Icon Of The Seas - What I Loved And What I Didn't Love About Royal Caribbean's New Cruise Ship
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2024
- This is my full review of the new cruise ship from Royal Caribbean, Icon Of The Seas. This is the first in a new class of ships from Royal Caribbean, and it's really interesting to see how they've taken some of the best features from their Quantum-class and Oasis-class ships, added a few new ideas, and come up with what a lot of people say is the most amazing cruise ship yet.
I spend the majority of this video telling you what I loved about this ship, but I do also point out some things that didn't sit well with me. I hope you'll leave a comment to tell me what you agree with and where you think I'm wrong about Icon Of The Seas.
If you're interested in booking a cruise, feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher. She's the owner of Ambren Travel in Florida. Visit her web site at www.ambrentravel.com/ or give Caitlin a call at 1-904-364-5774. If you prefer, you can email her at caitlin@ambrentravel.com
Video Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:38 Who Will Love It
4:53 Things I Loved
15:23 More Things I Loved
17:45 Things I Didn't Like
24:36 Conclusion
Wow with all of the uncharges I don't see myself cruising Icon of the Seas anytime soon. Great review Jim, thank you.
Great review I believe you do the best reviews on RUclips for cruises. Would love to see you do the celebrity ascent.
Hi Jim, thank for the great review, yours are some of the best I have found. My family just did a back to back on the Icon and the Carnival Celebration. This was our first Carnival cruise. We all actually liked the Celebration just a bit better and all agreed it felt much less crowded than the Icon. Our balcony room was a bit warmer than we hoped for on the Icon but otherwise what a beautiful ship it was. Our cruise was one of the first to sail at capacity from what we were told. Other than the long lines and the expensive costs we loved the Icon but probably would not choose to do such a crowded ship again. Long Long lines everywhere for us.
Completely agree, so so many people and long lines and just so expensive. Everything costs extra.
My family just got back from Icon and completely agree with you Jim, everything was so expensive. The ship was just so crowded even my kids were overwhelmed and got lost most of the time. And the long long lines all over the place. We got back and felt exhausted, did not feel like it was a vacation. This was our first mega ship and we wish we did not do it, quantum class ships are more our style or excel for carnival are also great for us so we can get that great guys burger.
Long lines and expensive indeed on that ship.
Jim I just wanted to let you know that it was a pleasure meeting you. Thank you so much for your hard work. Your channel is one of a kind
I enjoyed meeting you, too! If you recall, it was more than just a quick hello. I would have moved on quickly if I was not interested in the conversation. But I stuck around for a little while because it was fun talking to you and your friends.
WHAT? YOU MET JIMZIM? LUCKY!😄
Thank you for being so transparent! I trust your reviews completely.
Jim, in your reviews I trust! Thank you!
I appreciate that!
This is a full review of what you loved and what you hated about your 7-day cruise on Icon of the Seas by Royal Caribbean International on the last week of February!
Great video as always Jim! Appreciate the candor in your reviews. I could not believe how high some of those prices were 🤯
Jim I love the cadence of your narration of your videos.
What I really wanted to do for a living was be a radio announcer. I started doing it right out of college in 1979 and worked in radio up until 1990 when I finally had to get a "real job" because the pay in radio is so low. There's an old joke... What's the difference between a pepperoni pizza and a radio announcer? A pepperoni pizza can feed a family of four.
Anyway, the radio voice is just what I'm used to doing and when there's a microphone in front of me, that's how I talk.
Thank you Jim for being so honest about the Icon,it answered many questions about this ship,I will now not go on this grand ship,I and my husband are seniors also which we like quiet and non crowded pools ect.we appreciate your information on the many ships you travel on.Thank You ❤❤
Great video Jim...100% agree with you and yes Catlin is the absolute best. I don't know were royal Caribbean gets off on charging upwards of $4000 for a cabana and the 2X we went to hideaway beach they were All booked up with just 2 people in each one Just show offs with rent them. As for $300 for a day bed on the ship per day that's high but if it gets me away from someone sitting right on top of me coughing all day I'm in for a couple days on that. We were just on Wonder of the seas for a b2b cruise and the up sells are crazy as well on that ship too. Catlin booked us for icon this coming Christmas and New years eve cruise as well and her price was half of what Royal Caribbean wanted now for that same cabin its over $15,700 and Catlin got it for us for $5,702 she's the best. Love watching your videos...
Love this video! Keep up the good work.
