024 at 7:08 PM, wrldtrvllr said:

So, the room. Especially before the Abyss slide we have enjoyed boardwalk balconies on oasis class ships. Frequently the price was equal to or less than an inside room so it was a no brainer. Once Harmony arrived and Oasis was amped the appeal declined but with Covid pricing and frequent cancellations we were able to get the very end room several times on various ships and found the extra noise was worth the sea view, especially in the relatively quiet morning; the entertainment value of watching the water show and rehearsals; people watching on the rock climbing wall etc. Basis for comparison here is to an inside room vs ocean balcony room for the money. Usually boardwalk comes out as the best value but not always.

Similarly I was pricing out Surfside balconies vs ocean vs inside rooms and on that first day of sales it was a similar no brainer for me. I expect could have paid a bit less for an inside but the difference wasn’t enough to alter my decision since I was able to select the end balcony. I looked at deck plans and decided deck 10 would probably suit best—not too low to the kids water park but not too high to be blocked by the hideaway pool.

Room is as others have posted.

Not many electrical outlets. As in only one on vanity and one at bedside by the balcony and one in the bathroom. That surprised me. The one at bedside should be useful for CPAP wearers but charging of electrical devices is limited then to USB-A cords. There are many USB-A plug in spots (on shelves near the TV, on both bedside tables/lamps, on the vanity) but no USB-C spots—so charging will be slow(er). I thought I had read about some USB-C plugs but that must’ve been on Serenade for the world cruisers and not on Icon. I didn’t bring any USB-A cords so had to use the electrical plug and my adapter. Not a disaster but something I wanted to pass on as “good to know” for packing.

Shower has the seat in it and towel rack, hooks. Small shelves on wall beside commode. Fairly large drawer by sink. We added extra magnet hooks to allow drying of items.

the balcony:

was pleased with the clear glass aft railing. This is on decks 9-11–it’s solid on deck 12. Looking across to starboard side:

And looking at our room from the retreat bar (deck 10 is yellow-green, 9 pink, 11 blue, 12 is under the retreat pool):

view from the balcony in the AM:

Noise: yes shrill little kid noises in daytime that make balcony sitting not appealing. They aren’t out there in the morning or evenings. Remember we chose based on price compared to an inside which has no shrill kid noises but also no morning sitting/view. The bucket thing that dumps water and the running water however goes on 24:7. 😥 With the balcony door locked the noise was not an issue. I do however sleep with ear plugs but I don’t think the noise level would bother most people compared to noises of flushing, hall traffic (which is virtually non existent on the end unit) which are everywhere on a 7000 passenger ship.

One other thing about our Surfside room (and perhaps all rooms on Icon)—the water temp was pretty low unless you force it higher by pressing the rubber button to get past the preset stop (make sense?). I think this could be for little kid safety but who knows. Just try turning the handle with the button pushed before calling maintenance would be my suggestion.

Another FYI— the safe and shelving are behind the full length mirror.

The baskets shriek when pulled out but it is a good concept to reach items without having to struggle against the couch—especially if it was made into a bed I imagine. For 2 of us plain shelves would have been better than the baskets but we travel light and just used them as a hamper. (Can’t really see in this picture but the baskets are below the closet next to the couch). The yellow looking shelving with USB-A plugs is seen in this view of the room:

Would I do that cabin again? Not for much extra expense but for the price of an inside definitely. It’s a long haul to the end room but I’m ok with that. Would I take a non end Surfside room—certainly but not for any extra expense.

A big part of the appeal of that end room on oasis class is the people watching at the aqua theater and rock climbing wall which are absent on icon (watching little kids on slides is not entertaining but is shrill as previously stated).