Its very cool when you get the opportunity to sail on a new ship, especially when its an entire new class of ship. But what is the biggest cruise ship in the world really like. Generally, I feel that this is the best ship that I have sailed on and we have been on 25 of RCL’s 27 cruise ships. It was surprised how this massive ship with over 5,000 passengers could feel uncrowded….in many ways, it provided a small ship experience in a big way.

It was over a year ago, while we were sailing on the Odyssey of the Seas when we had an opportunity to book the Icon inaugural sailing. There was heavy demand and the ship sold out within 24 hours. Very impressive for a 7,000+ passenger ship. We figured that this would be a one-time opportunity to sail on a new class as is it was over 20 years since the first Oasis Class ship was constructed, and 10 years ago since the first quantum ship was built. Now, new ships are not cheep and the Icon of the Seas cost $2 Billion dollars to build. So we paid a pretty penny to get on the first sailing. We booked a Balcony on the 12^th floor overlooking the new surfside neighborhood in the rear of the ship. The cost of the room for the week was right at $4,000 total (actually $3,999.62); expensive for our standards ….but not completely ridiculous. We also ended up with $600 On Board Credit. Today, however, it would be difficult to find cabins on the Icon of the Seas that cheap. It is in high demand!

First Impressions: The Icon of the Seas is a very beautiful ship. When you step onboard, the width and openness of the ship was impressive. The Grand Atrium utilizes a two story aspect very similar to the Quantum Class ships ….a very nice blend of the best of the Quantum and Oasis Class ships. RCL has greatly improved the elevator service with 22 “Destination Elevators”. These seem to work much better than the ones we used on MSC’s Surfside ship a few weeks earlier. The “Pearl” which is a huge sphere on the grand atrium, was a central focal place on the ship and was billed as a high-tech lighting phenomenon. I didn’t get it. It changed colors sometimes and the thousands of little plates wobbled and wiggled…..overall, it added nothing and appeared to be a big waste of time, energy and carbon. I was anticipating something more like the “Sphere” in Las Vegas, not a metallic ping-pong ball. I anticipate it will be joining the robotic bartenders on future ships.

Food venues: We only utilized the free food venues available and were quite impressed with the changes initiated. First let me say that unfortunately, RCL’s dining room food is as dull as ever with the standard menus repeated over and over on every ship in the fleet. Since this was the “inaugural” cruise, there was one additional day with a free lobster choice but everything else in the dining room was uninspiring. Thankfully, the other free food venues were quite good. The standard “Windjammer” Buffet”, “Park Cafe” , “Sorrento’s” and “El Loco fresh” are back. The “Pearl Cafe” replaces “Cafe Promenade” They are supplemented with the “Aquadome Marketplace”, Surfside Eatery and Surfside Bites. With the free casual eating opportunities, we opted to avoid the dining room on most nights, as did much of the ship.

Here are some of my observations:

– A great addition was the tapas at the Park Cafe in the evenings. Olives, cheese, meatballs, vegetables…..fantastic! Nice small plates well presented!

– The Aquadome Market quickly became a favorite. It was a food court of deck 15 forward next to the Aquadome with Greek, Asian. Sandwiches, Mac and Cheese and Crepes. It was open for lunch and stayed open until the early morning. Great as a snack or a full meal. The food tasted fresh and the options extremely good.

– A new addition was take-away food in the Pearl and Park Cafe’s. Prepackaged sandwiches and salads were available anytime the venues were open.

– Surfside bites had hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken bites and other quick items. Surfside Eatery was a small buffet with a nice mix of adult and children’s options. Animal shaped chicken nuggets and deep fried lasagna balls were a definite favorite.

Entertainment: The entertainment options were a good mix of old classics and new options which blended together well. The Aquadome and subzero shows were similar to ones on the Oasis ships. The larger oval skating rink was a nice modification. There were two ice shows, including one specifically designed for children. Broadway shows are back! Other shows were much the same as on other ships with the same performers. However, they did drop the 70’s party and added a “one-hit wonders” party instead….nice change!

Bars and Drinks: Bars were located throughout the ship with many of the offering new specialty drinks and different food options (for purchase). There are so many options, I ship-wide pub-crawl was not an option…but might be a good challenge for some. Our favorites included the trellis bar in Central Park ( the steak bites here were a big hit with many guests) and the 1420 Bar on the Royal Promenade (the 1400 drink was spectacular and not to be missed) and as expected, the Casino bar (lots of TV’s here as well as in Playmakers for sports.)

Things that changed:

– The solarium pool area. It was replaced with a nice seating and bar area in the very front of the ship in front of the Aquadome. It contains no pools, just observation pods. Very comfortable, but the solarium was a very popular venue. That said, I actually enjoyed the overlook quite a bit. Very comfortable and open, It also contained a coffee shop and bar.

