Has anyone found any good deals on the ICON for Suites?

[CruiseMsclDad]

Has anyone found any good deals on the ICON for Suites? I found some good dates for Balcony but even looking at 2025 the Suite prices are so high?

Thanks Mitch

[smokeybandit]

There won't be any good deals for a couple years, I'm afraid.

[Ampurp85]

New ships are at new ship prices. Icon currently has interiors for $2k pp so...........also people are paying $50k for suites on Wonder. I doubt you will find any kind of deal on suites for Icon any time soon.

[Ryan79]

Sailings for 2030 aren’t available yet! That’s probably going to be your best bet for any kind of deal

[GatorCruiser]

The only “deals” that were available on icon suites were when the itineraries were first released in September 2022. We got a decent rate on a junior sky suite for aug 2024 at the time. Now im sure their comical 

[Levi]

Echoing others. I booked in May and same room now is over 7k higher and keeps going up.  Any deals will be far in the future.  Best bet is if you want to go to book now, and re-price later if it does come down. But assume it won't.

[CruiseMsclDad]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

There won't be any good deals for a couple years, I'm afraid.

Finding this out!

[CruiseMsclDad]

1 hour ago, Levi said:

Echoing others. I booked in May and same room now is over 7k higher and keeps going up.  Any deals will be far in the future.  Best bet is if you want to go to book now, and re-price later if it does come down. But assume it won't.

Really trying to get a loft but insane prices

 

[CruiseMsclDad]

3 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

There won't be any good deals for a couple years, I'm afraid.

I dont mind splurging but I checked on April 2025 and I was still shocked !

[OCSC Mike]

10 minutes ago, CruiseMsclDad said:

I dont mind splurging

Splurging and drastically overpaying are two different things.

That said, everyone should feel free to spend their money however they see fit.

[Lovetocruise2002]

4 hours ago, CruiseMsclDad said:

Has anyone found any good deals on the ICON for Suites?

That would be a big, "NO"! 

Pricing for Icon suites is insane. No better way to put it. And I thought Wonder was bad....

Not only that, but there are not many options for a family of more than 2 for Icon suites. Not comfortable ones at least. Only one bathroom in all of the suites except the crazy lofts.

[CruiseMsclDad]

42 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

That would be a big, "NO"! 

Pricing for Icon suites is insane. No better way to put it. And I thought Wonder was bad....

Not only that, but there are not many options for a family of more than 2 for Icon suites. Not comfortable ones at least. Only one bathroom in all of the suites except the crazy lofts.

I am finding that out!

[RCIfan1912]

And now we know the answer to "will Royal Caribbean build smaller ships after Icon of the seas". With those prices, what is the incentive but to build bigger and better. 

Those prices actually make my eyes pop out. We have seen high prices on new ships and new classes of ship but this something I'm not sure Royal Caribbean even saw coming. It's beyond bonkers.

[Al Miller]

Royal is definitely NOT the place for "Good Deals" with current leadership in place. Lately, when friends ask me about cruising, I tell them to avoid Royal for the time being unless they are wealthy. Never thought it would come to this but here we are.

[RCIfan1912]

4 minutes ago, Al Miller said:

Royal is definitely NOT the place for "Good Deals" with current leadership in place. Lately, when friends ask me about cruising, I tell them to avoid Royal for the time being unless they are wealthy. Never thought it would come to this but here we are.

Well I'm not wealthy in the least but I do sail Royal Caribbean quite often, multiple times a year. There are tons of good deals, and tons of reasonable cruises but just not the newest ships.

You do not get to be "wealthy" to sail Royal Caribbean but you do need to look for different ships and not the newest ships that's all. NCL is much more expensive that Royal Caribbean these days. 

[Al Miller]

15 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

You do not get to be "wealthy" to sail Royal Caribbean but you do need to look for different ships and not the newest ships that's all. NCL is much more expensive that Royal Caribbean these days. 