Thank you! My next cruise will be about two months from now, on Norwegian Cruise Line, in The Haven. This summer I will be doing another small-ship east coast cruise with American Cruise Lines. So, those will be the cruise videos that will be coming up in the next few months. Over the winter I'll be on Carnival Panorama and then Sun Princess.
I appreciate your high quality videos that are to the point but interesting. Thank you.
Thank you! I really tried hard to keep this video to the point. You'd be amazed if you saw my original script after I went through and crossed out all the stuff that really wasn't necessary to include. Even though this video ended up being nearly a half hour long, it probably would have been 45 minutes if I had not done some serious trimming of the original script!
Jim we always enjoy watching your cruise ship videos the most by far now for at least 7 years. Keep up the good work. Thank you!
Great video - as always - thanks for all of your videos!
Very happy this morning to see you are back on an ocean cruise! Miss your reviews!
Love watching your reviews can’t wait to try Icon Class
Thanks Jim. Great info!
Just a curious traveler here. I would hate this type of cruise as I have fallen in love with how laid back Viking is. I was shocked by things that they didn't do very well that most passengers would think about like the chairs not being comfortable, or the buffet being set up like a grocery store where you have to go to different areas to get everything you need. It was also shocking at all of the insane up charges. I'm used to paying around $8,000 for a balcony room, and essentially getting everything included.
I totally understand what you're saying! A ship like this is the complete opposite of a Viking cruise.
I actually met Torstein Hagen, the chairman of Viking, and had a delightful conversation with him. Did you know that before they buy a chair for Viking ships, Mr. Hagen personally sits on it and makes sure that it's comfortable? I thought of that story many times during my cruise on Icon when sitting on nice looking chairs that were ridiculously uncomfortable to sit in!
@@JimZim I didn't know that about the chairs with Viking. I know that they put a lot of thought into everything they do though. I remember hearing somewhere that they waited around 5 years before planning their expedition ships, because they wanted to see what the other companies were doing wrong.
My wife and I were in the room next to yours. We had a great cruise and we truly loved the ship. Great video.
I agreed. I buy three weeks in Icon of the seas, for September 28 to October 19, I cancelled two weeks. Because to much children. I am Senior I prefer Celebrity Beyond for 21 days. Is Relax cruise for Senior. The pools is absolutely calms and relaxing. I chante to Class Edge in Celebrity Cruise. Thanks you for your Best Information is Real. Thanks you for this Great Video of Icon of the Seas
Excellent review Jim!
We are going to hold off on booking the Icon or star of the Seas until the prices come down. It's simply not worth it to us to pay basically double the price for other cruises.
We cruised on the Celebrity Ascent for way less than what an inside cabin costs on the Icon!
That's pretty much my conclusion, too. It's a nice ship, especially for families with kids... but it's just not worth the sky-high prices that Royal Caribbean is currently asking. Unless you're extremely affluent and can spend whatever it takes to get the vacation you want, it always comes down to value for the dollar. There are way better cruise values out there than Icon. There are quite a lot of great cruise ships on which you could do two cruises for the price of what one on Icon would cost you.
@@JimZim Do you all plan on sailing the new Margaritaville at Sea Ship coming out?
That ship is like putting lipstick on a pig. That's a really old ship with not a whole lot special about it.
Unless I was invited onboard for free, that's not a ship I would sail on. There are too many great, modern cruise ships I could be sailing on.
I personally would consider it a waste of my time to be on a ship like that when there are so many other ships that are far superior. If I had the time and resources to go on 25 cruises a year... sure, I like the Margaritaville land resorts... it would be fun to see what they've done with that old ship. But my reality is that I can go on 3 or 4 cruises a year... so, I want each one to be great.
@@JimZim They actual have a "newer" ship coming out in June. it's like a Spirit Class from Carnival. While not brand new they are offering longer itineraries and are spending way more money to refurbish her!
I think you were on my sailing! Loooooove rover! ❤
$160 PER KID for the CocoCay Waterpark? Geez. Remind me to make sure my kid doesn't like waterslides. I agree with what you said regarding kids. My son is almost 4 and we did a 7 day out of Baltimore in Feb and by the 3rd or 4th day it was getting a little repetitive. Two years ago we went on the Oasis of the Seas and I never thought I would say this... but with a kid (even when he was just a year old) we now prefer the larger ships. Now if Royal Carribean would just pull Guys Burgers from Carnival it might be perfect. haha
....does anyone actually ENJOY music uncomfortably loud?? What guest survey are they looking at that a large enough majority of people say they want the music TO BE SO LOUD!
