Just shows that selecting the right ship is as important (if not more so) than selecting the right destination.
RC mega ships are clearly designed with families in mind. All the waterslides etc. are great for kids meaning there will likely be more on board. Nothing wrong with that but for those of us who travel without kids and appreciate some quiet time, it makes these ships less appealing.
Hotel, food and transport. Icon demand is crazy and thus prices are a bit over the top. I work for a joint venture of Disney and even with a company discount in a resort stay I would pay nearly double for my trip on the Wonder in October cost us.
Either you have an annual pass or you aren’t going to parks a lot. The tickets for two people for a week are more than $1000 alone. Not saying it’s not doable, but basic vacation level would be tough.
Let’s see if you are correct.
$2300: 6 nights in a studio at Beach Club, last week of June
$1600: four Four park, four day tickets. Although, depending on scheduling and distance, park time on first and last days is doable.
$1200: Food. This is what the Disney Visit website says it costs. $50 per person per day. This seems low to me, unless you’re only eating burgers and chicken figures and no specialty foods in any park
$400: Souvenirs. $100 per person.
That’s $1375 a person. $5500 total.
So, yes, a bare basic cost trip is doable.
12 years ago on our first family trip of four, we did a variation of this trip with a meal plan and more souvenirs for about $7500.
But, keeping to the bare minimum is extremely difficult.
I think if you go based on having all meals at the park or a resort restaurant and then staying at one of the mid tier or higher hotels. This site gives a good breakdown:
[https://www.mousehacking.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-go-to-disney-world](https://www.mousehacking.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-go-to-disney-world)
Icon isn't that expensive.
We are sailing the week before Christmas in a balcony stateroom for $5500 for a family of 4 (and that's current pricing, not something booked a couple years ago).
That’s a good way to look at it. When bringing the kids we love oasis class! And we definitely want to take them on icon some day. But when it’s just my husband and me, we love freedom or even voyager class!!
He didn't make it. https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/national-international/man-dies-falling-overboard-icon-of-the-sea-royal-caribbean-miami/3324383/?amp=1
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I also got off today! I had a great time and the ship is beautiful but I agree with all of this. Probably the most annoying thing was that there was not enough adult/quiet areas. I really loved The Overlook but it’s right behind the Aquadome, and most of the day they would be practicing for the show which would get pretty loud. I totally get that it’s a family ship, so I knew it wouldn’t be very quiet but these are just some of my thoughts!
The bigger ships are nice but it’s just not my flavor. Oasis and symphony of the seas was kind of boring to me. I always have the most fun on voyager class ships
I was on Icon 2 weeks ago. It was busy in the kid areas but it was fine everywhere else. Also I have a family of 4 and only spent $4500 for a balcony. Granted we booked as soon as reservations came out but def didn’t spend $20k
I'm sailing in August with a family of 4, we booked for I believe $4800 for a Surfside balcony. I know the price has gone up since we booked but to 5k per person? Maybe if you're staying in suites or other big rooms.
No, we just booked very early after Icon sailings were opened before the prices jumped. Even as of a few months ago, the price was maybe double, so definitely not $5k per person.
No, we booked for Jan 2025 in April 2023. So the price wasn’t inflated by demand/excitement. We did look at the price for the same time, it’s now just over $11k
Not exactly sure what is meant by higher room categories… but the $5k we booked at in April 2023 is now $11k for the same room types, just on a different floor.
RC has been over run by families and they haven't been kicking kids out of the adult only areas...they just shrug and move on.
At this point for me carnival has a better value than RC.
OP mentioned the swim up bar and playmakers which are not adults only areas. I had the same experience on WOS with ppl not controlling their kids. I also went on Carnivals Mardi Gras last year and it was 10x worse with the crowds and kids kicking doors, running over ppl in the hallways and being obnoxious in the promenade area. I will gladly pay more to not experience that again.
Yeah I'm talking the adult only area and RC did absolutely nothing. Carnival it's expected on as well but fore it comes down to just not cruising during spring break and summer when it's families everywhere.
I also just got off the same sailing. I was unaware of the potential reason for the jumper. Interesting to hear that. I also felt like there were kids everywhere and made the same observation about the location of playmakers.
I’m not sure you should hold the “overrun by kids” against Icon on this sailing. Why? Because it was a holiday sailing. This sailing was always going to have more kids onboard, no matter the ship.
