largest cruise ship 2023 icon of the seas

Icon of the Seas

Introducing Icon of the Seas

A first-of-its-kind Royal Caribbean Adventure

It's thrills you never dared to imagine

And next-level chill you never dreamed possible

The largest waterpark at sea

Brace yourself for Category 6, the largest waterpark at sea with six record-breaking slides. Like the Frightening Bolt, the tallest waterslide to sail. And the Pressure Drop, the first open freefall waterslide on a cruise.

Category 6 waterpark

6 record-breaking waterslides at sea

A new stay-all-day neighborhood just for families

Discover adventure for the ages — all the ages — at Surfside SM . With a kid-approved sprawling aquapark, a pool just for grownups, plus plenty of bites to fuel up for bolder bonding — your whole crew will never want to leave.

First for families

7 pools for every mood.

Choose a different pool for every day of the week, including Royal Bay — the largest pool at sea. Next-level views are never far away, with an array of infinity edges to keep you connected to the ocean.

The largest pool at sea

What Makes It Iconic

Make the most of every moment onboard. Dial up the daring. Unwind like never before. Bond over new bites 
and toast to next-level nightlife. And catch showstopping spectaculars that will leave you in awe. This is your week to enjoy everything you’ve ever loved about every vacation — all rolled into one.

Perfect day the western way

Icon of the Seas ℠ brings on the most thrilling Western Caribbean adventures for the whole family. From lush tropical jungles in Roatán to Mayan ruins in Cozumel — plus the tallest waterslide in North America at our game-changing private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay — there’s never been more exciting opportunities for bolder bonding.

Eastern adventures to perfect day

Max out memories like never before on 7-night adventures to the Eastern Caribbean onboard Icon of the Seas ℠ . Every sailing on our newest, thrill-packed ship stops at our private destination, Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas. Voted Best Private Island by Travel Weekly readers, it’s a place unlike any other where you can turn up the thrills or unplug and chill.

Iconic Stays

Make room for awesome

On the new Icon of the Seas℠, where you stay is just as thrilling as how you play. From expansive balconies that invite the sea breeze to our most over-the-top family accommodations — our range of spacious rooms is designed with family comfort in mind.  Use the arrows to explore more.

Family rooms redefined

Finding your crew’s just-right space is easy, with more rooms designed for families.

Family infinite ocean view balcony

Surfside family suites

Over the top just got topped

A family vacation doesn’t get any more VIP than in the first-ever Ultimate Family Townhouse — a sprawling adventure-filled pad with three levels of incredible surprises.

Ultimate family townhouse

Private patio to surfside

Three incredible levels

Stays with views for days

There’s no shortage of ways to score unbelievable ocean views from your room. With spacious balconies, extended ocean side escapes, and floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows, there’s so much to see at sea.

Spacious Infinite ocean view balcony

Panoramic suites

Sunset corner suites

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Guide to what's included

Perfect day at Cococay

Making an Icon

The World’s Largest Cruise Ship Is Nearly 1,200 Feet Long

Scheduled to debut in January, the vessel can accommodate 5,600 guests and 2,350 crew members

Daily Correspondent

The world’s largest cruise ship is almost ready to set sail.

Royal Caribbean’s massive new ship, Icon of the Seas , passed its inaugural round of sea trials with flying colors, bringing it one step closer to hitting the open ocean with passengers, the cruise line  announced late last month. If all goes as planned, the record-breaking vessel will begin sailing in the Caribbean in January 2024.

Just how big is Icon of the Seas ? Really big. As Jalopnik ’s Ryan Erik King writes, it’s the size of five Titantics. More specifically, Icon of the Seas measures 1,198 feet long—nearly a quarter of a mile—and has a gross tonnage of 250,800. All that space means it can accommodate 5,600 guests and 2,350 crew members.

The cruise line is positioning the vessel as “the ultimate family vacation,” as CEO Michael Bayley told reporters earlier this year, per  CNN ’s Maureen O’Hare.

“When you step back and look at all the energy and time that has gone into creating this ship, it is mind-blowing,” he added.

The previous world’s largest cruise ship was also a Royal Caribbean vessel, Wonder of the Seas , which spanned 1,188 feet long and featured 18 decks.

Crews in Turku, Finland, began work on Icon of the Seas in 2021. Last month, the vessel sailed the open ocean for the first time, as staffers spent four days testing the main engines, hull, brakes, steering system and other components. They also measured noise and vibration levels. 

The vessel will undergo another round of sea trials later this year before officially launching in Miami early next year, according to Royal Caribbean. Icon of the Seas will primarily take cruisers to the islands of the eastern and western Caribbean on seven-night itineraries.

With progress on Icon of the Seas moving along, Royal Caribbean has already started building another large “icon class” ship. The cruise line expects that unnamed vessel to launch in 2025, per a  statement .

Icon of the Seas has 20 total decks, 7 swimming pools and 8 “neighborhoods,” or distinct areas with entertainment and dining. Another noteworthy feature is Category 6, which will be the largest waterpark at sea when Icon of the Seas sets sail.

The ship will be equipped with a special grooming robot that will clean the hull whenever it’s in port to help reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency by 3 to 4 percent, reports  TTG Media ’s Charlotte Cullinan.

Icon of the Seas will also be the first ship in the cruise line’s fleet to run on liquefied natural gas and  fuel cells , which are similar to batteries but do not need to be recharged. Water is the main byproduct of fuel cells—which combine oxygen and hydrogen to produce energy—which should help the ship reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Liquefied natural gas , meanwhile, is a controversial energy source that involves cooling natural gas to a liquid state to make it easier to transport. The liquid version is “actually worse than ordinary gas,” writes the  Natural Resources Defense Council . “The energy required to chill, ship and regasify the fossil fuel makes it far more carbon-intensive and increases the potential for leakage of dangerous methane,” according to the organization.

Royal Caribbean’s leaders say they view liquified natural gas as a “ transitional fue l,” and that they hope to continue to  reduce the environmental impact of their ships moving forward. 

"[Liquefied natural gas] is about 20-30 percent better for the environment [than heavy fuel oil], but it’s still not going to be the solution,” Bayley tells TTG Media . “We don’t know the answer, but the whole industry is working towards the answer.”

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Sarah Kuta | READ MORE

Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.

Icon of the Seas review: What's it like on the world's largest cruise ship?

Editor's Note

It's "the biggest, baddest ship on the planet" (according to Jason Liberty, CEO of Royal Caribbean Group), the most expensive Royal Caribbean ship to book and a social media star with equal numbers of lovers and haters. But what's it really like to sail the 250,800-ton, 7,600-passenger Icon of the Seas? It's pretty dang fun.

Royal Caribbean's goal was not to break size records. Instead, the cruise line wanted to create an epic family vacation experience that would rival not only other cruise ships, but the best resorts and destinations on land. To do that, the line would need to put a wide variety of delicious dining venues, appealing watering holes with modern cocktail menus, inviting hangouts and attractions and entertainment for all ages onto one ship.

Is it any surprise that the ship needed to be humongous to house all that?

For cruise news, reviews and tips, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter .

It's hard to be bored on Icon of the Seas, whether you like thrill rides or chill hangouts in the sun. With the ship divided up into "neighborhoods" with their own unique vibes, you're bound to find someplace to love. Or perhaps you'll find new areas of the ship to explore each day. The neighborhoods, plus some smart operational planning by the cruise line, make it easier than you think to make your way through the ship, no matter where you wish to go.

Whether you've been avidly waiting for this floating entertainment behemoth to arrive, or whether you've got a morbid curiosity about this sea monster, check your preconceptions and discover what it's really like to cruise Icon of the Seas.

Overview of Icon of the Seas

Icon of the Seas is 20 decks high (with 18 passenger decks) and 1,198 feet long and measures 250,800 gross tons. It can carry 5,610 passengers at double occupancy (two passengers per cabin) or up to 7,600 passengers at maximum occupancy, plus 2,350 crew members. These stats make it the largest ship in the world .

That's larger than fleetmate Wonder of the Seas, the 2023 record holder for the world's largest cruise ship. To compare, Wonder of the Seas measures 235,600 tons and carries 7,084 passengers at maximum occupancy.

However, Wonder of the Seas beats Icon of the Seas in one specific area: cabins. Wonder of the Seas has 2,867 cabins, while Icon of the Seas will only have 2,805. That's because Royal Caribbean has styled Icon of the Seas to attract more families, with 80% of cabins designed to accommodate more than two guests.

Related: The 7 classes of Royal Caribbean cruise ships, explained

Icon of the Seas also borrows the Oasis Class use of "neighborhoods" — themed areas of the ship with a mix of attractions and dining, drinking and shopping venues. It features eight neighborhoods, including three returning areas from its sister ships and five that are exclusive to its new class of ships.

From the lowest deck to the highest, here are the eight neighborhoods and what you can expect to find on board.

Royal Promenade

The Royal Promenade is a Royal Caribbean staple found on all Voyager, Freedom and Oasis Class ships. Icon of the Seas offers a two-deck version of this indoor mall-like space with multiple shopping, dining and drinking establishments. Highlights of Icon's Royal Promenade are floor-to-ceiling glass windows on either side that bring light and sea views into the space and The Pearl, the ship's iconic indoor sphere that functions as an artistic stairway and also as the support structure that holds up that section of the ship.

Surfside, on Deck 7 aft, is a neighborhood dedicated to young families . It's open to the sky and the back of the ship. A slide leads from Deck 8 down to the neighborhood, and the area is mere steps from the Adventure Ocean kids club and Social 020 teen club on Deck 6.

The stay-all-day destination for kids under 7 and their adult caregivers features family-friendly eateries, the Lemon Post bar with a menu of matching kid-and-adult mocktails and cocktails, a carousel, an arcade, a splash area with slides aimed at the youngest splashers and an infinity pool for grown-ups.

Despite its name, Surfside will not be home to Royal Caribbean's surf simulator, the FlowRider.

Related: Is Icon of the Seas the 'ultimate family vacation'? It depends

Central Park

Another open-to-the-sky neighborhood, the greenery-filled Central Park makes a return on Icon. On Deck 8, it lures adult cruisers to its bars and restaurants for a romantic date night or walk in its onboard park, featuring live trees and plants. New venues here include a grab-n-go window for Izumi's sushi, the intimate and upscale Empire Supper Club, jazz club Lou's Jazz 'n Blues and the walk-up Champagne venue, Bubbles.

Icon of the Seas does not have a Boardwalk, but it does offer its own version of that neighborhood's popular AquaTheater. The AquaTheater — which hosts acrobatic and diving shows in a high-tech stage/pool — has been moved from its outdoor, lower-deck, back-of-ship location on Oasis-class ships to an indoor, upper-deck, front-of-ship spot on Icon.

The theater is the marquee attraction within the ship's Deck 15 AquaDome neighborhood — if the draw is not the dome itself. The giant 363-ton glass-and-steel structure offers guests 220-degree ocean views. Inside, you'll find dining and drinking venues, cozy lounge space, a Royal Caribbean logo jewelry store and new cabins with panoramic views through the dome.

Chill Island

Aft of the AquaDome is Chill Island, Icon's main pool area featuring four of the ship's seven pools among its three decks. It will include the line's first swim-up bar, Swim and Tonic, and what Royal Caribbean is claiming is the largest pool at sea. Pools and hot tubs are positioned along the edges of the ship so guests can take in the sea views while soaking in the water.

Cabanas will be available to rent in this neighborhood, but there'll be plenty of free lounge space, too.

The Hideaway

High above Surfside, at the back of Deck 15, is The Hideaway — Royal Caribbean's take on an adults-only beach club. The main attraction here is the first suspended infinity pool at sea. It's flanked by tiered lounge space, hot tubs and a bar specializing in Champagne and Champagne-based cocktails.

Thrill Island

Thrill Island is Icon's go-to neighborhood for adrenaline-pumping activities. Found on Deck 16 aft, it's home to all the wild top-deck attractions Royal Caribbean is known for — as well as some new thrills.

The FlowRider surf simulator, Lost Dunes miniature golf, the Adrenaline Peak rock climbing wall and the sports court are all Thrill Island staples. Category 6 is the largest water park at sea, featuring an open free-fall slide, the tallest drop slide at sea, family raft slides that accommodate four riders at once and two mat-racing slides. The Crown's Edge is a ropes course-style attraction based around a giant version of the ship's crown-and-anchor logo.

Suite neighborhood

The ship's final neighborhood spans decks 16 to 19. The Suite neighborhood is a mix of many of the ship's top suites plus restaurants, lounges and outdoor areas exclusive to suite guests and some of Royal Caribbean's most loyal travelers. Icon of the Seas' suite neighborhood is Royal Caribbean's largest restricted-access enclave for suite guests, a la Norwegian Cruise Line 's The Haven.

The Coastal Kitchen restaurant returns, but is now two decks high, with windows overlooking the AquaTheater. The sun deck has been transformed into The Grove, a multistory space featuring an alfresco restaurant and bar, pool, hot tub and lounge areas.

Related: Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor Society cruise loyalty program: The ultimate guide

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What I loved about Icon of the Seas

It's surprisingly easy to get around.

You might think you'd spend a week lost on the largest cruise ship on the planet. But you can learn your way around Icon of the Seas in a day. That's because the neighborhood concept (arranging themed attractions in one area of the ship) makes it easy to figure out where you're going.

The Royal Promenade on decks 5 and 6 is the central public space, flanked by the main dining room and the theater. Its upper level leads to Deck 7's family-focused Surfside, which leads up to leafy Central Park. (And if you don't want to hit Surfside, you can get directly from The Royal Promenade to Central Park via stairs by the Pearl Cafe.)

Chill Island, Thrill Island, The Hideaway and The Aquadome all flow into each other across the ship's top decks. The AquaDome is at the front (easy to remember once you've seen the outside of the ship with its bulbous forehead), with The Hideaway and the water park at the back for balance.

It's not perfect; I definitely got turned around in the huge elevator lobbies (there are two, each with 12 elevators), and I never remembered which spaces were on the forward or aft ends of the Royal Promenade. But the few dead ends are easily learned; access the Hideaway from Thrill Island (not the Windjammer), Absolute Zero from Playmakers and the Royal Theater from the Promenade (not through the casino). You'll be a pro in no time.

Related: Why the world's largest cruise ship won't be as crowded as you fear

The lighter, brighter Royal Promenade is the best in the fleet

The Royal Promenades on Royal Caribbean ships have always been compared to shopping malls because the long corridors are lined with restaurants, bars and shops and suffer from a lack of natural light. The second-level dead ends also frustrated guests trying to get from point A to B on a megaship. So the cruise line rethought out the promenade space on Icon of the Seas, and came up with a winning design that's lighter and more inviting.

Royal Caribbean ditched the promenade-facing cabins for multideck-high glass walls that flood the space with light. The need for a replacement structural support led to the creation of The Pearl, the central focal point art piece of the neighborhood. The cafe behind it is a win for its comfy windowside seating with killer views and elevated cafe snacks.

Another win is that the upper level is now a complete circle, so you can walk from the forward to the aft elevator banks and back on both decks of the Royal Promenade. There's even a stairwell up into Central Park.

Plus, some of the new venues on the promenade are quickly becoming guest favorites. The hip 1400 Bar, with its craft cocktails and central indoor-outdoor location, and Dueling Pianos Bar were happening hot spots on my sailing.

Related: TPG's first impressions of Icon of the Seas

The shows are incredible

My favorite evenings combine dinner and a show, and the top-notch entertainment is something I've always loved about Royal Caribbean. Icon of the Seas brings it in a big way with its new shows.

I was dreading a 90-minute version of "The Wizard of Oz" but fell in love with Icon's production due to its creative use of flying technology, gorgeous costumes and sets, adorable puppets and modern staging. "Starburst," the ice show, combined some stellar skating moves with an incredible juggler, and the AquaTheater is always killer no matter what those divers, dancers and acrobats are doing.

I was also pleased to see that Icon of the Seas will introduce shorter shows at earlier show times for families with young kids in the AquaTheater and Absolute Zero ice rink.

What I didn't love about Icon of the Seas

Thrill island is more extreme than i expected.

I was so excited to take my 9-year-old daughter on all the Category 6 waterslides at Thrill Island, and figured that we'd play there for hours, as we did on a recent trip to the Great Wolf Lodge water park. But four of the six slides were simply too extreme for a kid and her mom.

Our favorites were the two family raft slides, where two to four riders slide together in round rafts. But there wasn't a basic body slide that a kid could ride again and again without a friend or parent along. All the others had steep drops or were face first and super fast, with too much water in your eyes and nose.

Opposite the water park, the new Crown's Edge ropes course is also not a play-all-day, kid-friendly course, like the ones I've tried on Carnival cruise ships and Great Wolf Lodge. The course is extremely short, with a vertigo-inducing section over the open ocean. It's also got a steep entry fee (the water park is free).

I was hoping that Thrill Island would be a place where older kids and their parents could spend an entire afternoon hopping from ride to ride. The Lost Dunes minigolf course and the rock climbing wall are very accessible. But I'd rate the water park and ropes course more T for teen than E for everyone.

Related: What are the largest cruise ships in the world?

New Infinite Ocean View Balcony cabins are a mixed bag

On Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean added a new kind of balcony room: the Infinite Ocean View Balcony. An idea borrowed from sister line Celebrity Cruises , these cabins bring the balcony sitting area into the cabin's interior to create a longer room. To bring the fresh air in, the far wall of each cabin is a wall of glass, and the top half can roll down at the push of a button (like a car window).

Some of these cabins look out over the ocean, while others face inwards, overlooking Central Park.

I loved the extra cabin space and the additional sitting area facing a window. However, we rarely opened the window because it messed with the entire room's climate control as heat (or, in my case, chilly breezes) flooded the cabin. Plus, noise from other decks, like the poolside DJ, also infiltrated the entire room.

The new rooms also had a few design flaws, which were repeated in other categories as well. These included a lack of outlet variety by the beds, clunky wire baskets beneath the wardrobe that were hard to access because they were too close to the cabin's sofa and possibly not enough general storage for anyone traveling as a family in one room.

Icon of the Seas cabins and suites

Royal Caribbean cruisers will have 14 new cabin and suite types to choose from out of 28 total accommodation types. Many of these are family-friendly rooms that sleep four guests; some can accommodate six or eight guests. In total, 313 cabins and suites are listed specifically as family-focused accommodations, though many regular room types can sleep more than two guests.

Related: Royal Caribbean cruise ship cabin and suite guide: Everything you want to know

Inside cabins

The most affordable rooms on Icon of the Seas are inside cabins (and they're still not cheap). In addition to standard 156-square-foot inside cabins and 178-square-foot Spacious Interior cabins, new 157-square-foot Interior Plus rooms feature extra-large walk-in closets.

Icon of the Seas also features 187-square-foot Surfside Family View Interior cabins (replacing Boardwalk View cabins) and similarly sized Central Park View Interior cabins. These rooms do have windows, but they look inward onto the neighborhoods.

No rooms on Icon of the Seas are listed as offering the "virtual balconies" found on select Royal Caribbean ships.

Ocean-view cabins

Icon of the Seas has only two types of ocean-view rooms with a window but no balcony. Its new Panoramic Ocean View rooms are within the AquaDome, offering floor-to-ceiling windows rather than the standard picture window. They will also be larger than the standard balcony cabin at 258 square feet (compared to 160 to 187 square feet).

Balcony cabins

The majority of Icon of the Seas' cabins are balcony rooms , ranging from 196 to 285 square feet in indoor space, with private verandas of 50 to 70 square feet. The ship introduces four new types of balcony cabins to the fleet.

The Infinite Ocean View Balcony cabin design takes an idea from Royal Caribbean sister line Celebrity Cruises, where instead of a standard balcony external to the ship, the room features a glass wall with a window that can roll down halfway (like a car window) to allow fresh air in. There are also curtains to close off that area from the rest of the cabin to create a veranda-like space.

Additionally, Icon has an extra-long family version of this room type. The Family Infinite Balcony cabin can sleep up to six people, with an alcove featuring upper and lower beds for kids, a separate sleeping area for grown-ups, a living area and a split bathroom (toilet and sink in one room and shower and sink in the other).

Also new to Icon are smaller Surfside Family View Balcony cabins and Infinite Central Park View Balcony cabins. Central Park balcony rooms, which look out over the interior's open-to-the-sky neighborhood, come in regular balcony versions as well. Icon also features hundreds of standard balcony cabins looking out to sea.

I stayed in an Infinite Central Park View Balcony cabin, which has the same cabin design as the regular Infinite Balcony room but overlooks the interior neighborhood instead of the sea. As I said above, I adored the additional interior space, but didn't make much use of the window. In addition to climate control issues, when I opened the window in my room, the noise from around the ship flooded my cabin, and I'm not sure any conversations I had on my "balcony" would be private.

I also discovered that all the inward-facing rooms of any category lack privacy. From my room, I could see straight into the cabins across from me. I watched people leaning on their balcony and room attendants cleaning cabins. And, yes, I did see a dude in his underwear one morning. Any time we needed to change clothes and once it got dark outside, I would close the curtains, changing my lovely room with a view into an inside cabin with no natural light.

Related: Which cruise ship cabin category should your family book?

Royal Caribbean offers three tiers of suites , and each subsequent tier comes with increasing Royal Suite-class perks and amenities .

Icon's Sea-tier suites include Junior Suites and four new Sunset Junior Suites with expansive balconies.

The Sky tier includes several new suite types, starting with the Surfside Family Suites. These 269-square-foot suites sleep four with a glassed-in living area that can turn into a kids bedroom at night, plus a real 53-square-foot balcony overlooking the Surfside neighborhood.

Sky Junior Suites have the same layout as regular Junior Suites but are high up on the ship's top decks. Guests in these suites receive additional Sky-tier perks (such as access to all the Suite neighborhood amenities), whereas regular Junior Suites come with more limited amenities. Sunset Suites and Sunset Corner Suites feature extra-large balconies and beds that face the ocean rather than a wall.

Panoramic Suites are within the ship's iconic AquaDome structure, with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. You won't miss the balcony when you're gazing out to sea from your chic sitting area in front of the glass wall.

The Infinite Grand Suite offers the new convertible balcony design in conjunction with a larger space that sleeps four and includes a split bathroom, useful when multiple guests need to get ready at the same time.

Of the nine top Star-tier suites, only one, the Royal Loft, is on other Royal Caribbean ships. Seven of these top accommodations are new Icon Loft Suites, two-deck-high accommodations with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large balcony with a private dining area and floor-to-ceiling windows.

The creme de la creme of suites on board is the three-deck-high Ultimate Family Townhouse, an evolution of the Ultimate Family Suite that wowed guests on Oasis-class ships. In addition to kid and adult sleeping areas, this 1,772-square-foot top-level suite features an in-suite slide, a movie-viewing room, a karaoke machine and spacious indoor living spaces.

