Icon of the Seas Cruise Review (LIVE!)

Welcome to all things travel. This week's episode joins our February live episode, where we talk about my preview cruise on Icon of the Seas. I'm sure you've heard about this cruise ship. It's the newest, it's the biggest of Royal Caribbean's fleet and it has something for everyone.  


Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts, Ryan and Julie. Ryan is the travel professor teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation.  Julie is a Disney, loving, Maryland mom of three, who specializes in family travel, whether we're discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel.   

~~~~~~~
Grab Ryan's free download for planning the ultimate family all-inclusive vacation: https://bit.ly/allinclusivevacationtoptips

Grab Julie's free download for a baby and toddler vacation packing list:
https://bit.ly/babytoddlerpackinglist


Ready to plan your vacation? Most families are confused and overwhelmed when planning a vacation. We work with you to plan a trip perfect for your family. Saving you time, money, and stress!

• Contact Ryan at ryan@creatingmagicvacations.com
• Contact Julie at julie@creatingmagicvacations.com

Join the travel conversations and the fun in the All Things Travel Show Facebook group!

• Please share the show with your travel buddies!! Click this link and share the show!
• Never miss an episode and help us take you to the top with us by following and leaving a 5-Star review on your favorite podcasting app!

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to all things travel. This week's episode joint, our February live episode, where we talk about my preview cruise on icon of the seas. I'm sure you've heard about this cruise ship. It's the newest, it's the biggest of Royal Caribbean's fleet and it has something for everyone. So let's listen in as Julie and I talk about the icon of the CS alive. Listening with travel advisors and destination experts, Ryan and Julie. I'm the travel professor teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation. And Julie is a Disney, loving, Maryland mom of three, who specializes in family travel, whether we're discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel.

Ryan: 0:53

Hey Julie, how you doing?

Julie: 0:55

Good. How are you, Ryan?

Ryan: 0:57

Sunday night.

Julie: 0:58

Happy Sunday night. Our first Sunday night back home, right? Last week we were in Disney still. I was still in Disney, yeah.

Ryan: 1:06

Yep. I was in Florida relaxing by the beach.

Julie: 1:09

Right?

Ryan: 1:09

Disney? Not relaxing. Ha ha ha

Julie: 1:12

But that's okay. It was a, it was an awesome trip. It was so fun. We had so much fun seeing all of our friends and it went by so fast.

Ryan: 1:20

We are here to talk about the first part of my trip, which was a preview cruise of Icon of the Seas, which I've Seen a little bit in the media, right? I feel like I see it everywhere now

Julie: 1:31

I see my kids recognize the ship on the commercials at this point and constantly ask me to go on the ship.

Ryan: 1:39

It was funny because you know that this opportunity came, pretty quickly to me or close to it. As I started to talk about it, people were like, wait, is that the ship that I've seen on TV? Or even when I was on the cruise, people were like, Hey, I just saw about this on the news.

Julie: 1:55

And you're on it.

Ryan: 1:56

and I'm on it. just to give

Julie: 1:57

you give like a quick little of how you got on to the ship,

Ryan: 2:01

So, so.

Julie: 2:02

came to be you? Mm

Ryan: 2:05

by our agency, Creating Magic Vacations who was invited by Royal Caribbean to be part of a preview cruise. Before the first cruise last week with paying passengers, they had two preview cruises, three night cruises, for media and travel professionals. And so I was able to represent our agency on one of those. It was a sprint not a marathon it

Julie: 2:27

It was, you were up early and going all day, except for that one day that you fell asleep and we didn't know what happened to you, but you know, other than that, you were really busy.

Ryan: 2:36

Let's just say it was a perfect day at CoCoK. Ha ha

Julie: 2:40

love that so much.

Ryan: 2:43

So I know you've got some questions for me, but I do want to reach out to folks if they are watching online live. If they go to StreamYard. com backslash Facebook, they can give permission so that we can see who you are. But feel free to ask any questions, chime in. Tonight is the time to talk about Icon of the Sea, so we want to make sure that you get your questions answered. Let's start with what you want to know, Julie.

Julie: 3:09

Who is Icon for and what is Icon known for right now?

