ICON CLASS UPDATE

[LSUWAG]

Now reports coming out that Icon may be larger than Oasis.  They even quote @MAT the blog in the article.  Interesting...

 

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/cruise/royal-caribbeans-icon-of-the-seas-to-be-bigger-than-oasis-class

[LovetoCruise87]

2 hours ago, LSUWAG said:

Now reports coming out that Icon may be larger than Oasis.  They even quote @MAT the blog in the article.  Interesting...

 

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/cruise/royal-caribbeans-icon-of-the-seas-to-be-bigger-than-oasis-class

WOW!!! Bigger than Oasis Class....that is incredible!!

[AlmondFarmer]

1 hour ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

WOW!!! Bigger than Oasis Class....that is incredible!!

Until @twangster confirms, I consider this speculation. 
Previous announcements placed Icon displacement numbers as higher than Quantum, lower than Oasis. 

[LovetoCruise87]

14 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Until @twangster confirms, I consider this speculation. 
Previous announcements placed Icon displacement numbers as higher than Quantum, lower than Oasis. 

That is what I had read as well. So this is very surprising. 

[GatorCruiser]

Previous numbers said around 200,000 GT

[JasonOasis]

This is shocking in a good way.

I was expecting Utopia to be the largest cruise ship in Royals fleet now we find out now we find out that instead of Icon fitting between Quantum class and Oasis Class, Icon Class will now be the largest class in the fleet.

[WAAAYTOOO]

12 minutes ago, JasonOasis said:

This is shocking in a good way.

I was expecting Utopia to be the largest cruise ship in Royals fleet now we find out now we find out that instead of Icon fitting between Quantum class and Oasis Class, Icon Class will now be the largest class in the fleet.

AND it looks like passenger load will be even less than the O class so hopefully not overly crowded.  My concern was that “biggest” can mean a lot of things, including passenger count.  Glad to hear that’s NOT the way it will be “bigger”.

[Chili]

16 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

AND it looks like passenger load will be even less than the O class so hopefully not overly crowded.  My concern was that “biggest” can mean a lot of things, including passenger count.  Glad to hear that’s NOT the way it will be “bigger”.

It’s going to have the biggest prices onboard.

[Matt]

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

My concern was that “biggest” can mean a lot of things, including passenger count.  

Agreed. That aspect of "bigger" hasn't been well defined yet.

[mattymay]

September release 

[Chili]

45 minutes ago, mattymay said:

September release 

Miami here I come.

[LovetoCruise87]

14 hours ago, Matt said:

Agreed. That aspect of "bigger" hasn't been well defined yet.

Very true. "Bigger" could just be "bigger" in things that have never been seen before on a cruise ship. 

[Matt]

8 hours ago, mattymay said:

September release 

I don't see the connection that this September release corelates to Icon.

[AlmondFarmer]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

I don't see the connection that this September release corelates to Icon.

The 7 night Caribbean release was set for May 16 to list itineraries past April 2024. This release has been postponed until September 12, 2022 and likely to include Icon itineraries.

[twangster]

19 hours ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Until @twangster confirms, I consider this speculation. 
Previous announcements placed Icon displacement numbers as higher than Quantum, lower than Oasis. 

I've been waiting for this news.  I felt there was no way Fain would not go bigger.  It's in his blood.  I was surprised when Icon was said to be between O & Q so I've been biting my tongue all this time.  So for me this is not a surprise at all.

[AspiringCruisePlanner]

13 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

The 7 night Caribbean release was set for May 16 to list itineraries past April 2024. This release has been postponed until September 12, 2022 and likely to include Icon itineraries.

This was my thought as well since it was included with the deployment schedule for sailings through April 2024.  All the other ships have been deployed through this time period, except for Spectrum (Singapore releases Aug 29) and Serenade.  That September date could just be for Serenade though.

[AlmondFarmer]

34 minutes ago, twangster said:

I've been waiting for this news.  I felt there was no way Fain would not go bigger.  It's in his blood.  I was surprised when Icon was said to be between O & Q so I've been biting my tongue all this time.  So for me this is not a surprise at all.

Is it possible that size of Icon is being increased post original design?

Another theory is that Icon size was first downplayed to not pull attention away from Wonder release.

I understand that displacement number used for cruise ship factors internal volume. (Passenger space only?) Would enclosing spaces, originally designed to be open, increase displacement?

In this way Icon would have a higher displacement than Oasis class while being lighter in deadweight tonnage.

A final, albeit less likely scenario, is that the lower energy density of liquefied natural gas compared to diesel, requires a significant storage space which pushes the volume of Icon beyond Oasis class, even though passenger space may not be larger. 

[twangster]

14 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Is it possible that size of Icon is being increased post original design?

Another theory is that Icon size was first downplayed to not pull attention away from Wonder release.

I understand that displacement number used for cruise ship factors internal volume. (Passenger space only?) Would enclosing spaces, originally designed to be open, increase displacement?

In this way Icon would have a higher displacement than Oasis class while being lighter in deadweight tonnage.

A final, albeit less likely scenario, is that the lower energy density of liquefied natural gas compared to diesel, requires a significant storage space which pushes the volume of Icon beyond Oasis class, even though passenger space may not be larger. 

The size of Icon was cast years ago.  The building blocks have been finished for several months now.  The engine block is one of the first built and that's been done for months.