It also offers 751 square feet of outdoor space divided among two balconies and a "backyard" with a pingpong table, outdoor seating and a white picket fence leading directly to all the Surfside neighborhood attractions. It can sleep up to eight guests.

Icon of the Seas restaurants and bars

Icon of the Seas takes Royal Caribbean's drinking and dining game to the next level. The line added new-to-the-brand restaurants to ensure that every neighborhood had a food venue easily accessible, with more quick-service eateries and options for families.

In addition, the line worked with master mixologists to create new and innovative bar menus, complete with zero-proof mocktail options, in watering holes throughout the ship.

Related: The ultimate guide to Royal Caribbean cruise ships and itineraries

Restaurants

Icon of the Seas showcases new dining venues and updated spins on guest favorites. From elevated dining experiences to quick bites, here is what you can expect on board.

The Dining Room: The three-level main dining venue (decks 3, 4 and 5) will offer three courses of globally inspired dishes, such as escargot and spaghetti Bolognese, as well as the cruise line's signature dishes. The center chandelier is stunning. Choose from multiple set-dining times or a more flexible dining plan . You'll find plenty of variety, a kids menu and waiters willing to expedite your dinner so you can make a show, even giving you your dessert to go. (Included.)

Windjammer Marketplace: It wouldn't be a Royal Caribbean ship without an enormous pool deck buffet, and Icon of the Seas has its version on Deck 15. The options are varied and tasty, with Indian entrees and a gluten-free counter in the back. I was impressed with the quality of my meals here. (Included.)

Sorrento's Pizza: You'll find several restaurants within the Royal Promenade, starting with Sorrento's . The popular complimentary all-day and late-night pizza parlor on the Royal Promenade churns out several flavors of pies daily. You'll also find a soda machine here. (Included.)

Giovanni's Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar: The extra-fee purveyor of pizza, pasta, meatballs and more Italian specialties found on some Oasis Class ships and a smattering of other Royal Caribbean vessels has a new location on Icon of the Seas. It's moved from Central Park (on Oasis Class ships) to the upper level of the Royal Promenade, open to all the hubbub and foot traffic of the bustling neighborhood. (Lunch $24.99 per person, dinner $54.99)

Pearl Cafe: This new grab-and-go coffee shop in the Royal Promenade is your day or night spot for fresh sandwiches, pastries and to-go salads. The warm sandwiches are a cut above what you'll find in its predecessor, the Promenade Cafe, but its comfy seating and stellar views steal the show. (Snacks included, but coffee drinks cost extra.)

Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade: Bite into a juicy burger or an outrageous dessert at this extra-fee bar and grill. You can even order signature cocktails that come in football helmets. Playmakers has been repositioned to Deck 6 in an interior location across from Adventure Ocean and Social020 at the far end of the second level of the Royal Promenade. It makes the bar feel like more of a dive and less like a family-friendly grill where you'd take your kids for burgers. (A la carte pricing.)

Surfside Eatery: This new family-friendly buffet venue in the Surfside neighborhood is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It serves up kid-friendly casual fare and options for adults, meaning families don't need to trek up to the Windjammer buffet for meals, and kids can play within sight of their parents if they finish eating first. (Included.)

Pier 7: Also in Surfside, Pier 7 is the casual specialty restaurant aimed at families dining together. It serves California-inspired dishes for lunch and dinner, as well as breakfast all day (but not at night). The baja fish tacos and Korean fried chicken were excellent, and the warm toffee chocolate cake was perfectly molten with bruleed marshmallows on top. Kid dishes include grilled cheese and chicken tenders; brunch options range from a pancake board to eggs Benedict. (Included for kids under 12; a la carte pricing for adults.)

Surfside Bites: This walk-up window eatery makes it easy to grab quick snacks like burgers, popcorn chicken, french fries and cinnamon-sugar churros. (Included.)

Izumi Hibachi & Sushi: Another relocated venue, Izumi takes its rolls, sashimi and juggling hibachi chefs to a new and larger Central Park location with more hibachi tables. It will also feature a Royal Caribbean first: Izumi in the Park, an all-day grab-and-go window for sushi takeout. (Hibachi $64.99 per person, sushi priced a la carte.)

Chops Grille: Royal Caribbean's steakhouse returns to Central Park on Icon but with a twist. Guests can now choose their own cut of meat from the butcher's display. Also, an open window provides diners with a view of chefs preparing their selected cut. (Lunch $29.99 per person, dinner $69.99.)

Park Cafe: This casual favorite for breakfast, lunch and snacks also returns to Central Park on Icon of the Seas. Its Royal Kummelweck roast beef sandwich has a cult following. (Included.)

Empire Supper Club: Designed to evoke an atmosphere of New York City in the 1930s, this new venue offers an upscale experience. Guests can savor an extravagant eight-course meal (think: caviar and wagyu), complete with entertainment. Each dish is paired with a cocktail created by celebrity mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim specifically for Royal Caribbean. A meal here will set you back some serious cash, though with spots for only 38 guests a night, you'll have to book quickly to get a table. ($200 per person.)

Vitality Cafe: Icon of the Seas' spa area on Deck 14 is home to a healthy cafe for extra-fee smoothies and fresh juices. (A la carte.)

AquaDome Market: The line's first food hall will feature five dining options — Feta Mediterranean (fresh pitas and bowls), Toast and Garden (sandwiches and salads), Mac's (macaroni and cheese with varied toppings like beef chili or bacon), GNGR (Asian dishes like tofu-vegetable stir-fry and sweet-and-sour shrimp with pineapple) and Creme de la Crepe (both sweet and savory options). (Included.)

Celebration Table: The new private 14-seat dining experience provides an ideal backdrop for celebrating milestone events. Choose from exclusive American, Italian, Asian and seafood menus. The table is set up inside Hooked Seafood, and your party pays the same rate to reserve the table regardless of whether you fill all the seats or not. Unlike a Chef's Table, you cannot purchase individual meals and seats and join a larger group at Celebration Table. ($999 for dinner for up to 14 people.)

Related: The ultimate guide to cruise ship food and dining

Hooked Seafood: Found in the AquaDome neighborhood, this New England-style seafood venue is the place to go when you're craving oysters, fish & chips and lobster rolls after staring at the waves all day long. (Lunch $24.99 per person, dinner $64.99.)

Sprinkles: Help yourself to ice cream at this Chill Island poolside lineup of soft-serve machines. You'll also find a soft-serve machine in the Surfside neighborhood. (Included.)

El Loco Fresh: Fast-casual Mexican hits the spot after a day in the sun. Pick up a quick lunch or dinner at this Chill Island outpost. (Included.)

Basecamp: When you've worked up an appetite after all the sliding, climbing and surfing at Thrill Island, head to Basecamp to fuel up. Order a hot dog, warm pretzel and tater tots for free, or pay a la carte for comfort food like chicken waffle bits, shrimp bao buns and Wisconsin cheese curds. (A la carte pricing.)

Desserted: Thrill-seekers can enjoy a different kind of rush at this milkshake bar in the Thrill Island neighborhood. You'll find sugary options for kids and spiked versions for grown-ups. At $14 a milkshake, we expected more than just a cute photo; get a cone of soft-serve and top it with a cookie or brownie from the buffet, and you'll replicate the taste for free. (A la carte pricing.)

Coastal Kitchen: This restaurant, exclusive to suite guests and Royal Caribbean's top-tier Pinnacle loyalty program members, features a new two-story layout overlooking the AquaTheater. (Included for select guests.)

The Grove: Icon's expanded Suite neighborhood now includes a casual, alfresco Mediterranean restaurant, reserved for suite guests. (Included for select guests.)

Royal Caribbean is doubling down on the craft cocktail craze with Icon of the Seas. The line worked with master mixologists to create new bar concepts and menus to take the ship's drinking game to the next level. If you're game to try them all, buy your drink package in advance of your cruise when they're often discounted.

The Royal Promenade is home to Royal Caribbean's first double-pianist bar, Dueling Pianos. The two performers take requests and involve guests in musical fun. It is definitely becoming a hot spot at night. That doesn't mean the lone pianist at the Schooner Bar on the opposite end of Deck 6 is feeling lonely. The nautical-themed bar is always a fan favorite.

You'll also find dueling coffee bars here — the dedicated Starbucks venue on Deck 5 and the Pearl Cafe, serving coffee drinks on Deck 6. Other Royal Promenade bars include 1400 (the place for craft cocktails that pay homage to the cruise line's history), Spotlight Karaoke (for that musical buzz), Boleros (the always popular bar and lounge for Latin music and dancing) and the Point & Feather pub.

Down on decks 3 and 4, the Music Hall is the place to jam out and dance to live music. Next door, the casino, of course, has its own bar.

You might not think the ship's family neighborhood would have a bar, but the Lemon Post in the Surfside zone serves both cocktails for the parents and mocktails (elevated lemonade mixes and overly sweet colorful juice concoctions) for the kids.

In Central Park, guests find the new jazz club Lou's Jazz 'n Blues, with cocktails themed to the biggest jazz cities around the world. The walk-up Champagne venue, Bubbles, features mimosas, bellinis and other bubbly-based drinks. The Trellis Bar is also back, now with an extra-fee food menu to accompany your beverage of your choice.

In the AquaDome, the Overlook is a gorgeous lounge featuring special nooks (Overlook Pods) and wraparound windows providing fantastic ocean views. Order the Overlook Bar's signature drink, the AquaDome Spritz, exclusive to this ship and venue. The new coffee shop Rye & Bean will offer caffeine hits and cocktails starring tea and coffee. (Don't miss the chai Old-Fashioned that smells as good as it tastes.)

Beverage destinations in Chill Island include a three-story Lime and Coconut Bar (now with frozen cocktail machines) and Cantina Fresca (serving margaritas). Swim & Tonic is the line's first swim-up bar.

The Basecamp bar in Thrill Island is the place to steady your wobbly post-ropes-course knees with a drink, or you can order a Desserted milkshake with a shot of Baileys or Fireball. The Hideaway Bar serves the adults kicking back in their no-kids-allowed resort-style infinity pool hangout.

Suite guests will find bars exclusive to them in the Coastal Kitchen restaurant and the Grove sun deck. The spa also keeps guests refreshed with the Vitality Cafe smoothie bar.

Icon of the Seas activities

A Caribbean cruise is all about fun in the sun, and Icon of the Seas' upper decks are the place to be.

Chill Island is the ship's three-deck pool area with multiple pools and hot tubs situated along the sides of the ship for stunning ocean views. You'll also find a couple of ping-pong tables and a dry slide from Deck 16 to 15. Open-air cabanas are available to rent.

The Hideaway is an adults-only retreat with hot tubs, lounge chairs facing the ship's wake and an infinity pool cantilevered over the sides of the ship 15 decks up. You can only access The Hideaway from above on Deck 16; don't try to cut through the Windjammer Marketplace like we did. You won't get there.

Thrill Island consolidates all of Icon of the Seas' high-octane activities into one area along Deck 16 aft. Here, you'll find the FlowRider surf simulator, Lost Dunes minigolf courses and rock climbing wall.

Most of Thrill Island is dominated by the Category 6 water park with six slides. Two are raft slides that accommodate two to four people, and two are toboggan-style forward-facing racing slides. One is a drop slide and the other is a 90-degree plunge. Most of the slides are pretty extreme, and little kids (and their wussy parents) might find them too intense.

Also new on Icon of the Seas is the Crown's Edge ropes course. Its claim to fame is that the course takes you around the ship's giant logo, out over the ocean, with a zip line finish. However, there's not much else to the attraction; it's possibly the shortest ropes course we've ever traversed. You'll spend more time gearing up than you will enjoying the course. Crown's Edge offers a fun thrill, but I don't think it's worth paying $89 per person for one run of the course.

Related: 35 Royal Caribbean cruise tips and tricks that will make your voyage better

The ship's Vitality Spa on Deck 14 offers salon services for men and women, plus all your favorite spa treatments and an extra-fee thermal suite with heated loungers and aromatherapy showers. The fitness center is separate, located on decks 5 and 6 (though the Deck 5 entrance is off the jogging track that loops that deck). It's a sprawling gym, with space upstairs for fitness classes.

If you're looking for kid-friendly water play areas, the Surfside family neighborhood is your destination. It features Baby Bay for diapered tots; Splashaway Bay, with a dump bucket, water sprayers and junior waterslides; and an infinity pool for grownups and older siblings. Kids can also enjoy a climbing structure and the carousel with its colorful cartoon creatures to ride.

The Adventure Ocean kids club and Social 020 teen lounge, both on Deck 6, are the it spaces for the under-18 crowd. Adventure Ocean is easily accessible from Surfside, with a long entrance hallway peppered with gaming screens so kids can be entertained while they wait to be checked in (or parents can sneak in a game while they wait to pick up).

Unlike on older ships, Adventure Ocean is divided into AO Babies, the nursery for ages 6 to 36 months; AO Juniors for 3- to 5-year-olds, with their own play space; and the main Adventure Ocean club for kids ages 6 to 12. The Adventure Ocean space is further divided into the Hangout, with video games and digital game tables; the Arena for sports and active play; and the Workshop for science experiments and art projects. A theater space is set to host a black-light, interactive puppet show that families can participate in together.

Drop-off play at Adventure Ocean is free during the day and early evening; it's an hourly rate per child after 10 p.m. The nursery also charges per hour for drop-off at any time.

Social 020 is hidden between Playmakers and the Absolute Zero ice skating rink. It has gaming pods, hangout nooks and comfy seating, and foosball tables. It's meant to be a place for teens ages 13-17 to meet up and hang out, but much of the teen programming will take place around the ship. Look for teen-only takeovers of the water park and Hideaway Pool, VIP seating for select shows, group dinners at Izumi and exclusive laser tag play.

Absolute Zero is the ship's skating rink, accessed from Deck 6. If you're inspired by the cast of its shows, you can lace up and try a few spins during open skating hours on sea days. This is typically where Royal Caribbean hosts its laser tag games as well.

On the opposite end of Deck 6, Icon's escape room sits across from the Crown Lounge for Crown & Anchor VIPs.

You have to search to find the ship's casino on Deck 4. The Casino Royale has all your favorite slots and table games. Other nightlife options include Spotlight Karaoke for embarrassing guest performances, Music Hall for dancing, Dueling Pianos and Lou's Jazz 'n Blues for live music and Playmakers for watching sports and playing table games.

You'll also stumble upon live music across the ship, from the pool deck to Central Park to the pub.

The ship offers a mix of programming from Latin dance classes to liquor tastings, spa seminars, pool games, trivia and more. Check the line's app or the printed Cruise Compass daily newsletter so you don't miss events around the ship.

Family programming in Surfside will be led by Admiral Awesome, who's more or less the family cruise director. You won't miss him in his wild, brightly colored outfits. Activities include the Larger Than Life Family Festival (with giant games and face painting) and evening bedtime stories.

You'll find souvenir and jewelry shops throughout the ships, but predominantly in Central Park and along the Royal Promenade. A Park West art gallery is here, too.

Surfside features the Sugar Beach candy shop and Sunshine & Sundries, which sells plush dolls and kid swim gear you forgot to pack. Don't miss Royal Bling in the AquaDome, where you can buy Royal Caribbean logo jewelry, including a bejeweled chalice that costs $100,000 and comes with a free lifetime drinks package on all Royal Caribbean ships.

The guest services and NextCruise desks are located on the Royal Promenade by the pub. Shore excursions and the photo gallery are behind The Pearl on Deck 5. A conference facility and medical center are located on the ship's lower decks.

Icon of the Seas shows

Royal Caribbean is known for its innovative high-tech, large-scale shows — in the theater, in the water and on the ice. The entertainment on Icon of the Seas stays true to brand and does not fail to impress.

It's difficult to know this early on how hard it will be to get a seat at your preferred show time with so many people on board. It's a good idea to figure out how early you can book shows and book them in advance on the Royal Caribbean app or the "My Royal Cruise" section of the website, or as soon as you board. You'll also want to arrive early for the best seats — or to get in a standby line in case of no-shows.

Icon of the Seas' Royal Theater is located forward of the Royal Promenade on decks 4 and 5. Its signature show is "The Wizard of Oz," and you shouldn't dismiss it. Royal Caribbean has found a way to modernize the show, and the impressive special effects, including set pieces flying above the audience, will captivate cruisers of all ages. Don't miss Toto and other puppets created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

"Wizard of Oz" employs the biggest-ever orchestra at sea (16 pieces), so it's no surprise that Icon of the Seas' second theater show highlights their talents. "Showband!" was not running on my sailing, but the line describes it as an immersive, sensory experience, employing state-of-the-art technology.

On the opposite side of the Royal Promenade on Deck 5 aft is the Absolute Zero ice rink. You can access it past Playmakers on Deck 6. The venue features a circular rink versus the square ones in the Studio B rinks on sister ships.

Its new show is "Starburst," which is themed around the elements (carbon, helium, etc.). Group, solo and pair skating numbers are combined with next-level juggling by a character dubbed "The Starman."

The costumes are creative and fun (including glow-in-the-dark and light-up outfits), and the use of lighting and video on the walls and the ice sets a spacey scene. The round ice stage makes it easier for the skaters to use the entire space to get up speed to do jumps and tricks. You'll gasp at the impressive lifts, spins and jumps the skaters can execute on a moving ship.

The same cast will also present a second, shorter, family-focused show called "Once Upon a Time: The King's Royal Ball." In the show's story, familiar fairytale characters come to a king's party to entertain the families of the world.

Royal Caribbean's famous AquaTheater has been moved from an outdoor space at the back of the ship to the indoor AquaDome at the front of the ship on Deck 15. It also will run a longer, later main show and a shorter, earlier family-friendly show. Neither were ready yet on my preview sailing, but we got to see a few numbers, and they were jaw-dropping and stunning as only acrobatic/diving/synchronized shows with robots, wild lighting and video imagery can be.

The main show, "Aqua Action!" doesn't have a storyline, as far as I could tell, but is meant to push the boundaries of entertainment and wow every audience. You'll witness an aerial pas de deux, dancing robotic arms, crazy high dives and dancing with a lot of splashing. Trust me — you'll be mesmerized. Arrive early because the seating area is surprisingly small given the size of the ship and the popularity of these shows.

The family show is called "Pirates vs. Mermaids," featuring an epic battle to decide who truly rules the waves.

Icon of the Seas will carry on Royal Caribbean's Promenade parade tradition with a pirate-themed show called "Ships Ahoy!" Look out for a soon-to-debut Promenade street party focused on one-hit wonders.

The Attic is the ship's comedy club, located on the Royal Promenade on Deck 6 forward. You'll definitely want to show up early to get a seat for these popular shows.

Live bands perform at night in The Music Hall on decks 3 and 4 by the casino.

Icon of the Seas itinerary and pricing

Icon of the Seas sails weekly from the port of Miami. Its itineraries include weeklong Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries that began with the ship's maiden voyage on Jan. 27, 2024. Travelers can book one of several routings available through April 2026:

• Seven-night Eastern Caribbean voyages with stops at St. Kitts, St. Thomas and Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas, Perfect Day at CocoCay
• Seven-night Eastern Caribbean voyages with stops at St. Maarten (the Dutch side of the island of St. Martin), St. Thomas and Perfect Day at CocoCay
• Seven-night Eastern Caribbean voyages with stops at St. Thomas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Perfect Day at CocoCay
• Seven-night Eastern Caribbean voyages with stops at St. Maarten, San Juan and Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private beach on Haiti
• Seven-night Eastern Caribbean voyages with stops at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; St. Thomas; San Juan; and Perfect Day at CocoCay
• Seven-night Western Caribbean voyages with stops at Roatan, Honduras; Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico; and Perfect Day at CocoCay
• Seven-night Western Caribbean voyages with stops at Costa Maya, Cozumel and Perfect Day at CocoCay

Related: The 5 best destinations you can visit on a Royal Caribbean ship

Cruises on Royal Caribbean's newest and largest ship don't come cheap, and the prices have only increased since the ship first went on sale in 2022. Expect premium pricing for this highly sought-after ship.

When we checked in January 2024, the lowest price for an Icon of the Seas sailing was $1,775 per person, based on double occupancy, for an inside cabin. The cheapest balcony cabins started at $2,426 per person. These prices are for cruises departing in January 2026!

The most expensive sailing at present is a New Year's cruise, departing Dec. 28, 2024, with inside cabins starting at $9,419 and balconies at $10,104 per person.

You might wonder if Icon of the Seas' fares are all-inclusive — they are not. The fares include meals in the main dining room, buffet and a handful of other complimentary restaurants; most entertainment and activities; use of the kids club; and basic drinks like standard coffee and tea, milk and select juices at breakfast. You will pay extra for soda and alcoholic beverages, specialty restaurants, spa treatments and select activities.

Related: 11 extra charges on cruise ships that will drive you nuts — and what you can do about them

What to know before you go

Required documents.

Since Icon of the Seas is currently sailing round-trip from Florida, U.S. citizens can sail with either a current passport or an official copy of their birth certificate and a driver's license or other government-issued photo I.D. Passports must be valid for at least six months.

The name on your reservation must be the same as what's printed on your passport or other official proof of nationality. Double-check if you've recently gotten married or go by a different version of your name.

If you're traveling with a child for whom you are not the legal guardian, you will need to bring a notarized letter, signed by the child's parents or legal guardians, giving you permission to travel with the child.

Related: What documents do you need for a cruise? From passports to printouts, here's what to take

The room stewards and dining staff on Icon of the Seas are friendly and helpful and deserve an extra thank-you. Royal Caribbean makes that easy by charging you an automatic gratuity of $18 to $20.50 per person per day, depending on your cabin category, added to your onboard account and final bill. You are allowed to adjust this amount at the Guest Services desk before disembarking, but please don't — even if you are disappointed by the service. Gratuities are an important part of crewmembers' paychecks.

An 18% gratuity is added to bar, specialty dining and spa/salon bills. You should not feel pressured to add an additional tip.

Related: Everything you need to know about tipping on cruise ships

Royal Caribbean has one of the fastest Wi-Fi systems at sea, called Voom, and you can take advantage of this on Icon of the Seas. Currently, Wi-Fi packages with streaming bandwidth start at $30.99 per day for one device (or $24.99 per day per device for packages accommodating two, three or four devices), though prices do change over time.

Often you can get the best discounts on onboard Wi-Fi by purchasing your plans online in advance of your cruise. If you're a member of Royal Caribbean's Crown & Anchor Society cruise loyalty program, check to see if you're eligible for discounts on Wi-Fi packages.

Certain suite guests and upper-tier loyalty program members receive complimentary Wi-Fi, so know your included perks before you sign up for a package.

