Icon of the seas

[TeamRiley]

Anything merged with a mall cannot be good.
I have fun on RC, but often refer to whatever ship I am on as the "Mall of the Sea"

 

[CapnCrunch]

Just booked the July 20-27, 2024 sailing on Icon yesterday. While I was bit blown away by the pricing at first (just a hair over $15k for a fully refundable rate for 7 of us), once I compared the same week on the Fantasy (DCL), I'm paying ~$1k less for comparable staterooms (and that's factoring in using a 10% placeholder discount). I can add the soda package and still be about $500 less. Even 5 nights on the Magic out of Miami around that time frame, I'm looking at $12-$13k with a placeholder for comparable staterooms.

 

[Flying Fish]

We are also booked on the Icon using the same methodology on cost. I know we will go on a cruise next year (maybe more) and for the cost I'm actually leaning more toward other lines than DCL now. I still love DCL and am going in two weeks, but I just don't enjoy it like I did. The food might be slightly better on DCL in the MDRs than the same on RCCL, but the options abound on Royal. Like you said, you can spend money on specialty restaurants and drink packages and still come out ahead. We recently did Wonder of the Seas which I always thought would be too much for us, but we had one of our best cruises ever.

 

[peacefrogdog]

Curious to see how the prices for 2025-26 sailings chance, once the novelty dies down. Ocean view balcony prices (2 people) for a Nov 2024 sailing were 4400 CDN (~ $3300 USD) in October 2022, and are now 8200 CDN (~ $6100 USD).

 

[peacefrogdog]

I also noticed RC changed the name of their Infinite balconies to "Spacious infinite balcony" rooms - makes them seem like more than they actually are.

 

[Frozen2014]

I also noticed RC changed the name of their Infinite balconies to "Spacious infinite balcony" rooms - makes them seem like more than they actually are.

Even their lowest category is named "Spacious Interior", but luckily they disclose the square footage as it's only 178 sq ft. Definitely marketing. The room currently goes for over 9K for a family of four for our booked date.

We booked one room, booked early when released and was able to grab a Central Park Interior for 8k CAD for our family of four (holiday time). We never would have paid this before but our kids are older with one starting university and not sure how much longer they'll travel with us. Really want to take them on Icon. Funny thing is it was Disney's price that make us go with Royal in the first place (and we haven't turned back since).

 

[CapnCrunch]

In case anyone is interested, the price on one of the rooms I booked for my Icon sailing dropped $468 so my price just came down a bit more. This is the July 20-27, 2024 sailing for a "Spacious" Infinite Oceanview Balcony (not the larger and more expensive Family Infinite Oceanview Balcony).

 

[Eastcoast02]

I booked a 7 night May 2024 sailing in a Family Infinite Oceanview Balcony stateroom back in November via TA at Cabin Closeout. Read reviews that people had no problem with them. $7200 for a non-refundable fare, occupancy of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids). $700 OBC. That room is now $13k .

Hope it’s not a scam lol. The res populates on RCCL. Bit of a risk that it’s non-refundable but YOLO.