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: 24

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: 6 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.