putinbay

Yes, agreed, prices have absolutely skyrocketed. To help put it into perspective a bit, back in May of 2023 (nearly one year ago), we paid $245 per person for our March 9th, 2024 Icon sailing. I remember thinking that was expensive, and I almost did not buy it. While I thought the UDP was nice for our March 9th, 2024 Icon cruise (and yes, we took advantage of it... steak and lobster for lunch and dinner, sushi, more steak and lobster, more sushi, etc., we never set foot in the MDR ), I would not do it for $421 per person. Definitely NOT worth $421, in my opinion. There are far too many great, included options on the Icon. My two cents . Hope this helps! Thanks!

Yep, that was me 2 weeks ago today! Good times! Enjoy!

Yes, I would agree. While we loved the ship and thought it was truly amazing, with the recent crazy run-up in prices, we definitely would not pay the inflated prices. In October of 2022 for our 3/9/24 Icon cruise, we paid roughly $7,000 for 2 rooms (one balcony and one inside room) for 4 people (my wife and me, and our 2 teenaged boys). I randomly checked the prices leading up to our 3/9/24 Icon cruise, and the prices for the exact same rooms skyrocketed to nearly $20k. Yikes! There's no way I'd pay that! Our cruise was great, but no chance it would be worth nearly $20k. No way!

~90% capacity. 2,400 kids.

Yes, we did .

Hello, Yes, we were on Icon last week (March 9th sailing date). According to a crew member I spoke with, they were running at roughly 85%-90% capacity last week, which included 2,400 kids. The crew member said they will be at 100% starting with the March 30th, 2024 sailing. It wasn't too bad from a crowd perspective. Some of the pool deck areas were pretty crowded. We never had to wait more than a few mins for a drink, although Coco Cay seemed very crowed. Hope this helps! Thanks!

Hello, No, we did not smell any smoke. I think they have the smoking section strategically placed whereby the smoke just dissipates off the ship pretty quickly, especially if the ship is at sea, moving along at a good clip. Also, from the way back of the ship where they beds are in the Hideaway, I would argue the sound of the wake behind the ship helps to drown out the music, at least that was definitely the case from our aft balcony (kinda like a white noise). Hope this helps! Thanks, Matt

Hello, Yes, we had a spot at Cloud 17 that we went to each day that was sunny. The spot was a bit closer to the smoking section, but we never smelled any smoke since we were upwind of the smoking section. We went to the Hideaway right when we got on the ship last Saturday in Miami since our underaged boys were off and running doing their own thing (Flowrider, water slides, basketball, etc.). There were tons of empty chairs since we were on the ship so early, and yes, there was a lot of shade from the fake palm trees. We spent most of the first day at the Hideaway, but agreed that we need to be in a spot where our boys can come talk to us, so we moved to Cloud 17 starting on day 2. They are pretty strict around letting under aged children into the Hideaway (and rightfully so!). We did go back to the Hideaway a few times for some drinks and just hang out. I did not think the music was too loud. And interestingly enough, our cabin was literally right below the Hideaway, and we never heard any music coming from the Hideaway, although, we did hear them moving around chairs at roughly 7:00 AM - 7:30 AM each morning (presumably, they were cleaning the deck and moving around the chairs). Hope this helps! Thanks, Matt

Hello, yes, we booked the Empire Supper Club for day 5 several weeks before our cruise at full price. I went down there on day 3 during the afternoon hours (probably around 1:00 PM) and asked if I could cancel and rebook so that I could get the UDP discount. The gentleman that manages ESC was super nice and said, "No need to rebook. I will refund you the difference right now." The refund came back as refundable ship board credit. I was really happy that it was a quick and frictionless refund process, and I thanked the gentleman several times . My wife and I were seated at the first table (please see pic below taken from my seat). Also, out of curiosity, I asked if the entire week was sold out. He answered, "Yes." Hope this helps! Thanks, Matt