Related: How fast is the internet on Royal Caribbean ships? We put it to the test

Carry-on drinks policy

Royal Caribbean guests of legal drinking age can bring one bottle of wine or Champagne onto Icon of the Seas at boarding. If you want to drink that bottle outside your cabin in a restaurant or lounge, you must pay a $15 corkage fee.

Guests can also bring up to a dozen standard cans, bottles or cartons of nonalcoholic drinks such as sodas on board on embarkation day.

Smoking policy

Smoking (including e-cigarette smoking) is forbidden in cabins and on cabin balconies, and those who violate this rule will face a $250 cleaning fee.

Passengers can smoke in Icon of the Seas' casino while playing or in a designated outer area on Deck 17 by the Cloud 17 pool area.

Icon of the Seas does not offer self-service launderettes. Passengers can pay extra for laundry, pressing and dry cleaning services.

Electrical outlets

Cabins on Icon of the Seas have a ton of outlets, though not always where you want them. In my Infinite Ocean-View Balcony cabin, I found two USB, two USB-C, one North American-style 110-volt outlet and one European-style 220-volt outlet by the desk. Two more USB outlets were hidden in the shelving across from the sleeping area. One side of the bed had a USB outlet and the other a 110-volt outlet. (I would have preferred to have one of each on either side of the bed.)

There's also an outlet for shavers by the bathroom shelving near the sink.

The onboard currency is the U.S. dollar, but you won't need cash on the ship. You'll receive a SeaPass card that functions as your shipboard ID, room key and credit card. You'll charge shipboard purchases (drinks, souvenirs, extra-fee meals, shore excursions and so on) to your onboard account, and Royal Caribbean will charge your credit card on file once the cruise ends. You can check your onboard bill in the cruise line's app or at Guest Services.

The shops on CocoCay also take your SeaPass card. The onboard Starbucks outlet (not other cafes where Starbucks-brand beverages are sold) should take Starbucks gift cards and payment through the Starbucks app.

Drinking age

You must be 21 to consume alcohol on Icon of the Seas.

During the day, people dress casually. T-shirts, shorts, athletic wear, casual sundresses and bathing suits are commonly worn on board and ashore. Bring a cover-up to go from the pool back indoors.

You'll also want to dress for the activities you plan to do on board. Wear long pants, socks and a sweatshirt for skating in Absolute Zero (and bring something warm to wear when you go to one of the shows); full-coverage swimwear for the FlowRider and waterslides; and closed-toe shoes and a glasses strap for the Crown's Edge ropes course (and skip the skirt so you can easily put on the jumpsuit).

In the evening, the ship does have a suggested dress code, either casual (just look decent, but shorts are frowned upon at dinner), smart casual (nice restaurant or date attire) or formal (your version of fancy). A seven-night cruise will typically have two formal nights.

Royal Caribbean ships are pretty casual about the dress codes. What you really want to avoid is swimwear, bare feet, pajamas and athletic-style tank tops in the main dining room and specialty restaurants. And dress for your dining venue: You'll want to get dolled up more for a meal at the Empire Supper Club or Chops Grille than you might at Pier 7 or Giovanni's.

Related: Ultimate cruise packing list

Bottom line

Icon of the Seas is a groundbreaking ship for Royal Caribbean, introducing new venues, attractions and accommodation styles while bringing back and evolving fan favorites from past ships. Entertainment is next-level, and the ship's amazing attractions are sure to please all types of vacationers with multiple interests.

Though the ship is the line's largest, it's easy to get around, with lots of crowd control measures in place. You will, however, want to book quickly to obtain your preferred restaurant and show reservations. It might be difficult to be spontaneous and still get to see and eat everything you wish.

The ship has put special emphasis on catering to families with young kids and has created innovative programming for teens. However, its adults-only pool area, inviting bars with creative cocktail menus and plethora of grownup entertainment venues make the ship a perfect option for multigenerational families, friend groups and couples, as well.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

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Watch CBS News

World's largest cruise ship that's 5 times larger than the Titanic set to make its debut

By Li Cohen

July 12, 2023 / 8:38 AM EDT / CBS News

The RMS Titanic was once considered the largest ship in the world before it met its demise in the Atlantic Ocean. Now, Royal Caribbean International has created a "first-of-its-kind" ship nearly five times that size that will soon make its debut. 

The cruise ship, called Icon of the Seas, is massive – measuring 1,198 feet long with 250,800 gross tonnage. Capable of carrying 7,600 guests and 2,350 crew members, the ship is equipped with 20 total decks, seven pools, and what Royal Caribbean describes as six "record-breaking" waterslides.

When the RMS Titanic embarked on its ill-fated maiden voyage in 1912, it measured more than 852 feet long with 46,329 gross tonnage. Icon of the Seas' tonnage is more than five times that amount. 

The new ship will soon be ready for use, starting in January 2024, the cruise company says, after hitting a milestone last month with the successful completion of its i nitial round of sea trials . During those trials, the ship was put on the open ocean for the first time. 

The ship is divided into eight primary areas : 

• The "AquaDome" sits atop the front of the ship, offering 220-degree views and a 55-foot waterfall
• The "Suite Neighborhood" with a Mediterranean restaurant and two-floor sundeck
• A five-deck-high open-air "Central Park" with living plant walls
• "Chill Island" with four pools and a swim-up bar
• "Thrill Island," featuring what the company says is the largest waterpark at sea, called "Category 6"
• An area dedicated to families called "Surfside"
• The "Royal Promenade" with ocean views
• "The Hideaway," which offers 180-degree views at the back of the ship and an infinity pool

Icon of the Seas first opened up for reservations in October of last year while the cruise industry was still recovering from the downturn it faced during the coronavirus pandemic.  At the time, prices started at $1,537 a person, but they have since increased by a few hundred dollars. 

Royal Caribbean now lists the cheapest ticket at $1,851 for an interior room on a seven-night cruise from Miami to the Western Caribbean in September 2024. The most expensive is substantially higher – $10,864 for a suite on the same cruise in March. The ship also offers a seven-day trip to the Eastern Caribbean. 

Take laidback to another level. 🤩 #IconoftheSeas pic.twitter.com/0xIurFOMyD — Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) July 10, 2023

And while many are excited about the chance to ride the ship to the Caribbean, calling it "stunning" and like a "scene from sci-fi movie" on social media, some others have expressed otherwise. 

"Every time I see a picture of the Icon of the Seas cruise ship I am filled with an intense dread ," one person said. 

" Infection of the Seas by Royal Caribbean," another person jested, seemingly alluding to past COVID outbreaks on cruise ships during the pandemic. 

But for Royal Caribbean, it's all about the excitement. The day it opened up tickets for the ship in October, Royal Caribbean said it had the single largest booking day in the company's 53-year history.

"The enthusiasm and excitement for Icon are undeniable in more ways than one," Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, said in October . "The incredible response we have received from our loyal guests, vacationers new to cruising, crew members and travel partners continues to come in, and this is just the beginning. We can't wait to share more of what Icon has in store in the coming months."

• Cruise Ship
• Royal Caribbean

Li Cohen is a social media producer and trending content writer for CBS News.

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MEET THE ICON OF VACATIONS

Icon of the seas, arrives 2024, this is more than a vacation upgrade. it’s the best family vacation in the world — where you’ll have the time of your life, multiple times a day. introducing the new icon of the seas℠, arriving early 2024., set sail for a first-of-its-kind royal caribbean® adventure onboard icon of the seas℠. brace yourself for the largest waterpark at sea, category 6. or choose from seven pools including royal bay℠, the largest swimming pool on a cruise. and in between, fuel bolder bonding with tons to do for everyone in your crew at the ultimate stay-all-day family destination right onboard, surfside℠. plus, discover dishes to delight every appetite, with 40 dining redefining concepts. only on royal caribbean®..

ALL NEW WAYS TO AMAZE

Icon of the seas℠ brings on thrills never imagined, next-level chill never dreamed possible and a fusion of art and innovation never expected..

DIAL UP THE DARING

Take your best-ever vacation and crank it up — way up. This is a whole new kind of adventure with new thrills that change the way you play for good. Like six record-breaking waterslides and an all-out test of courage dangling high above the ocean.

POOL HOP NONSTOP

Save room for some extra splash. Pick from seven different pools, plus nine whirlpools to satisfy any mood you're in. Or cool off with refreshing cocktails at The Lime and Coconut® bar spanning multiple levels of chill beach vibes.

EVERYTHING BUT THE EXPECTED

Technology and artistry merge on the new Icon of the Seas℠, inspiring awe on a grand scale. From performances that push the bounds of bravery to mixology magic against a background of wraparound ocean views — icons don’t just steal the show, they change the way you see it forever.

STAND OUT NIGHTLIFE

There’s never been a night out like going all out onboard the new Icon of the Seas℠ with over 15 spirit-sipping spots and vibrant live music venues to choose from. When the sun goes down, your night lights up with possibilities.

Or Contact our Reservations Team Middle East: +971 4 331 4299 Saudi Arabia Toll Free: 800 897 1419 Email: [email protected]

Set your sight, on paradise, miami is your gateway to the world’s best family vacation. dial up action-packed adventures or unplug and chill while you explore some the most sought-after eastern and western caribbean islands on the planet. do it all — your way — on the new icon of the seas℠..

WESTERN CARIBBEAN GEMS

Turn up bold adventures at some of the most beautiful destinations in the Western Caribbean. Marvel at lush tropical jungles in Roatán, trek through Mayan ruins in Cozumel — and brave the tallest waterslide in North America at our gamechanging private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay.

EASTERN CARIBBEAN WONDERS

Unlock the shores of the Eastern Caribbean and max out memories like never before on 7-night getaways. Discover all-out adventure in the tropics on every sailing with stops at our private destination, Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas. Voted Best Private Island by Travel Weekly readers, it’s a place unlike any other.

RELATED DESTINATIONS

Health and safety protocols, guest conduct rules, and regional travel restrictions vary by ship and destination, and are subject to change without notice. due to evolving health protocols, imagery and messaging may not accurately reflect onboard and destination experiences, offerings, features, or itineraries. these may not be available during your voyage, may vary by ship and destination, and may be subject to change without notice..

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7 wild facts about the world’s biggest cruise ship

The icon of the seas has more than five times the tonnage of the titanic.

Is it a dream vacation or nightmare scenario? Depictions of the world’s largest cruise ship — the Icon of the Seas , setting sail in January — have the internet in an uproar.

One image especially seems to have captured the public’s imagination: a rear-end view that looks like a towering layer cake topped with silly string.

“The physical manifestation of Barbenheimer,” wrote one Twitter user, referring to the releases of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” about the development of the atomic bomb, on the same day. “Nightmare clown lasagna,” wrote another.

Many invoked the Northern European painter Hieronymus Bosch , Dante’s “Inferno ” and hamster cages . A smattering said it looked like actual fun .

The "Icon Of The Seas" sets sail in January 2024. 5610 passengers, 2350 crew members, 5 times larger and heavier than the Titanic, 19 floors with more than 40 bars, restaurants and bowling alleys. What a monstrosity! pic.twitter.com/igoQRUZ3nP — Ray Monk (@Raymodraco) July 9, 2023

Tanner Callais, founder and editor of cruise information site Cruzely , said in an email that it’s no surprise the behemoth is creating buzz.

“Looking at those renderings, I think the ship almost looks like a cartoon with the huge water park at the back,” he said. “It’s just unreal that something like that can be built to sail the ocean.”

Whatever the impression it’s leaving, cruise line Royal Caribbean International says Icon, which completed initial sea trials in June, is selling like mad. The company reported its single largest booking day when reservations opened in October; sales have since set two more records.

The Miami-based company is no stranger to setting records: Royal Caribbean has brought several “world’s largest” ships to market, notably the Oasis of the Seas in 2009, which dwarfed all others in its wake. Additional iterations have been slightly larger than the original, and even Icon of the Seas will only be 10 feet longer than its closest runner-up.

Travel adviser Danny Genung, CEO of Harr Travel , said he was up in the middle of the night booking trips for clients when reservations opened. He snagged a spot on the inaugural voyage for himself.

“There’s never been a ship launch like this in the industry,” he said.

Here are seven standout stats about the ship.

10 things you didn’t know were on cruise ships

It can hold 5,610 passengers.

That’s not including crew. That’s a few hundred more people than the population of Bar Harbor, Maine, which is U.S. News & World Report’s top small town in the United States to visit this year.

Crew adds another 2,350 to the total. And because ships are designed to accommodate more than two people per room with additional beds for families or groups, the total guest capacity is actually a whopping 7,600. When Oasis of the Seas was introduced as the biggest ship in the world in 2009, its capacity at double occupancy was 5,400 guests.

The average capacity for the 44 ships being introduced between this year and 2028 is 2,749 passengers, according to the Cruise Lines International Association.

It’s nearly 1,200 feet long.

The ship is only 10 feet longer than previous biggest-ship record-holders, at 1,198 feet. That’s the equivalent of more than three football fields or nearly four Statues of Liberty, pedestals included.

To visualize another way, the ship’s length is just 52 feet shorter than the height of the Empire State Building , not including the spire.

every time I see a picture of the Icon of the Seas cruise ship I am filled with an intense dread — Kylie Noele (@KylieNoele) July 11, 2023

It has more than five times the tonnage of the Titanic.

Cruise ships are ranked according to gross tonnage, the measure of internal volume. This is where Icon of the Seas really outshines the competition, at 250,800 gross tons. The next-closest is Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas, which comes in at 235,600.

To compare, the Titanic was 46,329 gross tons.

Stomach viruses are back up on cruise ships, with hundreds falling ill

It has more than a dozen decks.

Icon of the Seas will feature 20 decks, 18 of which are for guest use. Those decks encompass eight “neighborhoods,” including a Central Park packed with live plants; a massive water park; a three-deck cluster of pools; a massive dome featuring a waterfall and performances; and an area for families with young kids to play and eat.

The next-largest ship in Royal Caribbean’s fleet, Wonder of the Seas, has 18 decks, all but two of which are for guests.

There’s a pool for every day of the week.

There will be seven pools on the ship, including a swim-up bar, suspended infinity pool and what Royal Caribbean describes as the “largest pool at sea.”

Voyager of the Seas , which was the world’s largest in 1999 when it launched, has three pools.

It has the biggest water park on the water.

Royal Caribbean is boasting that Icon will have the “largest waterpark at sea,” called Category 6. That refers to hurricane strength (which tops out at Category 5) but also the six slides on board. There’s an open free-fall slide, a 46-foot drop slide, family raft slides and a pair of mat-racing slides.

“Everybody now has a waterslide or two but having a water park with six slides that would be as good on land as they are on sea, it’s really unheard of,” Genung said.

In a 2022 roundup of best cruise ship water parks, Cruise Critic highlights Carnival. Many of its ships offer a trio of slides. MSC Cruises comes close to Icon’s number on some of its recent ships, offering four or five slides, and the cruise site notes that some of Norwegian Cruise Line’s ships have up to five waterslides.

Love that cheap cruise price? Don’t forget the boatload of fees.

There are 40-plus places to eat and drink yourself silly.

Cruise ships have expanded their food and beverage options in recent years far beyond just a buffet, main dining room and pool bar. Icon will offer more than 40 ways to “drink, dine and be entertained,” including 15 bars and nightlife experiences and more than 20 dining options.

Restaurants on board run the gamut, with an eight-course supper club experience, an all-day brunch spot, sushi, street food, a steakhouse and, yes, buffets. Reflecting cruise passengers’ appetite for variety, this total is actually on par with the current record-holder, Wonder of the Seas.

For a land-based comparison, Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas says on its website that it offers 21 restaurants and 19 bars and lounges.

Genung, the travel agency CEO, said he has clients who say the ship looks amazing but seems too big for them.

“You get all the scope of reactions: ‘That’s cool, that’s crazy; I can’t wait to do it, I would never want to do that,’” he said. But he said that, especially for multigenerational families who want to travel together, it’s a great fit.

“The thing with this is it’s a perfect cruise for lots at different people at different times in life,” he said.

More cruise news

Living at sea: Travelers on a 9-month world cruise are going viral on social media. For some travelers, not even nine months was enough time on a ship; they sold cars, moved out of their homes and prepared to set sail for three years . That plan fell apart, but a 3.5-year version is waiting in the wings.

Passengers beware: It’s not all buffets and dance contests. Crime data reported by cruise lines show that the number of sex crimes has increased compared to previous years. And though man-overboard cases are rare, they are usually deadly .

The more you know: If you’re cruise-curious, here are six tips from a newcomer. Remember that in most cases, extra fees and add-ons will increase the seemingly cheap price of a sailing. And if you happen to get sick , know what to expect on board.

Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, world's largest cruise ship, makes maiden voyage

The world’s largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas , has officially sailed the ocean blue for the first time in preparation for its highly anticipated 2024 debut. 

After completing the first round of European sea trials, Royal Caribbean’s newest – and its largest, the cruise line boasts – is one step closer to its January 27 inaugural voyage.

The ship has since made its return to the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland, where more than 450 specialists are conducting tests on the main engines, bow, propellers, and noise and vibration levels in preparation for the ship's second set of sea trials slated for later this year. 

What all can you do on an Icon of the Seas cruise?

Royal Caribbean designed Icon of the Seas to give seafarers a chance to pick the best of perks from different kinds of vacations – resort getaway, beach escape, or theme park adventure – while on the cruise. Attractions include a six-slide waterpark, seven full-size swimming pools, an aqua park for families, a swim up bar, exclusive dining experiences, arcades, live music and shows.

“Every type of family and kind of adventurer can make memories together and on their own terms without compromise across record-breaking thrills, relaxing ways to chill, a neighborhood designed for young families, more than 40 ways to dine, drink and be entertained, and more,” Royal Caribbean says in its latest press update . 

The first cruise is already sold out, but starting in February 2024, visitors can begin their journey in Miami and spend seven nights onboard the Icon sailing through eastern or western Caribbean with ports of call including the Bahamas, Mexico, Honduras St. Maarten, and St. Thomas. 

Royal Caribbean plans for Icon of the Seas to sail all year, so prices vary; but some start at about $1,700 per person. For more details about Icon of the Seas, visit the Royal Caribbean website.  

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Royal Caribbean Takes Delivery of Icon of the Seas, the World’s Largest Cruise Ship

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Royal Caribbean International has taken delivery of the world’s largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, from Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland. Delivery comes after more than seven years since the order was placed and 900 days of design and construction.

Icon of the Seas is the first vessel in a series of three Icon Class ships for Royal Caribbean. With a record-breaking 250,800 gross tonnes, the ship has the capacity to accommodate up to 5,610 passengers in double occupancy, or a maximum capacity of 7,600 guests, along with 2,350 crew members. The second ship in this class is scheduled for delivery in 2025, followed by the third in 2026.

Icon of the Seas also marks Royal Caribbean’s first ship powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). Alongside a range of energy efficiency measures and industry-leading environmental programs on board, including the first waste-to-energy plant at sea, the ship is 24% more energy efficient than the current standards for ship design—marking an important step in Royal Caribbean Group’s journey to introduce a net-zero cruise ship by 2035.

The first two ships in the class were ordered in 2016, with original delivery dates in 2022 and 2024, but were delayed due to the pandemic.

Royal Caribbean held a ceremony on Monday to commemorate the delivery. The event was attended by over 1,200 crew members and workers, as well as Jason Liberty, President and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, Michael Bayley, President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, and Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku.

“Delivering Icon of the Seas represents all that can be accomplished with strong partnerships and a commitment to delivering memorable vacations responsibly. The memories millions of families and vacationers will make on Icon will be our greatest accomplishment yet,” said Liberty.

The ship also features the first “AquaDome,” the largest glass and steel structure ever lifted onto a cruise ship, as well as engineering innovations to provide more water on board than ever before, featuring seven pools and six record-breaking waterslides.

Icon of the Seas will sail from Turku to Cadiz, Spain, where the final touches will be put in place before the ship’s highly anticipated debut in Miami in January 2024.

“Welcoming Icon of the Seas to the Royal Caribbean family is a remarkable achievement years in the making,” said Michael Bayley, President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International. “Seven years ago, we had an ambitious idea to create the first vacation truly made for every type of family and adventurer, and now, it’s in our hands. We’ll bring it all to life for the biggest debut in our history in January 2024.”

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• CruiseMapper
• Royal Caribbean

Icon Of The Seas

Former names: icon1, mayer turku nb-1400.

Cruise line Royal Caribbean

• Miami (Florida)

Icon Of The Seas current position

Icon Of The Seas current location is at North West Atlantic Ocean (coordinates 25.94069 N / -78.19722 W) cruising at speed of 15.1 kn (28 km/h | 17 mph) en route to Miami. The AIS position was reported 12 minutes ago.

Current itinerary of Icon Of The Seas

Icon Of The Seas current cruise is 7 days, round-trip Eastern Caribbean Perfect Day . Prices start from USD 3319 (double occupancy rates). The itinerary starts on 06 Apr, 2024 and ends on 13 Apr, 2024 .

Specifications of Icon Of The Seas

•   Itineraries
•   Review
•   Wiki

Icon Of The Seas Itineraries

Icon of the seas review, review of icon of the seas.

The 2024-built Icon of the Seas cruise ship is RCI-Royal Caribbean's first ICON-Class vessel scheduled for delivery and inauguration in 2024 January, being postponed from 2022-Q2 and 2023-Q3 due to the COVID crisis. The liner is currently the world's largest by volume/GT-tons (~6% bigger than Wonder OTS ) and has two same-designed sisterships - Star Of The Seas (2025-Q2) and TBN of the Seas (2026-Q2).

"Project Icon" is the name for a passenger ship class ordered by RCG-Royal Caribbean Group/shipowner to Meyer Merf's Shipyard in Turku Finland .

The vessel (IMO number 9829930) is currently Bahamas- flagged (MMSI 311001178) and registered in Nassau .

History - construction and ownership

Royal Caribbean International (RCI) is a US company, trademarked brand, and subsidiary owned by Royal Caribbean Group (RCG/shipowner). RCI was established in 1968 and currently has over 1/5 of the worldwide cruise market. RCI also has RCG's largest fleet by both vessel number and GT tonnage (ship sizes and capacities).

All RCI liners have names ending with "of the Seas".

Each vessel from the ICON series has passenger capacity 5610 (lower berths) and GT tonnage/volume 250800 tons, making the design Royal Caribbean's/world's largest.

On May 5, 2022, an RCI spokesperson announced that the ICON class will be bigger (in both passenger capacity and volume) than the OASIS class, which makes Icon of the Seas currently the world's largest passenger ship ever constructed. On October 20th, RCI revealed more details, including the vessel's exact volume (250800 GT-tons) and max capacity (9950/7600 passengers + 2350 crew). For comparison, the previously largest passenger ships (OASIS PLUS class) have GT ~227000 tons and max capacity 8800 (6410 pax + 2390 crew).