Ryan: 3:15

So, what, I can answer the second part pretty easily. Icon is known as the newest, funnest toy, right, when it comes to family cruising. I mean, it's,

Julie: 3:25

be the, the perfect family vacation or

Ryan: 3:28

yeah, that's how, that's how they market it, and Yep, and I totally get that. It is the newest cruise ship. It is the biggest cruise ship it has tons of toys and activities I mean the the innovation on this ship is just what just blew me away. so, that's what it's What's a common complaint on cruises, you get on the elevators and they stop at every floor and they're jam packed Well on the icon they have directional elevators and you may have seen these at hotels before where you say I'm going to 415 And you type that in and it says, okay you go over to elevator B

Julie: 4:02

Oh,

Ryan: 4:03

So your your elevator is only stopping at a couple floors rather than All of them. And I would say, you know, just the, the innovation of what's available. And I know we're going to talk about the different areas of the ship, but just the pure different types of vacations almost

Julie: 4:20

Okay,

Ryan: 4:21

you can have on the same ship.

Julie: 4:23

I love that idea. That makes it perfect for what type of people?

Ryan: 4:28

So let's take your family. Remind me if your kid's ages.

Julie: 4:31

Five, almost three, almost one.

Ryan: 4:34

Okay, so with your little kiddos, the neighborhood that you would probably most be at, and maybe even stay at, is Surfside, right? And Surfside is There's a playscape there, there's a carousel there, there's a water, water area for little design for little kids, but with small slides and everything like that too. Um,

Julie: 4:57

diapers, with their swim diapers?

Ryan: 4:59

I don't know that. I, that's not something that, yeah. But on top of that, then they just don't have it for the kids. They have it for the families. So for instance, there's an adults only pool. Overlooking the back of the ship so parents can hang out while their kids are playing. There's a bar right next to that the lemon post you can get what are called Mommy and me cocktails. So you get your alcoholic cocktail. And Luca gets his version of that cocktail, but in a kid form.

Julie: 5:27

I love that.

Ryan: 5:28

and there are,

Julie: 5:29

them up.

Ryan: 5:30

But then there's also quick service dining. There's a buffet there. And there's a, a signature dining place that you can pay for. All within that same area. So really for you, that, that could be your vacation. And you know, you still have the ship offering tons of stuff. But you have a space dedicated for you if you want to use it that way. And then, if you're an adults only group, there's areas for adults. If you have bigger kids, like my kids, so 18 and 15, on the top story, Thrill Island you have an entire water park with six different slides. That's included. My kids can go off and do whatever they want and I'm hanging out at the hideaway, which is the adults only area. Which has an infinity pool off the back of the ship. So, you know, it really is you can do whatever it is you want on this ship.

Julie: 6:20

So that to me sounds like it's perfect for multi-generational travel.

Ryan: 6:25

Boy, that'd be great, wouldn't it? You know, grandma and grandpa can see the shows, they can go to the casino, they can go shopping, they can hang out at the pool, while the grandkids are off, burning off the energy and the parents are, at the spa or at the adults only section. I

Julie: 6:40

then you kind of reconvene at dinner time and. Recount what everyone did that day, and that just sounds really lovely, really lovely. That's awesome. You mentioned the neighborhood, so what is a neighborhood

Ryan: 6:54

Okay, so, so basically the

Julie: 6:56

the neighborhoods on ICON?

Ryan: 6:58

Sure, so the neighborhoods, think of them as kind of zones on the ship or areas. So, the first is the aquadome, and the aquadome on the icon, different than others, is in the front of the ship, and the aquadome is the aqua theater. Where they do the the the shows with the diving and the synchronized swimming and everything now Why is that important that it's in the front? Because the back of the aqua theater is actually that domed overlook area That everybody's like what is that on the icon? It kind of looks almost like it's a giant bridge or you know, like a

Julie: 7:32

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Ryan: 7:34

That's actually an overlook lounge. That's absolutely gorgeous where you can watch the water and things like that so

Julie: 7:41

is that now is that the lounge that you posted pictures of?