I appreciate your reviews Jim! Thank you.
What a nice cruise Jim!
Think you nailed it! By the same token you reenforced the reason why RCCL designed the ship and that was to provide a multigenerational vacation experience for families. Not too many ships offer that opportunity. Like everything else in our daily lives things have gotten more expensive. All the cruise lines came out of COVID period with massive debt. Shareholders are happy again and who would have ever thought 10 years ago that you could have a 2 billion dollar cruise ship make money.
Just love your RUclips videos. So easy to listen to and understand. Going on Anthem of the Seas tomorrow. Celiberty Eclipse in May,
You'll love Anthem Of The Seas!
Have you sailed out of New Jersey before?
Yes Jim, many times in the last 20 years. I live 1 1/2 hours away from Cape Liberty. Now taking the bus from Allentown, PA to the pier. Then they pick you up the day the ship comes in. Been on Anthem of the Seas so many times, my favorite ship, other than Celebrity ships to Bermuda.
Hey Jim, awesome video! Did you do any of the waterslides? Also, have you ever done a cruise solo?
Great video !
Yea great video 👍👍👍👍👍
Well done video
Good review. Like other articles have said: it's a true 'amusement park at sea'. Our kids are later teens, only sort-of into a lot of that stuff. I think we're all ok with the more 'tame' competition (or other RCL ships). But this trend is still good, should help lead to good fares on other cruises since so many are clamoring to get on Icon.
Jim you nailed this review from our perspective. Even down to the chair review. Aesthetically uncomfortable! Additionally we thought the elevator situation was great. About the best thing about the cruise.
Yeah, I was going to mention the elevators and a bunch of other stuff, too... but I really didn't want this video to end up being 45 minutes or an hour long. I ended up deciding that plenty of other travel agents and RUclipsrs before me had mentioned the elevators in their videos... and that I could get away with leaving that out to save time. I may end up doing a follow-up video a few weeks from now where I mention a bunch of things that I just didn't have time to mention in this video.
Those prices are insane. A couple can go to cancun twice all inclusive for that price. And charging extra for the coco island is just pure greed.
Just to be clear...
On Coco Cay, there are places at the beach or by the pool that you can go for free. I elected to go for the high-end Coco Beach Club, but there were free options I could have done if I had been on a tighter budget.
Great review Jim. Do you know how much extra the formal sit down restaurants run on the Icon?
The only ones I remember were $70 per person for the steakhouse and $200 per person for the Empire Supper Club. Those kind of jumped out at me and were hard to forget! A Google search showed Giovanni's at $55 per person, Izumi at $65 per person, and Hooked Seafood at $65 per person. I don't know about any of the others.
Excellent review with valuable information for us seniors. I'll stay with Carnival as we too love Guy Fieri's burgers that are included! Plus, what a rip off with all the out of the world add-on fee...nuts!
Have you ever stayed in a Havana Cabana on Carnival's Vista-class ships? It's actually my favorite way to cruise. I love the private pool, hot tubs, sun deck, and bar that most passengers don't have access to. I don't normally think of Carnival as a quiet and relaxing cruise, but in a Havana Cabana it definitely is.
@@JimZim We're looking at cruises with Carnival with the Havana Cabana especially after watching your videos about them.
This is the full review of Royal Caribbean's new cruise ship, Icon of the Seas!
You, Jim Zim, review what you loved and what you didn't loved AKA what you hated about this new cruise ship of Royal Caribbean International!
This video is released on St. Patrick's Day!
Happy St. Patrick's Day, Jim Zim!
From Thomas Comeau
You and your wife recently went on a 7-day cruise to the Caribbean on Icon of the Seas by Royal Caribbean International!
This is a full review of what you loved about the new cruise ship and what you hated about the new cruise ship!
What are you going to do for your next cruise this year?
Let me know when you reply to me and I'll be honest with you.
This is Thomas Comeau signing off for today!
Happy early Easter, Jim Zim!
Great info as usual Jim. I went on Symphony and went to the Coco Beach club. I had the same food you did. Same bar. Same pool. Same beach. Lol. 179$ per person. They’re truly out of their minds with pricing. I’m Diamond Plus on Royal. I won’t be back for some time for some of the reasons you stated. Also the Wi-Fi charge. Holy mackerel. They even raised the price for the Key. Same amenities; price is insane. Thanks for the video.
