i just disembarked on Friday, ask me anything about Icon!
the escape room and laser weren’t BUT the ice skating was and and it was awesome!!!
Escape Room isn't open but laser tag is on the schedule for tomorrow.
Do you have to reserve for ice skating and laser tag?
Thoughts on the food quality and portions in the Aquadome marketplace?
Seems like an ideal way to grab a variety of snacks. Wondering if they’re well portioned for that or better to grab a whole meal there?
if you grab more than one thing, you can certainly make it a full meal, however better as just snack food!!
Perfect. Can’t wait to give it all a try. All the menus looked pretty good there.
Do you think Icon can deliver an experience that is on par with the inflated rates? I’m curious how many people are paying 2-3X what another 7 day cruise would cost who may not feel it delivers or have unrealistic expectations. Royal Caribbean is amping this thing up in a way I’m wondering if they can meet the hype.
i think the shows are above and beyond what they offer on other royal cruises. i think for me i would not be able to justify the price even with those elevated experiences
Shows are indeed incredible. Oz was just amazing. Elemental, Viktor kee... C'mon. Aquadome... Pretty badass. That's where it's at for me. The shows.
I’m a travel agent, four of our agents and our agency owner were on this same preview sailing. They said YES they do think it’s worth the price, and also we have some group rates that are considerable cheaper than what is publicly available which makes it an even better value.
Personally, I just can’t stomach paying $4,000 for one person in an interior room. That’s the cheapest I’ve found and that price is still two years from now! (I would travel with my mom but I would still be the one paying so it’s $4,000 either way, plus no port taxes for the second person). And that doesn’t include specialty dining or drinks or excursions.
That's crazy! We booked in November 2023 for our May 25 cruise and we have an infinite ocean view balcony for 3 people for $6k with taxes, Port fees, gratuity, and insurance included in that! We got so lucky to end up with the deal we got based on what everyone else says about the prices!!
My wife had an email from Royal C. 2 years ago about this cruise and we booked back then to leave April 2024. I tried to make a date change last year, which doubled the price so I just kept it as is. But roughly $7500 for one of the state room suites where kids and bunk bets with tv and another bedroom plus small livng room space for a week long cruise.
We used this same idea to book an italian cruise, booked it last year to sail next year. Of couse you have to preplan, but the cost savings is huge.
I would just hold off for a while, these prices are not gonna last forever regardless of what people say there’s no way in hell they can sustain this and from what other people on this forum have posted. It seems like this happened with oasis and freedom too so ig we shall see.. but I agree with you. The prices are absolutely nuts. It’s essentially equivalent of a company like Ford charging $100,000 over the price of a Lincoln.
Did you get to see any of the scheduled shows? Starburst, wizard of OZ, Mo5aic, aqua action?
Were you able to control your room amenities with the RC app?
How efficient are the “destination elevators”?
YES the app to control temp/tv was so useful especially when i was coming back to the room and wanted it to be cooler!!
elevators were easy to use and seemed to help streamline things!!!
Thanks for the feedback. I am so glad the elevator change is going to help with wait times.
I’m on now and saw starburst last night. It was fantastic. I actually wonder if any of them were Olympic skaters because they were incredible!
Are you on the maiden voyage? That’s the AMA I’m looking for. The broker cruise was short 2,000 people and my biggest question is how crowded is it??
Yes on the maiden voyage now. We’re at 80% capacity and honestly, it doesn’t seem crowded at all. IMHO the new designs of common spaces definitely seem to help with crowd dispersal.
I am also very interested in the elevators!
I think it's a brilliant sounding system that's is insanely long overdue. It must work. And I hope that's other ships/elevators everywhere get their systems retrofitted for it when it proves to work, it's just software after all for the most part.
I think it won’t work as well on ships that haven’t been designed from the ground up for jt.
In icon, there is one big elevator lobby at each end of the ship, with like 12 elevators to choose from. So it’s easy to have each elevator going to a specific destination without many stops in between.
In older ships, there are only 4 or 6 elevators accessible from each lobby, so I don’t think you’d get as much value out of it, because each elevator would still be stopping at multiple floors
That's still a massive improvement.
It does feel like you are waiting for some time..but I have yet to experience an elevator come that was packed and didn't have room. Much better than watching elevator after elevator stopping on your floor completely full.
It's very short-sighted to stop counting when you get in the elevator, it's about the time to reach your destination floor.