Initially, the ICON ship design was announced with passenger capacity ~5200 and GT tonnage ~200K.

Decks and Cabins

Of all Icon of the Seas staterooms (2805 total, in 28 grades), ~70% are balconies and over 80% accommodate 3 or more people. The ship has 179x suites, 1815x balconies, 276x oceanviews (including 12x Panoramic) and 744x inside cabins (534x Standard plus 214x Interior-Facing/Promenade View Balcony). Infinite Balconies are 693 (615x Standard plus 78x Family). Wheelchair-accessible cabins are 50.

Icon OTS has 14 new for RCI cabin categories - Inside Plus, Panoramic Ocean View (redesigned/both cabins and suites), Infinite Balcony, Family Infinite Balcony, Surfside Family Suite, Sky Junior Suite, Sunset Suite, Sunset Corner Suite, Icon Loft Suite, and the Ultimate Family Townhouse.

"Panoramic Ocean View" cabins and suites are in the AquaDome Neighborhood and all are with floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall windows.

"Infinite Balcony" are "French Balcony" cabins with drop-down panoramic/wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling windows enclosing the terrace. These accommodations are designed as convertible, transforming the veranda into an indoor space (within the cabin/separated by accordion doors) at the push of a button. This category (as Edge Veranda Infinity) debuted on Celebrity Cruises ' EDGE-class ships.

"Family Infinite Balcony" cabins accommodate 6 people and are with split bathrooms, a separate kids' bedroom (with bunk beds), and an infinite balcony.

"Surfside Family Suite" is in the Surfside Neighborhood, accommodates 4 people, has a separate kids' bedroom (convertible into a lounge room) and its occupants receive Royal Suite Class perks.

"Sunset Corner Suite" (fleet's first) represents aft-facing staterooms (located at the stern) featuring large wraparound terraces.

The "Ultimate Family Townhouse" is a 3-deck/level suite designed for families. The stateroom is with private access to Surfside Neighborhood and features an indoor dry slide, media room/cinema, karaoke room, huge terrace.

The 3-deck Suite Neighborhood houses all the top-tier staterooms. It features an exclusive 2-deck Sundeck and an expanded Coastal Kitchen (suite-only restaurant on 2 levels, overlooking the AquaTheater). There is a larger exclusive sundeck (accessed only by Star Class and Sky Class suites) with its own swimming pool and an outdoor Jacuzzi, plus a new, suite-only casual dining venue (The Grove) offering traditional Mediterranean cuisine specialties.

The suites are in categories (high to low grade) Family Townhouse, Royal Loft, Icon Loft, Owner's, Infinite Grand, Grand, Sunset Corner, Surfside Family, Sunset, Junior, and Panoramic (with windows).

ICON ships also have a new (patented design) crew cabin type with an L-shaped bed layout.

The boat has 19 decks , of which 18 are passenger-accessible and 12 with cabins.

RCI's ICON-class vessels have 40+ F&B concepts (including 23 fleet-firsts) and 26 fleet-firsts (features, amenities, technologies) including 15 water activities.

For detailed information on the RCI's ICON ships as technologies see the ship's Wiki page .

Shipboard facilities and amenities

RCI's ICON class features the OASIS class' Central Park Neighborhood - an inside-the-ship, open-air, multi-deck space whose base level is fitted with live vegetation (trees, bushes, flowers). The design also includes the fore-located Solarium - a 2-decks spanning adults-only relaxation complex (covered by a glass rooftop) with its own cafe/bistro, bar, thalassotherapy pool, large Jacuzzies, indoor sunbathing area (deckchairs, loungers, daybeds), an outdoor sundeck.

The Sun Deck (positioned midship) is on two levels and fitted with a large swimming pool surrounded by a sunbathing area. A series of columns (midship-aft) support the waterslides and the Ropes Course (costs US$90 per person).

The stern (like on the OASIS liners) is open-deck and with cascading suite terraces.

Like all RCI boats, Icon also has a FlowRider (surfing simulator positioned aft-starboard on top deck), an island-themed Mini-Golf Course (Lost Dunes) and Rock-Climbing Walls (at Adrenaline Peak), Ice-Rink Arena (Absolute Zero/fleet's largest).

Icon OTS has 10x new for RCI dining concepts out of 20x total different venues, of which 11x are complimentary and 9x are at fee.

Icon ship's retail shopping complex spreads across four floors (decks 5-6-8-15) and groups a total of 14 retail shops. The onboard stores sell duty- and tax-free priced products like perfumes, cosmetics, fashion clothing and accessories, watches, jewelry, liquor and tobacco, confectionery, games and toys. Additionally, a dedicated Tech Shop sells electronics, gadgets, batteries, headphones, walkie-talkies, Nintendo 3DS gaming consoles. The Splash Store sells sunscreens, skincare products, swim accessories. The Health Essentials Store sells toiletries and medicines.

Neighborhoods

Icon OTS has 7x swimming pools (scattered across 5 decks), 9x outdoor Jacuzzies/whirlpools, and the fleet's largest waterpark with 6x waterslides (including the largest at sea).

Next are listed pools' operational/opening hours.

• (Chill Island Neighborhood/Deck 15) Royal Bay Pool (starboard, with 2x Jacuzzies) and Cove Pool (portside infinity pool/adults-only), Hideaway Pool (aft/beach club-themed) are open between 9 am and 10 pm.
• (Chill Island Neighborhood/Deck 17) Cloud 17 Pool (adults-only solarium/sundeck, max 250 people, starboard-positioned, with a whirlpool) is open between 8 am and 7 pm.

Like the OASIS and OASIS PLUS ships, the ICON ships have 8x neighborhoods (themed decks) which are named AquaDome, Central Park, Chill Island, Thrill Island, Royal Promenade, The Hideaway, Surfside, and Suite Neighborhood.

( Deck 5 and Deck 6 ) Royal Promenade Neighborhood is on two levels and houses staterooms plus 15x F&B venues (bars, lounges, cafes, restaurants) including Giovanni's Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar, Pearl Cafe (similar to Cafe Promenade/open 24-hours, offers complimentary grab-and-go food/sandwiches, fresh-baked croissants, packaged salads, sweets, beverages/tea, sodas, specialty coffees), Campfire Cookie (patisserie), Sorrento's Pizzeria (pizza by the slice, fresh-baked specialty pies/different each day, also selling draft beers on tap), Point & Feather (104-seat English pub hosting dart tournaments and live acoustic guitar performances in the evenings, serves a selection gin-based cocktails), Boleros (Latin-themed bar lounge with live music performances/85 seats), 1400 Bar (named after the ship's hull number/offering live piano music in the evenings/capacity 67 indoor + 18 outdoor seats), Spotlight Karaoke Bar (106 seats), The Attic (comedy club lounge/159 seats), Starbucks (coffee shop), Crown Lounge (fka Diamind Lounge ^ Bar /exclusive venue for Diamond and above members), Dueling Pianos Bar (with 2x Baby Grand pianos), Music Hall (on 2 floors/decks 3-4). On Royal Promenade are also the 4-deck-high The Pearl (sphere-shaped structure positioned midship on decks 5-6-7-8) and Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade (107 seats).

The Pearl is a unique kinetic art sculpture providing multi-sensory experiences and housing special "sound and sight" events. It has height 14 m (45 ft), diameter 16 m (52 ft), and is constructed from ~3000 computer-driven kinetic tiles. At this unique facility can be emulated natural occurrences like rolling waves, gentle breezes, shooting stars, and the dynamic ocean surface. The tiles' arrangement follows a Fibonacci sequence, mirroring patterns observed in marine life. The Pearl's movements are interactive and influenced by real-time data (tidal and wind) from the sea, allowing it to continually transform, mirroring the current environmental conditions.

Icon's Royal Promenade has length 110 m/362 ft, and unlike RCI's previous Royal Promenade design has floor-to-ceiling windows providing unobstructed ocean views. Also, on the lower level (in the Embarkation Area starboard on Deck 5) is the "1400 Lobby Bar" (with indoor/outdoor seating, serves juice-based beverages and cocktails). The Lobby Bar's name has the ship's hull number (1400).

( Deck 8 ) Central Park Neighborhood is 1/5th larger than on the OASIS ships (with thousands of live plants and live music performances) and houses several dining venues - Izumi Hibachi & Sushi (Asian/Japanese restaurant also offering Teppanyaki - food cooked on an iron griddle), Izumi in the Park (sushi to-go, sweets), Chops Grille (steakhouse), Park Cafe (casual restaurant for breakfast/lunch/dinner, and also for late-night snacks/open 5:30-10 pm), Empire Supper Club (8-course-meal food hall), Trellis Bar (12 seats), Schooner Bar, Desserted (milkshake bar also serving Cinnamon Toast Crunch Milkshake), Lou's Jazz 'n Blues (71 indoor + 16 outdoor seats/live performances nightly, classic and crafted cocktails), Bubbles (walk-up champagne bar with live music). Central Park is an outdoor relaxation zone (within the ship's interior).

Central Park's garden houses 21000+ live plants and features multi-deck-high metal columns and green walls (covered in vines and ferns), several pathways, recordings of various species (birds, insects, animals) played, live seasonal plants (flowers, shrubs, trees). Signage boards provide detailed information on all Central Park's trees and plants.

Central Park's Empire Supper Club is a 1930s NYC-themed restaurant with two evening seatings (at 6 and 8:30 pm) and an 8-course menu. The cuisine is American and each course is paired with a beverage (wines by the glass or cocktails/created exclusively for RCI by Tony Abou-Ganim). Empire Supper Club is RCI's "most elegant restaurant" and the first dining venue combining food with music. The resident 3-piece band performs a different song during each course. The Supper Club has 38 seats (max capacity/one seating per night) and costs ~US$200 per person.

Part of Central Park, on ICON-class ships was introduced "Izumi in the Park" - Izumi's sushi-to-go/takeaway food bar with a pick-up window. Open between 11:30 am -10:30 pm, the venue offers sushi, spicy beef gyoza, sweets (bubble waffles, ice cream cones). A sushi bento box can be ordered and eaten elsewhere onboard.

Suite Neighborhood spans 3 floors (forward on decks 16-17-18) and features a 2-floor exclusive sundeck (with swimming pool and Jacuzzi/on deck 18) and two exclusive restaurants (for Star- and Sky Suite passengers-only) - The Grove (38-seat alfresco buffet restaurant serving popular Mediterranean dishes/on deck 18) and Coastal Kitchen (capacity 154 seats, fleet's first on 2 levels/on decks 16-17).

( Deck 15 /aft) The Hideaway Neighborhood is a beach club-themed pool deck with a suspended infinity pool (the first at sea), and a surrounding 2-deck terrace/tiered outdoor lounge with Jacuzzies, a dedicated poolside bar (Hideaway Bar) and a variety of seating. Here is also the Windjammer Marketplace (complimentary Lido buffet restaurant open for breakfast, lunch, dinner/has 2 indoor bars). Two types of daybeds (in-pool and oceanview, each for 2-4 people) can be reserved for The Hideaway Pool. Daybed amenities include 4x bottled waters, 4x towels, 1x bottle of champagne (in an ice bucket, with 4x souvenir glasses), a side table, and beverage service by dedicated staff. For season 2024, The Hideaway's In-Pool Daybeds cost US$250/350 (port day/sea day) while the Oceanview Daybeds cost US$200/300 (port day/sea day).

( Deck 15 /forward) AquaDome Neighborhood is fully covered by a glass dome (transparent roof with unobstructed 220-degree outside views via floor-ceiling/wall-to-wall windows). AquaDome features the largest-at-sea waterfall (transforming in the evenings into AquaTheater) which waters fall right from the ceiling. During the day, AquaDome serves as a relaxation complex with a serene ambiance and various food and beverage options (restaurants and bars). In the evening, AquaDome transforms into a "nightlife zone" housing RCI's signature entertainment venue AquaTheater (redesigned, smaller-sized and indoor/glass-covered on ICON ships) hosting high-diving aquatic and aerial acrobatic shows. The AquaTheater has a transforming deepwater swimming pool and is fitted with modern technologies including multi-media equipment (superior light-sound-smoke effects, 3D flying projections), stage lifts, 4x robotic arms. A new for RCI venue in the AquaDome is Rye & Bean (coffee shop/bar).

AquaDome Market is a complimentary food hall with 5x different stands - Feta Mediterranean (Greek cuisine/fresh-baked pitas and Mediterranean bowls, with a separate bar for beverages/including beers and wine by the glass), Mac's (fresh-baked macaroni and cheese pizza, with toppings like smoked gouda, BBQ sauce, slow-roasted pulled pork), Toast & Garden (light fare/salads, sandwiches), GNGR (Asian dishes), and Creme de la Crepe (sweet and savory French crepes/thin pancakes), with made-to-order choices. AquaDome Market is open for breakfast (7 am), lunch (11:30 am) and dinner. Extra cost beers and wines by the glass (table service).

Near Aquatheater's entrance is Royal Bling (Retail Shop) selling Royal Caribbean-logoed/RCI-branded merchandise (keepsakes/jewelry rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, etc). Among the store's merchandise is a US$100,000 gold-adorned chalice, the owner of which will enjoy unlimited onboard beverages for life.

Note: OASIS liners' outdoor AquaTheater (positioned at the stern) is replaced on the ICON boats with a family-themed activity deck. AquaDome has two dining venues - Hooked Seafood (seafood restaurant) and Celebration Table (an upgraded Chef's Table/VIP dining experience/12-seats, floor-ceiling windows, 4x different menus - American, Italian, Asian, Seafood) plus the bow-facing Overlook Lounge (in front of the AquaTheater) that provides 160-degree ocean views. The 2-floor Overlook Lounge (decks 14-15) is an indoor observation lounge with capacity 164 seats (112 chairs + 52 pods).

(aft on Deck 7 ) Surfside Neighborhood (fleet-first) is specifically designed for young families - adults and kids aged under six. Surfside houses family-type staterooms as well as a swimming pool (Water's Edge/infinity pool), a carousel, Splashaway Bay (kids' aquapark with a slide), Baby Bay (waterpark for toddlers, with a splash pool), Adventure Ocean (children's clubs/indoor facilities for age-appropriate supervised activities), Social020 (teen-only complex hosting activities like playing video games, watching movies, dancing, various classes, fun contests), Challenger's Arcade (classic and new games), The Lemon Post Bar (family bar with a great selection of both alcoholic cocktails and mocktails), soft ice cream station (complimentary), Sugar Beach (candy shop, gourmet ice cream), plus three dining venues - Surfside Bites (open 11 am-5 pm/takeaway food bar with a pick-up window; offers grab-and-go burgers, popcorn chicken, cinnamon sugar donuts), Surfside Eatery (family buffet for breakfast and lunch, buffet+sit-down venue in the evening/ offers pancakes with chocolate chips, fun cookies, fresh fruits, pasta with various sauces) and Pier 7 (Supper Club/specialty restaurant but kids eat for free).

(aft on Deck 16 ) Thrill Island Neighborhood is adventure-themed and dedicated to outdoor activities. It houses Crown's Edge (activity zone at fee/costs extra) and "Category 6" (aquapark, currently the largest at sea/covering a total area of 1580 m2/17010 ft2) and is served by the Basecamp Bar. The water park groups 6x slides - ranked the industry's tallest (Frightening Bolt/height 46 ft / 14 m), longest (Storm Chasers), and fastest (Storm Surge & Hurricane Hunter). The slides are named "Pressure Drop" (free-fall slide/incline 66-degrees), Storm Chasers (dual mat-racing slide) and "Storm Surge and Hurricane Hunter" (suspended dual raft-racing slides/max capacity 4x riders per raft). Crown's Edge zone (another fleet-first) combines a glass-bottomed skywalk (positioned off the superstructure's midship-portside), a ropes course, zip-line, bumper cars, water slides, and a thrill ride as in a surprising moment the skywalk's floor drops and guests start swinging 154 ft / 47 m above the sea.

The outdoor Basecamp Bar offers complimentary food plus premium a la carte-priced items and beverages. The venue is open between 11 am and 10 pm, while its bar for beverages opens at 9 am. Fast food choices include smash burgers, fried chicken nugget waffles with honey, crispy shrimp bao buns.

Deck 20 is Category 6 Waterpark's entry level for the slides. The waterslides' min-height/max-weight requirements are as follows: Frightening Bolt and Pressure Drop (55 inches/265 lbs), Storm Chasers (42 inches/265 lbs), Storm Surge and Hurricane Hunter (48 inches without parents, 55 inches with parents/595 lbs).

The midship-positioned Chill Island Neighborhood spans 3 decks (15-16-17) and houses 4x (of the ship's 7x) swimming pools and is served by the poolside bar "Swim & Tonic". Chill Island has the largest on-a-cruise liner swimming pool (Royal Bay Pool), Cove Pool (infinity-edge), Sprinkles (complimentary ice cream bar), the Cloud 17 (adults-only sundeck with a Smoking Area and a Jacuzzi), and is served by The Lime & Coconut Bar Lounge (with four locations, including the fleet-first frozen cocktail bar) and Swim & Tonic.

Swim & Tonic is RCI's first shipboard swim-up bar (capacity 12 people). It is in a shallow swimming pool (with floating loungers) and adjacent to a hot tub and a sunbathing area (with loungers).

The following dining venues serve both adventure-themed top decks - El Loco Fresh (complimentary grab-and-go Mexican food/open 11 am - 7 pm), Cantina Fresca (complimentary Mexican-themed bar/food and beverages), AquaDome Market (complimentary food hall) and Hooked Seafood (specialty restaurant) positioned below Sports Court (deck 16).

Besides the 22x lifts/"destination elevators" (positioned in the forward and aft atriums) and all staircases, an escalator interconnects decks 2-4-5. An indoor staircase (positioned midship-aft) directly connects three neighborhoods - Royal Promenade (decks 5-6), Surfside (deck 7) and Central Park (deck 8).

Destination elevators allow passengers to more efficiently move between decks for reduced crowding and better passenger flow. In front of the lifts, there are digital panels to select which deck to go to and which lift to take. Inside the elevators there are no panels/buttons to push, meaning fewer stops on every floor.

The Main Dining Room/MDR is on 3 levels (decks 3-4-5) and is traditionally positioned aft. The MDR has a different 3-course menu each night of the voyage (with differently-themed cuisine) and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Royal Theater is the main show lounge spreading over 3 floors (forward on decks 3-4-5). The venue doubles as a cinema and also hosts daily scheduled activities (like trivia games, bingo, enrichment lectures) while in the evenings are presented Broadway-style, grand-scale music, dance and show productions, as well as aerial acrobatic performances. The theater presents nightly 2 grand shows - early (at 8 pm) and late (at 10 pm) to match the assigned dining room sittings. Both are full-length production shows with professional performances (singing, dancing, acting, live band music) by the ship's resident entertainment staff. Signature shows are "Hairspray" (musical comedy / original Broadway production themed on humor and commentaries on early 1960's race relations) and "Flight" (themed on the history of flying). Specifically for Icon OTS was developed "The Wizard of Oz" (2011-created musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber) presented on the ship 3-4 times weekly. Other theater entertainment options are the rotating Headliners (tribute band show) and popular game shows (like "Love and Marriage"). Royal Theater has its own bar for refreshments (waiter service during the shows).

Absolute Zero (decks 4-5) is an Ice-Rink Arena and RCI fleet's largest ice-skating stadium (complimentary show lounge/theater). Daily, Absolute Zero is operated with 45-min sessions (max 50 guests per session) for ice-skating, ice games, hockey, demonstrations, adult scavenger hunts. In the evenings, there is a live RCI original production show (professional ice show). Absolute Zero is a complimentary venue (equipment is provided) and reservations are not required but tickets must be obtained in advance. Here is also played "The Fight for Atlantis" (laser tag game).

Traditionally for RCI, Icon OTS has the Royal Escape Room that provides adventure gaming experiences (team-building exercises). Gaming at the Royal Escape Room involves a group of players who must solve a series of puzzles by using clues, hints and group strategy. The team is given a set time limit to solve the secret plot hidden within the room.

The 2-level wellness complex (decks 12-14) consists of Vitality Spa, Vitality Cafe (open for breakfast and lunch), and To Dry For (blow-dry bar for quick beauty fixes/hairstyling, with a beverage service). Vitality Spa groups ShipShape Spa, YSPA (teen spa), Beauty Salon, treatment rooms (for massages and treatments), Razul Room (mud treatments), Medispa (botox treatments), Jacuzzi Room, Thermal Suites (heated ceramic beds, saunas, steam rooms, rainforest showers).

The 2-level Fitness Center (decks 5-6) consists of a Gymnasium (complimentary, with Life Fitness equipment for cardio/resistance training), Aerobics Studio (for classes), and private training rooms. The Gym has modern bodybuilding and training exercise equipment (free weights, weight machines, treadmills, steppers, ellipticals, stationary bikes, Kinesis wall). In the mornings/afternoons are scheduled health seminars and wellness presentations (free of charge/timeshare events).

The Music Hall (dance lounge/disco nightclub introduced on QUANTUM-class RCI boats) is a 2-level venue (decks 3-4) and provides live music entertainment (band performances daily and DJs in the evenings).

Signature RCI restaurants available on Icon OTS are also Wonderland, Celebration Table (Chef's Table/Deck 15), and Johnny Rockets.

Icon OTS' venues hosting grand shows are three - Royal Theater, AquaDome, and Absolute Zero (Ice-Skating Arena).

AquaDome's shows are titled "Aqua Nation!" and "Pirates vs Mermaids".

Absolute Zero's ice-skating shows are titled "Starburst" and "Once Upon A Time".

Royal Theater's grand productions (90-min evening shows) are titled "Effectors" (themed on superheroes), "Wizard of Oz" (musical) and "SHOWBAND! Live. Music. Now." (stage performances by 16 musicians/string, woodwind, brass, percussion).

On the Royal Promenade is hosted RCI's traditional family-themed parade "Ships Ahoy!". Unlike on all previous RCI ships with a Royal Promenade, Icon OTS' Royal Promenade has a dog statue instead of a classic car/vintage automobile.

On the ICON ship, RCI introduced 60 cocktails (new for the company).

Family-themed activities

Icon OTS is Royal Caribbean's first liner to have a dedicated "family ambassador".

Called "Admiral Awesome", the professional employee hosts different family-themed events. Among these events are Surfside Neigborhood's "Larger-than-Life Family Festival" (live music, dancing, supersized/giant outdoor games - dart-throwing, ring tossing, dicing, bowling), the "Steel Pan Family Jam" (playing on instructional instruments), the Big Shark Block Party (dancing to popular kids songs like "Baby Shark" and "Baby Beluga") and Once Upon a Bedtime Story (reading outdoor/on open deck of original bedtime stories).