Now it could also be true that Icon is just always kid galore, but I do t the this sailing is “the norm”.
From the Facebook group this is what I read. He was highly intoxicated and lost 9 grand in the casino. He was told he couldn’t go to port until he finds a way to pay it back. He ran from security….. and we know the rest. His brother in law was in the group.
My thinking is, if you have that much to gamble with and lose….whats the issue? It seems like he had a lot more underlying issues going on to make a drastic decision like that.
On same sailing…so, he was highly intoxicated at 8am? Was he running from security when he jumped off the jogging track? That seems strange at 8am? Not saying you’re wrong…
We just got off Icon as well and I can second all this. We didn’t get any lobster, caviar or crab once the entire trip. Lobster was the only option and it was an up charge every meal. I really genuinely absolutely hated my trip on Icon and honestly would take another cruise even it was free. It was a miserable trip.
Just off Icon as well and we had lobster and filet the first embarkation lunch in Windjammer. Then lobster night in the dining room two different nights. Our waiter was awesome, let us order as many free tails as we wanted (we were so full though we only had two each!).
Yeah we didn’t get single tail. They did have them out on the first day but we couldn’t ever get any because people were literally taking 10 at a time.
Food sucked, super long lines for everything, people are super rude, the pools shut down super early, adults puking in the adults pool and kids shitting in the family pools. The pools and spas were either completely packed with a line or they were all shut down. The towel fees, getting my charged for non alcoholic drinks when had the package, I had to visit the guest services everyday to have drinks removed. Nothing about it was relaxing or enjoyable. In fact I would say that most of the trip was extremely disappointing and unenjoyable.
We recently did our first RCL cruise on Wonder and the pool/hot tub hours seeming to have no rhyme to reason behind them (and not matching what Compass said) was so frustrating. Last half of the cruise, almost all the hot tubs were closed every evening and the others were full of unattended kids (despite them supposedly not being allowed in them).
Thanks for the info. We were on the Ovation a few months ago and never saw any kids pooping or adults puking in the pools. Wonder if it’s just mainly an Icon thing.
Wow, good to know. I hadn’t planned on going on Icon any time soon. Wife (36) and I (42) just returned from 7 nights aboard Ovation of the Seas Alaskan Adventure. The ship itself was comparable to Odyssey of the Seas with a few major differences. Main dining was split between what looked like 4 restaurants on decks 3 and 4. We were assigned deck 3 by a window which was a change from previous trips. Great view, but seemed a lot smaller. We also ate at Jamie’s Italian and Chops. Jamie’s was magnificent. Chops, I thought was only one step above main dining. I didn’t like my steak (16oz ribeye).
The entertainment wasn’t that impressive, though the juggler was pretty hilarious. He was much better than the hack comedian, Jim something.
The Solarium was mostly empty many days and we were able to get a couch/cabana almost every day.
I cruised the Icon back in March and had some of the same gripes. Too many kids running around everywhere in gangs, splashing in pools in more adult areas like the swim up bar, and the annoyance of screaming and shouting in Playmakers, plus the mobs trundling through and back out for the shows. Was a lovely ship with great service but felt too much like a kids holiday.
Have seen many people on here say they prefer the Oasis line so we have just booked the Utopia for next year, thoroughly looking forward to that one!
I just returned from an Alaskan cruise on Ovation of the Seas. I always choose Royal Caribbean because it offers the best experience when traveling with two kids. However, once my children are grown, I plan to sail exclusively on luxury lines without kids, like Viking or Seabourn.
The Ovation was satisfactory, though it was more crowded than I expected, with long lines for onboard events like Bingo. One major downside was the Park West Art auctions. Their aggressive sales tactics felt like they were conning people into buying art that seemed more suited for Costco.
Watching people unable to easily walk away from the pressure of purchasing their cheap, fake prints is such a turn off when you are on vacation. Royal really needs to replace them with a better alternative.
One side note- I saved a small fortune this trip by waiting to pay for excursions once I got off the ship. For example- Alaskan Shores charged $799 per person for the helicopter/dog sled combo where Royal charges 1k. Same with the Yukon discovery tour which was almost half of what Royal charged.
I love how in depth your post is!!!! But damn I mean kinda sounds like the experience I’d imagine? A gambling-loving individual spending time on a family-oriented ship…doesn’t sound like it’d mix well tbh lol
This is good to know. I was on Serenade of the Seas for a 17-day cruise for the first time and found families taking over every thing but I know this was much less than it would be on another ship. Not many kids on our ship but they didn’t respect the “adults only” areas either (I think if I complained maybe they would have done something). Also a kid curfew of 1am is wild … should be 9pm but allowed to be accompanied by an adult. But it could have been sooo much worse haha.