They can't call up the ship yard and make game day changes like this.  The basic framework of the ship has been cast in stone in contracts for years by this point.

Some of the cosmetics may not have been decided years ago.  The decor or color scheme of the cabins for example. Those design elements evolve closer to implementation but the dimensions of the ship were decided years ago. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

19 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Another theory is that Icon size was first downplayed to not pull attention away from Wonder release.

This sounds like Royal and sounds like a reasonable guess.

[AlmondFarmer]

15 minutes ago, twangster said:

The size of Icon was cast years ago.  The building blocks have been finished for several months now.  The engine block is one of the first built and that's been done for months.

They can't call up the ship yard and make game day changes like this.  The basic framework of the ship has been cast in stone in contracts for years by this point.

Some of the cosmetics may not have been decided years ago.  The decor or color scheme of the cabins for example. Those design elements evolve closer to implementation but the dimensions of the ship were decided years ago. 

I agree with all of this. My comments above were far fetched ideas for plausibly justifying the updated numbers for Icon displacement.

So the preliminary information released by Royal on the size of Icon (smaller than Oasis class by a significant amount) was accidentally or intentionally incorrect?

[Traveler]

56 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

I agree with all of this. My comments above were far fetched ideas for plausibly justifying the updated numbers for Icon displacement.

So the preliminary information released by Royal on the size of Icon (smaller than Oasis class by a significant amount) was accidentally or intentionally incorrect?

More likely someone from the RCL IT team was asked to publish the first numbers ...

Now they checked it again  , but what is 30% here or there

[AshleyDillo]

11 minutes ago, Traveler said:

More likely someone from the RCL IT team was asked to publish the first numbers ...

Now they checked it again  , but what is 30% here or there

Royal math

[Matt]

2 hours ago, AlmondFarmer said:

The 7 night Caribbean release was set for May 16 to list itineraries past April 2024. This release has been postponed until September 12, 2022 and likely to include Icon itineraries.

That's speculation. Maybe it's right, but there's equally no evidence that is true than it's not. 

Moreover, Royal typically releases new ship itineraries separate from the rest of the fleet.

Personally, I'm not using the date as any indication of anything quite yet.

[mattymay]

8 hours ago, Matt said:

I don't see the connection that this September release corelates to Icon.

Begins in Fall 2023 when Icon arrives and all other Caribbean based ship deployments up to Winter 2024 have been released for the 2023-24 schedule. Therefore, it would be its own release separate from the rest of the fleet.

Speculation yes, but what other ship would be doing 7 night Caribbean during this period that’s not already released?

 

[twangster]

They may have taken this approach for competitive reasons.  Keeps the competition focused on beating Oasis class as their goal.  Meanwhile RC can once again claim the title when Icon floats out.  

[JasonOasis]

8 hours ago, twangster said:

I've been waiting for this news.  I felt there was no way Fain would not go bigger.  It's in his blood.  I was surprised when Icon was said to be between O & Q so I've been biting my tongue all this time.  So for me this is not a surprise at all.

So you knew this whole time and bit your tongue ..  You know how to keep a secret you gave nothing away this whole time.  

Royal had a lot of people fooled into thinking they wouldn't go larger than Oasis Class and you let us believe it.... I love it LOL 

[smokeybandit]

I've always assumed that since Quantum ships are smaller than Oasis that Oasis was for the time being the practical biggest. Then again you can get creative with space on a ship to make one bigger without necessarily making it longer/wider

[Vancity Cruiser]

I saw some pics on Instagram that were supposedly Icon under construction and it looks like she has the same structure as Oasis with the open center 

[Chili]

So far it’s very similar to oasis.

[AlmondFarmer]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

 

So far it’s very similar to oasis.

 

Missing Ultimate Abyss.

[Rede411]

I wonder when we can book Icon?...It's gotta be close if she's ready to go in Fall of 2023

[Vancity Cruiser]

19 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Missing Ultimate Abyss.

Its a little early in the build for that lol. I'm sure Icon will have all new features even if it is similar in structure to Oasis class.

 

[Chili]

1 hour ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Missing Ultimate Abyss.

I’m sure it’s coming,the people that make the flow rider said they have something different in store.

[smokeybandit]

42 minutes ago, Chili said:

I’m sure it’s coming,the people that make the flow rider said they have something different in store.

Replacing flowrider and laser tag with water balloon fights.

[mattymay]

8 hours ago, Chili said:

So far it’s very similar to oasis.

 

The gap doesn't look as wide as Oasis.

[Chili]

8 hours ago, Rede411 said:

I wonder when we can book Icon?...It's gotta be close if she's ready to go in Fall of 2023

I’m planning for late November out of Miami.

[parkyy2k]

I wonder how long it will sail from Southampton before heading to Miami?

[Matt]

3 hours ago, parkyy2k said:

I wonder how long it will sail from Southampton before heading to Miami?

My guess is 1-3 sailings. 

[Chili]

9 hours ago, mattymay said:

The gap doesn't look as wide as Oasis.

It’s a bit hard to tell ,it looks like it has a nice outside promenade.

Does it look like it has cabins like celebrity infinite cabins?

[Chili]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

My guess is 1-3 sailings. 

Am I ok posting a few pictures I find here and there Matt?
They won’t have any copyright.