Our Honest Icon of the Seas Review - What its REALLY Like on the World's Largest Cruise Ship!

We are back from one of the first cruises on Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas. We have sailed on all of the largest cruise ships from the major cruise lines and find out how Icon of the Seas compares with this Icon of the Seas cruise review.

ROYAL CARIBBEAN ICON OF THE SEAS REVIEW
0:00 Introduction
1:15 Layout and Design
3:22 The Pool Deck
6:38 The Sports Deck
9:50 Casual Dining
14:32 Bars and Lounges
18:55 Nightlife
21:30 Signature Entertainment
24:30 Onboard Activities
27:15 Main Dining Room
30:10 Specialty Restaurants
34:10 Staterooms
37:33 Service

ICON OF THE SEAS REVIEW
In our Icon of the Seas cruise review, we rank this new ship in terms of dining, onboard activities, nightlife, entertainment, and more.
The first thing that surprised us about Icon of the Seas was the layout. Most travelers worry that mega-ships will be too busy and crowded. Luckily, the layout and enhanced neighborhood design dispersed the crowds well.
While most mega-ships have several pools, the 7 pools on Icon of the Seas all had a unique vibe and ambiance. Our favorite was the adults-only Hideaway Pool on deck 15 aft.
Essentially, Royal Caribbean took the typical outdoor area and broke it up into 4 unique neighborhoods. This includes Thrill Island. Along with staple amenities, like a Sports Court and Flowrider, this new neighborhood is home to Category 6, the largest water park at Sea. Yes, for this Icon of the Seas review, I tested out all the slides.

ICON OF THE SEAS RESTAURANTS AND BARS
Icon of the Seas boasts 40 ways to eat and drink. Among our favorite additions is the AquaDome market. This food hall at sea includes 5 different stalls, with one being better than the next. The 24-hour Pearl Café is home to an upgraded menu of sandwiches, desserts, pastries, and grab-and-go options, making it leaps and bounds better than other cafes in the Royal Caribbean fleet.

There are also fan favorites like the Park Café and El Loco Fresh, now open later in the evening.
It wouldn’t be a Royal Caribbean cruise without three-course elegant dinners in the main dining room. Cruisers can also eat as much as they want for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the Windjammer Marketplace.

While there were several new complimentary dining venues, Icon of the Seas has only a few new specialty restaurant offerings. We dined at Chops Grille, Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen, and Izumi Sushi for this cruise review of Icon of the Seas. We also pulled up a chair to try brunch and dinner at the new Pier 7. We tried Izumi in the park, the Trellis Bar, and dessert.

Even though we didn’t have a drink package, we could still make our way to the close to 20 bars on the ship. Among our new favorites were the Rye and Bean, which served espresso-based cocktails, the Hideaway Bar, and the Lemon Post.

Like most Royal Caribbean mega-ships, the entertainment on Icon of the Seas did not disappoint. Make sure to reserve seats ahead of time for all of the shows. These include the Wizard of Oz in the main theater and the Aqua Action diving show in the new Aqua Theater in the Aqua Dome.

There was plenty to do day and night on Icon of the Seas. A variety of music occurred in several venues. The new hotspot on the ship was the Dueling Pianos bar.

While Royal Caribbean enhanced several aspects of the ship, we were surprised that the staterooms received little of an upgrade. These rooms seemed rather bland when compared to the rest of the ship.

Overall, Icon of the Seas was another massive success for Royal Caribbean making it one of the hottest ships to sail on in 2024!

READ OUR COMPLETE ICON OF THE SEAS REVIEW BACK ON THE BLOG

------TRENDING VIDEOS FROM EAT SLEEP CRUISE------

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Some promotional videos courtesy of Royal Caribbean International

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[chriscarley]

Dining room policy about ordering multiple entrees at the same time is likely an effort to reduce food waste onboard. Too many people having multiple delivered and wasting some of the food. This makes a lot of sense to me.

[normamejias]

Great walkthrough video. Thank you for sharing.

[androideveland]

❤ so proud of you, you are strong woman. Continue being you and striving for yourself🎉🎉

[nwt]

YouTube been showing me a lot of these icon videos this week

[phyllisphilp]

I'm Diamond plus with RCCL, and would love to try the Icon. However, the outrageously high fares make that impossible for a person of my income.

[paulbartal]

Thanks for sharing this video. I was curious if being on Deck 14 made you deal with a lot of noise coming from deck 15? Thanks

[suegordon]

It too big of a ship for me. Also, there are children on board. I prefer Viking as it’s adults only and the capacity is much smaller than a mega ship. Also the focus is educating you on the places you’ll visit. No zip lines, rope courses or water parks. They also show feature films and nature films plus lectures from experts on the locations, animals, geography, geology of the places you’ll visit. All the food areas are included with the exception of the Chefs Table which is a 15 person venue where the diners help the chef prepare the food. Wine and beer are included in the price. If you want spirits or higher class wines there is an up charge.

[julietaylor]

You mentioned you had a more detailed food review of the places you dined. I can't find that video. Can you give me a link to it? I'm particularly interested in the pier 7 food items... hits and misses. I'm disappointed there are not more specialty dining on this massive ship. The supper club is ridiculously priced in my opinion and I prefer restaurants with more choices on the menu. While Royals food is not terrible, I do think it's their weakest link. I wouldn't mind paying a little more for their cruises if the food was more elevated. We typically purchase UDP when we sail on oasis class ships. Our upcoming icon is no different. Did you mention there will be a second stage show production in the works?? So excited about this ship and you did a TERRIFIC job with your review in this video.

[TimeisReel]

Hey DB is humid with the Aqua Dome being inside ???

[intrepidcoder]

I've heard the food on RCCL isn't all that great unfortunately, at least compared to the quality it was pre-COVID

[kimberlyyarnell]

What is the drink posted at 16:35? You mention espresso martini but this looks a lot lighter. Thank you.

[aregee]

With 7 pools, is it possible to choose the least crowded without having to walk around to visit each one?

[TimeisReel]

DB another great review. Icon seems very cool. And I wish to sail on her, but I think I like the Oasis Class Boardwalk w/ Playmakers and Aqua Show in the rear. And the Solarium in the Front layout, better.

[TheProgrammerGuy]

So you took one video and made it into TWO (or more?) with two different titles.

[justaskmike]

An empty cruise ship wouldn’t be any fun either

[Nobby]

Might be a good idea to get a professional commenter, I’m sure it would enhance the video, probably just me though as I only lasted the first couple of minutes. 🤪

[fuckyoutube]

Good video. It would be nice if a few of the influences would go on an actual Icon Cruise as a preview Is never a good example of an actual cruise. Also, Disney has the first swim up bar. Not this ship.