Yeah, I think they call it dynamic pricing... where the price will fluctuate depending on what ship you are on and what date you are sailing. I think it's a really great way to piss off your customers, but Royal Caribbean has a lot of debt on their balance sheet and they see this as their best shot at paying some of it off.
@@JimZim Yes they do. They all do. But damn. Go a lil easier on us. Covid wasn’t our fault. Lol
Jim I highly recommend Odyssey of the seas. It doesn't have as many children but all of the new Royal Caribbean features!
Yeah, I've been on her sister ship, Anthem Of The Seas, and really liked it. I personally don't need the waterslides that Icon has, and absolutely LOVE the Solarium on the Quantum class of ships like Odyssey and Anthem.
@@JimZim oh yeah I definitely agree with you! Also you are getting quantum of the seas in los Angeles next year!
Oh! I didn't realize that! It's really easy for me to get to LA from where we live here in Washington. Same time zone, so no jet lag. And much less flying than a cruise out of Florida. I really appreciate you mentioning that!
We were on Odessey of the Seas in Feb 2024. Kids out the wazoo.
Jim do you ever do princess cruise lines?
I did a Princess cruise in Alaska and actually am booked for the new Sun Princess early next year.
@JimZim ok great, so I'm guessing you liked princess. It's going to be our first cruise with them so hoping to like it better then Royal caribbean. They are so full of kids and it takes you a life time to earn platinum.
When I was on Icon Of The Seas, it became clear to me that Royal Caribbean had not built that ship for people like me. (I'm a 67 year old that cruises with his wife, and we like a quiet, relaxing vacation.) It seemed like Royal Caribbean was targeting that ship for families with kids, and much younger people than me. The music they played wasn't my music. They placed a huge emphasis on things for kids to do. But nowhere onboard was there a quiet, relaxing place to simply enjoy time in the pool or hot tub, except for the suite sun deck... and that was only for people paying the BIG bucks for a suite. Everything had to be a loud party. That's not what I am looking for.
It got me thinking about the one cruise I did with Princess. On embarkation day, I walked out to the main pool. It was the exact opposite of every embarkation day pool party I had ever seen on other cruise lines. They had a James Taylor concert on the big screen at the pool. James Taylor! My immediate thought was "finally, a cruise line that understands my tastes in music!" Yet I never sailed with Princess again after that, because they really weren't doing anything innovative with the designs of their ships. There was nothing special about them. Their new ships were all so very 1990ish.
But with Sun Princess, I'm finally seeing some new thinking in their ship design. So, I'm ready to give it another try.
Was this the March 2nd sailing. I was on the MSC Seascape in the port looking at the icon wishing I was on that ship instead of MSC
This ship definitely beats anything that MSC has!
My sailing was the one that ended on March 2nd.
Jim, can Caitlyn book for Canadians? I'm assuming she can just her prices would be quoted in USD?? Thx!
I'm not sure.
The easiest way to find out would be to email her and ask.
They should rename the island to Daylight Robbery Cay. Also, whoever designed those chairs your reviewed should be sacked.
You can bring a power strip if it has no circuit breaker
They confiscated the one I brought, and it did not have a circuit breaker.
Sorry, i guess they changed policy. I'm surprised they don't sell one for $99.99@@JimZim
I am 98 years young i liked this ship but did not like all thec. Whippersnappers running around the pool area
I absolutely hate going in the same water as other people especially kids so I never use any of the pools, I´d rather watch other people with a big glass of beer in my hand
No way I’ll pay what they’re asking for basic cruise fare. I could take at least two maybe three cruises for the price of one Icon cruise.
I know exactly what you mean. It's a great ship, but it's so hard to justify the cost given that you really could do two cruises on some other very nice ships for the price of one cruise on Icon Of The Seas. For families with kids, there are plenty of Carnival ships with fantastic waterparks onboard... and Guy Fieri burgers at no additional charge... where the whole family would have a wonderful time at half the price of Icon Of The Seas.
For senior citizens looking for a quiet, relaxing cruise, the Havana Cabanas on Carnival's Vista-class ships offer an un-crowded pool, two tubs, a sun deck, and a bar... with no one under the age of 14 allowed... and it's solely for the use of guests staying in Havana Cabanas... and way less expensive than a cruise on Icon Of The Seas.
But keep in mind that there are a lot of affluent people in the world. It doesn't matter as much to affluent people if a cruise is $4000 or $10,000... they just want it to be great, and they're able to pay what it takes to get that great vacation experience.
In the end, supply and demand will work... and Icon prices won't be sky high forever.