Ryan: 7:44

Correct. Yes. And so for those that are those are watching if you go back a week or so Both on All Things Travel and on Your Travel Professor. I was posting pictures during the trip. So as we talk about those throughout the live tonight, go back and check that out. Um, so, so yeah, so that's kind of a relaxing area. There's a couple bars back there. And in the Aquadome, also that neighborhood has several signature restaurants. It has a food hall. And it has a place called the Royal Bling. Which is a, a Royal Caribbean jewelry store and I did see you can get a golden chalice there for a hundred thousand dollars that gives you the drink package for life.

Julie: 8:31

What? Yeah.

Ryan: 8:39

area but there's certainly things there that you're going to see. Chill Island. Is basically the pool area. There are hammocks. There are cabanas that you can rent. There are pods to sit in There what's

Julie: 8:52

And this is still, we're still on board the ship.

Ryan: 8:54

Oh, yeah, everything i'm talking about is on the ship. Yeah, so so this is the pool area you've got a multi story bar here. You have the first swim up bar at sea so this is kind of this is just your general pool area thrill island as I talked about was the water park, but you also had oh man, I should have looked at the name of this, but basically, it's a, you're strapped in and you're walking along the edge, you can actually lean out and look over the ship. Yeah, yeah, I forget the name off the top of my head, but it? was really cool. No, no, I didn't do it. The sport court is here so you can play pickleball You can play basketball there is There's the rock climbing there. So some of those classic royal caribbean things are still there and then

Julie: 9:38

is all of that included?

Ryan: 9:40

all The, the the walkout thing is not. included that, Everything else is included. And then you have the Hideaway, which is the adults only area. So within that, you have. Kind of some upgraded lounger space you have its own dedicated bar and you have that infinity pool that that you can use and then you have surfside and and like I said with each of these neighborhoods You're going to have food associated with them. You're going to have drinks associated with them So if you find an area you like it can really be your area for as much as you want Being on the biggest cruise ship in the world doesn't mean that you're, you're clocking, you know, tons and tons of steps. It just means

Julie: 10:23

mean you have to be in every neighborhood.

Ryan: 10:26

you're choosing the space that's right for you. Then the other neighborhood is, there is a suite neighborhood, S U I T E, for the, for the suite level guests. They have their own area. There's all sorts, yeah, like a concierge type club just kind of a dedicated space.

Julie: 10:43

So I feel like you've probably kind of answered this, but, should clients be worried about there being kids everywhere? I feel like when you talk about those neighborhoods being so separate, you

Ryan: 10:52

well,

Julie: 10:52

go to an area where there's

Ryan: 10:54

yeah, If I want to relax and just chill out but not be in the water, I'm going to go to the Overlook. I'm going to go to the Aquadome neighborhood and hang out in that area. There's not going to be kids there. That's not really a kid's area. If I'm at the adults only section you know. I will be in close proximity to the chill island the larger pool and the thrill island, but it's still got its own dedicated space. So they'll be around but they're not going to be underfoot at all.

Julie: 11:24

Okay, okay.

Ryan: 11:25

And then, I mean, and another area that I didn't talk about that's not technically a neighborhood is the promenade. So on a lot of Royal Caribbean ships, that's kind of the hallway, right? Where you're walking in and there's shops on each side and there's stuff going on. When you get onto the Icon, and sometimes with the Quantum Class too, you walk in and it's almost like a shopping mall. It's two stories, there's bars, there's restaurants, there's shops, the, there's the pearl there on the icon. So it's really kind of a wide open space that, the pearl, it's really interesting, everybody, when they built the icon, everybody's like, what's the pearl, what's the pearl, we see this on the, it's this, Golf ball type thing that is open in the middle and has like tiered staging, but then there's lights and sounds and different things. So they can use it as an event space. They can use it as it's really interesting. It's multi story. So it's huge, really, to be honest, it's kind of just eye candy. It's like, Oh my gosh, what is that? That is absolutely amazing. So there are plenty of spaces where kids won't be. But, this is obviously designed to be a family cruise. I mean, like you said at the beginning, they market it as the, the greatest family vacation. And gosh, it, it might be. We had a meeting with some executives from Royal Caribbean, and Michael Bailey, the president, was there, and he said, we look at other types of family vacations, whether it be an all inclusive or going to a theme park, and he said, you know, Apples to apples when you look at what's included here when you look at the different activities that people can do Throw coco k in there because coco k is going to be part of every cruise. He goes Yes, the icon is expensive right now because everybody wants to try it out. But he said I think this really is comparable if

Julie: 13:10

Yeah, it's very

Ryan: 13:11

to the it's very inclusive. and then, obviously there's the activities that are on every type of cruise ship, so you're going to have musical acts all around you're going to have shows, I went to a magician show, I went to a comedian show, I went to the musical, I went to the aqua theater

Julie: 13:29

you like all the shows?