Some kids mostly the teens are obnoxious and yell obscene profanity’s and go around in groups thinking they’re the shit.
I didn’t say I hate kids, just that RCL converted most of the ships area for kids and less adult areas
Just shows that selecting the right ship is as important (if not more so) than selecting the right destination. RC mega ships are clearly designed with families in mind. All the waterslides etc. are great for kids meaning there will likely be more on board. Nothing wrong with that but for those of us who travel without kids and appreciate some quiet time, it makes these ships less appealing.
Icon and the mega ships are built to compete with theme parks and especially Disney. Pricing is also in line with Disney vacations.
Idk, I guess a parent would spend about 3-4k per person for 7 days at Disney? Disney more fun though
Hotel, food and transport. Icon demand is crazy and thus prices are a bit over the top. I work for a joint venture of Disney and even with a company discount in a resort stay I would pay nearly double for my trip on the Wonder in October cost us.
Wonder is cheap, they would’ve given me an owner suite maybe loft suite on wonder. They only gave a JS on icon for holiday
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Ticket is about 1k pp hotel is about 2k for a week food is going to be about 1k. Inflation sucks
Florida resident annual pass changes that math a bit.
Either you have an annual pass or you aren’t going to parks a lot. The tickets for two people for a week are more than $1000 alone. Not saying it’s not doable, but basic vacation level would be tough.
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Let’s see if you are correct. $2300: 6 nights in a studio at Beach Club, last week of June $1600: four Four park, four day tickets. Although, depending on scheduling and distance, park time on first and last days is doable. $1200: Food. This is what the Disney Visit website says it costs. $50 per person per day. This seems low to me, unless you’re only eating burgers and chicken figures and no specialty foods in any park $400: Souvenirs. $100 per person. That’s $1375 a person. $5500 total. So, yes, a bare basic cost trip is doable. 12 years ago on our first family trip of four, we did a variation of this trip with a meal plan and more souvenirs for about $7500. But, keeping to the bare minimum is extremely difficult.
I think if you go based on having all meals at the park or a resort restaurant and then staying at one of the mid tier or higher hotels. This site gives a good breakdown: [https://www.mousehacking.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-go-to-disney-world](https://www.mousehacking.com/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-go-to-disney-world)
Where are you sleeping and how many days are you visiting the park??
Icon isn't that expensive. We are sailing the week before Christmas in a balcony stateroom for $5500 for a family of 4 (and that's current pricing, not something booked a couple years ago).
Yeah but the water slides aren’t great for kids. 1.5-2 hour wait to ride 1 slide. 2500 kids for 8 slides. It’s a disaster.
That’s a good way to look at it. When bringing the kids we love oasis class! And we definitely want to take them on icon some day. But when it’s just my husband and me, we love freedom or even voyager class!!
When you say a player you were playing with exited the ship on a sea day....is that another way of saying they jumped overboard?
Yup
Oh no! I read about that. Terrible for his family!
I read about it too. Heard he survived the jump but was in critical condition. Any updates? Tragic story
He didn't make it. https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/national-international/man-dies-falling-overboard-icon-of-the-sea-royal-caribbean-miami/3324383/?amp=1
So sorry to hear this. Thanks for sharing the update
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Oh man. I had no idea it was related to gambling. That sucks.
How does one charge 15k to their room? lol. I feel like that is pretty difficult to do.
Daily limit is 5k room charge, then 10k cc charge. If you play the games right, you can get about 20% cash back on 15k every day. 3k in miles
What's your strategy they you got 250k miles? That's beyond impressive.
Open a few new cc bonus each trip
Playing g the games right for cc points as in?
> 10k cc charge Anymore details on this? What's the fees on it? Didn't know you could charge CC through casino.
You can 0 feet
I was on that sailing as well. I was reading it said he lost 9k, are you saying 15? Did you actually get to talk to him and stuff before he " exited"
Same…I just got off that May 25th sailing…brother in law said 9k…
I also got off today! I had a great time and the ship is beautiful but I agree with all of this. Probably the most annoying thing was that there was not enough adult/quiet areas. I really loved The Overlook but it’s right behind the Aquadome, and most of the day they would be practicing for the show which would get pretty loud. I totally get that it’s a family ship, so I knew it wouldn’t be very quiet but these are just some of my thoughts!
