Blog

Deciding which cabin to pick for a cruise will be troublesome, particularly on Icon of the Seas given there are a complete of 28 totally different room sorts. For our latest cruise on Royal Caribbean’s latest and largest ship up to now, we booked an Icon of the Seas Ocean View Balcony room, cabin 14258.

Reviewing the deck plans, this portside balcony cabin is a D2 class balcony stateroom. And it’s a fairly typical balcony cabin when in comparison with many different ships within the Royal Caribbean fleet with just some enhancements.

So, was this stateroom a letdown? Discover out in our Icon of the Seas balcony room evaluation.

EXCLUSIVE SAVINGS: Get Offers on Icon of the Seas Now!

Was Our Icon of the Seas Balcony Room a Letdown? Right here’s Our Sincere Overview

We have now sailed on all 5 Oasis Class vessels, beforehand the most important class of Royal Caribbean cruise ships. So, we have been to see how the brand new Icon Class staterooms in contrast.

With this class of ships, Royal Caribbean did introduce quite a few new stateroom classes. Maybe essentially the most talked about is the brand new Infinite Balconies. Whereas not new to the business, this sort of stateroom is new to Royal Caribbean, and the consensus is you both love them or hate them.

We’ve stayed in related cabins on sister model, Superstar Cruises, and may say that we desire a standard balcony setup. However, it actually all comes right down to your preferences. Would you favor the normal open balcony or extra inside cabin area? And for us, the reply is that we desire the separation between our room and balcony, particularly in hotter locations just like the Caribbean.

Thus, we opted for an Icon of the Seas ocean view balcony room for our crusing. It’s necessary to notice that even in case you select a standard balcony structure, not all balcony rooms have an ocean view. Icon of the Seas options Central Park view balcony cabins in addition to new Surfside household view cabins. These cabins nonetheless have a balcony however face inside in direction of these neighborhoods slightly than outward in direction of the ocean.

Our Icon of the Seas balcony room, 14258, is taken into account midship however fairly conveniently positioned close to the aft financial institution of elevators. Being on Deck 14, it’s fast stroll as much as the outside decks starting on Deck 15. It is usually a fast stroll or elevator experience right down to the Central Park neighborhood on Deck 8, Surfside on Deck 7, and the Royal Promenade on Decks 5 and 6. With the brand new good elevator design on Icon of the Seas, grabbing an elevator is extra handy than ever.

In accordance with Royal Caribbean’s web site, this Icon of the Seas Ocean View Balcony room measures in at 204 sq. ft with a 50 sq. foot balcony.

Format of an Icon of the Seas Balcony Room

At first look, we have been fairly shocked by this Icon of the Seas balcony room. Given all the opposite enhancements across the ship, I assume we have been anticipating a bit extra. Most of Icon of the Seas’ public areas have been elevated with upscale finishes and decor, but the cabin appeared fairly peculiar.

Instantly getting into our cabin, the toilet was to the appropriate. Tucked across the nook from the toilet was the closet. Persevering with into the room, there was the desk with the couch throughout the best way. The mattress was nearer to the balcony which is our most popular setup. It was positioned on the ahead wall dealing with aft.

Whereas Royal Caribbean did make some adjustments to the toilet and closet, the remainder of the Icon of the Seas balcony room is just about what we’ve come to count on from the model. The colour palette is usually muted that includes mild wooden tones with pops of blue and refined Caribbean patterns.

There are additionally further charging shops across the cabin which is all the time an added comfort on a cruise ship. Much like Superstar’s Edge Class, this cabin incorporates a digital contact display screen for controlling the lights and temperature as properly.

Contained in the Icon of the Seas Balcony Room

Toilet

The most important distinction cruisers will discover within the staterooms on Icon of the Seas are the upgraded bogs. Whereas nonetheless slightly small in general dimension, the structure has been reconfigured to characteristic an oblong bathe with a glass door. Lastly! This can be a related setup to Norwegian’s Prima Class and Carnival’s Excel Class ships.

The bathe incorporates a small seat on one finish with cabinets for storing towels above, just like the design discovered in lots of lodges. There are additionally two hooks for hanging gadgets and two small cabinets to retailer different bathtub merchandise. Nonetheless, there is just one hair and physique wash dispenser.

The sink and bathroom space options a regular cruise self-importance with restricted counter area. There are three small cabinets off to at least one aspect of the sink and a few further small cabinets behind the bathroom. By way of storage, it all the time helps that we convey a dangling shoe organizer the place we retailer many toiletries and different small gadgets.