The "family neighborhood" has two complimentary dining venues open throughout the day - "Surfside Bites" (grab-and-go) and "Surfside Eatery" (buffet restaurant/Windjammer's alternative), while the casual "Pier 7" (Surfside's specialty restaurant) serves a-la-carte-priced food for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner. The Lemon Post Bar has an impressive selection of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails/mocktails. While the Soft Ice Cream station is complimentary, the candy shop Sugar Beach sells gourmet ice cream and sweets.

The Surfside Neighborhood also houses two outdoor water playgrounds - Splashaway Bay (kids' aquapark with a slide), and Baby Bay (waterpark for toddlers, with a splash pool), as well as the ship's Adventure Ocean complex (children's clubs/indoor facilities for age-appropriate supervised activities), Social020 complex (for teenagers), Challenger's Arcade (coin-operated machine games).

Curiously, Icon OTS is RCI's first vessel with a Chief Dog Officer - the "family dog" Rover (5-month-old female golden retriever) who boarded the ship in Ponce (Puerto Rico) with Alison Hubble (Chief of Staff).

Crew Neighborhood (staff and crew cabins and facilities)

RCI's ICON ships have a 4-deck Crew Neighborhood (housing 2350 people) featuring redesigned (new/patented) crew cabins with an L-shaped bed layout. Crew staterooms are all with double occupancy (each accommodates max two persons) and fitted with TV, a writing table, electric sockets (with USB ports), storage spaces, privacy curtains, fixed lower and upper beds (the latter is accessed via stairs), and laminate flooring.

Another novelty is The Clubhouse - forward located crew lounge with full bar service, fitted with massage chairs, ping pong and foosball tables, and billiards, as well as 4x LCD Virtual Windows providing real-time outside views.

Also new are the crew-only Beauty Salon (hairstyling and barber services), Store, Game Room, and Gym. The Crew Buffet Restaurant has porthole windows and, along with the traditional cold and hot food stations, also has live cooking stations.

There is also a Messhall (multipurpose room/entertainment venue) where can be hosted crew training sessions as well as celebrations and dance parties.

Each ICON-class ship has 23 galleys/kitchens (serving 27 dining venues) and 425 chefs. Most food/beverage supplies are sourced from the homeport, the rest are locally sourced (in call ports). The stored supplies are enough for 3 consecutive voyages (21 days).

Itineraries

Icon Of The Seas itinerary program was officially revealed on October 20, 2022, and RCI opened Icon OTS' cruises for booking on Oct 24th (for loyalty program members) and Oct 25th (to the general public).

Icon OTS' Maiden Voyage departs from homeport Miami Florida on January 27, 2024.

The ship is currently scheduled to operate alternating Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries (7-day roundtrips from Miami), all visiting CocoCay Bahamas . The voyages' call ports include Philipsburg (St. Maarten) , Basseterre (St Kitts) , Charlotte Amalie (St Thomas, US Virgin Islands) , Coxen Hole (Isla Roatan, Honduras) , Mexico's Cozumel and Costa Maya .

In September 2023 were opened for booking the ship's 2025-2026 voyages. The 7-day roundtrip Miami itineraries included "Eastern Caribbean & CocoCay" (Puerto Plata Dominicana, San Juan Puerto Rico, Philipsburg St Maarten, Charlotte Amalie St Thomas) and "Western Caribbean & CocoCay" (Costa Maya and Cozumel Mexico, Isla Roatan Honduras).

Icon Of The Seas - user reviews and comments

Photos of icon of the seas.

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Other Royal Caribbean cruise ships

• Adventure Of The Seas
• Allure Of The Seas
• Anthem of the Seas
• Brilliance Of The Seas
• Enchantment Of The Seas
• Explorer Of The Seas
• Freedom Of The Seas
• Grandeur Of The Seas
• Harmony Of The Seas
• Independence Of The Seas
• Jewel Of The Seas
• Liberty Of The Seas
• Mariner Of The Seas
• Navigator Of The Seas
• Oasis Of The Seas
• Odyssey Of The Seas
• Ovation Of The Seas
• Quantum Of The Seas
• Radiance Of The Seas
• Rhapsody Of The Seas
• Serenade Of The Seas
• Spectrum Of The Seas
• Star Of The Seas
• Symphony Of The Seas
• Utopia Of The Seas
• Vision Of The Seas
• Voyager Of The Seas
• Wonder Of The Seas

Icon Of The Seas Wiki

On October 10, 2016, Meyer Turku Oy (Finland) and RCG-Royal Caribbean Group signed the MoU agreement (memorandum of understanding) and officially announced the building order for two vessels under the project name "ICON". The units are LNG-powered (by liquified natural gas), employ fuel cell technology, and are classified by DNV GL (Hovik Norway-headquartered international ship registrar and classification society). The MoU ceremony was attended by Michael Bayley (RCI's President and CEO), Jan Meyer (Meyer Turku's CEO) and Harri Kulovaara (Finnish naval architect, RCCL's Maritime and Newbulding's Executive Vice President).

The ICON shipbuilding order with Meyer Werft Turku was contingent upon the completion of contractual conditions, including documentation and financing.

Royal Caribbean also trademarked the name "Icon of the Seas", which has been suggested as the indication to the name of the first unit from this series. On October 17, 2016, the company filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the "Icon of the Seas" ship name.

On June 27, 2017, Royal Caribbean filed for new trademarks on "Joy of the Seas" (serial number 87507232) and "Apex of the Seas" (serial number 87507244). The cruise company registered the trademarks in September 2014. However, both were abandoned one year later, on September 14, 2015. The registration came days after trademarking Spectrum of the Seas .

On July 2, 2019, was ordered the third ICON unit, scheduled for delivery in 2025. The signing ceremony was signed by Richard Fain (RCCL's Chairman and CEO), Jan Meyer (Meyer Turku's CEO), and Michael Bayley (RCI's President and CEO).

In 2019, the Finnish shipbuilder Mayer Turku had an order book listing the following cruise ships planned for deliveries in:

• 2019 ( Costa Smeralda /GT 180K)
• 2020 ( Carnival Mardi Gras /GT 180K)
• 2021 ( Costa Toscana /GT 180K)
• 2022 ( Carnival Celebration /GT 180K, ICON 1/GT250K)
• 2023 ( TUI Mein Schiff 7 /GT 110K)
• 2024 (ICON 2/GT 250K)
• 2025 (ICON 3/GT 250K)

ICON ships have volume ~250800 GT-tons and DWT deadweight ~13500 tons. ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD is registered as the shipowner and management company.

Liquefied natural gas was envisioned as the primary fuel for the ICON-class ships, which decreases CO2 (carbon dioxide) and completely eliminates soot particles, nitrogen oxide (NOX), and sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions. On Royal Caribbean's ICON ships was introduced fuel cell technology, which combined with hull air lubrication means the vessels are among the most fuel-efficient ever built.

RCI's ICON liners run primarily on LNG but also on distillate fuel (MDO/marine diesel oil), in order to accommodate itineraries with call ports without LNG-support infrastructure. The design includes shoreside power capabilities allowing the main engines to be shut down while the boats are docked/berthed in ports fitted with such equipment. During the port stay, all the electricity needed for onboard operations/hotel services is provided by the city's power grid.

Before the new ships' debut, testing of fuel cell technology began on the existing OASIS-class vessels, while larger fuel cell projects were tested on QUANTUM-class units (while under construction).

ICON is the first new ship class/design by RCG since 2018 - when debuted Celebrity Cruises ' new EDGE class with Celebrity Edge . RCG continued to expand RCI's fleet with newbuilds from the existing and popular OASIS- and QUANTUM-class liners.

The vessel's construction officially started on June 14, 2021, with the steel-cutting ceremony (yard/hull number 1400) held at Meyer Turku Shipyard in Turku Finland . The ceremony was attended by Richard Fain (RCG's Chairman and CEO), Michael Bayley (RCI's President and CEO), and Tim Meyer (Meyer Turku's CEO). The same yard also built RCI's first two OASIS-class boats - Oasis OTS (2009) and Allure OTS (2010).

All blocks (hull+superstructure sections/201 total) were made in Germany (at Neptun Werft in Rostock ), then transported/tugged on heavy-lift barges to Finland for assembly.

The keel-laying for the first Icon-class ship (hull/Mayer Turku yard number NB-1400) was initially planned for October 2019. For the sisterships were allocated the following IMOs/hull numbers - "Apex of the Seas" (9829942/NB-1401) and "Joy of the Seas" (9888560/NB-1402).

Meyer Werft Turku works with 1000+ suppliers from various countries. Cruise ships' cabins are modular (prefabricated and later assembled at the shipyard) and made by the subsidiary Piikkio Works Oy, which has a factory in Piikkio Finland (approx 20 km / 13 mi to the east of Turku City). Cruise ships' public spaces are also prefabricated (and later drydock-assembled) and made by the subsidiary Shipbuilding Completion Oy (in Turku). Technology design and engineering services are provided by the company ENGnD Oy ( Rauma Finland ).

In May 2021, the first hull blocks of Icon OTS (fabricated at Neptun Werft Shipyard, Rostock Germany ) were loaded onto barges and shipped to Finland for drydock assembly (welded together). Meyer Turku also constructed RCI's mega-liners Oasis OTS (2009) and Allure OTS (2010).

In late-December 2021, to Meyer Turku were towed/barged by 4x tugboats the first pre-assembled in Poland (at Gdansk Shipyard ) hull blocks, with weights 37-67 tons. Their assembly/the ship's physical construction officially started with the keel-laying ceremony held on April 5, 2022. The special event was attended by Jason Liberty (RCG's new President and CEO), Richard Fain (RCG's Chairman), Bernard Meyer (Meyer Group's Chairman), Tim Meyer (Meyer Turku's CEO), Olli Jantunen (Meyer Turku's Head of Department and ICON-class Project Manager).

The DOBEL Film Laminated Steel used for the vessel's construction (approx 350,000 m2/~3,8 million ft2) was delivered by Metalcolour Group (1974-founded company specializing in the production of high-quality, film-laminated and pre-coated/painted steel and aluminum plates). Metalcolour Group has subsidiaries/production plants in Sweden, Denmark and Singapore.

The vessel was launched/floated out from drydock on December 9, 2022. The construction process in Finland involved ~2600 workers from 20+ different nationalities, including shipyard employees and subcontractors,

The Baltic Sea trials were successfully completed in the period June 18-22, 2023. Conducted by 450+ people (crew, shipyard- and contract workers) the 4-day sea trials were to assess the hull, to evaluate all technologies and equipment (engines, propulsion/thrusters, navigation system/full-stop, steering), various machinery, electronics, lifeboats, as well as noise and vibration levels. The second sea trials are planned for December 2023, for pushing the vessel to its limits before the official delivery to RCI in January 2024.

Icon OTS' Master is Captain Henrik Loy ( Bergen Norway -born, with RCI since 1997).

In September 2023, RCI signed a partnership with Gebr. Heinemann SE & Co KG (1879-founded, Hamburg -based company) for managing the retail shopping venues on Icon OTS. The ship's shopping complex spreads across four floors (decks 5-6-8-15) and groups a total of 14 retail shops. The onboard stores sell duty- and tax-free priced products like perfumes, cosmetics, fashion clothing and accessories, watches, jewelry, liquor and tobacco, confectionery, games and toys. A dedicated Tech Shop sells electronics, gadgets, batteries, headphones, walkie-talkies, Nintendo 3DS gaming consoles. The Splash Store sells sunscreens, skincare products, swim accessories, while the Health Essentials Store sells toiletries and medicines. In 2023, besides Icon OTS, RCI had contracts with the German company for the retail venues onboard the fleetmates Wonder OTS , Odyssey OTS and Independence OTS .

In October 2023 was extended the 2019-signed contract with SOMEC Group's subsidiary SOMEC Navale(1995-founded, Italian company). The EUR 19,4 million contract was for the supply and installation of all glass structures (including windows and railings on open decks and balconies, and motorized blinds embedded in all sliding windows) for both ICON ships (Icon OTS and Star OTS).

Icon OTS was officially delivered to RCI from Meyer Turku on November 27, 2023. The delivery documents were signed by Jason Liberty (RCG's President and CEO), Michael Bayley (RCI's President and CEO) and Tim Meyer (Meyer Turku Oy's CEO).

In December 2023, RCI announced that Icon OTS' christening ceremony (in PortMiami) will be led by Lionel Andres Messi (aka Leo Messi/1987-born Argentine footballer) serving as the ship's godfather.

Each of RCI's ICON ships has a powerplant based on six Wartsila marine engines (dual fuel) running on both diesel and LNG/liquified natural gas. The powerplant's total output is 67,5 MW (90520 hp). The ship also has installed hydrogen-based fuel cell technology using seawater to generate electricity and fresh water. Icon OTS became RCI's first vessel to use the new technology.

Icon OTS' first engine (No 2) was powered for the first time on March 15, 2023, at 11 am (10 am UTC). Also in March was published the "The Top Deck Challenge" video about the construction works related to open deck and water installations, including the top deck's facilities (waterpark/slides and the swimming pools).

The next "teaser" video was YouTubed by RCI on September 22, 2022.

ICON-class are LNG-powered ships, each having two LNG fuel tanks (for storing liquefied natural gas, manufactured at Meyer Neptune) each with capacity 307 tons and length 27,4 m (90 ft). Fuel tanks, like the engines and other large machinery, are installed into the hull blocks assembled at Meyer Turku.

RCI's ICON-class ship technologies also include shore power connectivity (using the port's/city's power grid electricity for onboard services while berthed) and an advanced WHRS (waste heat recovery system) that generates power using waste heat from the main engines and the output gases. Cold temperatures from the LNG tanks are utilized by the onboard cooling systems. The lighting is entirely LED. The underwater hull's exterior is with a specialized coating (anti-fouling paint) to slow the growth of and facilitate the detachment of marine organisms.

The ICON ships debut the Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis technology - an innovative (the first-at-sea) waste-to-energy plant. The technology turns solid waste (food/bio) into fuel (used to power the desalinization plant) while the remaining by-product (pelletized carbon) is supplied to farmers as fertilizer.

These RCI vessels are also outfitted with bigger-capacity water treatment systems (evaporators and reverse osmosis plants) to support the increased freshwater consumption (for the hotel operations and at all water facilities/pools, slides, etc). Curiously, ~93% of the needed freshwater is produced onboard.

RCI's Icon OTS construction update teaser (released in May 2022) showed a huge white sphere installed midship on top deck. The spherical object weighs 175 tonnes, has diameter 50 ft (15,2 m), height 46 ft (14 m) and consists of 578 aluminum panels. In late-June RCI's President (Michael Bayley) called the big white ball "The Pearl".

In early-June 2022, RCI trademarked 6x names for facilities/venues on Icon OTS - The Orb, The Oyster, The Gem, The Jewel, The Pearl, The Star. In September was trademarked "Icon of Vacations".

On June 15, 2022, RCG signed with Eagle LNG Partners LLC (Eagle LNG) a contract for providing LNG (liquefied natural gas) and bunkering services to RCI liners, the first of which is Icon OTS. The gas supply is sourced from Eagle LNG's facilities in JAXPORT-Jacksonville Florida , shipped throughout the Caribbean and bunkered by Eagle LNG-owned newbuild vessels.

Another fleet-first facility is the "AquaDome". Positioned above the Wheelhouse, this is an AquaTheater (redesigned concept but) similar to OASIS- and QUANTUM ships' Solarium. The glass roof structure/dome weighs 367 tons and is comprised of 12 modules made of different materials (glass, steel, aluminum panels).

Icon OTS also has a hull (painted in baby blue) with a parabolic bow and vertical stern (also fleet's firsts) both creating a curved indentation in the hull's bottom. The parabolic bow design increases the vessel's overall stability (by shifting the gravity center forward) and also makes it less prone to heeling or capsizing. Like on all large newbuild cruisers, the hull is fitted with Wartsila's air lubrication system that reduces frictional resistance by creating a coating of microbubbles on the flat bottom.

For the vessel's construction were used ~14,5 km / 9 mi of electric cables.

In the period March 10 - April 4, 2023, RCI launched the new "Artist Discovery Program" allowing artists from around the world to submit original works to be later displayed on Icon OTS. RCI also commissioned Caribbean artists to create 9x large-scale murals displayed within 3x locations: Suite Neighborhood, Royal Promenade Neighborhood, and at the main ship entrance. Each mural received an RCI grant varying between USD 20K-100K.

During the drydocking in Cadiz Spain (Dec 5-23, 2023), the Central Park received 10,000+ live plants. The drydocking was also for final adjustments and technical works, including on the boxcoolers (heat exchangers) and sea chests (recesses in the hull), as well as repairs to the propulsion system (an ABB Azipod).

Inaugural cruise itineraries (2024)

Icon Of The Seas cruises (as itineraries) were officially revealed on October 20, 2022, and opened for booking on Oct 24th (for loyalty program members) and Oct 25th (to the general public).

Icon OTS left Europe (departed from Cadiz Spain ) on December 22, 2023, repositioning to the Caribbean. The liner was carrying only service staff (crew members, shipyard workers, contractors, RCI shore teams.  The 7-day Transatlantic crossing included an overnight in Algeciras (Dec 23-24) and a technical stop in Ponce Puerto Rico (arriving January 2, 2024) for passing regulatory inspections and crewing, as well as bunkering/fueling and provisioning, and loading and offloading of equipment. In Ponce, the yard workers were disembarked and flown back home. Icon OTS stopped overnight at CocoCay (Jan 8-9th) to allow the startup crew to rest and party before the arrival in PortMiami (Jan 10th, at 12:08 UTC).

Leaving roundtrip out of Miami, before the official inaugural sailing (Jan 27th), Icon OTS had several shakedown/test cruises. During the passenger-free voyages, company employees (crew and service staff) acted as guests, to test/adjust the onboard procedures. The last test cruise (Jan 20-23) was attended also by Royal Caribbean executives, VIP guests, travel agents and media representatives. The voyage ended with the naming ceremony (Jan 23rd, in PortMiami) led by the ship's godfather Lionel Messi.

The next tables show the Maiden Voyage and the inaugural season's itineraries in the Caribbean, with homeporting in Miami (Florida USA) .

(MAIDEN VOYAGE) 7-day "Eastern Caribbean & Perfect Day Cruise" (with St Kitts Island) - prices started at USD 2260 per person with double occupancy

(inaugural) 7-day "Western Caribbean & Perfect Day Cruise" - from US$ 1560 pp

(inaugural) 7-day Eastern Caribbean with St Maarten Island (from U$1320 pp)

(inaugural) 7-day Western Caribbean with Roatan Island - from US$1190 pp

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World’s largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, labelled ‘monstrosity’ ahead of maiden voyage

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The world’s largest cruise ship has been unveiled to a range of reactions, with many unsure what to make of the gigantic ship

Construction on Royal Caribbean International ’s Icon of the Seas cruise ship recently completed in Finland, with the vessel expected to make its first official voyage in January 2024.

According to Royal Caribbean, which describes the cruise ship as a “game changer” for vacations, the vessel will boast amenities such as seven pools, including the “largest pool at sea,” the “world’s largest waterpark at sea,” six waterslides and nine whirlpools.

In addition to its water-focused offerings, the ship promises more than 20 ways to dine, and more than 15 bars and “nightlife experiences,” including a karaoke bar, spread across its eight “neighbourhoods”. Icon of the Seas will also boast a rock climbing wall, Royal Caribbean’s first food hall, a beach-themed carousel, an arcade, and a mini-golf course.

Once it sets sail, the massive vessel, which is nearly 1,200 feet long, will be able to host up to 5,610 passengers and 2,350 crew members across its 19 floors.

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• What are our rights after our cruise was cancelled?

On social media, the first photos and videos of the cruise ship, which is currently undergoing sea trials, have divided viewers, with many expressing horror over the “monstrosity”.

“As visions of hell go, that’s pretty much the most hellish,” one person tweeted in response to a photo of the new cruise ship, while another said: “I’m sorry but this is a nightmare.”

“The world’s largest monstrosity of a cruise ship, Icon of the Seas. 7,600 max capacity, 20 decks, five times larger than the Titanic. That does NOT look relaxing...at all,” someone else tweeted.

Others couldn’t believe that the photos of the cruise ship were real, with one person admitting that they thought the pictures were from a “Pixar movie”.

“For a second I was like ‘No, the Icon of the Seas is not real, it can’t hurt you’ because some wacky giant cruise ship seasteading scheme goes viral every 10 months. But I looked it up and it turns out they actually built this one,” another person tweeted.

Others expressed their fears for the ship’s fate in light of reports that orcas have begun attacking boats , with one person asking: “What [do] the orcas got to say about this?”

“Imagine the horror you’d feel standing on the deck, watching the army of orcas approach,” someone else wrote.

The cruise ship also prompted many to reference the sinking of the Titanic after the luxury steamship struck an iceberg.

“Netflix securing the rights to Titanic 2: Icon of the Seas,” one person tweeted, while another said: “I think I’ve seen this film before and Jack didn’t like the endinggggg.”

Despite the criticism of the new ship, it has already proven to be popular, with Royal Caribbean International reporting its “single largest booking day” in its 53-year history in October 2022, when reservations opened for the Icon of the Sea.

“There is an inherent hubristic element to continuing to build such monstrosities meant to sail the ocean. Anyway I wanna go on this,” one person tweeted.

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Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever

Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas

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Updated at 2:44 p.m. ET on April 6, 2024.

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MY FIRST GLIMPSE of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, from the window of an approaching Miami cab, brings on a feeling of vertigo, nausea, amazement, and distress. I shut my eyes in defense, as my brain tells my optic nerve to try again.

The ship makes no sense, vertically or horizontally. It makes no sense on sea, or on land, or in outer space. It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots. Vibrant, oversignifying colors are stacked upon other such colors, decks perched over still more decks; the only comfort is a row of lifeboats ringing its perimeter. There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy. This is the biggest cruise ship ever built, and I have been tasked with witnessing its inaugural voyage.

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“Author embarks on their first cruise-ship voyage” has been a staple of American essay writing for almost three decades, beginning with David Foster Wallace’s “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” which was first published in 1996 under the title “Shipping Out.” Since then, many admirable writers have widened and diversified the genre. Usually the essayist commissioned to take to the sea is in their first or second flush of youth and is ready to sharpen their wit against the hull of the offending vessel. I am 51, old and tired, having seen much of the world as a former travel journalist, and mostly what I do in both life and prose is shrug while muttering to my imaginary dachshund, “This too shall pass.” But the Icon of the Seas will not countenance a shrug. The Icon of the Seas is the Linda Loman of cruise ships, exclaiming that attention must be paid. And here I am in late January with my one piece of luggage and useless gray winter jacket and passport, zipping through the Port of Miami en route to the gangway that will separate me from the bulk of North America for more than seven days, ready to pay it in full.

