Icon sails released thru spring 2026

[Slidell_Cruiser]

Ok, thanks, but …..

The ship has not had it’s first revenue sail….

No press release, No Loyal to Royal Site Announcement, Nothing on the  RC Blog…..

As they say very interesting….

I have the perception …bookings are down and they need to up deposit revenue…

But I’m just an old cynical, TA and PC member, who’s old eyes have been a lot over the decades..

Keep Cruising all..…

[irishgal432]

With the rates they are charging, it will be interesting to see how quickly they are booked.

[barbeyg]

9 minutes ago, irishgal432 said:

With the rates they are charging, it will be interesting to see how quickly they are booked.

I agree.  Some might throw their money at anything.  But, I think many of us would never pay $5k for a balcony cabin.  Not when there are so many great choices for travel, by land or sea. 🙂

Edited September 12, 2023 by barbeyg

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, irishgal432 said:

With the rates they are charging, it will be interesting to see how quickly they are booked.

No one banging on my door this morning.  I'm not even tempted to put anything on hold for myself at those rates

[PACrew]

Yeh, the pricing is as high as 2024 and 25.

[Scottdalfonso]

4 hours ago, Slidell_Cruiser said:

Ok, thanks, but …..

The ship has not had it’s first revenue sail….

No press release, No Loyal to Royal Site Announcement, Nothing on the  RC Blog…..

As they say very interesting….

I have the perception …bookings are down and they need to up deposit revenue…

But I’m just an old cynical, TA and PC member, who’s old eyes have been a lot over the decades..

Keep Cruising all..…

I can tell you most of the "lower" priced rooms all the way out through 2026 are already showing sold out, so someone is booking this at these prices. A lot of someones. 

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, Scottdalfonso said:

I can tell you most of the "lower" priced rooms all the way out through 2026 are already showing sold out, so someone is booking this at these prices. A lot of someones. 

I'd be suspicious if I were you. We already know the ceo and ta confirmed they hold back cabins so the choices are fewer. Keep checking.

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, Scottdalfonso said:

I can tell you most of the "lower" priced rooms all the way out through 2026 are already showing sold out, so someone is booking this at these prices. A lot of someones. 

I'm not seeing that at all looking at cruising power.  I am seeing full availability in all categories acxroos the rage of dates.

 

What you need to remember about Icon is most of her cabins are designed for 3 and 4 guests so if you are searching with 2 guests you will see an entirely different availability than searching for 4 guests.

 

Then again knowing Royals IT department.....

[topanga49er]

same rooms booking 6,000 pp more for 26 than we did when first opened up...

[OCSC Mike]

4 minutes ago, topanga49er said:

same rooms booking 6,000 pp more for 26 than we did when first opened up...

 

Because they screwed up and didn't overprice Icon enough when it was released. Unsurprisingly, they weren't going to make that mistake again.

[Tree_skier]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

No one banging on my door this morning.  I'm not even tempted to put anything on hold for myself at those rates

I quickly went and looked... Nope, not for me.  I'll be booking something for the end of November/early Dec 2025.  but I'll be waiting until the full release of itineraries.  I'm thinking Oasis class but probably whatever is cheapest in that date range and maybe another Alaska in late August or early Sept. They definitely believe they are going to get a premium for Icon.  We'll have already been on it so the new novelty will be worn off us.

[DigiPro]

Wow!  I as curious and checked a few dates for Mar/Apr 2026.  Waaay too expensive for the suites, let alone a balcony cabin.  I’ll stick with Oasis class for a while and perhaps even go back to some of the smaller / older ships.

[cruiselvr04]

33 minutes ago, DigiPro said:

Wow!  I as curious and checked a few dates for Mar/Apr 2026.  Waaay too expensive for the suites, let alone a balcony cabin.  I’ll stick with Oasis class for a while and perhaps even go back to some of the smaller / older ships.

I’m pretty sure that will be most people’s reaction. 

[SUgwoz]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I'm not seeing that at all looking at cruising power.  I am seeing full availability in all categories acxroos the rage of dates.

 

What you need to remember about Icon is most of her cabins are designed for 3 and 4 guests so if you are searching with 2 guests you will see an entirely different availability than searching for 4 guests.

 

Then again knowing Royals IT department.....

 

This is the case for Spring 2024 sailings.  Cheapest Guaranteed Balcony for 2 people $9K+, cheapest Guaranteed Balcony for 4 people (2 adults, 2 children), $4400.  

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

I quickly went and looked... Nope, not for me.  I'll be booking something for the end of November/early Dec 2025.  but I'll be waiting until the full release of itineraries.  I'm thinking Oasis class but probably whatever is cheapest in that date range and maybe another Alaska in late August or early Sept. They definitely believe they are going to get a premium for Icon.  We'll have already been on it so the new novelty will be worn off us.

Yep, glad I booked us for our March break with the kids and myself for the inaugural, it will be waiting a few years until we book her again.

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Because they screwed up and didn't overprice Icon enough when it was released. Unsurprisingly, they weren't going to make that mistake again.

It wasn't a mistake, it was simply an entirely different market back in January.  When Icon was released cruise prices in general were depressed and there was still some hesitancy by the consumer to book.  When Icon was released most thought the prices for Icon were high and they were compared to what other Oasis class ships were selling at.  What a difference 9 months makes.