Ryan: 13:30

I did yeah, and I'm and I'm a I'm a show guy. I love theater I love like comedians and stuff like that. It was all really good. I'd never seen the aqua show before that was amazing to me um

Julie: 13:41

those things would be appropriate for kids, or like, what age level

Ryan: 13:45

Yeah, absolutely

Julie: 13:46

good to take your kids on the Icon?

Ryan: 13:48

The musical was The Wizard of Oz, the Aqua show is like high energy, lots of fun, you know. The, the, I guess it wasn't a magician, it was a juggler. His act was geared towards families. So, you know, I think your kids might be overstimulated at the age that they are,

Julie: 14:07

I would be overstimulated. Yeah.

Ryan: 14:09

but, there's the classic spaces for them, there's the kid's club, and, all that kind of stuff, if you go on this thinking, I'm going to I'm going to see, do, experience everything. That's not a vacation. And I was there for, I mean, let's be honest, I was there for work, right? I I was there to get content and take pictures and, and feel out the ship so I can talk to our agency and talk to clients. So. I saw most of the ship, I know one of the questions coming up has to do with the sailings that are going on now the icon is a seven night cruise for the foreseeable future of which include which all include Coco Cay and I think that feels about right. When you're on a cruise Even on a cruise ship this big by about day three you feel like okay, I got it I know where things are. I know the right way to get to places. I know what I like to eat and then now you kind of have the rest of that time to Experience everything the icon has

Julie: 15:07

except in your case, they kicked you off the ship by the time you knew where you were

Ryan: 15:11

They did right i'm like, I just know but but that's okay. That's all right I I like I said, I knew I knew it was a special opportunity

Julie: 15:17

like, I just figured out where my room was.

Ryan: 15:19

I did yeah

Julie: 15:22

Oh my gosh. Too funny. Too funny. Okay. So so we said they were seven night itineraries are going to go to Cocoa Cay, they're all going to go to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.

Ryan: 15:30

Mm hmm.

Julie: 15:30

they, they have really good itineraries

Ryan: 15:33

Yeah, so I mean the class

Julie: 15:34

why the prices are what you see that they are, because they're not four and five night cruises. They're all seven night cruises.

Ryan: 15:41

Now, here's the rub, right? You're doing these cruises, and let's say you've cruised a couple times, and you're going back to the Western Caribbean again. Are you really going to get off the ship? Or, you've gone to Coco Cay multiple times with Royal Caribbean. Are you going to get off the ship? Maybe not. Just like we say with other cruise lines, that the ship is the destination. And I think the first time you do that, that might be true. So, who might the icon not be right for?

Julie: 16:09

time

Ryan: 16:11

maybe not a first time cruiser unless they're going for the ship. If they're going because, hey, I want to see the U. S. Virgin Islands, or I want to go to Cozumel, or I want to go to Roatan. Yes, the ship will take you there, but you're, you're paying a lot to be on the newest cruise. Coolest ship to get to those classic places, right?

Julie: 16:31

Definitely. I agree with that. I would not recommend it as a first cruise, even though there's so much to do, or at least, you know, come with that disclaimer kind of thing. Is there anything Ryan that you felt like, and we know that you're sailing was very short. So is there anything that you felt like was a can't miss?

Ryan: 16:48

Oh goodness,

Julie: 16:49

you could say like for different age groups, like if you're a family, don't

Ryan: 16:52

Well, I mean obviously yeah, I mean, I mean obviously Surfside is if for families that you're not gonna miss that. I Absolutely fell in love and you know from texting me throughout the trip. I fell in love with Central Park It was gorgeous, it was beautiful, and it wasn't even just at the daytime, at night, it was stunning. Like seriously, it felt like you

Julie: 17:14

Central Park a little bit,

Ryan: 17:16

Sure, so

Julie: 17:17

talk about that in the neighborhoods.

