Icon of the Seas Cruise Ship First-hand Expert Review

cruise icon of the seas

So I put on a normal James Perse T-shirt and headed for one of the bars on the Royal Promenade—the Schooner Bar, it was called, if memory serves correctly. I may have failed to mention that all this time, the Icon of the Seas has not left port. As the fiery mango of the subtropical setting sun makes Miami’s condo skyline even more apocalyptic, the ship shoves off beneath a perfunctory display of fireworks.

Special Restaurants that are Worth the Extra Cost

Here, you can enjoy frothy classics inspired by old-school soda parlors or, for adults, boozy concoctions and spirited sweet treats. Located on Deck 16, it's the perfect spot to indulge à la carte. This decadent menu has me convinced to purchase a Specialty Dining Package to enjoy a discounted rate.

Bars and Restaurants

The Casino Royale has all your favorite slots and table games. Other nightlife options include Spotlight Karaoke for embarrassing guest performances, Music Hall for dancing, Dueling Pianos and Lou's Jazz 'n Blues for live music and Playmakers for watching sports and playing table games. Chill Island is the ship's three-deck pool area with multiple pools and hot tubs situated along the sides of the ship for stunning ocean views.

Chill Island

Meyer Turku also constructed RCI's mega-liners Oasis OTS (2009) and Allure OTS (2010). All blocks (hull+superstructure sections/201 total) were made in Germany (at Neptun Werft in Rostock), then transported/tugged on heavy-lift barges to Finland for assembly. The vessel's construction officially started on June 14, 2021, with the steel-cutting ceremony (yard/hull number 1400) held at Meyer Turku Shipyard in Turku Finland. The ceremony was attended by Richard Fain (RCG's Chairman and CEO), Michael Bayley (RCI's President and CEO), and Tim Meyer (Meyer Turku's CEO).

Unlike on all previous RCI ships with a Royal Promenade, Icon OTS' Royal Promenade has a dog statue instead of a classic car/vintage automobile. The 2-level wellness complex (decks 12-14) consists of Vitality Spa, Vitality Cafe (open for breakfast and lunch), and To Dry For (blow-dry bar for quick beauty fixes/hairstyling, with a beverage service). Icon sails seven-night itineraries in the Caribbean from Miami, each voyage stopping at a variety of destinations, from Puerto Rico to St. Kitts and Nevis to Cozumel, Mexico. Most will stop at Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas.

RCI-Royal Caribbean's ship Icon of the Seas conducts boat rescue operation

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These RCI vessels are also outfitted with bigger-capacity water treatment systems (evaporators and reverse osmosis plants) to support the increased freshwater consumption (for the hotel operations and at all water facilities/pools, slides, etc). Curiously, ~93% of the needed freshwater is produced onboard. Each of RCI's ICON ships has a powerplant based on six Wartsila marine engines (dual fuel) running on both diesel and LNG/liquified natural gas. The ship also has installed hydrogen-based fuel cell technology using seawater to generate electricity and fresh water. Icon OTS became RCI's first vessel to use the new technology.

cruise icon of the seas

Aft of the AquaDome is Chill Island, Icon's main pool area featuring four of the ship's seven pools among its three decks. It will include the line's first swim-up bar, Swim and Tonic, and what Royal Caribbean is claiming is the largest pool at sea. Pools and hot tubs are positioned along the edges of the ship so guests can take in the sea views while soaking in the water. The theater is the marquee attraction within the ship's Deck 15 AquaDome neighborhood — if the draw is not the dome itself. The giant 363-ton glass-and-steel structure offers guests 220-degree ocean views.

I watched people leaning on their balcony and room attendants cleaning cabins. Any time we needed to change clothes and once it got dark outside, I would close the curtains, changing my lovely room with a view into an inside cabin with no natural light. Icon of the Seas also features 187-square-foot Surfside Family View Interior cabins (replacing Boardwalk View cabins) and similarly sized Central Park View Interior cabins. These rooms do have windows, but they look inward onto the neighborhoods. I was hoping that Thrill Island would be a place where older kids and their parents could spend an entire afternoon hopping from ride to ride. The Lost Dunes minigolf course and the rock climbing wall are very accessible.

Suite neighborhood

The units are LNG-powered (by liquified natural gas), employ fuel cell technology, and are classified by DNV GL (Hovik Norway-headquartered international ship registrar and classification society). The MoU ceremony was attended by Michael Bayley (RCI's President and CEO), Jan Meyer (Meyer Turku's CEO) and Harri Kulovaara (Finnish naval architect, RCCL's Maritime and Newbulding's Executive Vice President). Another novelty is The Clubhouse - forward located crew lounge with full bar service, fitted with massage chairs, ping pong and foosball tables, and billiards, as well as 4x LCD Virtual Windows providing real-time outside views.

Sky Junior Suites have the same layout as regular Junior Suites but are high up on the ship's top decks. Guests in these suites receive additional Sky-tier perks (such as access to all the Suite neighborhood amenities), whereas regular Junior Suites come with more limited amenities. Sunset Suites and Sunset Corner Suites feature extra-large balconies and beds that face the ocean rather than a wall. The majority of Icon of the Seas' cabins are balcony rooms, ranging from 196 to 285 square feet in indoor space, with private verandas of 50 to 70 square feet.

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Traditionally for RCI, Icon OTS has the Royal Escape Room that provides adventure gaming experiences (team-building exercises). Gaming at the Royal Escape Room involves a group of players who must solve a series of puzzles by using clues, hints and group strategy. The team is given a set time limit to solve the secret plot hidden within the room. Destination elevators allow passengers to more efficiently move between decks for reduced crowding and better passenger flow.

Meanwhile, I have found a new watering hole for myself, the Swim & Tonic, the biggest swim-up bar on any cruise ship in the world. Drinking next to full-size, nearly naked Americans takes away one’s own self-consciousness. The women are equally un-shy about their sprawling physiques. In my white robe, I am a stately presence, a refugee from a better limited series, a one-man crossover episode. (Only Suites are granted these robes to begin with.) Today, I will try many of the activities these ships have on offer to provide their clientele with a sense of never-ceasing motion. Storm Chasers consists of falling from the “mast” down a long, twisting neon tube filled with water, like being the camera inside your own colonoscopy, as you hold on to the handles of a mat, hoping not to die.

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