Maybe our definition of wealthy is different. But if I have to downgrade to a 20-30 year old ship in order to pay the same or more as an Excel class ship on Carnival, then the value proposition does not hold up for me. I've always been willing to pay a little more for what I feel is a better experience than the other lines. Especially on ships less than 10 years old. But not double or triple. Royal is damaging their reputation as the happy medium between value and quality IMO.

[RCIfan1912]

17 minutes ago, Al Miller said:

Maybe our definition of wealthy is different. But if I have to downgrade to a 20-30 year old ship in order to pay the same or more as an Excel class ship on Carnival, then the value proposition does not hold up for me. I've always been willing to pay a little more for what I feel is a better experience than the other lines. Especially on ships less than 10 years old. But not double or triple. Royal is damaging their reputation as the happy medium between value and quality IMO.

You don't have to sail 20-30 year old ships. We are sailing Anthem of the seas to Coco Cay in February in a balcony, 2 adults, 2 kids for 2,400. That's a newer ship. 

Also there is nothing wrong with the older ships. We sailed Adventure last year and it was awesome. We had a ton of fun sailing Adventure. 

I'm not gonna speak to Carnival, never sailed them and i can say won't with good certainty. 

[CruiseMsclDad]

10 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

There won't be any good deals for a couple years, I'm afraid.

You could be right!

[CruiseMsclDad]

6 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Splurging and drastically overpaying are two different things.

That said, everyone should feel free to spend their money however they see fit.

I agree it is all about the experience, my sons, especially my oldest has followed all of your updates on this amazing ship, could be a lot of fun! Expensive, but we all spoil our kids from time to time.

[CruiseMsclDad]

4 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Well I'm not wealthy in the least but I do sail Royal Caribbean quite often, multiple times a year. There are tons of good deals, and tons of reasonable cruises but just not the newest ships.

You do not get to be "wealthy" to sail Royal Caribbean but you do need to look for different ships and not the newest ships that's all. NCL is much more expensive that Royal Caribbean these days. 

Agree, on my next cruise I was shocked at how little my upgrade cost to my grand suite, yet the week before it cost much much more, you just have be lucky and vigilant.

Mitch

[Al Miller]

That's a great rate. You are not booking anywhere near that on a Quantum ship out of NJ right now. More like 4 grand. And it gets worse once Odyssey comes in '25. So for equivalent experience, prices are way, way up. And that's not even accounting for nearly all Coco Cay fees skyrocketing. Speciality dining and dining packages higher than ever. The value is just not there right now IMO. You obviously feel differently. But they are not getting any more of my money for now. Well see how things shake out over the next 6 months.

[Ampurp85]

The post is about Icon. A suite for $15k pp is insane but even on older ships the suite prices are rough. I saw that it was $2600pp for a GS on mariner, that's not worth it. Royal has priced themselves out of being a budget friendly line. The problem is people are fine paying it. They couldn't charge $7k for an interior on Icon and $70k for suites unless someone is paying it. It's not rich people but the middle class splurging because of Yolo.

[CruiseMsclDad]

I thought this was funny, hope not to offend

[OCSC Mike]

1 hour ago, CruiseMsclDad said:

hope not to offend

How dare you! Royal can do no wrong. Ban this guy!

[twangster]

9 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

The post is about Icon. A suite for $15k pp is insane but even on older ships the suite prices are rough. I saw that it was $2600pp for a GS on mariner, that's not worth it. Royal has priced themselves out of being a budget friendly line. The problem is people are fine paying it. They couldn't charge $7k for an interior on Icon and $70k for suites unless someone is paying it. It's not rich people but the middle class splurging because of Yolo.

Liberty would counter that for years cruising was not charging enough, that cruising was too affordable, that was was too much value in the cost of a cruise versus a land vacation. 

To that end, he doesn't want cruising to be budget friendly if the definition of budget friendly is cheap.   Yet someone is buying cabins and suites on these ships.  To these people these rates are within their budget.   By that definition they are budget friendly for these people.  