Ryan: 17:18

It's like you're walking in a park. They have trees, and plants, and bushes, and topiaries. But as you're walking along, it's like you're walking along a street. And there's a jazz bar over here, and there's a champagne bar over here, and there's a deli. And they moved Izumi, the Japanese restaurant up there, so it's you know, you're going to your neighborhood sushi restaurant, and Chops is there. Um, It's just gorgeous. And like I said, at night, you go and they have the soundtrack of the chirping and everything and and it just it feels cool It feels really cool. And then at the end of central park you go into what's called the empire supper club and this is a very very exclusive dinner place.

Julie: 18:01

Okay.

Ryan: 18:02

it's several hundred dollars for the dinner, and it is super exclusive. Like, I'm talking like fifty people at a

Julie: 18:10

Oh my

Ryan: 18:10

and they've got jazz players and singers, and it just, it has that nineteen, twenties, speakeasy kind of feel to it.

Julie: 18:19

so cool that you could experience that on the

Ryan: 18:21

Yeah, you don't feel like you're on a cruise ship. That for me is a can't miss for everybody but then with the adults, have a day party, right? Go to that hideaway and just have fun and relax

Julie: 18:31

And when you're talking about Central Park, the very cool thing that is unique to Royal Caribbean ships is if they have a Central Park area and some of them also have like a boardwalk area. I don't know. Icon does not have a

Ryan: 18:44

so You have surfside rooms that overlook Surfside.

Julie: 18:48

If you book one that has a balcony, you overlook Central Park, or you can overlook Surfside. And on other Royal Caribbean ships, you could overlook Central Park or the Boardwalk area. And that is something that is unique to Royal Caribbean. They're the only one that does that. And it's a very cool way to kind of dip your toes into a balcony category without

Ryan: 19:07

yeah. Kind of that, that infinity bal, that infinity balcony now is becoming more common where it's like the, the enclosed balcony, I saw several rooms that were like that

Julie: 19:17

so I have a question about that. On icon because it is being marketed as like the ultimate family vacation

Ryan: 19:23

Yes.

Julie: 19:23

Are there more rooms that sleep five because we know that royal does not really have a lot of rooms to sleep five now They have that massive townhouse And but I thought I saw a room that had like the bunk beds and then the regular area. Is

Ryan: 19:35

So, There is like a family type suite that has bunk beds, and then there is the family surfside suite it has a regular room, and then it has kind of a balcony on one side, and then a small sleeping area on the other. Your kids, it would be great. My kids, they couldn't fit in that room. But for your small kiddos?

Julie: 19:55

do you know the capacity for the room? Is it five? Okay.

Ryan: 19:59

It would be it would be four plus I'm sure but I'm sure your one year old would be fine I know that they're they're making some more accommodations with that kind of stuff But five is tough and and it continues to be on cruises.

Julie: 20:12

well, right. If anyone comes to me with a family of five, I always recommend Disney first because Disney has so many. Rooms that sleep five on their cruises, but Royal, you really have to get a connecting room. So I was wondering, I had seen some of those bunk bed rooms and I was wondering if they had kind of,

Ryan: 20:30

they they do they I don't know the exact inventory numbers of those But yeah, they do they definitely have them but but I I would say that is not something Royal needs to do better with that. I mean there

Julie: 20:42

They do because the only other option for those families is to book connecting rooms and those go fast. If someone came to me today or came to you today, Ryan, and wanted to book a family of five and connecting rooms on icon of the seas, what would you tell them?

Ryan: 20:59

Wait a year,

Julie: 21:00

Yeah, because it's not available,

Ryan: 21:02

it, it, it, It's not it, you're right, Depending on the ages of the kids, then maybe you do a, an inside and a balcony, you know, close to each other. There are ways to work around it, you know,

Julie: 21:13

that's just one thing I wish they had expanded on a little bit more. Okay. All right. So let's keep going. Did you have a favorite dining location?

Ryan: 21:22

So I tried to do as many dining locations as I could.

Julie: 21:25

For

Ryan: 21:26

let's talk about,

Julie: 21:26

right?

