Beautiful ship with the new ship smell. Wish the cabin was a bit cooler and wished for shorter lines.

Item: Icon of the Seas
Rating: 3.8
Author: Mikey228

Icon of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Mikey228

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 27

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5

7 Night Eastern Caribbean & Perfect Day (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 10, 2024

Ship: Icon of the Seas

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 9 months ago

Review summary

Just WOW is all my family could say. The ship is beautiful and has the new ship smell. It has lots of activities for kids but everything costs extra. My family wanted to try a cruise on a new XL ship so we choose this one. The trip was a lot of fun but was pretty expensive for what you get. This was also about the first sailing of this ship at full capacity. The first few inaugural cruises were not at capacity for the bloggers and cameras but once the ship is full it feels busy and over crowded. There was no quiet place to go to escape the crowds. The lines were long for elevators, food, activities, even the pools/hot tubs were full and good luck finding a chair on the pool deck that is not hogged. Overall we had a fun time but my family decided we would not do this cruise again due to the surprise costs and the crowds. I did not feel relaxed when I came back home but for some people this is fine.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Busy long lines

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

The food was good enough, but you had to pay extra for the truly good food that is not cafeteria style. The lines at the buffet were long and the food was ok but not great. The service was great in the dining room but the menu was a bit small.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Great shows and entertainment but not enough seats and as usual extra money had to be paid.

Children's Programs

4 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The staff was excellent. They were always cleaning and willing to help. A few had some language difficulties, but we were still able to communicate our wants and they were always fulfilled.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

The ship is new and has the wonderful new ship smell. It is beautiful but being so big has negatives like getting lost a lot and being so busy and crowded. Lines Lines Lines everywhere.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

If you used the balcony part of a balcony cabin the AC turns off and the cabin gets hot quickly. Also I would have liked the cabin cooler at night even with the balcony closed the AC was not quite cold enough.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5

Busy Busy lots of traffic, many ships leaving at once.

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Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Wonderful

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Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5

Perfect Day At Coco Cay, Bahamas

3 out of 5

A little overrated but still a lot of fun.

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Disembarkation

3 out of 5

Took a long long time standing on our feet in long lines to get off the ship. Lots of traffic also car wise. A bust port indeed.

13 Comments

byhisgrace 8 months ago

Thanks for your review

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Mary804 8 months ago

I think we were on the same cruise. My husband and I agree the ship was so so crowded and our AC was not as cool as we wanted. The lines were just so long all over the ship.

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MargieRita 9 months ago

Thx for the review. Love a new ship’s smell and freshness of the cabins.

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Gwbigdog 9 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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kyle2007 9 months ago

I completely agree, so over crowded. Fun but crowded and expensive.

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mims56 9 months ago

Just wow but only 3 stars???

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kelskazoo22 9 months ago

I’m not sure how you wouldn’t know going on this ship was going to be pricey. It looks like you had a solid time. I’d stick with smaller and older ships to save money. The newest and greatest come with a cost!

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javawoody 9 months ago

Appreciate the review

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Skooby 9 months ago

I expected this ship to be packed eventually. Maybe a few years down the road during the off season it may not be so crowded as the novelty wears off. I hope to try it, but not when it's packed. Thanks for your review.

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Dumfy75 9 months ago

I watched Ben and David’s review of this ship (love them!) They said the food was great, but they’d heard the food budget was hiked up a fair bit for the first 3 weeks of sailing so they hoped it would still be as great for future passengers. Maybe that’s common on new ships, I have no idea? They did love the ship though, I’d maybe try it when prices come down a bit, looking for a ship to suit my teenage nephew and surely he could never be bored on this!

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cruising2004 9 months ago

Yep, she’s a huge ship! Glad everyone had a great time! Thank you for your review.

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Lifeboy 9 months ago

And that will always be a problem with these mega ships. Pack 9 - 10,000 people in them, and half of your vacation will be spent queing for an elevator!

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HeavySeas 9 months ago

Thanks for sharing and glad you enjoyed your cruise

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Other reviews of this sailing

Expensive, crowded, but still a lot of fun

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Wonderful trip and ship.