[ATG]

I looked and WOW!!! I looked at 2 years from now - peak hurricane season, usually reasonable prices.  The suite prices are ridiculous.  Each of the 2 high end suites are more than $80,000 for a 7 day cruise.  I’m not judging how others spend their money, but that’s amazing.  We’ll stick with the other ships until the new cruise smell fades.

[OCSC Mike]

5 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It wasn't a mistake, it was simply an entirely different market back in January.  When Icon was released cruise prices in general were depressed and there was still some hesitancy by the consumer to book.  When Icon was released most thought the prices for Icon were high and they were compared to what other Oasis class ships were selling at.  What a difference 9 months makes.

 

Fair enough, I wasn't even looking at anything in January. My impression was just that they quickly took in a lot of bookings, making me think they could have priced them higher.

 

Obviously the market is completely different now like you said with the 9 months comment. It was already trending that way when I shifted gears in March and began booking ahead with TA's.

 

Obviously I'm happy I happened to at least catch on early enough to get what I'll call acceptable rates given my narrow preferences as far as port and sail dates (which landed me on Wonder). Factoring those in, my rates really aren't all that bad, especially the March cruises.

 

I'm also very happy that I'm not really interested in Icon, lol. They can keep her in South Florida forever (and put Icon 2 in Galveston) as far as I'm concerned.

[firefly333]

38 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Fair enough, I wasn't even looking at anything in January. My impression was just that they quickly took in a lot of bookings, making me think they could have priced them higner

I wasnt paying attention in January either. I broke my wrist badly, had to be set twice so I was in a lot of pain for most of january. 2nd time they put a metal plate in my wrist. The very next morning after my 2nd wrist surgery my mom had a stroke then passed away about 5 days later. I no showed for my own 10 day special cruise i had been looking forward to on radiance.

 

Might have been around july i finally was pulling myself together and telling myself i should make plans to get moved to a cruise port. Even then I felt like it was hard to think about and trying to book cruises around a move I had not yet started kinda hard imo. Finally emailed my TA and cancelled dec 2024 on harmony out of Galveston and booked b2b on adventure for xmas 2024 and a southern april 2025.

 

I would have booked more dates but prices had already doubled. Cant bear myself up, but i am kinda sad it took me so long to be able to think about moving and rebooking and prices had gone up so much. I read how inexpensive adventure was when it first came out. Not so much when I recently booked .. you used to be able to book a older ship for under $1k off season. I'm barely dealing with these prices enough to book for the new ports and ignore the comments how cheap these were when they came out. Hurts a bit when I look back and could have booked so much earlier, just felt disloyal somehow moving on with my life I think. 

 

I still want mardi gras and ncl prima and my bucket list is the Galapagos which I'm sure is enough I'm not booking lol. Rcl isnt my world and I was not paying attention. Luckily icon wasnt even on my radar.

[Scoobydobe7]

8 hours ago, irishgal432 said:

With the rates they are charging, it will be interesting to see how quickly they are booked.

Agree, it is out of our family's reach...booked opening day for August 2024, and same week in 2025 is 2,500. more...crazy prices for sure...

[mac_tlc]

No way I would book at those prices -- for a ship with 7,000 passengers. 

 

For fun, I did price out the Ultimate Family Townhouse for our group of 8;

 

August 9, 2025 = $116,000

December 27, 2025 = $140,000

 

mac_tlc

[OCSC Mike]

54 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I wasnt paying attention in January either.

 

Didn't want to quote the while thing but I obviously read it. Sorry you went through all of that.

 

Keep an eye on the GGG sale once you move. There are still occasional good deals if you're flexible.

 

If my wife was willing, we would have booked Mariner for 7 nights next month for around $1200 after taxes & fees. I was actually e-mailing my TA when it disappeared. My wife said she'd think about it but it wasn't going to happen so I'm not too upset, lol.

[SUgwoz]

For family of four, there is sailings that are closer to the rest of the Oasis class. 

 

Few things that help makes the price more palatable at least for families. Less reason for water park at Cococay. Also free food options is more expansive with the aquadome market, multiple buffets, Surfside bites, ect. Less need to have speciality dining for food variety. 

[fla33023]

1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

No way I would book at those prices -- for a ship with 7,000 passengers. 

 

For fun, I did price out the Ultimate Family Townhouse for our group of 8;

 

August 9, 2025 = $116,000

December 27, 2025 = $140,000

 

mac_tlc

I'm surprised that people who can spend that for a week would even want to be on a cruise ship with 7k people. That's the kind of money where you can plan a very personalized vacation that doesn't include bumping elbows with people trying to get around a ship.

[OCSC Mike]

11 minutes ago, fla33023 said:

I'm surprised that people who can spend that for a week would even want to be on a cruise ship with 7k people. That's the kind of money where you can plan a very personalized vacation that doesn't include bumping elbows with people trying to get around a ship.

 

Some people don't mind the same things or have the same preferences as you do.

 

FWIW, as someone who almost exclusively sails on full Oasis class ships, I don't have any problem getting around the ship nor do I bump elbows.