Ryan: 21:27

for research purposes. yes. A lot of great quick service grab and go, so you've got the Loco Fresh, that's the Mexican restaurant cantina that's on most of the ships. You've got a lot of pick up and go. One of the things that I really liked was the Aquedome Market. This was probably my favorite place. And you walk in, and it's kind of like a food court where you walk up to the counter, and they had, let's see, they had a creperie. They had an asian place, they had a sandwich and salad place, they had a mediterranean place, and a mac and cheese place. And you just basically walked up, and got what you, ordered what you wanted, and it was made for you.

Julie: 22:05

Got it.

Ryan: 22:06

I'm worried that that will become a little overrun, based on the size of the place,

Julie: 22:12

even though there's a lot of options to

Ryan: 22:14

I I think I think so I think so but but that was probably my favorite quick service place Um,

Julie: 22:22

included in the price

Ryan: 22:23

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, so I had let's see. What did I have there? I had a monte cristo sandwich I had an asian bowl like a

Julie: 22:33

Yeah.

Ryan: 22:33

a General, General Tso's pork or something. I had a the first day I had a Pita sandwich from the Mediterranean. And everything was really good. I really wanted to do the creperie, but it was closed when I walked through. That would be the one thing I would say is, Keep the creperie open till after the Aquadome show. Right? Cause I walk through and I'm like, I wanna, I wanna snack. Favorite bar for me was point and feather, cause it's like darts. It was the English pub cause it's it's, it's supposed to be, it's a playoff of darts, right? The

Julie: 23:02

I love that. Yeah.

Ryan: 23:04

Best entertainment was a Scottish guy named Kevin that

Julie: 23:08

Oh,

Ryan: 23:08

with his guitar and it was just awesome. I just, I went there every night. It was just relaxed. It was cool. But

Julie: 23:13

Were there a lot of lounges on board?

Ryan: 23:15

Oh, well there's 40 plus lounges, bars, and dining establishments.

Julie: 23:21

Oh my gosh.

Ryan: 23:23

And still only one gym. So that's my joke. So they said they have their priorities, right? mean..Yes, I did. I went into, I went into the gym. I acknowledged that the, I acknowledged that the gym was there. I walked around the track one morning, so you'd be proud of me. So that was my favorite bar. But all of the pool bars were really cool. and then I went to the Windjammer one night. Windjammer was exactly the same as it is on the newer Royal Caribbean ships. So if you love the Windjammer, it's there if you. Don't care about the Wimjammer. There's lots of other places

Julie: 23:56

And the Windjammer is Royal Caribbean's like buffet.

Ryan: 23:58

buffet. Yep, absolutely. Royal Caribbean has a great buffet. I mean, it's really good. And I went to the main dining two nights. Meals were solid. No problem there. I sat with some people that I had met on the ship. The signature dining options were not open to us on this cruise. They were reserved for people that were more important than me.

Julie: 24:19

Yeah,

Ryan: 24:19

I will say one of the places I enjoyed is the Park Cafe. One morning I went down to Central Park and they have some really good breakfast sandwiches. And are good for an Amy, who works for Royal Caribbean, said, Ryan, you gotta go back and get the roast beef sandwich. from there, and that's the one thing I didn't get

Julie: 24:36

well, I guess you gotta book a cruise,

Ryan: 24:37

Yeah, there you go. I went to the main dining room for breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was great too. Yeah, so, so, you're not going hungry. Don't worry about that.

Julie: 24:46

That's awesome. I love,

Ryan: 24:48

one of the places,

Julie: 24:49

so, you, wait, back up. You did say that the Creepery was closed by the end of the show. Were other places open at the end of the show?

Ryan: 24:55

So I think, that's where I got the Monte Cristo. Cause I wanted,

Julie: 24:58

Oh, okay,

Ryan: 24:58

a little, I was a little peckish after eating all day. I needed a, I needed a little snack.

Julie: 25:03

Oh my gosh, did you get to go on the water slides?