It's always been a supply and demand market.  There is a lot of demand right now and Royal is capitalizing on it.  With strong demand rates are high but people are paying it, that is those that find it within their budget to do so. 

I feel your pain though and my cruising is down as a result.  While it may be within my budget I don't find the value especially with all the cutbacks and now talk of charging for pizza.   It's not about charging for pizza specifically, but more that they are looking to introduce charges for more and more and more while simultaneously increasing base fares more and more and more. 

For new guests who are just finding cruising this is normal to them because they don't know any better.  For me the math of the value proposition has changed so I spend elsewhere. 

[CruiseMsclDad]

53 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

How dare you! Royal can do no wrong. Ban this guy!

A proper tar and feathering is in order!

[CruiseMsclDad]

55 minutes ago, twangster said:

Liberty would counter that for years cruising was not charging enough, that cruising was too affordable, that was was too much value in the cost of a cruise versus a land vacation. 

To that end, he doesn't want cruising to be budget friendly if the definition of budget friendly is cheap.   Yet someone is buying cabins and suites on these ships.  To these people these rates are within their budget.   By that definition they are budget friendly for these people.  

It's always been a supply and demand market.  There is a lot of demand right now and Royal is capitalizing on it.  With strong demand rates are high but people are paying it, that is those that find it within their budget to do so. 

I feel your pain though and my cruising is down as a result.  While it may be within my budget I don't find the value especially with all the cutbacks and now talk of charging for pizza.   It's not about charging for pizza specifically, but more that they are looking to introduce charges for more and more and more while simultaneously increasing base fares more and more and more. 

For new guests who are just finding cruising this is normal to them because they don't know any better.  For me the math of the value proposition has changed so I spend elsewhere. 

I mean you can't fault them really? As long as RCCL continues to offer a variety of ships, that everyone can enjoy I will always be a loyal customer. My own side business depends on supply and demand and I would be a hypocrite to criticize it too much What I have always loved about RCCL is the open feeling of all of their ships, the soaring MDR's the older ships atrium and just that connection to the sea and the amazing staff. I just looked again this morning at a Riyal Suite price, it was 46,000 per passenger for that kind of money I would rather sail on Cunard or Silversea, but as a capitalist I respect and understand the business model. I just watched some reviews on NCL's newest ship, and we as RCCL lovers have nothing to complain about, everything from their drinks package to thier internet was insane. As far as going on the Icon, ya for my sons, happy to work harder to give them an experience they will love.

[WAAAYTOOO]

2 hours ago, CruiseMsclDad said:

A proper tar and feathering is in order!

Pick me, pick me, pick me !!

[Traveler]

When the second Icon will come prices will go down slightly.  Currently beside big demands I think RCL trying to keep the price high for marketing.  The fact is they started to offer comp Icons cabins in the casino certificates ...  

Same I always wonder if anyone really paying 4500 $ for a 7 hours of over the water cabin or they after they sold out they publish this fair so people will fill good for the 2500-3000 price they paid .

[CruiseMsclDad]

27 minutes ago, Traveler said:

When the second Icon will come prices will go down slightly.  Currently beside big demands I think RCL trying to keep the price high for marketing.  The fact is they started to offer comp Icons cabins in the casino certificates ...  

Same I always wonder if anyone really paying 4500 $ for a 7 hours of over the water cabin or they after they sold out they publish this fair so people will fill good for the 2500-3000 price they paid .

Good point, I was looking at just for comparison purposes, NCL Viva, the suite prices are very high, too.  have to admit the basic balcony cabins, they do a really good job with just paint and artwork to really make the cabins appear larger, and the MDR, the way it seems to have an endless curved layout is striking. Downsides what appear to be a small main pool with very cramped seating for a ship that size.

Mitch

[smokeybandit]

Icon prices will remain high for as long as they keep selling at those prices.

