TLDR: I saved $2000 by using a travel agent!
When Royal Caribbean first released information about its newest upcoming ship Icon of the Seas last year, I admit I wasn’t sold on the concept. It’s huge! And with almost 10,000 people on board including guests and crew, I imagine it could feel quite crowded.
But, hats off to Royal Caribbean for doing a fantastic job marketing Icon of the Seas. My younger son has seen many commercials for it, and he’s been begging to go on it for months. My husband and I have always brushed off his requests, arguing that the ship is way too big.
But then recently, my college son admitted to me that he misses traveling and would love to go on another cruise. And, our spring breaks happen to line up in 2025. Say no more! I’m on it.
My first thought was to sail out of Galveston. But then I thought, go big or go home, right? My kids are growing up way too fast, and I don’t know how many more family vacations we will have. So I started to look more closely at Icon of the Seas. Then I saw that the Broadway musical on board is The Wizard of Oz, and I was sold.
But the price….
I already wrote a post about how crazy expensive Icon of the Seas is compared to every other Royal Caribbean ship. Thankfully, pricing is still a bit less than Disney Cruise Line. But, still.
I looked at the online price of two connecting balcony staterooms for our spring break 2025 week. On principle, we just couldn’t justify the price. Not with one kid in college and one who is a few years away from college. Nope, nope, nope.
So, we looked at inside staterooms. Thankfully, that would lower our price by about $4000 total. The cruise was still expensive by our standards, but we were warming to the idea.
Then, I remembered in one of my local business mom Facebook groups, a local travel agent posted about Icon of the Seas many months ago. She stated that her agency reserved some rooms for key weeks at a group rate discount. I searched the group for her post, and contacted her.
To my surprise, she was able to book us two outside (window) staterooms for $2000 less than I could book online myself for inside staterooms. Her agency still had 3 staterooms left in her discount group block, plus the price was locked in from when the sailings first went on sail. Yippee!
So, we booked Icon of the Seas for spring break 2025 at a price we are more comfortable with and a price we couldn’t have booked online ourselves without the help of this travel agent.
As a comparison, the cost of Icon of the Seas vs. the Disney Treasure (newest upcoming DCL ship) for the same room type and same date is $5000 less!
Of course, we will use miles and points for flights and pre-cruise hotel.
Final Thoughts
I always use a travel agent when I book a cruise. However, I’ve never received this big of a price discount before. Disney Cruise Line doesn’t have group discounts, but Royal Caribbean does. If you don’t know of a local travel agent with a group discount for your dates, I recommend using cruisecompete.com to get quotes from a variety of agencies. I used this website for our cruise dates and found another agency that also had group rates available.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Can you reveal the name of the travel agency? I need to inquire about a similar trip.
@Nick This is who I used: https://www.expediacruises.com/en-US/JenniferHolmes She is local to me so her spring break group timing matched the date of my kids’ spring break.
Great post ✍️
So can you throw us the final price for each stateroom? How long is this trip for? I’m thinking it’s a 7 day. I’ve got two college kids as well but there is a premium to pay for these brand new ships that I’m generally not inclined to go that route for so we usually book more seasoned ships.
@Steve L Yes, it’s a 7-night cruise. Cabin #1 (2 people): $2765 total. Cabin #2 (3 people): $5844 total. These are outside cabins that are side by side.
Dumb question but I’ll ask anyway: If cabin #2 with 3 passengers costs more than twice what cabin #1 with 2 passengers costs, why not reserve 3 cabins at a lower total cost and more space per person?
@Christian Great question. In this case, the agency didn’t have 3 of that same type of cabin available in the group block at the discount, and this was the lowest-priced combo we could get. Icon of the Seas has been the fastest selling new ship for Royal.