Ryan: 25:06

I did not, I could have but I did not, I, well, you know, like I said, my, my job was to, was

Julie: 25:13

Mark it. Yeah, well not mark it but take

Ryan: 25:15

yeah, but, but they were definitely, definitely open,

Julie: 25:17

awesome. Oh, I love that. Any, any like last minute little nuggets you want to throw at us about ICON?

Ryan: 25:26

be intimidated by the size. I've been on row curbing in the past, I've been on other cruise lines. Once I got over the where is everything, it did not feel that much different. It really

Julie: 25:39

Oh, good.

Ryan: 25:40

Once I knew where things were, I could get there, Hey, I need to go to dinner, then I need to go to the theater, then I want to stop at this bar. That was all easy to do just like it is on other cruise ships. Enjoy the variety. Don't get overwhelmed by the size.

Julie: 25:55

Well and with the size too, do you feel like there's a much larger capacity of people on the ship?

Ryan: 26:01

Oh, sure. Now, I will say my cruise was about 4, 000 and a normal cruise at capacity will be about 7, 600. So, it was hard for me to judge that first hand. There was never a time where I felt like, wow, there's too many people. Other than when we first got on the ship. Just cause everybody's kind of coming in at the same time. With the directional elevators that, limit where you're stopping with a three story main dining area with tons of, of dining options, tons of bars tons of spaces. There's never, there's never a time where you feel like, oh my gosh, there's too many people here.

Julie: 26:35

That's no, that's awesome. I can't wait to, you know, start putting clients on this ship and, and to experience it hopefully in a couple of years.

Ryan: 26:44

In a couple, well, yeah, we've got sister ships to the Icon coming. So, we've got, we've got Utopia, we've got Star, that are coming over the next couple years.

Julie: 26:53

Know anything about Star's itinerary? We know that Utopia's itineraries are like those four

Ryan: 26:57

I, I don't know that. So, so

Julie: 27:00

don't know it either.

Ryan: 27:01

I can't comment on that.

Julie: 27:02

I don't think it's been announced.

Ryan: 27:04

it's a beautiful ship. Everything was top notch. We didn't talk about my stateroom. I had a, I ocean view veranda. It was gorgeous. Tons of storage. Tons of outlets. So kind of all the annoying stuff about cruise ships, right? Tons of outlets, tons of storage. The bathroom was In my I mean, to be honest, the shower would I have a stand up shower in my en suite bathroom at my house. This was bigger than that. You know, so,

Julie: 27:31

of times those bathrooms are tiny.

Ryan: 27:34

They are very tiny, absolutely. And, and, the bathrooms were fabulous.

Julie: 27:39

So you did not feel like the ones on Icon were tiny.

Ryan: 27:42

No.

Julie: 27:42

But were they a split bath set up or

Ryan: 27:44

No, no,

Julie: 27:46

Okay,

Ryan: 27:46

no. And that's not something you're going to find unless you're in a suite on Royal Caribbean. You're going to find that one bathroom maybe the toilet will have a separate room. There's not a split tub or shower or anything. Yeah, so that is another thing to think about, in the bathrooms, you're not going to have that tub unless you, get a, accessibility

Julie: 28:05

Yeah.

Ryan: 28:06

you're not gonna, you're Your kids are gonna have to stand up and get showered. Now, there was the, the nozzle, so, you know, you could take off the sprayer and stuff like that, but, and that, but with smaller kids, that, that is a concern, right?

Julie: 28:16

It is a concern. So it's kind of, you know, the ultimate family vacation, but as they're a little bit older, I think, For some of those conveniences. Okay, awesome. I can't wait. I can't wait. When are you going to get back on it, Ryan?

Ryan: 28:30

I love cruising, and I've got a lot that I want to do And so, I will get back on the Icon, but I've got, things I want to do before that, but certainly, I'm glad I had this experience, because not only can I talk about it here on All Things Travel, but, as clients come and, and want to know about it, I've got that first hand experience, and we know as travel advisors, that's key.

Julie: 28:51

I'm so glad that you could share it with us.

Ryan: 29:04

you can put it in the comments for this recording. Or this episode of All Things Travel is actually going to come out this Wednesday. My goodness, I need to start editing. And I'd be happy to answer any questions based off of my experience. If you want to reach out to me at Ryan at CreatingMagicVacations. com.