Hello, We just got off Icon earlier this morning. Thought I'd provide a quick review while we're waiting for our flight back home... About Us - Me (49), my wife (48), and our two boys (13 and 15). Embarkation - Our boarding time was 11:30 AM. We arrived at the pier at 10:20 AM and we were onboard by 10:30 AM. I had a drink in-hand by 10:35 AM. LOL! Royal has the embarkation process down perfectly! Hats off to Royal! We were super impressed! Capacity & Crowds - A crew member told me there were 2,400 kids on our sailing, and the ship was at roughly 85% to 90% capacity. The crew member said they're going to 100% by the March 30th, 2024 sailing. The ship didn't feel too crowded to me, except for a few areas on the pool decks. We sat at Cloud 17 the whole week, since they have padded loungers up there . We never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a drink. On the other hand, Coco Cay seemed very crowded. We arrived at South Beach around 10:15 AM and all the loungers were taken. We should have gotten off the boat earlier, but no big deal. We went back to the ship by 1:00 PM and had the ship to ourselves and went on a bunch of the slides. I think next time, we'll stay on the ship . Food & Dining - We had the Unlimited Dining Package. I was able to lock in all our reservations right when we got on the ship at Izumi. The process took roughly 30 minutes, since the people in front of me were taking forever. Once it was my turn, I gave the lady my print up of all my desired reservations (used Google Calendar). She loved the print out and quickly locked in all my options. Only bummer was Hibachi only had 9:00 PM available, other than that, we were able to get all the times we wanted. We did not eat in the Main Dining Room at all. We ate at all the Specialty Dining venues except for Pier 7. The food was great! And the service was great, too! Only place I would not go back to is Hibachi. Guess it's more for the show, but we agreed the food was not very good . Way too much butter and salt (at least that's what we thought). My wife and I also did Empire Supper club and it was spectacular! What a great dining experience! Room & Accommodations - My wife and I had cabin 14756, and our boys were in an inside cabin 14747. Our room was on the aft of the ship, directly below the Hideaway. We had an unbelievable view of the back of the boat (please see pic I took from our cabin). My wife did not like the rattling and shaking feeling in the cabin. She said she would not want the same cabin again. There definitely was a lot of rattling and shaking going on, but I was ok with it b/c of the view. We also heard them moving around chairs each morning around 7:00 AM - 7:30 AM presumably cleaning the deck above us. We also noticed we felt the ship moving a lot more (overall) than we had expected. For comparison, we were on the Wonder of the Seas two years ago and we did not feel that ship move at all. On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd say Wonder was about a 1 or 2 while Icon was about a 6 or 7. My boys were also complaining about it. One of the crew members also said she was surprised to feel the boat move so much and agreed it was more than Oasis class ships like Wonder. But overall, our room was fantastic! Shows & Entertainment - We saw Wizard of Oz on the second night and it was excellent! We were super impressed! We also did Starburst and the headliner show. Both were good, but Wizard of Oz took the cake! The comedians were also very funny! Disembarkation - Getting off the ship this morning was a breeze. We walked off with our luggage around 8:45 AM. However, complete chaos ensued when we got outside the terminal to hail a taxi, Uber, Lyft. People all over the place trying to hail their Ubers, Lyfts, etc. It took about 30 mins to finally get a Lyft out of there and then 20 mins to the Miami airport. The airport is also crazy busy, with very long security lines. It took us almost 1 hour to get through security and to our gate. We are on Southwest. That's all I can think of right now... Hope this helps! If you have any questions, please give me a shout! Thanks! Matt

Finally here! Seems a bit surreal! We arrived in Miami yesterday afternoon, staying at the InterContinental. Nice place! Here's my view right now!

Got this email today... Sounds pretty cool! Dear Guest, For the first time ever, we’ll have Royal Caribbean Group’s three newest ships, Silver Nova, Celebrity Ascent, and Icon of the Seas together in one place! To commemorate this special nautical occasion, we’ll now arrive in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas at 9:00 AM and depart at 4:00 PM. While we’ll lose a little time on the front end, we’ve also shifted the time we’re set to depart. We hope you’ll be part of this momentous celebration and you’ll still be able to explore everything this incredible destination has to offer! We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by these changes and hope you’re excited to see this once-in-a-lifetime family reunion. Join us on Decks 15 & 16 at 6:00 AM on Wednesday morning to be part of this event and be able to say, “I was there”! Kindly note, professional filming will take place between 6:00 AM and 7:00 AM for this event. Below, please find our revised Icon of the Seas March 9th, 2024, itinerary. Day Port of Call Arrive Depart Sat Miami, Florida 5:00 PM Sun Cruising Mon Cruising Tue Philipsburg, St. Maarten 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Wed Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM Thu Cruising Fri Perfect Day at CocoCay 8:30 AM 5:00 PM Sat Miami, Florida 6:00 AM Shore Excursions Our Shore Excursions team will automatically reschedule any pre-paid Royal Caribbean International shore excursions affected by this change. In the meantime, feel free to browse all the exciting options for your sailing in My Royal Cruise or once onboard to level up your vacation. Thank you for your understanding. We can’t wait to welcome you onboard Icon of the Seas as we celebrate this historic event! Sincerely, Aurora Yera-Rodriguez AVP | Guest Experience Royal Caribbean International

I stand corrected. Looks like I'll need to re-book when we get onboard if space is available to get the UDP discount . Shoot! But I was able to use my ship board credit. I am going to see if I can just cancel and rebook right when I get onboard.

I had to pay full price. Supposedly, I will get a credit back when we're onboard next week.

One week from today!