We have these kind of elevators in a big hospital and it works perfect. So I thinkg they can still add it when they renew a ship.
I’ve used the system on a MSC ship and I felt like I waited much longer than traditionally. Considering the whole point is to be faster I don’t think they’re great. Smaller ships maybe but not when you have large crowds trying to use the elevator.
i saw wizard of oz and aqua action! both amazing definitely must sees!!
We saw MO5AIC on Oasis a couple years ago and they were fantastic!!!
We saw them on the Anthem in October and I was flabbergasted. Never heard something like that!
I've watched a few videos, and in every video everything outside looks wide open, with no umbrellas. Is there shade by the pools? I can only take a little direct sun. It seems very open aired.
most things on the 15/16 deck are open BUT there are awnings that create lots of shade and coverage!
I’m going with my mom, brother and best friend, all adults - I’m excited but I see loads of people refer to it as a family boat. How is it for us olds? Is there a nightclub in the evening?
You’re 100% going to have an awesome time, trust me!
What nights were the fancy/dress up nights? Or theme nights?
How is the queue setup (The flow of the line vs the layout of the restaurant.) at Sorrentos vs Oasis class?
What food is complimentary other than the windjammer and MDR?
most everything on the 15/16 decks are included! the aquadome market as well, and the pearl cafe!
Do any of the Junior suites (any suite for that matter) have connecting basic balcony staterooms?
What excursions did you do off the ship
I am about to board tommorrow, very excited and want to make the most of this trip. What was something you wish you did and what was the best part of the cruise in your opinion?
Is there a safe in the rooms?
yep! super easy to use
What did you think of it?!
i loved it!!! so much to do, we didn’t get to everything!!
User deleted comment
4mo
there is it just isn’t open yet!
Thanks! I deleted because I saw it asked further down. Hopefully by March it will be up and running.
What kind of room did you have? How was embarkation and disembarkation? What was your favorite part of the ship?
i had a central park view with the false balcony (not sure what the exact type is called)
lots of space, closer to the elevators which i appreciated. honestly nicer than having a balcony cuz i felt i had more space to spread out inside the room.
both easy! embark i was a little early and was still able to just walk right on the ship. i didn’t check luggage and my room was luckily ready so an easy time. obviously much less people on my cruise than there will be on future icon sailings. disembark was just as easy!
favorite part was definitely Hideaway and the aquadome. spent a lot of time reading and hanging in both spaces. hideaway has some of my favorite drinks
Have you heard anything about the all access ship tour being available on Icon? Scheduled to go in November and always wanted to do the tour. Figured if you’re going to do it, might as well do it on the largest ship in the world.
So far it hasn’t been available to book in the cruise planner.
Any chance you or someone else had a Dyson hairdryer onboard and did it work?
On now and they aren't working.
Thank you very much. Did you try the outlet in the bathroom as well?
I haven't tried personally. Folks in our FB group for the sailing have complained about it.
I recently brought mine on the wonder. Pretty sure I blew a breaker or something bc it worked for the first half of the trip then it just stopped.
With only 7 night sailings, and such a massive ship. Taking overall feelings out of the equation, objectively, is it even worth it? I saw a comment where you didn’t get to everything and I feel as though that can be a waste for some.
i was on a 3 night cruise so we def didn’t have time for everything. that being said, i definitely think it is worth if you can afford, but if you’re not a frequent cruiser you are better off going on something else with royal. i would not be able to justify the price that i would’ve paid had i paid for the room/experiences i had on this pre-inaugural sail.
Is there an equivalent to the Solarium - a poolside feel with loungers, but climate controlled?
lots of different poolsides with loungers. as far as i could find, non temp controlled except the hottubs
lots of different poolsides with loungers. as far as i could find, none temp controlled except the hot tubs
Hi, thank you for creating this AMA. I have some questions.
From what I've seen, there are two hybrid options for dining (i.e., free and paid options) - Basecamp and Pier 7. What free options do they have?
Is Desserted included, or is it a paid option?
Until what time is Aquadome Market open?
I've seen on the Royal Caribbean app that the Park Cafe on the Icon of the Seas is open 24 hours, is that correct?
Is there a duty free liquor shop on board? If so where is it located? I haven’t seen a tour videos that showed it
Did they say anything about the escape room, ice skating or laser tag? It seems like those three things aren’t ready yet even for the inaugural.