The aforementioned gangway opens up directly onto a thriving mall (I will soon learn it is imperiously called the “Royal Promenade”), presently filled with yapping passengers beneath a ceiling studded with balloons ready to drop. Crew members from every part of the global South, as well as a few Balkans, are shepherding us along while pressing flutes of champagne into our hands. By a humming Starbucks, I drink as many of these as I can and prepare to find my cabin. I show my blue Suite Sky SeaPass Card (more on this later, much more) to a smiling woman from the Philippines, and she tells me to go “aft.” Which is where, now? As someone who has rarely sailed on a vessel grander than the Staten Island Ferry, I am confused. It turns out that the aft is the stern of the ship, or, for those of us who don’t know what a stern or an aft are, its ass. The nose of the ship, responsible for separating the waves before it, is also called a bow, and is marked for passengers as the FWD , or forward. The part of the contemporary sailing vessel where the malls are clustered is called the midship. I trust that you have enjoyed this nautical lesson.

I ascend via elevator to my suite on Deck 11. This is where I encounter my first terrible surprise. My suite windows and balcony do not face the ocean. Instead, they look out onto another shopping mall. This mall is the one that’s called Central Park, perhaps in homage to the Olmsted-designed bit of greenery in the middle of my hometown. Although on land I would be delighted to own a suite with Central Park views, here I am deeply depressed. To sail on a ship and not wake up to a vast blue carpet of ocean? Unthinkable.

Allow me a brief preamble here. The story you are reading was commissioned at a moment when most staterooms on the Icon were sold out. In fact, so enthralled by the prospect of this voyage were hard-core mariners that the ship’s entire inventory of guest rooms (the Icon can accommodate up to 7,600 passengers, but its inaugural journey was reduced to 5,000 or so for a less crowded experience) was almost immediately sold out. Hence, this publication was faced with the shocking prospect of paying nearly $19,000 to procure for this solitary passenger an entire suite—not including drinking expenses—all for the privilege of bringing you this article. But the suite in question doesn’t even have a view of the ocean! I sit down hard on my soft bed. Nineteen thousand dollars for this .

The viewless suite does have its pluses. In addition to all the Malin+Goetz products in my dual bathrooms, I am granted use of a dedicated Suite Deck lounge; access to Coastal Kitchen, a superior restaurant for Suites passengers; complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream (“the fastest Internet at Sea”) “for one device per person for the whole cruise duration”; a pair of bathrobes (one of which comes prestained with what looks like a large expectoration by the greenest lizard on Earth); and use of the Grove Suite Sun, an area on Decks 18 and 19 with food and deck chairs reserved exclusively for Suite passengers. I also get reserved seating for a performance of The Wizard of Oz , an ice-skating tribute to the periodic table, and similar provocations. The very color of my Suite Sky SeaPass Card, an oceanic blue as opposed to the cloying royal purple of the standard non-Suite passenger, will soon provoke envy and admiration. But as high as my status may be, there are those on board who have much higher status still, and I will soon learn to bow before them.

In preparation for sailing, I have “priced in,” as they say on Wall Street, the possibility that I may come from a somewhat different monde than many of the other cruisers. Without falling into stereotypes or preconceptions, I prepare myself for a friendly outspokenness on the part of my fellow seafarers that may not comply with modern DEI standards. I believe in meeting people halfway, and so the day before flying down to Miami, I visited what remains of Little Italy to purchase a popular T-shirt that reads DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL across the breast in the colors of the Italian flag. My wife recommended that I bring one of my many T-shirts featuring Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, as all Americans love the beagle and his friends. But I naively thought that my meatball T-shirt would be more suitable for conversation-starting. “Oh, and who is your ‘daddy’?” some might ask upon seeing it. “And how long have you been his ‘little meatball’?” And so on.

I put on my meatball T-shirt and head for one of the dining rooms to get a late lunch. In the elevator, I stick out my chest for all to read the funny legend upon it, but soon I realize that despite its burnished tricolor letters, no one takes note. More to the point, no one takes note of me. Despite my attempts at bridge building, the very sight of me (small, ethnic, without a cap bearing the name of a football team) elicits no reaction from other passengers. Most often, they will small-talk over me as if I don’t exist. This brings to mind the travails of David Foster Wallace , who felt so ostracized by his fellow passengers that he retreated to his cabin for much of his voyage. And Wallace was raised primarily in the Midwest and was a much larger, more American-looking meatball than I am. If he couldn’t talk to these people, how will I? What if I leave this ship without making any friends at all, despite my T-shirt? I am a social creature, and the prospect of seven days alone and apart is saddening. Wallace’s stateroom, at least, had a view of the ocean, a kind of cheap eternity.

Worse awaits me in the dining room. This is a large, multichandeliered room where I attended my safety training (I was shown how to put on a flotation vest; it is a very simple procedure). But the maître d’ politely refuses me entry in an English that seems to verge on another language. “I’m sorry, this is only for pendejos ,” he seems to be saying. I push back politely and he repeats himself. Pendejos ? Piranhas? There’s some kind of P-word to which I am not attuned. Meanwhile elderly passengers stream right past, powered by their limbs, walkers, and electric wheelchairs. “It is only pendejo dining today, sir.” “But I have a suite!” I say, already starting to catch on to the ship’s class system. He examines my card again. “But you are not a pendejo ,” he confirms. I am wearing a DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL T-shirt, I want to say to him. I am the essence of pendejo .

Eventually, I give up and head to the plebeian buffet on Deck 15, which has an aquatic-styled name I have now forgotten. Before gaining entry to this endless cornucopia of reheated food, one passes a washing station of many sinks and soap dispensers, and perhaps the most intriguing character on the entire ship. He is Mr. Washy Washy—or, according to his name tag, Nielbert of the Philippines—and he is dressed as a taco (on other occasions, I’ll see him dressed as a burger). Mr. Washy Washy performs an eponymous song in spirited, indeed flamboyant English: “Washy, washy, wash your hands, WASHY WASHY!” The dangers of norovirus and COVID on a cruise ship this size (a giant fellow ship was stricken with the former right after my voyage) makes Mr. Washy Washy an essential member of the crew. The problem lies with the food at the end of Washy’s rainbow. The buffet is groaning with what sounds like sophisticated dishes—marinated octopus, boiled egg with anchovy, chorizo, lobster claws—but every animal tastes tragically the same, as if there was only one creature available at the market, a “cruisipus” bred specifically for Royal Caribbean dining. The “vegetables” are no better. I pick up a tomato slice and look right through it. It tastes like cellophane. I sit alone, apart from the couples and parents with gaggles of children, as “We Are Family” echoes across the buffet space.

I may have failed to mention that all this time, the Icon of the Seas has not left port. As the fiery mango of the subtropical setting sun makes Miami’s condo skyline even more apocalyptic, the ship shoves off beneath a perfunctory display of fireworks. After the sun sets, in the far, dark distance, another circus-lit cruise ship ruptures the waves before us. We glance at it with pity, because it is by definition a smaller ship than our own. I am on Deck 15, outside the buffet and overlooking a bunch of pools (the Icon has seven of them), drinking a frilly drink that I got from one of the bars (the Icon has 15 of them), still too shy to speak to anyone, despite Sister Sledge’s assertion that all on the ship are somehow related.

Kim Brooks: On failing the family vacation

The ship’s passage away from Ron DeSantis’s Florida provides no frisson, no sense of developing “sea legs,” as the ship is too large to register the presence of waves unless a mighty wind adds significant chop. It is time for me to register the presence of the 5,000 passengers around me, even if they refuse to register mine. My fellow travelers have prepared for this trip with personally decorated T-shirts celebrating the importance of this voyage. The simplest ones say ICON INAUGURAL ’24 on the back and the family name on the front. Others attest to an over-the-top love of cruise ships: WARNING! MAY START TALKING ABOUT CRUISING . Still others are artisanally designed and celebrate lifetimes spent married while cruising (on ships, of course). A couple possibly in their 90s are wearing shirts whose backs feature a drawing of a cruise liner, two flamingos with ostensibly male and female characteristics, and the legend “ HUSBAND AND WIFE Cruising Partners FOR LIFE WE MAY NOT HAVE IT All Together BUT TOGETHER WE HAVE IT ALL .” (The words not in all caps have been written in cursive.) A real journalist or a more intrepid conversationalist would have gone up to the couple and asked them to explain the longevity of their marriage vis-à-vis their love of cruising. But instead I head to my mall suite, take off my meatball T-shirt, and allow the first tears of the cruise to roll down my cheeks slowly enough that I briefly fall asleep amid the moisture and salt.

I WAKE UP with a hangover. Oh God. Right. I cannot believe all of that happened last night. A name floats into my cobwebbed, nauseated brain: “Ayn Rand.” Jesus Christ.

I breakfast alone at the Coastal Kitchen. The coffee tastes fine and the eggs came out of a bird. The ship rolls slightly this morning; I can feel it in my thighs and my schlong, the parts of me that are most receptive to danger.

I had a dangerous conversation last night. After the sun set and we were at least 50 miles from shore (most modern cruise ships sail at about 23 miles an hour), I lay in bed softly hiccupping, my arms stretched out exactly like Jesus on the cross, the sound of the distant waves missing from my mall-facing suite, replaced by the hum of air-conditioning and children shouting in Spanish through the vents of my two bathrooms. I decided this passivity was unacceptable. As an immigrant, I feel duty-bound to complete the tasks I am paid for, which means reaching out and trying to understand my fellow cruisers. So I put on a normal James Perse T-shirt and headed for one of the bars on the Royal Promenade—the Schooner Bar, it was called, if memory serves correctly.

I sat at the bar for a martini and two Negronis. An old man with thick, hairy forearms drank next to me, very silent and Hemingwaylike, while a dreadlocked piano player tinkled out a series of excellent Elton John covers. To my right, a young white couple—he in floral shorts, she in a light, summery miniskirt with a fearsome diamond ring, neither of them in football regalia—chatted with an elderly couple. Do it , I commanded myself. Open your mouth. Speak! Speak without being spoken to. Initiate. A sentence fragment caught my ear from the young woman, “Cherry Hill.” This is a suburb of Philadelphia in New Jersey, and I had once been there for a reading at a synagogue. “Excuse me,” I said gently to her. “Did you just mention Cherry Hill? It’s a lovely place.”

As it turned out, the couple now lived in Fort Lauderdale (the number of Floridians on the cruise surprised me, given that Southern Florida is itself a kind of cruise ship, albeit one slowly sinking), but soon they were talking with me exclusively—the man potbellied, with a chin like a hard-boiled egg; the woman as svelte as if she were one of the many Ukrainian members of the crew—the elderly couple next to them forgotten. This felt as groundbreaking as the first time I dared to address an American in his native tongue, as a child on a bus in Queens (“On my foot you are standing, Mister”).

“I don’t want to talk politics,” the man said. “But they’re going to eighty-six Biden and put Michelle in.”

I considered the contradictions of his opening conversational gambit, but decided to play along. “People like Michelle,” I said, testing the waters. The husband sneered, but the wife charitably put forward that the former first lady was “more personable” than Joe Biden. “They’re gonna eighty-six Biden,” the husband repeated. “He can’t put a sentence together.”

After I mentioned that I was a writer—though I presented myself as a writer of teleplays instead of novels and articles such as this one—the husband told me his favorite writer was Ayn Rand. “Ayn Rand, she came here with nothing,” the husband said. “I work with a lot of Cubans, so …” I wondered if I should mention what I usually do to ingratiate myself with Republicans or libertarians: the fact that my finances improved after pass-through corporations were taxed differently under Donald Trump. Instead, I ordered another drink and the couple did the same, and I told him that Rand and I were born in the same city, St. Petersburg/Leningrad, and that my family also came here with nothing. Now the bonding and drinking began in earnest, and several more rounds appeared. Until it all fell apart.

Read: Gary Shteyngart on watching Russian television for five days straight

My new friend, whom I will refer to as Ayn, called out to a buddy of his across the bar, and suddenly a young couple, both covered in tattoos, appeared next to us. “He fucking punked me,” Ayn’s frat-boy-like friend called out as he put his arm around Ayn, while his sizable partner sizzled up to Mrs. Rand. Both of them had a look I have never seen on land—their eyes projecting absence and enmity in equal measure. In the ’90s, I drank with Russian soldiers fresh from Chechnya and wandered the streets of wartime Zagreb, but I have never seen such undisguised hostility toward both me and perhaps the universe at large. I was briefly introduced to this psychopathic pair, but neither of them wanted to have anything to do with me, and the tattooed woman would not even reveal her Christian name to me (she pretended to have the same first name as Mrs. Rand). To impress his tattooed friends, Ayn made fun of the fact that as a television writer, I’d worked on the series Succession (which, it would turn out, practically nobody on the ship had watched), instead of the far more palatable, in his eyes, zombie drama of last year. And then my new friends drifted away from me into an angry private conversation—“He punked me!”—as I ordered another drink for myself, scared of the dead-eyed arrivals whose gaze never registered in the dim wattage of the Schooner Bar, whose terrifying voices and hollow laughs grated like unoiled gears against the crooning of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

But today is a new day for me and my hangover. After breakfast, I explore the ship’s so-called neighborhoods . There’s the AquaDome, where one can find a food hall and an acrobatic sound-and-light aquatic show. Central Park has a premium steak house, a sushi joint, and a used Rolex that can be bought for $8,000 on land here proudly offered at $17,000. There’s the aforementioned Royal Promenade, where I had drunk with the Rands, and where a pair of dueling pianos duel well into the night. There’s Surfside, a kids’ neighborhood full of sugary garbage, which looks out onto the frothy trail that the behemoth leaves behind itself. Thrill Island refers to the collection of tubes that clutter the ass of the ship and offer passengers six waterslides and a surfing simulation. There’s the Hideaway, an adult zone that plays music from a vomit-slathered, Brit-filled Alicante nightclub circa 1996 and proves a big favorite with groups of young Latin American customers. And, most hurtfully, there’s the Suite Neighborhood.

I say hurtfully because as a Suite passenger I should be here, though my particular suite is far from the others. Whereas I am stuck amid the riffraff of Deck 11, this section is on the highborn Decks 16 and 17, and in passing, I peek into the spacious, tall-ceilinged staterooms from the hallway, dazzled by the glint of the waves and sun. For $75,000, one multifloor suite even comes with its own slide between floors, so that a family may enjoy this particular terror in private. There is a quiet splendor to the Suite Neighborhood. I see fewer stickers and signs and drawings than in my own neighborhood—for example, MIKE AND DIANA PROUDLY SERVED U.S. MARINE CORPS RETIRED . No one here needs to announce their branch of service or rank; they are simply Suites, and this is where they belong. Once again, despite my hard work and perseverance, I have been disallowed from the true American elite. Once again, I am “Not our class, dear.” I am reminded of watching The Love Boat on my grandmother’s Zenith, which either was given to her or we found in the trash (I get our many malfunctioning Zeniths confused) and whose tube got so hot, I would put little chunks of government cheese on a thin tissue atop it to give our welfare treat a pleasant, Reagan-era gooeyness. I could not understand English well enough then to catch the nuances of that seafaring program, but I knew that there were differences in the status of the passengers, and that sometimes those differences made them sad. Still, this ship, this plenty—every few steps, there are complimentary nachos or milkshakes or gyros on offer—was the fatty fuel of my childhood dreams. If only I had remained a child.

I walk around the outdoor decks looking for company. There is a middle-aged African American couple who always seem to be asleep in each other’s arms, probably exhausted from the late capitalism they regularly encounter on land. There is far more diversity on this ship than I expected. Many couples are a testament to Loving v. Virginia , and there is a large group of folks whose T-shirts read MELANIN AT SEA / IT’S THE MELANIN FOR ME . I smile when I see them, but then some young kids from the group makes Mr. Washy Washy do a cruel, caricatured “Burger Dance” (today he is in his burger getup), and I think, Well, so much for intersectionality .

At the infinity pool on Deck 17, I spot some elderly women who could be ethnic and from my part of the world, and so I jump in. I am proved correct! Many of them seem to be originally from Queens (“Corona was still great when it was all Italian”), though they are now spread across the tristate area. We bond over the way “Ron-kon-koma” sounds when announced in Penn Station.

“Everyone is here for a different reason,” one of them tells me. She and her ex-husband last sailed together four years ago to prove to themselves that their marriage was truly over. Her 15-year-old son lost his virginity to “an Irish young lady” while their ship was moored in Ravenna, Italy. The gaggle of old-timers competes to tell me their favorite cruising stories and tips. “A guy proposed in Central Park a couple of years ago”—many Royal Caribbean ships apparently have this ridiculous communal area—“and she ran away screaming!” “If you’re diamond-class, you get four drinks for free.” “A different kind of passenger sails out of Bayonne.” (This, perhaps, is racially coded.) “Sometimes, if you tip the bartender $5, your next drink will be free.”

“Everyone’s here for a different reason,” the woman whose marriage ended on a cruise tells me again. “Some people are here for bad reasons—the drinkers and the gamblers. Some people are here for medical reasons.” I have seen more than a few oxygen tanks and at least one woman clearly undergoing very serious chemo. Some T-shirts celebrate good news about a cancer diagnosis. This might be someone’s last cruise or week on Earth. For these women, who have spent months, if not years, at sea, cruising is a ritual as well as a life cycle: first love, last love, marriage, divorce, death.

Read: The last place on Earth any tourist should go

I have talked with these women for so long, tonight I promise myself that after a sad solitary dinner I will not try to seek out company at the bars in the mall or the adult-themed Hideaway. I have enough material to fulfill my duties to this publication. As I approach my orphaned suite, I run into the aggro young people who stole Mr. and Mrs. Rand away from me the night before. The tattooed apparitions pass me without a glance. She is singing something violent about “Stuttering Stanley” (a character in a popular horror movie, as I discover with my complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream Internet at Sea) and he’s loudly shouting about “all the money I’ve lost,” presumably at the casino in the bowels of the ship.

So these bent psychos out of a Cormac McCarthy novel are angrily inhabiting my deck. As I mewl myself to sleep, I envision a limited series for HBO or some other streamer, a kind of low-rent White Lotus , where several aggressive couples conspire to throw a shy intellectual interloper overboard. I type the scenario into my phone. As I fall asleep, I think of what the woman who recently divorced her husband and whose son became a man through the good offices of the Irish Republic told me while I was hoisting myself out of the infinity pool. “I’m here because I’m an explorer. I’m here because I’m trying something new.” What if I allowed myself to believe in her fantasy?

“YOU REALLY STARTED AT THE TOP,” they tell me. I’m at the Coastal Kitchen for my eggs and corned-beef hash, and the maître d’ has slotted me in between two couples. Fueled by coffee or perhaps intrigued by my relative youth, they strike up a conversation with me. As always, people are shocked that this is my first cruise. They contrast the Icon favorably with all the preceding liners in the Royal Caribbean fleet, usually commenting on the efficiency of the elevators that hurl us from deck to deck (as in many large corporate buildings, the elevators ask you to choose a floor and then direct you to one of many lifts). The couple to my right, from Palo Alto—he refers to his “porn mustache” and calls his wife “my cougar” because she is two years older—tell me they are “Pandemic Pinnacles.”

This is the day that my eyes will be opened. Pinnacles , it is explained to me over translucent cantaloupe, have sailed with Royal Caribbean for 700 ungodly nights. Pandemic Pinnacles took advantage of the two-for-one accrual rate of Pinnacle points during the pandemic, when sailing on a cruise ship was even more ill-advised, to catapult themselves into Pinnacle status.

Because of the importance of the inaugural voyage of the world’s largest cruise liner, more than 200 Pinnacles are on this ship, a startling number, it seems. Mrs. Palo Alto takes out a golden badge that I have seen affixed over many a breast, which reads CROWN AND ANCHOR SOCIETY along with her name. This is the coveted badge of the Pinnacle. “You should hear all the whining in Guest Services,” her husband tells me. Apparently, the Pinnacles who are not also Suites like us are all trying to use their status to get into Coastal Kitchen, our elite restaurant. Even a Pinnacle needs to be a Suite to access this level of corned-beef hash.

“We’re just baby Pinnacles,” Mrs. Palo Alto tells me, describing a kind of internal class struggle among the Pinnacle elite for ever higher status.

And now I understand what the maître d’ was saying to me on the first day of my cruise. He wasn’t saying “ pendejo .” He was saying “Pinnacle.” The dining room was for Pinnacles only, all those older people rolling in like the tide on their motorized scooters.

And now I understand something else: This whole thing is a cult. And like most cults, it can’t help but mirror the endless American fight for status. Like Keith Raniere’s NXIVM, where different-colored sashes were given out to connote rank among Raniere’s branded acolytes, this is an endless competition among Pinnacles, Suites, Diamond-Plusers, and facing-the-mall, no-balcony purple SeaPass Card peasants, not to mention the many distinctions within each category. The more you cruise, the higher your status. No wonder a section of the Royal Promenade is devoted to getting passengers to book their next cruise during the one they should be enjoying now. No wonder desperate Royal Caribbean offers (“FINAL HOURS”) crowded my email account weeks before I set sail. No wonder the ship’s jewelry store, the Royal Bling, is selling a $100,000 golden chalice that will entitle its owner to drink free on Royal Caribbean cruises for life. (One passenger was already gaming out whether her 28-year-old son was young enough to “just about earn out” on the chalice or if that ship had sailed.) No wonder this ship was sold out months before departure , and we had to pay $19,000 for a horrid suite away from the Suite Neighborhood. No wonder the most mythical hero of Royal Caribbean lore is someone named Super Mario, who has cruised so often, he now has his own working desk on many ships. This whole experience is part cult, part nautical pyramid scheme.

From the June 2014 issue: Ship of wonks

“The toilets are amazing,” the Palo Altos are telling me. “One flush and you’re done.” “They don’t understand how energy-efficient these ships are,” the husband of the other couple is telling me. “They got the LNG”—liquefied natural gas, which is supposed to make the Icon a boon to the environment (a concept widely disputed and sometimes ridiculed by environmentalists).

But I’m thinking along a different line of attack as I spear my last pallid slice of melon. For my streaming limited series, a Pinnacle would have to get killed by either an outright peasant or a Suite without an ocean view. I tell my breakfast companions my idea.

“Oh, for sure a Pinnacle would have to be killed,” Mr. Palo Alto, the Pandemic Pinnacle, says, touching his porn mustache thoughtfully as his wife nods.

“THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S your time, buddy!” Hubert, my fun-loving Panamanian cabin attendant, shouts as I step out of my suite in a robe. “Take it easy, buddy!”

