Royal Caribbean unveils design and spaces of Icon of the Seas: Travel Weekly

MIAMI — Just days before opening sales for the Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean International for the first time outlined the new ship’s key design details in a 3D virtual tour for media at its headquarters here. 

Bristling with waterslides and equipped with a new neighborhood designed for young families, the colorful ship will offer 28 stateroom categories, ranging from inside cabins to the eight-person, three-level Ultimate Family Townhouse. 

The 250,800-gross-ton Icon of the Seas will not only be the largest cruise ship built to date but the first in a follow-on series to Royal’s groundbreaking Oasis and Quantum vessels, which have been delivered over the past 13 years. 

“This statement that we made about being the world’s best family vacation option is what Icon is going to be,” Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley said. 

The Icon class will take its footprint from the Oasis class, sharing its pioneering Central Park open-air neighborhood flanked by two wings of tall side towers. 

A big change, however, is the Aqua Theater’s move from the stern to the bow into the bulbous, glass-enclosed AquaDome featuring a 55-foot-tall, circular rain curtain. It will be a lounge during the day and an entertainment space at night. 

The aft area, home to the theater and Boardwalk neighborhood on the Oasis class, will become the Surfside neighborhood, a candy-colored retreat for young families, specifically those with kids 6 and under who Royal believes will travel year-round. 

Seven decks above Surfside, a suspended infinity-edge pool called Water’s Edge bridges the space from one side of the ship to the other. It is adjacent to The Hideaway, an adults-oriented bar and lounge area with an international beach club vibe.

While the 10-deck Ultimate Abyss dry slide goes away, the Icon will feature six waterslides in Category 6, which Royal bills as the first true waterpark at sea. It is the heart of the new Thrill Island neighborhood that also has a skywalk/ropes course/thrill ride called Crown’s Edge.

The neighborhood’s name is a nod to the Thrill Waterpark on Royal’s private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay, as is its mid-ship pool area, called Chill Island like the sandy beach at Perfect Day. New in the pool area is Swim & Tonic, Royal’s first onboard swim-up bar. 

Throughout the ship, the colors tend toward a citrus mix of lemon, lime and orange, with a little raspberry thrown in for good measure.

The Icon’s interior Royal Promenade has been reimagined, starting with The Pearl, a three-deck sphere split by a staircase that will serve as an entry portal to the ship. The elevating Rising Tide bar from the Oasis class is gone on the Icon, but the ship’s ice arena, dubbed Absolute Zero, will get a featured location on the promenade. 

The Icon’s Suite neighborhood will occupy three decks and include a multilevel sun deck, a two-deck Coastal Kitchen and a new dining venue called The Grove. The elaborate Ultimate Family Townhouse in the aft features an in-suite slide, a cinema space, karaoke and a private entrance to the Surfside neighborhood. 

Over 80% of the cabins on the Icon are triples or quads — double the number on the Oasis class — giving the 5,610-passenger ship a total capacity of about 7,500. Royal officials said they are unlikely to sell it that full, however. 

Without being specific, Royal Caribbean senior vice president of sales, trade support and service Vicki Freed said that room sizes on the Icon are generally bigger than on Oasis. The Icon is Royal’s first liquefied natural gas-powered ship, a feature said to save space, among other advantages. 

The ship’s designers are especially proud of the open feeling of the interior spaces and the way one neighborhood flows seamlessly into the next. “You won’t find any dead ends on this ship,” said Jay Schneider, Royal’s chief product innovation officer. 

Although the outlines of the Icon were unveiled during the tour, Royal is reserving many of the details for reveals in coming months. 

The line expects delivery in early November 2023, with the maiden voyage from Miami in late January 2024. “It’s a big ship, so we can probably bring 20,000 or 30,000 travel partners aboard [for the] pre-inaugural,” Bayley said.

Inventory is scheduled to go on sale Oct. 24 for Crown & Anchor Society members and Oct. 25 for the general public.

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