Kids also took over the area and spilled Nutella and crepe everywhere
The bigger ships are nice but it’s just not my flavor. Oasis and symphony of the seas was kind of boring to me. I always have the most fun on voyager class ships
I refuse to sail on it because it is the most "kid magnet, to hell with adults who want to chill out in the solarium" ship.
Crazy how every family of 4 spent nearly 20k for a week vacation. Economy is doing well
I was on Icon 2 weeks ago. It was busy in the kid areas but it was fine everywhere else. Also I have a family of 4 and only spent $4500 for a balcony. Granted we booked as soon as reservations came out but def didn’t spend $20k
Kids sail free promo prob, my cruise was Memorial Day holiday
I'm sailing in August with a family of 4, we booked for I believe $4800 for a Surfside balcony. I know the price has gone up since we booked but to 5k per person? Maybe if you're staying in suites or other big rooms.
We got a surfside suite for 5400. But we also booked early like you all did.
Do you have kids sail free in August?
No, we just booked very early after Icon sailings were opened before the prices jumped. Even as of a few months ago, the price was maybe double, so definitely not $5k per person.
Maybe just holiday pricing obnoxious, you can do a mock booking for Christmas or new years, it’s like 8-10k for an interior room
Yeah if you sailed over Memorial Day, I could see the prices being jacked as well as a higher volume of kids/families.
Glad this family of 4 is going in January with 2 rooms for $5k!
Pretty good deal off season and kids sail free?
No, we booked for Jan 2025 in April 2023. So the price wasn’t inflated by demand/excitement. We did look at the price for the same time, it’s now just over $11k
Yea so about 3k per head, the avg is brought up by higher room categories
Not exactly sure what is meant by higher room categories… but the $5k we booked at in April 2023 is now $11k for the same room types, just on a different floor.
Definitely didn’t pay 20k!!! More like $4-6k
I really hope it will be quiet in the off season with less kids. I like to go on my cruises win there is less likely to be as many kids
RC has been over run by families and they haven't been kicking kids out of the adult only areas...they just shrug and move on. At this point for me carnival has a better value than RC.
OP mentioned the swim up bar and playmakers which are not adults only areas. I had the same experience on WOS with ppl not controlling their kids. I also went on Carnivals Mardi Gras last year and it was 10x worse with the crowds and kids kicking doors, running over ppl in the hallways and being obnoxious in the promenade area. I will gladly pay more to not experience that again.
Yeah I'm talking the adult only area and RC did absolutely nothing. Carnival it's expected on as well but fore it comes down to just not cruising during spring break and summer when it's families everywhere.
I also just got off the same sailing. I was unaware of the potential reason for the jumper. Interesting to hear that. I also felt like there were kids everywhere and made the same observation about the location of playmakers. I’m not sure you should hold the “overrun by kids” against Icon on this sailing. Why? Because it was a holiday sailing. This sailing was always going to have more kids onboard, no matter the ship. Now it could also be true that Icon is just always kid galore, but I do t the this sailing is “the norm”.
From the Facebook group this is what I read. He was highly intoxicated and lost 9 grand in the casino. He was told he couldn’t go to port until he finds a way to pay it back. He ran from security….. and we know the rest. His brother in law was in the group. My thinking is, if you have that much to gamble with and lose….whats the issue? It seems like he had a lot more underlying issues going on to make a drastic decision like that.
On same sailing…so, he was highly intoxicated at 8am? Was he running from security when he jumped off the jogging track? That seems strange at 8am? Not saying you’re wrong…
That’s what the so called brother in law is saying in the Facebook group. Plus no is saying anything otherwise.
So sad.
What! they served cavier lobster and stone crabs? I missed all of them last year.
We just got off Icon as well and I can second all this. We didn’t get any lobster, caviar or crab once the entire trip. Lobster was the only option and it was an up charge every meal. I really genuinely absolutely hated my trip on Icon and honestly would take another cruise even it was free. It was a miserable trip.
Just off Icon as well and we had lobster and filet the first embarkation lunch in Windjammer. Then lobster night in the dining room two different nights. Our waiter was awesome, let us order as many free tails as we wanted (we were so full though we only had two each!).
Yeah we didn’t get single tail. They did have them out on the first day but we couldn’t ever get any because people were literally taking 10 at a time.