– Library. No library, but you could drop and exchange books unofficially at the Pearl Cafe. When Reva asked about the daily Sudoku at guest services (common on the other ships), she was met with a blank stare. Guess they forgot about that:)

– Photo Gallery. All kiosks are gone! All on the app now! There is a small photo shop with a “virtual que.” It was extremely inefficient and took forever. We were able to view and order our photos via the app and they were delivered to our room.

– Ultimate Abyss dry slide, I was expecting a large dry slide and was surprised that nothing like it existed. There were a couple of small floor to floor slides for the children, but this concept was ditched.

– Johnny Rockets and the Hot Dog Shop. I won’t really miss either of these. Hot dogs were available at surfside bites and in the two buffets.

– Robot bartenders and the rising tide bar. These were kind of stupid ideas anyway.

Things we really liked:

– Large water park. I didn’t get to play this year (busted leg), but it looked like fun.

– Multiple pools on multiple levels. Icon boasts the largest pool at sea and there was plenty of lounge chairs available….except for poolside. There was even multiple pool towel stations available.

– Technology. This ship is loaded with high technology. Everything form smart lighting in the staterooms, to intelligent elevators. The ship is smart and well done.

– Shows (especially the decision to bring back a Broadway play). The 105 minute, production of the “Wizard of Oz” was quite good … even for me. I actually stayed for the entire show….even if it was only to see the flying monkeys.

– Large public areas. There are big venues and big open areas on this ship. It gave you a very uncrowded feel and it was a pleasure walking around.

– More windows and an ability to see the ocean. RCL finally added more windows and made it possible to see the ocean from much of the ship. This was always a complaint on the Oasis class ships where you could go a week and maybe not even catch a glimpse of the ocean unless you had an outside cabin. The new windows in Central Park which opened up to the grand atrium and its windows to the ocean really were impressive.

– Better connected public spaces. Now you can walk from the Grand Atrium into the middle of Central Park. A great improvement over the oasis class ships.

– Escalators to exit or enter the ship. From the center of the Grand Atrium there are escalators down to the casino and then on down to deck 2 and the exit platform for the ship. This made exiting on port days very simple and less crowded.

Problems: With any new concept, there will always be some kinks to work out and the Icon is no different.

– The biggest problem we encountered was “Iconic” stench on deck three near the dining room. On the second night, this stench which was something similar to fermented vomit and feces sent people gagging into the elevators and stairways. This stench wade it way throughout the rear of the ship and was observed at lower levels periodically throughout the cruise. Discussions with the crew indicated that it was a surprise to everyone and they assured me that is was not from any passenger’s (or crew’s) dead body’s decaying. (Even though it smelled similar.) My engineering guess is that it had something to do with the LNG system, but nothing was ever said about it.

– General new construction problems: Our balcony door rattled when latched and water leaked under the door when it pooled on on the balcony getting the carpet wet. These minor irritations now will create larger issues later.

– RCLs fleetwide decision to cut-back on stateroom service, (while increasing gratuity charges) is an irritation. I felt that stateroom service was generally sufficient but less personable on other ships. This was our 5^th cruise this month and the first one where we didn’t have some daily interaction with the stateroom attendant. I don’t know if Reva ever met her….I wrote this on day 4 of the cruise.

– Dining room food menus, as I mentioned previously, is repeated on every ship in virtually the same order. The menus are poorly constructed and generally boring. Some nights there are two salad choices and no soups …other nights that is reversed. Just as an example; on Mexican night, you can have an escargot as an appetizer …. Mexicans eat snails? Its cafeteria food and not inspiring. Also, when waiters bring out multiple dishes to you at the same time,,you quickly lose the feel of a first class restaurant. (Remember Furr’s Cafeteria where you picked up pre-plated food? Its basically the same concept here … with someone else carrying it to your table.) Nothing is ever cooked to order anymore with the possible exception of eggs at breakfast. I completely understand why many of our friends chose just to eat at the buffet or pay for the specialty restaurants. Even though the ship was full, the dining room was never crowded.

– Fake golf balls for putt-putt. Yes, if you want to play putt-putt, you should consider bringing your own balls and forgo using the ping pong balls provided that get blown away in the wind.

Even after venting my minor irritations (I am a bit cranky these days), we love cruising with RCL and intend to continue this trend well into the future.

Overall: The Icon of the Seas is an amazing ship and a very good vacation option for the price. It quickly became my favorite cruise ship…..the Aquadome Marketplace clinched that! I imagine you will feel the same. In general, I was shocked how such a massive ship could feel not crowded, even with 5,600 patrons on board. There are so many diverse venues to enjoy and options, most things were never full and lines were minimal. It was a pleasure sailing on her inaugural cruise….even if was one of our most expensive cruises ever.