Predominant Cabin Space

The closet in these Icon of the Seas balcony rooms additionally obtained a mini makeover, and personally, we expect it’s for the more serious.

Now, the closet options two sides in a roughly 2/3, 1/3 structure. The smaller aspect is a full size closet with a small garments bar which is right for hanging clothes. The bigger aspect has a garments bar on prime for hanging your remaining clothes and 4 storage cubes under.

These cubes are uncovered and have metallic baskets. Sadly, they aren’t actually ultimate for storing garments so we used them for footwear solely. Packing cubes don’t match properly in them and there’s the potential for delicates to get snagged on the metallic wiring. Additional, the hampers usually are not on a sliding monitor making it a nuisance to entry the gadgets.

On the subject of cabinets, there aren’t any within the closet. Using all area within the cabin, there are some cabinets behind the complete size mirror. That is additionally the place one can find the protected. However once more, these cabinets aren’t conducive to storing a lot as they aren’t very deep.

The desk, positioned on the left, had a small elevated shelf in addition to a number of energy shops. There may be one 120V outlet, 1 European outlet, 2 USB shops, and a couple of USB-C shops. There’s additionally a sequence of 5 desk drawers, 3 of the shorter top and two barely bigger, considered one of which contained the hair dryer. That is additionally the place one can find the mini-fridge.

The seating space on the appropriate included a considerably bigger couch however no espresso desk. It supplied loads of area for 2 adults to sit down and even stretch out a bit with our laptops once we wanted to get work carried out. There’s a small moveable desk on one aspect of the desk that may very well be used right here as properly.

The Royal king mattress was on the appropriate (ahead) wall. There was a small shelf on both sides of the mattress. Either side of the mattress had a USB outlet for simple charging entry, however just one aspect had an influence outlet.

General, the mattress on this Icon of the Seas balcony room supplied ample consolation throughout our journey. We had no points falling asleep after our lengthy days and nights on the ship.

Throughout from the mattress was the tv. Moreover, tucked across the nook from the desk on the identical wall as the tv have been a full size sequence of small cabinets with two USB shops. This was the right spot to retailer small digital units like cameras and telephones for charging. This helps to unencumber the desk from all of the cords and litter.

Balcony

Lastly, there was the balcony. At 50 sq. ft., the dimensions of the balcony is what now we have come to count on from mega-ships. There was sufficient room for two adjustable chairs, 2 small ottomans, and a small spherical desk.

There was definitely sufficient area for the 2 of us to benefit from the ocean views and sail out and in of ports. It was additionally an amazing spot for us to do some work within the afternoons.

Given this cabin’s location, there’s a slight obstruction from a beam supporting the deck above. Additional, this cabin is positioned throughout the neighborhood of Crown’s Edge a couple of decks above, so we might often hear different cruisers when sitting open air. Although, this background noise was not a problem, nor might we hear it from inside our room.

Recap of Our Icon of the Seas Ocean View Balcony Room Overview

Whereas we have been a bit disillusioned that the Icon of the Seas balcony rooms didn’t get extra of an improve, our cabin nonetheless served its goal throughout our inaugural voyage.

When in comparison with the infinite balcony cabins, we nonetheless desire this conventional setup. Within the Caribbean setting, it’s useful that we might nonetheless go outdoors on our balcony and are available again right into a cool air conditioned room once we wanted to chill off.

We did admire the upgrades to the toilet, particularly the bathe. This places the cabin extra on par with newer ships from different modern cruise traces. It additionally has a extra hotel-like really feel even when nonetheless smaller.

This cabin additionally has essentially the most shops of any cruise ship stateroom we’ve ever seen. There’s loads of charging area for everybody’s units.

Regardless that we didn’t like the brand new structure of the closet, we have been capable of get all our clothes stowed away for our 7-day voyage. But, it is likely to be troublesome for a household of 4 to take action on this cabin. However fortunately, Icon of the Seas does supply quite a lot of cabins particularly designed for households which do supply more room.

General, we’d say that this cabin provided a cushty mixture of dimension and worth whereas nonetheless offering direct entry to the ocean.

BOOK NOW: Unique Affords on Icon of the Seas Sailings!

Feedback

Have you ever sailed in an Ocean View Balcony room on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship? What’s your most popular cabin class while you cruise? Drop us an anchor under together with your evaluation of this stateroom class.