I have come up with a new dressing strategy. Instead of trying to impress with my choice of T-shirts, I have decided to start wearing a robe, as one does at a resort property on land, with a proper spa and hammam. The response among my fellow cruisers has been ecstatic. “Look at you in the robe!” Mr. Rand cries out as we pass each other by the Thrill Island aqua park. “You’re living the cruise life! You know, you really drank me under the table that night.” I laugh as we part ways, but my soul cries out, Please spend more time with me, Mr. and Mrs. Rand; I so need the company .

In my white robe, I am a stately presence, a refugee from a better limited series, a one-man crossover episode. (Only Suites are granted these robes to begin with.) Today, I will try many of the activities these ships have on offer to provide their clientele with a sense of never-ceasing motion. Because I am already at Thrill Island, I decide to climb the staircase to what looks like a mast on an old-fashioned ship (terrified, because I am afraid of heights) to try a ride called “Storm Chasers,” which is part of the “Category 6” water park, named in honor of one of the storms that may someday do away with the Port of Miami entirely. Storm Chasers consists of falling from the “mast” down a long, twisting neon tube filled with water, like being the camera inside your own colonoscopy, as you hold on to the handles of a mat, hoping not to die. The tube then flops you down headfirst into a trough of water, a Royal Caribbean baptism. It both knocks my breath out and makes me sad.

In keeping with the aquatic theme, I attend a show at the AquaDome. To the sound of “Live and Let Die,” a man in a harness gyrates to and fro in the sultry air. I saw something very similar in the back rooms of the famed Berghain club in early-aughts Berlin. Soon another harnessed man is gyrating next to the first. Ja , I think to myself, I know how this ends. Now will come the fisting , natürlich . But the show soon devolves into the usual Marvel-film-grade nonsense, with too much light and sound signifying nichts . If any fisting is happening, it is probably in the Suite Neighborhood, inside a cabin marked with an upside-down pineapple, which I understand means a couple are ready to swing, and I will see none of it.

I go to the ice show, which is a kind of homage—if that’s possible—to the periodic table, done with the style and pomp and masterful precision that would please the likes of Kim Jong Un, if only he could afford Royal Caribbean talent. At one point, the dancers skate to the theme song of Succession . “See that!” I want to say to my fellow Suites—at “cultural” events, we have a special section reserved for us away from the commoners—“ Succession ! It’s even better than the zombie show! Open your minds!”

Finally, I visit a comedy revue in an enormous and too brightly lit version of an “intimate,” per Royal Caribbean literature, “Manhattan comedy club.” Many of the jokes are about the cruising life. “I’ve lived on ships for 20 years,” one of the middle-aged comedians says. “I can only see so many Filipino homosexuals dressed as a taco.” He pauses while the audience laughs. “I am so fired tonight,” he says. He segues into a Trump impression and then Biden falling asleep at the microphone, which gets the most laughs. “Anyone here from Fort Leonard Wood?” another comedian asks. Half the crowd seems to cheer. As I fall asleep that night, I realize another connection I have failed to make, and one that may explain some of the diversity on this vessel—many of its passengers have served in the military.

As a coddled passenger with a suite, I feel like I am starting to understand what it means to have a rank and be constantly reminded of it. There are many espresso makers , I think as I look across the expanse of my officer-grade quarters before closing my eyes, but this one is mine .

A shocking sight greets me beyond the pools of Deck 17 as I saunter over to the Coastal Kitchen for my morning intake of slightly sour Americanos. A tiny city beneath a series of perfectly pressed green mountains. Land! We have docked for a brief respite in Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts and Nevis. I wolf down my egg scramble to be one of the first passengers off the ship. Once past the gangway, I barely refrain from kissing the ground. I rush into the sights and sounds of this scruffy island city, sampling incredible conch curry and buckets of non-Starbucks coffee. How wonderful it is to be where God intended humans to be: on land. After all, I am neither a fish nor a mall rat. This is my natural environment. Basseterre may not be Havana, but there are signs of human ingenuity and desire everywhere you look. The Black Table Grill Has been Relocated to Soho Village, Market Street, Directly Behind of, Gary’s Fruits and Flower Shop. Signed. THE PORK MAN reads a sign stuck to a wall. Now, that is how you write a sign. A real sign, not the come-ons for overpriced Rolexes that blink across the screens of the Royal Promenade.

“Hey, tie your shoestring!” a pair of laughing ladies shout to me across the street.

“Thank you!” I shout back. Shoestring! “Thank you very much.”

A man in Independence Square Park comes by and asks if I want to play with his monkey. I haven’t heard that pickup line since the Penn Station of the 1980s. But then he pulls a real monkey out of a bag. The monkey is wearing a diaper and looks insane. Wonderful , I think, just wonderful! There is so much life here. I email my editor asking if I can remain on St. Kitts and allow the Icon to sail off into the horizon without me. I have even priced a flight home at less than $300, and I have enough material from the first four days on the cruise to write the entire story. “It would be funny …” my editor replies. “Now get on the boat.”

As I slink back to the ship after my brief jailbreak, the locals stand under umbrellas to gaze at and photograph the boat that towers over their small capital city. The limousines of the prime minister and his lackeys are parked beside the gangway. St. Kitts, I’ve been told, is one of the few islands that would allow a ship of this size to dock.

“We hear about all the waterslides,” a sweet young server in one of the cafés told me. “We wish we could go on the ship, but we have to work.”

“I want to stay on your island,” I replied. “I love it here.”

But she didn’t understand how I could possibly mean that.

“WASHY, WASHY, so you don’t get stinky, stinky!” kids are singing outside the AquaDome, while their adult minders look on in disapproval, perhaps worried that Mr. Washy Washy is grooming them into a life of gayness. I heard a southern couple skip the buffet entirely out of fear of Mr. Washy Washy.

Meanwhile, I have found a new watering hole for myself, the Swim & Tonic, the biggest swim-up bar on any cruise ship in the world. Drinking next to full-size, nearly naked Americans takes away one’s own self-consciousness. The men have curvaceous mom bodies. The women are equally un-shy about their sprawling physiques.

Today I’ve befriended a bald man with many children who tells me that all of the little trinkets that Royal Caribbean has left us in our staterooms and suites are worth a fortune on eBay. “Eighty dollars for the water bottle, 60 for the lanyard,” the man says. “This is a cult.”

“Tell me about it,” I say. There is, however, a clientele for whom this cruise makes perfect sense. For a large middle-class family (he works in “supply chains”), seven days in a lower-tier cabin—which starts at $1,800 a person—allow the parents to drop off their children in Surfside, where I imagine many young Filipina crew members will take care of them, while the parents are free to get drunk at a swim-up bar and maybe even get intimate in their cabin. Cruise ships have become, for a certain kind of hardworking family, a form of subsidized child care.

There is another man I would like to befriend at the Swim & Tonic, a tall, bald fellow who is perpetually inebriated and who wears a necklace studded with little rubber duckies in sunglasses, which, I am told, is a sort of secret handshake for cruise aficionados. Tomorrow, I will spend more time with him, but first the ship docks at St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie, the capital, is more charming in name than in presence, but I still all but jump off the ship to score a juicy oxtail and plantains at the well-known Petite Pump Room, overlooking the harbor. From one of the highest points in the small city, the Icon of the Seas appears bigger than the surrounding hills.

I usually tan very evenly, but something about the discombobulation of life at sea makes me forget the regular application of sunscreen. As I walk down the streets of Charlotte Amalie in my fluorescent Icon of the Seas cap, an old Rastafarian stares me down. “Redneck,” he hisses.

“No,” I want to tell him, as I bring a hand up to my red neck, “that’s not who I am at all. On my island, Mannahatta, as Whitman would have it, I am an interesting person living within an engaging artistic milieu. I do not wish to use the Caribbean as a dumping ground for the cruise-ship industry. I love the work of Derek Walcott. You don’t understand. I am not a redneck. And if I am, they did this to me.” They meaning Royal Caribbean? Its passengers? The Rands?

“They did this to me!”

Back on the Icon, some older matrons are muttering about a run-in with passengers from the Celebrity cruise ship docked next to us, the Celebrity Apex. Although Celebrity Cruises is also owned by Royal Caribbean, I am made to understand that there is a deep fratricidal beef between passengers of the two lines. “We met a woman from the Apex,” one matron says, “and she says it was a small ship and there was nothing to do. Her face was as tight as a 19-year-old’s, she had so much surgery.” With those words, and beneath a cloudy sky, humidity shrouding our weathered faces and red necks, we set sail once again, hopefully in the direction of home.

THERE ARE BARELY 48 HOURS LEFT to the cruise, and the Icon of the Seas’ passengers are salty. They know how to work the elevators. They know the Washy Washy song by heart. They understand that the chicken gyro at “Feta Mediterranean,” in the AquaDome Market, is the least problematic form of chicken on the ship.

The passengers have shed their INAUGURAL CRUISE T-shirts and are now starting to evince political opinions. There are caps pledging to make America great again and T-shirts that celebrate words sometimes attributed to Patrick Henry: “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” With their preponderance of FAMILY FLAG FAITH FRIENDS FIREARMS T-shirts, the tables by the crepe station sometimes resemble the Capitol Rotunda on January 6. The Real Anthony Fauci , by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears to be a popular form of literature, especially among young men with very complicated versions of the American flag on their T-shirts. Other opinions blend the personal and the political. “Someone needs to kill Washy guy, right?” a well-dressed man in the elevator tells me, his gray eyes radiating nothing. “Just beat him to death. Am I right?” I overhear the male member of a young couple whisper, “There goes that freak” as I saunter by in my white spa robe, and I decide to retire it for the rest of the cruise.

I visit the Royal Bling to see up close the $100,000 golden chalice that entitles you to free drinks on Royal Caribbean forever. The pleasant Serbian saleslady explains that the chalice is actually gold-plated and covered in white zirconia instead of diamonds, as it would otherwise cost $1 million. “If you already have everything,” she explains, “this is one more thing you can get.”

I believe that anyone who works for Royal Caribbean should be entitled to immediate American citizenship. They already speak English better than most of the passengers and, per the Serbian lady’s sales pitch above, better understand what America is as well. Crew members like my Panamanian cabin attendant seem to work 24 hours a day. A waiter from New Delhi tells me that his contract is six months and three weeks long. After a cruise ends, he says, “in a few hours, we start again for the next cruise.” At the end of the half a year at sea, he is allowed a two-to-three-month stay at home with his family. As of 2019, the median income for crew members was somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000, according to a major business publication. Royal Caribbean would not share the current median salary for its crew members, but I am certain that it amounts to a fraction of the cost of a Royal Bling gold-plated, zirconia-studded chalice.

And because most of the Icon’s hyper-sanitized spaces are just a frittata away from being a Delta lounge, one forgets that there are actual sailors on this ship, charged with the herculean task of docking it in port. “Having driven 100,000-ton aircraft carriers throughout my career,” retired Admiral James G. Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, writes to me, “I’m not sure I would even know where to begin with trying to control a sea monster like this one nearly three times the size.” (I first met Stavridis while touring Army bases in Germany more than a decade ago.)

Today, I decide to head to the hot tub near Swim & Tonic, where some of the ship’s drunkest reprobates seem to gather (the other tubs are filled with families and couples). The talk here, like everywhere else on the ship, concerns football, a sport about which I know nothing. It is apparent that four teams have recently competed in some kind of finals for the year, and that two of them will now face off in the championship. Often when people on the Icon speak, I will try to repeat the last thing they said with a laugh or a nod of disbelief. “Yes, 20-yard line! Ha!” “Oh my God, of course, scrimmage.”

Soon we are joined in the hot tub by the late-middle-age drunk guy with the duck necklace. He is wearing a bucket hat with the legend HAWKEYES , which, I soon gather, is yet another football team. “All right, who turned me in?” Duck Necklace says as he plops into the tub beside us. “I get a call in the morning,” he says. “It’s security. Can you come down to the dining room by 10 a.m.? You need to stay away from the members of this religious family.” Apparently, the gregarious Duck Necklace had photobombed the wrong people. There are several families who present as evangelical Christians or practicing Muslims on the ship. One man, evidently, was not happy that Duck Necklace had made contact with his relatives. “It’s because of religious stuff; he was offended. I put my arm around 20 people a day.”

Everyone laughs. “They asked me three times if I needed medication,” he says of the security people who apparently interrogated him in full view of others having breakfast.

Another hot-tub denizen suggests that he should have asked for fentanyl. After a few more drinks, Duck Necklace begins to muse about what it would be like to fall off the ship. “I’m 62 and I’m ready to go,” he says. “I just don’t want a shark to eat me. I’m a huge God guy. I’m a Bible guy. There’s some Mayan theory squaring science stuff with religion. There is so much more to life on Earth.” We all nod into our Red Stripes.

“I never get off the ship when we dock,” he says. He tells us he lost $6,000 in the casino the other day. Later, I look him up, and it appears that on land, he’s a financial adviser in a crisp gray suit, probably a pillar of his North Chicago community.

THE OCEAN IS TEEMING with fascinating life, but on the surface it has little to teach us. The waves come and go. The horizon remains ever far away.

I am constantly told by my fellow passengers that “everybody here has a story.” Yes, I want to reply, but everybody everywhere has a story. You, the reader of this essay, have a story, and yet you’re not inclined to jump on a cruise ship and, like Duck Necklace, tell your story to others at great pitch and volume. Maybe what they’re saying is that everybody on this ship wants to have a bigger, more coherent, more interesting story than the one they’ve been given. Maybe that’s why there’s so much signage on the doors around me attesting to marriages spent on the sea. Maybe that’s why the Royal Caribbean newsletter slipped under my door tells me that “this isn’t a vacation day spent—it’s bragging rights earned.” Maybe that’s why I’m so lonely.

Today is a big day for Icon passengers. Today the ship docks at Royal Caribbean’s own Bahamian island, the Perfect Day at CocoCay. (This appears to be the actual name of the island.) A comedian at the nightclub opined on what his perfect day at CocoCay would look like—receiving oral sex while learning that his ex-wife had been killed in a car crash (big laughter). But the reality of the island is far less humorous than that.

One of the ethnic tristate ladies in the infinity pool told me that she loved CocoCay because it had exactly the same things that could be found on the ship itself. This proves to be correct. It is like the Icon, but with sand. The same tired burgers, the same colorful tubes conveying children and water from Point A to B. The same swim-up bar at its Hideaway ($140 for admittance, no children allowed; Royal Caribbean must be printing money off its clientele). “There was almost a fight at The Wizard of Oz ,” I overhear an elderly woman tell her companion on a chaise lounge. Apparently one of the passengers began recording Royal Caribbean’s intellectual property and “three guys came after him.”

I walk down a pathway to the center of the island, where a sign reads DO NOT ENTER: YOU HAVE REACHED THE BOUNDARY OF ADVENTURE . I hear an animal scampering in the bushes. A Royal Caribbean worker in an enormous golf cart soon chases me down and takes me back to the Hideaway, where I run into Mrs. Rand in a bikini. She becomes livid telling me about an altercation she had the other day with a woman over a towel and a deck chair. We Suites have special towel privileges; we do not have to hand over our SeaPass Card to score a towel. But the Rands are not Suites. “People are so entitled here,” Mrs. Rand says. “It’s like the airport with all its classes.” “You see,” I want to say, “this is where your husband’s love of Ayn Rand runs into the cruelties and arbitrary indignities of unbridled capitalism.” Instead we make plans to meet for a final drink in the Schooner Bar tonight (the Rands will stand me up).

Back on the ship, I try to do laps, but the pool (the largest on any cruise ship, naturally) is fully trashed with the detritus of American life: candy wrappers, a slowly dissolving tortilla chip, napkins. I take an extra-long shower in my suite, then walk around the perimeter of the ship on a kind of exercise track, past all the alluring lifeboats in their yellow-and-white livery. Maybe there is a dystopian angle to the HBO series that I will surely end up pitching, one with shades of WALL-E or Snowpiercer . In a collapsed world, a Royal Caribbean–like cruise liner sails from port to port, collecting new shipmates and supplies in exchange for the precious energy it has on board. (The actual Icon features a new technology that converts passengers’ poop into enough energy to power the waterslides . In the series, this shitty technology would be greatly expanded.) A very young woman (18? 19?), smart and lonely, who has only known life on the ship, walks along the same track as I do now, contemplating jumping off into the surf left by its wake. I picture reusing Duck Necklace’s words in the opening shot of the pilot. The girl is walking around the track, her eyes on the horizon; maybe she’s highborn—a Suite—and we hear the voice-over: “I’m 19 and I’m ready to go. I just don’t want a shark to eat me.”

Before the cruise is finished, I talk to Mr. Washy Washy, or Nielbert of the Philippines. He is a sweet, gentle man, and I thank him for the earworm of a song he has given me and for keeping us safe from the dreaded norovirus. “This is very important to me, getting people to wash their hands,” he tells me in his burger getup. He has dreams, as an artist and a performer, but they are limited in scope. One day he wants to dress up as a piece of bacon for the morning shift.

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE TITANIC (the Icon of the Seas is five times as large as that doomed vessel) at least offered its passengers an exciting ending to their cruise, but when I wake up on the eighth day, all I see are the gray ghosts that populate Miami’s condo skyline. Throughout my voyage, my writer friends wrote in to commiserate with me. Sloane Crosley, who once covered a three-day spa mini-cruise for Vogue , tells me she felt “so very alone … I found it very untethering.” Gideon Lewis-Kraus writes in an Instagram comment: “When Gary is done I think it’s time this genre was taken out back and shot.” And he is right. To badly paraphrase Adorno: After this, no more cruise stories. It is unfair to put a thinking person on a cruise ship. Writers typically have difficult childhoods, and it is cruel to remind them of the inherent loneliness that drove them to writing in the first place. It is also unseemly to write about the kind of people who go on cruises. Our country does not provide the education and upbringing that allow its citizens an interior life. For the creative class to point fingers at the large, breasty gentlemen adrift in tortilla-chip-laden pools of water is to gather a sour harvest of low-hanging fruit.

A day or two before I got off the ship, I decided to make use of my balcony, which I had avoided because I thought the view would only depress me further. What I found shocked me. My suite did not look out on Central Park after all. This entire time, I had been living in the ship’s Disneyland, Surfside, the neighborhood full of screaming toddlers consuming milkshakes and candy. And as I leaned out over my balcony, I beheld a slight vista of the sea and surf that I thought I had been missing. It had been there all along. The sea was frothy and infinite and blue-green beneath the span of a seagull’s wing. And though it had been trod hard by the world’s largest cruise ship, it remained.

This article appears in the May 2024 print edition with the headline “A Meatball at Sea.” When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

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Subscriber only, travel | cruise demand leaves pandemic in rearview with record passengers, more construction on tap.

MIAMI BEACH — The COVID pandemic drove the cruise industry to a standstill, but numbers released Tuesday signal the years of comeback are officially over with more expansion on tap.

More than 31.7 million passengers took cruises worldwide in 2023, said Kelly Craighead, Cruise Line International Association president and CEO, speaking at the annual Seatrade Cruise Global conference at Miami Beach Convention Center.

CLIA is the lobbying group for member cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, Carnival, Norwegian, MSC and most other major brands.

The pandemic shut down sailing from March 2020 with only a small number of ships coming back online 18 months later in summer 2021. Cruise lines didn’t return to full strength until partially through 2022, so it wasn’t until a full year of sailing in 2023 that the industry could get a real handle on just what the demand had grown to as people returned to vacation travel.

“We are an industry that’s resilient and thriving all around the world, breaking records in ways we might never have imagined,” she said.

The 2023 total is 2 million more than the industry had in 2019. CLIA projects 34.1 million in 2024 growing to 34.6 million in 2025. It’s still a miniscule chunk of the overall travel pie of more than 1.3 billion, but cruise’s share is growing.

She noted that surveys of travelers who would consider a cruise for a vacation are at an all-time high, noting that 82% who had previously cruised said they would cruise again, but more importantly, among those who had never sailed, 71% would consider it.

The youngest generations — Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z — are the biggest drivers.

The fleet for the growing demand continues as well, including the introduction this year of the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas.

She said CLIA member lines had more than 300 ships sailing globally for the first time in 2023, with 14 new ships that began sailing in 2023 and another eight expected before the end of the year. They have 88 new ships on order through 2028.

Already this year, both Royal Caribbean Group and Carnival Corp. announced major new ship construction deals, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings added to that this week with its order of eight more vessels across its three brands.

The heads of those groups were on stage to discuss where the industry is headed and enjoy their recent success.

Carnival Corp.’s president and CEO Josh Weinstein put it in a way that gained plaudits from fellow panelists and others at the conference.

“The concept of pent-up demand for cruising is gone,” he said. “We have been cruising for three years, right? It’s over. This is natural demand because we all provide amazing experiences. We delivered happiness to literally 31 million guests last year. And people see it, they feel it.”

A big part of what cruising missed during the pandemic he said was that word-of-mouth promotion that is needed to convince people to try their product.

“We now have 31 million people getting off our ships and going home and telling their friends and family who have never cruised before, ‘You don’t know what you’re missing.’ ‘This is amazing.'”

All of the leaders echoed the industry line that they offer a much better value than land-based vacations, but that the experience gap between the two has now shifted in their favor coming out of the pandemic.

“The appreciation for building memories with your friends and family coming out of COVID is at extraordinarily high levels,” said Jason Liberty, president & CEO at Royal Caribbean Group. “Also wealth transfer, right? Grandparents wanting to see that wealth transfer live, watching their kids and their grandkids experience that is also at an all-time high. … We have the secular trends of people buying less stuff, they want experiences. We’re in the experience business.”

Another bright aspect to the industry has been the spillover effect of all of the new ships since the pandemic, said Harry Sommer, president & CEO at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

“Their new products are so extraordinary, and so much better than what was delivered back in ’15, ’16 and ’17, that it’s driving additional excitement for the entire industry,” Somer said. “When any new ship is delivered, no matter whether it’s part of our portfolio or the other portfolios, demand improves for all of us because it adds excitement to the industry.”

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The 10 Biggest Cruise Ships in the World

Where to float on the biggest boats.

E very vessel that's once held the title of "biggest cruise ship" has one thing in common: It is a destination in and of itself. Of course, these enormous passenger cruise ships also transport guests to thrilling ports, exotic islands and remote locations too. It's almost as if you could live on a cruise ship !

These massive ships each have so much going on: theater and music on a multitude of stages, water slides, roller coasters and go-kart tracks, zip lines, ice skating rinks, laser tag arenas—you name it. There are also hidden cruise features waiting to be discovered and more restaurants than you will ever need to feed yourself. They are, simply put, awe-inspiring creations. Have you ever thought about how cruise ships float ?

One of the most important cruise tips for vacationing on one of these big boats is to accept that you won't be able to do it all on your first visit. Thankfully, with many itineraries to choose from, you can sail on the largest cruise ship again and again, learn cruise ship code words and have new experiences every single time you're on board one of these massive ships.

What is largest cruise ship in the world?

