Hits and Misses on Icon of the Seas, the World’s Largest Cruise Ship

Last week, my family of 5 cruised on Royal Carribbean’s Icon of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship. Overall, we had a great time! Of course, no vacation is ever perfect. Here are hits and misses from our experience on Icon of the Seas.

Hit: Shows and Entertainment

By far, the shows and entertainment were our favorite things about Icon of the Seas. They were simply outstanding, and we were thoroughly entertained throughout the cruise by talented performers and witty crew members. Gemma from the UK was the cruise director on our cruise, and she did a great job adding humor to every show introduction (and apparently she’s a trained ballerina!). Shows included:

• The Wizard of Oz: Beautiful Broadway production of this musical with a fantastic set and performers.
• Aqua Action: The new enclosed AquaDome was a great venue for this diving/acrobatic show. Great music, too.
• Starburst Elemental Beauty ice skating show: Another great show with triple axles, back flips and a juggler.
• The Effectors: This main stage super hero show features drones flying in the theatre.
• Adam Kario: Juggler/comedian show. Great guy!
• Adult comedians show: We saw 3, and they were hilarious!
• PHOENIX band: This band performed classic rock songs. My 17-year-old son went to see them the first night, and he told us we HAD to see them the next night. They were very good and performed different 90-minute sets each night.
• String quartet: I enjoyed the string quarter that played classical music at various venues around the ship throughout the week.

In addition to the shows and live entertainment, my family also watched some hilarious game shows including Love and Marriage, Majority Rules and the Broken Link (like the Weakest Link tv game show).

Hit: Recreation

There is no shortage of recreation on Icon of the Seas. With 7 pools, 5 waterslides and several splash zones, there were many options to cool off. My family enjoyed pickleball, mini golf and ice skating. I took a line dance class on the last day. And I appreciated the large outdoor walking/running track on Deck 5:

However, my surprising favorite activity laser tag. I’ve never played before, and it was a ton of fun! The laser tag games took place on the floor of the ice skating rink.

Hit: Elevators

Weird that I’m calling out the elevators on a cruise ship, right? But, if you’ve cruised before, you know that over-crowded elevators are a real thing. Icon of the Seas has those smart elevators that require you to input your desired floor on the outside, and then the screen directs you to wait at the appropriate elevator. The system worked great, and we never had trouble waiting for an elevator.

Hit: Staterooms

My family had two side-by-side (but non-connecting) outside staterooms with a window. We liked many things about our cabins, including:

• Comfortable beds
• Lots of storage space
• Plenty of charging outlets
• Large shower
• Ability to control lights and tv through Royal Caribbean app on our phones

Hit: Decor and Furnishings

Icon of the Seas is a new ship, and the decor was modern and amusing. Check out this statue of a dog peeing on a lamppost:

The Pearl:

I appreciated all of the different types of seating around the ship:

Hit: Service

All the crew members we encountered were friendly and helpful. We had a great room attendant and dining room servers. Crew in the Windjammer buffet got drinks for us and cleared dirty plates promptly. On port days, many crew members were stationed throughout the ship with “Ask Me” shirts on.

Special shout out to our favorite crew member, Rover the dog:

Hit: Specialty Restaurants

We pre-b0oked a Hibachi dinner at Izumi for $45/person. We were completely stuffed and entertained. My family enjoyed dinner at Pier 7 restaurant for $25/person.

My husband and I ate lunch at Hooked Seafood restaurant for $25/person. Great views and food!

Icon of the Seas has several more specialty restaurants that we did not try.

Miss: Main Dining Room Food

On the whole, my family did not care for the food in the Main Dining Room. The variety and quality just wasn’t the same as we’ve experienced on Disney Cruise Line and Holland America. If money grew on trees, I would have splurged for the specialty dining package so we could eat better food every night. Of course, there were some exceptions, like this tres leches cake:

Miss: Crowds and Quiet Places to Relax

I knew that this was a large ship with 9500 people (guests + crew) on board during spring break week. I had no expectation that it would be a quiet, relaxing experience. However, on most cruise ships, I could always find some quiet places to relax and read away from the crowds. Other Royal Caribbean ships I’ve sailed on had adult-only solariums. The adults-only section on Icon of the Seas (The Hideaway) was loud and crowded:

The only place I found to be remotely quiet was the seating area on both sides of the Deck 5 track:

However, I wish it had some lounge chairs.

We did find ways to buck the crowds on the ship. For example, instead of breakfast at the Windjammer buffet, we opted for other included smaller buffets and counter service restaurants like the AquaDome market, Pearl Cafe, Park Cafe and Surfside Eatery.

Bottom Line

Overall, my family had a great time on Icon of the Seas. If you’re looking for a quiet, relaxing cruise, Icon of the Seas is probably not for you. However, if you’re ready to be dazzled by shows and keep busy with fun recreational activities, this ship is a great choice.