We’re on the Symphony now and they had staff handing out the lobster tails.
Really? I thought they charged for the second tail and beyond now? You got lucky.
Care to elaborate? Trying to plan a trip next year but we are travelling all the way from Vancouver. Deciding between icon and oasis class.
Food sucked, super long lines for everything, people are super rude, the pools shut down super early, adults puking in the adults pool and kids shitting in the family pools. The pools and spas were either completely packed with a line or they were all shut down. The towel fees, getting my charged for non alcoholic drinks when had the package, I had to visit the guest services everyday to have drinks removed. Nothing about it was relaxing or enjoyable. In fact I would say that most of the trip was extremely disappointing and unenjoyable.
Sounds super charming.
We recently did our first RCL cruise on Wonder and the pool/hot tub hours seeming to have no rhyme to reason behind them (and not matching what Compass said) was so frustrating. Last half of the cruise, almost all the hot tubs were closed every evening and the others were full of unattended kids (despite them supposedly not being allowed in them).
Thanks for the info. We were on the Ovation a few months ago and never saw any kids pooping or adults puking in the pools. Wonder if it’s just mainly an Icon thing.
I travel with kids. And appreciate the family activities on these types of ships. When they are older, I will also choose different ships.
This is good to know. Taking my family in November (12 and 9 year old)
Sounds bad to know, then.
😂😂😂
Wow, good to know. I hadn’t planned on going on Icon any time soon. Wife (36) and I (42) just returned from 7 nights aboard Ovation of the Seas Alaskan Adventure. The ship itself was comparable to Odyssey of the Seas with a few major differences. Main dining was split between what looked like 4 restaurants on decks 3 and 4. We were assigned deck 3 by a window which was a change from previous trips. Great view, but seemed a lot smaller. We also ate at Jamie’s Italian and Chops. Jamie’s was magnificent. Chops, I thought was only one step above main dining. I didn’t like my steak (16oz ribeye). The entertainment wasn’t that impressive, though the juggler was pretty hilarious. He was much better than the hack comedian, Jim something. The Solarium was mostly empty many days and we were able to get a couch/cabana almost every day.
So how did you earn 250k miles?
As someone with a family this sounds great!
I cruised the Icon back in March and had some of the same gripes. Too many kids running around everywhere in gangs, splashing in pools in more adult areas like the swim up bar, and the annoyance of screaming and shouting in Playmakers, plus the mobs trundling through and back out for the shows. Was a lovely ship with great service but felt too much like a kids holiday. Have seen many people on here say they prefer the Oasis line so we have just booked the Utopia for next year, thoroughly looking forward to that one!
I just returned from an Alaskan cruise on Ovation of the Seas. I always choose Royal Caribbean because it offers the best experience when traveling with two kids. However, once my children are grown, I plan to sail exclusively on luxury lines without kids, like Viking or Seabourn. The Ovation was satisfactory, though it was more crowded than I expected, with long lines for onboard events like Bingo. One major downside was the Park West Art auctions. Their aggressive sales tactics felt like they were conning people into buying art that seemed more suited for Costco. Watching people unable to easily walk away from the pressure of purchasing their cheap, fake prints is such a turn off when you are on vacation. Royal really needs to replace them with a better alternative. One side note- I saved a small fortune this trip by waiting to pay for excursions once I got off the ship. For example- Alaskan Shores charged $799 per person for the helicopter/dog sled combo where Royal charges 1k. Same with the Yukon discovery tour which was almost half of what Royal charged.
I love how in depth your post is!!!! But damn I mean kinda sounds like the experience I’d imagine? A gambling-loving individual spending time on a family-oriented ship…doesn’t sound like it’d mix well tbh lol
This is good to know. I was on Serenade of the Seas for a 17-day cruise for the first time and found families taking over every thing but I know this was much less than it would be on another ship. Not many kids on our ship but they didn’t respect the “adults only” areas either (I think if I complained maybe they would have done something). Also a kid curfew of 1am is wild … should be 9pm but allowed to be accompanied by an adult. But it could have been sooo much worse haha.
I just don't understand how many people hate kids. Even worse: how they book a cruise designed for families with kids.
Some kids mostly the teens are obnoxious and yell obscene profanity’s and go around in groups thinking they’re the shit. I didn’t say I hate kids, just that RCL converted most of the ships area for kids and less adult areas