[tonyfsu21]

It’s all about timing and you are unfortunately late to the game. I managed to book Icon for 2 holiday sailings next year and the price wasn’t too bad for a new ship. I repriced the categories we booked and they have more then doubled in price which is crazy.  

[DDaley]

12 hours ago, CruiseMsclDad said:

Good point, I was looking at just for comparison purposes, NCL Viva

I ended up booking Viva for 2025 because although it was $1k more expensive than Royal, the ship I was comparing it to was Rhapsody. So for the extra 1k I get to sail a ship that is twenty seven years newer, visits 6 ports in 7 days (an additional 2 islands in the same amount of time) and has way more included/specialty dining options. I feel bad defecting, but Royal would never release a crazy itinerary like that with their new ships! 

[teddy]

17 minutes ago, DDaley said:

I feel bad defecting

We did at first, too, but we looked high and low for a short cruise in Jan ‘24 since we have airline credits that needed to be used.  
 

We are fine in an inside cabin, but everything we found on Royal for the timeframe was more expensive than a balcony cabin on another company.   

Barring any major changes, we will always try to cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship, but money talks.  
 

I guess we’re not too big of defectors since we have Royal cruises booked out as far as January ‘25.

[BigKarl]

5 minutes ago, teddy said:

We did at first, too, but we looked high and low for a short cruise in Jan ‘24 since we have airline credits that needed to be used.  
 

We are fine in an inside cabin, but everything we found on Royal for the timeframe was more expensive than a balcony cabin on another company.   

Barring any major changes, we will always try to cruise on a Royal Caribbean ship, but money talks.  
 

I guess we’re not too big of defectors since we have Royal cruises booked out as far as January ‘25.

Money does talk but mine just says "GOOD BYE!"

[CruiseMsclDad]

1 hour ago, DDaley said:

I ended up booking Viva for 2025 because although it was $1k more expensive than Royal, the ship I was comparing it to was Rhapsody. So for the extra 1k I get to sail a ship that is twenty seven years newer, visits 6 ports in 7 days (an additional 2 islands in the same amount of time) and has way more included/specialty dining options. I feel bad defecting, but Royal would never release a crazy itinerary like that with their new ships! 

Do not think of it as defection, you are just trying something new, I was very impressed (again only reviews and videos) with all of the cabins, the clean ultra modern, but classic in a cool way, not glitzy, just interesting. It is so hard to tell from videos, but I would try a Prima class ship, things I do not like is the coed spa area, I prefer separate mens sauna/steam, I do not like the size of really the main pool, also again hard to tell from phots or vids, but iverall, she looks like a beautiful ship that will age well.

[CruiseMsclDad]

6 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Icon prices will remain high for as long as they keep selling at those prices.

That is 100% TRUE as in any business, my youngest did the classic lemonade stand a few years ago, I let him do everything himself except I cut up the lemons, and his sign said $5. I thought no one is paying 5$ for a home made cup of lemonade, but he sold them not many but enough to buy a bike. The next day he reduced the price to a $1 sold a lot more but at the end of the day he worked harder for less money. It was a good lesson. Aim high, see what the market will support!

Mitch

[AlmondFarmer]

24 minutes ago, CruiseMsclDad said:

I thought no one is paying 5$ for a home made cup of lemonade, but he sold them not many but enough to buy a bike.

The $5 lemonade in my neighborhood comes with a shot of vodka on top. Kid does a generous pour. 

[Linda R]

I booked Icon the first week it became available.  Pretty much after that they have just gone up.  Most of 2025 is  not out yet to book, when they become available book right away if possible.

[OCSC Mike]

9 hours ago, Linda R said:

I booked Icon the first week it became available.  Pretty much after that they have just gone up.  Most of 2025 is  not out yet to book, when they become available book right away if possible.

Agreed that's your best shot but I wouldn't be surprised if prices are high from the start. Hope I'm wrong for those who want to book her.