The current reigning champion is Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas. But next year, there will be a brand-new biggest cruise ship, the Royal Caribbean Icon of the Seas . Planned with 20 decks, 2,805 staterooms, seven pools and nine hot tubs, the future largest ship in the world is currently being built in Finland. Here are the details about the biggest and grandest ships to sail on.

Wonder of the Seas

Cruise line: Royal Caribbean

Length: 1,188 feet

Width: 215 feet

Guest capacity: 7,084

A true wonder, the current biggest ship in the world delights guests every week with a feast of activities, shows, meals and memories. Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas , an Oasis-class ship that is a city at sea, has 16 guest decks, 2,204 crew members from every corner of the planet and more than 10 bars and 20 dining destinations—nine of which are complimentary. Curiously, even though the Icon of the Seas will eventually take the mantle as the largest cruise ship, Wonder will still have more staterooms than its new big sister, a whopping 2,867 of them.

It also features a carousel on a real boardwalk, a dry slide that twists down 10 decks, surfing simulators, a laser tag arena, an ice skating rink and a zip line that spans the interior width of the ship. It also has interior rooms with balconies that look out over the restaurant and a tree-lined neighborhood that looks like Central Park. Wonder of the Seas will soon lose its crown as the biggest cruise ship in the world, but it'll never lose its ability to provide unique vacations thanks to affordable cruises for every kind of traveler.

World Europa

Cruise line: MSC

Length: 1,093 feet

Width: 154 feet

Guest capacity: 6,762

MSC is not only a privately held shipping company, the largest in the world, they are also the maker of some of the largest cruise ships in the world. The World Europa , which took to the sea for the first time in 2022, is currently escorting passengers all over the Mediterranean, using one of the cleanest marine fuels to do so.

The World Europa features some of the best rooms on a cruise ship, thanks to having the most cabins with a balcony. It also has the world's longest dry slide at sea, taking adventurous cruisers down 12 decks in a shiny, twisting stainless steel tube, and bumper cars in a SportsPlex arena that also hosts rollerblading—not at the same time, however. People looking for something a little less dramatic will enjoy six pools, some surrounded by tropical greenery, 14 whirlpools and MSC's first-ever department store at sea. Finally, you'll never go hungry on this ship , given its 10 restaurants, including four main dining rooms and three buffets.

Cruise line: P&O Cruises

Length: 1,130 feet

Width: 138 feet

Guest capacity: 6,685

Whether you want the sunshine of the Caribbean or the culture found in and around Mediterranean ports, Arvia is P&O's largest cruise ship and one of the biggest cruise ships in the world, with 1,800 crew members, a three-screen cinema complex, a wide range of staterooms to choose from and four pools, including an infinity pool with a swim-up bar. There are also nearly two dozen whirlpool spas, a sauna, steam room and a hydrotherapy pool.

This means that whether you're taking a singles cruise or have children in tow—the Arvia is a family-friendly ship with age-specific kids clubs on board—serious rest and relaxation are definitely on the agenda. Then, when you're feeling spry and ready for some adventure during your vacation at sea, you can try an escape room or ropes course, play in the sports arena or strut your stuff in a dance class.

Costa Toscana

Cruise line: Costa Cruises

Length: 1,105 feet

Width: 137 feet

Guest capacity: 6,600

A sister to the Smeralda , the Costa Toscana became the fleet's largest cruise ship when it took to the water in March 2022. The ship uses LNG propulsion engines to make sea travel more sustainable, both while cruising and in ports of call around the world. An international crew of 1,678 works to deliver dream vacations for up to 6,600 passengers who will love to discover all there is to do, see and experience on board.

The ship has 1,550 staterooms ranging from interior cabins to elaborate suites, a baker's dozen pools and whirlpools, and a total of 20 restaurants, bars and lounges. Costa's new flagship vessel is a smart city at sea, offering subtly high-tech sailings that provide fun for the whole family, thanks to Peppa Pig character parties, an aqua park with water slides and a mind-bending skywalk 213 feet above the ocean! So book a vacation on one of the largest cruise ships in the world, then pack your cruise ducks and your appetite for learning how to cook at Toscana 's Food LAB cooking school, among other adventures at sea.

Celebration

Cruise line: Carnival

Guest capacity: 6,631

As cruise lines jockey for position at the top of the biggest cruise ship in the world leaderboard, the original family-fun ships are also getting larger. A total of 1,735 international crew, famously considered the best in the business, will ensure that every family's cruise on the Celebration not only maximizes the fun but also the memories, and all at some of the most affordable prices in the cruise industry.

This ship has BOLT, the first roller coaster at sea, Dr. Seuss children's themed cruises with character appearances, and incredible water parks with multiple slides. Delicious food is made fast-and-fresh at Guy's Burger Joint, Shaq's Big Chicken and the Seafood Shack, as well as tasty street-food carts located near the pools. Plus, with all the extra space on the largest cruise ship in their fleet, Carnival's Playlist Productions has more stages to dazzle you and your kids with famously fantastic live music and musical theater.

Cruise line: Norwegian

Length: 1,094 feet

Width: 136 feet

Guest capacity: 3,998

With 1,700 crew members and more than 2,000 staterooms, including suites in The Haven—Norwegian's luxurious, private and tranquil ship-within-a-ship concept high atop the ship, which comes with 24-hour butler service and its own lavish sundeck—the Encore ranks among the largest cruise ships in the world. Curiously, this vessel from 2019 is still the largest in the Norwegian fleet! Both Prima  and the forthcoming Viva were built after Encore but are considerably smaller in size, bucking the cruise industry trend of "bigger is better."

Encore shines as a superior and super big ship, the fourth in the Breakaway Plus class, and features a multi-deck go-kart track, the Cavern Club music venue, fashioned after the famous Liverpool room where The Beatles became big, a virtual-reality gaming room, an outdoor laser-tag arena and some of the best food at sea. No doubt, this will become one of every passenger's favorite cruises.

Symphony of the Seas

Width: 216 feet

Guest capacity: 6,680

None of the many all-inclusive cruises take place on the largest cruise ships, but you may be forgiven for thinking you're enjoying an all-inclusive experience on Symphony of the Seas . The ship's many spectacular activities include a zip line that soars above the boardwalk many decks below, an old-fashioned carousel, Broadway-style theater shows, surfing simulators and the 10-story Abyss dry slide. There's also delicious food all over the ship that is 100% complimentary. And while you may fly on the zip line over and over again, you'll probably still wonder, Why do cruise ships have wings ?

After its maiden voyage in April 2018, Symphony was the biggest cruise ship in the world. But because of its ingenious neighborhood concept, guests rarely feel overcrowded. Seven distinct areas carve up the ship into unique spaces to play, eat, stroll, sleep and enjoy live entertainment, and the traffic flows brilliantly to make passengers feel as though they're on a more intimate ship and not cruising with upward of 6,680 other people in more than 2,700 staterooms, some of which are interior cabins with balconies that boast views of the Central Park neighborhood's greenery and eateries.

Cruise line: AIDA

Guest capacity: 6,654

While American travelers looking to cruise the Caribbean may not encounter her, the AIDAnova is not only the largest cruise ship in the AIDA fleet, she's also a revolutionary lady. The ship's Four Elements adventure deck, with its three water slides and climbing garden under the dome of a retractable glass roof, drops jaws on every sailing. The ship's more than 2,600 staterooms with 20 different types, ranging from a glorious two-deck penthouse to budget-friendly interior cabins, allow guests to sleep well and arrive in port well rested, and the two-deck spa offering 80 different treatments provides even more healing and luxury.

But AIDAnova is also impressive because it made history as the world's first cruise ship to be powered in port and at sea by liquefied natural gas (LNG), the world's cleanest burning fossil fuel. It's important that big ships can be more sustainable, but did you ever wonder why there are big balls on cruise ships ?

Sun Princess

Cruise line: Princess

Length: 1,133 feet

Guest capacity: 4,300

The Love Boat is getting much, much bigger! Yes, this is the namesake ship from the beloved '70s TV show. With 2,150 cabins, the Sun Princess is close to carrying 4,300 passengers to Europe for its inaugural season later this year. And then all around the world, people will be asking, "Why do cruise ships have to stop in Canada?"

The third ship in the history of the fleet to be graced with the iconic name, the S un Princess is poised to be a fan favorite. There are more than 29 bars, lounges and restaurants on board, with the Sea View Terrace and Bar ensconced in glass at the top and front of the ship, book-ended by the Wake View Terrace at the back, which has a stunning infinity pool hanging off the edge. Drawing inspiration from the tiered terraces of Santorini, Greece, this evocative area will have an indoor/outdoor pool to enjoy supreme relaxation during the day. But once the sun says goodbye, the pool becomes a stage and the dome above transforms into an entertainment venue with eye-popping lighting effects.

Length: 1,085 feet

Width: 141 feet

Guest capacity: 6,334

Come June 2023, one of the newest and biggest cruise ships at sea will be carrying eager pasengers, and more than 1,700 dedicated crew members, to world-class destinations in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. While on board the Euribia , cruisers will enjoy a massive amount of personal space (100-plus square feet per person) at any one of five unique pools, including one of the most intricate waterparks at sea, covering more than 10,000 square feet.

These watery areas of rest, relaxation and revelry will comfortably accommodate more than 1,000 guests at a time. Indoors, a 360-foot-long Mediterranean-style promenade is lined with myriad shops, along with some of the 20 bars and 10 restaurants found on the ship. It also features a domed LED screen that magically displays the sky and other animations throughout the day and night. MSC continues to be a favorite cruise line of environmentalist travelers looking to ease their mind and minimize their footprint, as the Euribia has an advanced onboard wastewater treatment system that doesn't allow any water to leave the ship without being treated and cleaned.

The post The 10 Biggest Cruise Ships in the World appeared first on Reader's Digest .

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Frank Bruni

Republicans are fleeing the stench of a rotten congress.

By Frank Bruni

Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer who was on the staff of The Times for more than 25 years.

When it comes to Donald Trump, House Republicans do a convincing pantomime of love. Many of them chirpily parrot his lies. Most of them merrily launder his misdeeds. They grovel for his favor, gush about getting his endorsement and speak and vote in line with his desires.

They’re half partisan, half courtesan.

But there’s heartache underneath. Misery, even. That’s the truth of the Trump era, and that’s the moral of the 2024 exodus from Congress.

More than two dozen House Republicans, along with more than two dozen House Democrats, have headed or are headed for the exits , but the largeness of those numbers — which track with those in other election years over the past decade — doesn’t tell the story. What matters is who those Republicans are, the disgust in their goodbyes, their palpable sense of defeat and how it contradicts the fact that they have been in the majority in the chamber since early 2023.

In power, they have found themselves close to powerless. That’s the hellish paradox of their surrender to Trump.

For many of them individually, his blessing is the best or only way to maintain support among their Republican constituents back home and win election. But for the lot of them, he’s a curse, because he has contributed mightily to a degrading and dysfunctional culture on Capitol Hill.

Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz and other banes of a serious, half-serious or even quarter-serious Republican lawmaker’s existence are Trump’s spiritual spawn. He begot their antics. He nurtured their rage. If being a House Republican has become unbearable, he bears critical responsibility for that.

The Trump giveth, and the Trump taketh away.

Five of the Republicans who decided to escape the Hill’s poisonous climate didn’t or won’t even wait until the end of this year and finish out their terms. They can’t flee fast enough.

Among them is Representative Ken Buck, a Colorado Republican. “This place just keeps going downhill,” he told reporters, “and I don’t need to spend my time here.” You say that kind of thing about a rundown bar where there’s no eradicating the stench of spilled beer. He was talking about a broken-down institution that reeks of abandoned principles.

It’s losing longtime Republican leaders estranged from and spurned by greener, meaner MAGA hellions. Kevin McCarthy, who was the House speaker for less than 10 months last year, has already resigned and is gone. Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who served as a temporary speaker after McCarthy, won’t seek re-election.

They carry the scars of a scabrous 2023. Such was the Republican infighting that McCarthy’s ascent to House speaker required an unprecedented 15 roll call votes — and then he was ousted after the third-shortest speakership in history.

In a profoundly depressing analysis in The Times, Carl Hulse called 2023 “one of the most tumultuous and unproductive legislative years in recent memory.” Vital bills languished. Bedlam prevailed. Representative Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, said that McCarthy had purposely elbowed him in the kidney. “And then I chased after him,” he proudly reported. Zygotes behave more maturely.

“It was historical and hysterical,” Representative Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican, said at the time. McHenry called it “a very actively stupid political environment.”

Now, its fruits. “Four G.O.P. committee chairs are leaving,” Marianna Sotomayor wrote in a roll call of the Republican refugees in The Washington Post last weekend. “Eight lawmakers are retiring from the coveted Energy and Commerce Committee, and eight subcommittee chairs are leaving.”

Sotomayor quoted Buck as saying: “The populist wave has eroded the conservative values that I had when I came to this place. Now, we’re impeaching people like it’s some kind of carnival, and the Constitution is just a thing of the past to the very same people who were tea party patriots 10 to 12 years ago.”

A carnival ethos. Contempt for the Constitution. Call to mind any former president you know?

In terms of the Republican Party’s devolution over the past dozen years, there can be genuine debate: Which came first, the tempest or the Trump? But it’s indisputable that he worsened the weather. Perhaps he swept in on storm clouds already formed. But only then came the lightning.

And now they seek shelter — McCarthy, McHenry, Buck and so many more. They weren’t built for the apocalypse. They should have done more to head it off.

For the Love of Sentences

The writer Gary Shteyngart spent a week on the Icon of the Seas, billed as the biggest cruise ship ever, and his account in The Atlantic was a prose buffet from which many of you plucked morsels. “The ship makes no sense, vertically or horizontally,” he wrote. “It makes no sense on sea, or on land, or in outer space. It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots.” Also: “There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy.” (Thanks to Melissa Guensler of Fredericksburg, Texas, and Pam Vetter of Austin, Texas, among many others, for spotlighting Shteyngart’s article.)

In The Santa Barbara Independent, Zak Klobucher marveled at one of Bruce Springsteen’s live performances: “He carped so much diem that when he called on the audience, ‘Can you feel the spirit?’ Robin Williams showed up to ask him to take it down a notch.” (Mark Flannery, Fullerton, Calif.)

In The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, James Lileks described his attempt to use a snowblower as a slush blower: “I pushed it into the drift, and it was like trying to eat a thick, wet pillow with your dentures out.” (Marie McGeehan, St. Louis)

In The Financial Times, Anjana Ahuja questioned the potential of a new meat: “With half the U.K. population reporting anxiety about snakes and about one in 50 harboring a phobia, the idea of snakes as the new livestock of choice might not have legs.” (Lois Russell, Somerville, Mass.)

In The Times, Wesley Morris appraised Larry David: “I’ve never seen any actor with David’s grasp of how to play skepticism for laughs. Eyebrows as up-yanked drawbridge, forehead creases as lasagna of vexation. That rawboned voice of his soars, if not in octaves, then certainly with tickly, prickly dynamism.” (Carol Ball, Boston, and Annie Stamford, Philadelphia, among many others.) I was as taken with this bit of Wesley’s about “Curb Your Enthusiasm”: “It presents the American id at war with its puritanical superego. Sometimes Larry is the one. Sometimes he’s the other. The best episodes dare him to inhabit the two at once, heretic and Talmudist.”

Also in The Times, Kevin Roose gave thanks for Andres Freund, a Microsoft employee who might have prevented a major cyberattack: “In the cybersecurity world, a database engineer inadvertently finding a back door in a core Linux feature is a little like a bakery worker who smells a freshly baked loaf of bread, senses something is off and correctly deduces that someone has tampered with the entire global yeast supply.” (Paul Frame, Long Island City, N.Y., and Meg Smith, Old Saybrook, Conn., among others)

Ezra Dyer paid tribute to an automotive throwback, the Dodge Challenger Black Ghost: “It’s a stupid car, really, peak mouth-breather, screaming of wretched excess. But its analog mechanical brutality activates some primal lobe deep in our brains, the one that catalyzes noise into adrenaline. The final V-8 Challenger rolled off the line on Dec. 22 last year, another dinosaur obliterated by the E.V. asteroid.” (Gerry O’Brien, Goderich, Ontario)

And Christopher Kuo reported on a gang of museum robbers less polished than their serial heists suggest: “In court records and interviews, they come across as more 7-Eleven than Ocean’s Eleven.” (Gary Carter, Winston-Salem, N.C., and Miriam Bulmer, Mercer Island, Wash., among others)

In The London Review of Books, Michael Hofmann took pointed issue with some right-wing warriors: “It seems there is only one model for today’s ‘man of action,’ and that is shock and awe. Overwhelming force deployed suddenly and overwhelmingly. A theatrical performance with no audience as such, only a houseful of victims. The lions eat the circus and then tweet about it.” (William Wood, Edmonton, Alberta)

And in The Atlantic, David Frum remembered the death of Miranda, his daughter, in her early 30s: “For me, the thought of my own death has never been a distressing subject. We live, we love, we yield the stage to our children. I hoped that when the time arrived, I would have the chance for farewells. If that wish were granted, I could with total content ride the train to my final destination. It never occurred to me that one of my children might board the train first, pulling away as her parents wept on the platform.” (Howard Yegendorf, Ottawa)

To nominate favorite bits of recent writing from The Times or other publications to be mentioned in “For the Love of Sentences,” please email me here and include your name and place of residence.

What I’m Reading, Writing and Doing

My pooch partiality perhaps makes me the wrong judge, but I had a blast reading an advance copy of “ Dogland: Passion, Glory and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show ,” by Tommy Tomlinson, which will be published on April 23. It’s more than a behind-the-curtain look at that storied competition. It examines the history, absurdities, vanities and poignancy of our relationships with dogs, at times making the case that they’ve trained us every bit as much as we’ve trained them.

As someone who has written the kinds of articles that fetishize and make much fuss about food, I appreciate counternarratives that puncture all that pretension. Peter C. Baker’s “ The Case Against ‘Good’ Coffee ,” published in The Times Magazine, does precisely that, with abundant style and sense.

If you aren’t aware of and haven’t been reading The Point, a relatively new blog in Times Opinion, please check it out . It’s a showcase of quick takes by columnists and other Opinion writers and editors. I recently contributed this post about some Democrats’ complaints that other Democrats are being unduly alarmist about the 2024 election.

I’m excited to be onstage with David Axelrod at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics at lunchtime on Friday, April 26, for a conversation about my new book, “The Age of Grievance,” that doubles as a live taping of his “Axe Files” podcast. Registration details here . I’ll discuss the book with Katie Couric at the Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in Manhattan on Wednesday, May 1, at 6:30 p.m. Details here . Other cities and events are listed here on my website.

On a Personal Note

There’s a riot outside my bedroom window.

Chirping. Trilling. Cawing. Squawking. I need a thesaurus to do a proper aural inventory. I need noise-canceling headphones to make it go away. But I don’t want to silence or muffle it; it’s an exquisite cacophony, a tapestry of sound that’s perfect, even though it’s all loose threads. I’m nestled in a noisy aviary.

And in a vivid garden. There’s a second riot outside the window, one of color: the pinkish blossoms of a tree whose pedigree I keep forgetting, the red and white flowers spread like frosting atop a hedge of azaleas, the purple fringes of my redbud trees. Early April is when spring struts the most flamboyantly here in my area of North Carolina. The Duke campus is positively Edenic.

And it’s scrambling my relationship with the seasons. I’ve always been an autumn guy — and, for the most part, still am. It’s hard to argue with those colors and with the delicious bite of the air in early November.

But now that I have a house and a yard with yellow daffodils that showed up like an advance guard more than a month ago, pink and red camellias that followed fast on their heels and a cherry tree that peaked for a few glorious mid-March days, I’m wondering if spring has the edge. There are no leaves to collect (though there is the green pollen spreading across my screened porch). No frigid hints of the winter to come.

And there are all these chattering birds! I know that they’re talking with one another, but I like to pretend they’re speaking to me. They’re telling me that amid all the ugliness these days, there’s ample beauty.

Frank Bruni is a professor of journalism and public policy at Duke University, the author of the book "The Age of Grievance" and a contributing Opinion writer. He writes a weekly email newsletter .   Instagram   • Threads •  @ FrankBruni • Facebook

20-year-old man missing after jumping off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, report says

• A 20-year-old man on holiday with his family went overboard from a Royal Caribbean cruise. 
• The man, who's been missing since early Thursday morning, may have jumped, a report said. 
• The US Coast Guard has launched a search operation. 

A 20-year-old man who was vacationing with his family on a cruise may have jumped overboard, The New York Post reported.

Royal Caribbean confirmed that a passenger, whose identity has not been revealed, went overboard near The Bahamas at about 4 a.m. on Thursday and has been missing since then.

The US Coast Guard launched a search for the passenger on Thursday.

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson told Business Insider that the cruise line's "Care Team is providing support and assistance to the guest's family during this difficult time."

Bryan Sims, a fellow cruise passenger, told The New York Post that he'd hung out with the passenger in the hot tub until 3:30 a.m. Sims said the man appeared to be "pretty drunk."

Sims told the Post that after leaving the hot tub, they encountered the passenger's father while approaching the elevators.

"His dad was fussing at him for being drunk," Sims said.

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Deborah Morrison, another passenger on board the cruise, told the Post that "there was a lot of yelling and that the crew was alerted immediately."

"The ship's crew immediately launched a search and rescue effort alongside the US Coast Guard, who has taken over the search," the Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.

#Breaking @USCG crews are searching for a 20-year-old man who went overboard from the Liberty of the Seas cruise ship 57 miles from Great Inagua this morning. USCG Cutter Seneca and Air Station Miami HC-144 crews are conducting the search. #USCG #SAR pic.twitter.com/zZPpKOdyCn — USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) April 4, 2024

The Liberty of the Seas departed from South Florida and was 57 miles from Great Inagua in The Bahamas when the passenger went overboard.

The cruise ship has 18 decks and can accommodate up to 3,634 passengers. It's served by a crew of about 1,300.

The chances of falling overboard on a cruise ship are extremely low .

In 2023, about 31 million passengers traveled on a cruise, and at least 10 people went overboard, with two of them surviving, Business Insider reported .

"Even one incident is one too many," a spokesperson for Cruise Lines International Association told Business Insider, adding that "the vast majority of cases are either reckless behavior or some form of intentional act. People don't just inadvertently fall over the side of a ship."

Last month, a 23-year-old man who felt seasick fell overboard from the MSC Euribia cruise ship while crossing the North Sea in Europe and was presumed dead.

In December, an MSC Cruises passenger jumped from one of its ships while sailing from Europe to South America.

According to a CLIA report, only 28.2% of passengers who fell overboard between 2009 and 2019 were successfully rescued.

Watch: Sub taking tourists to see the Titanic goes missing

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