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Fresh from Meyer Turku, Vicki Freed shares an Icon update

Icon of the Seas' 'AquaAction' AquaTheater show hinges on extreme sports such as a skateboarder catching air, while the main stage Broadway production, 'The Wizard of Oz,' will have its own flying moment.

Anne Kalosh, Editor, Seatrade Cruise News & Senior Associate Editor, Seatrade Cruise Review

August 16, 2023

5 Min Read
Credit: Seatrade Cruise News

For that, similar to how the Royal Caribbean show 'Flight' has a plane flying over the audience, 'Imagine how you're going to feel when Dorothy in her four-poster bed flies out over the audience with the Wicked Witch hot on her tail,' said Nick Weir, SVP entertainment.

Weir said he's been working on 'AquaAction' since 2017.

'Normally creative people are handed a theater and we find a way to put the show in the theater,' he elaborated. That's not the case with AquaTheater: 'We came up with an idea for a show and built a whole theater around it.'

'Coffee Talk' recaps shipyard trip

Weir shared these tidbits during Vicki Freed's 'Coffee Talk' Wednesday, where she showed the latest photos of Icon of the Seas from her trip to Meyer Turku last week. Freed, SVP sales, trade support & service, and Joanne Schimelman, VP sales & national accounts, took 29 top travel partners to the yard.

There were a lot of superlatives.

For the AquaTheater, housed inside the AquaDome high atop Icon, Weir promised 'the biggest wow anyone's ever seen in any theater anywhere in the world.'

And Freed and Schimelman said Icon will offer 'the world's best family vacation.'

Thrill Island mimics CocoCay's Thrill Water Park

Thrill Island mimics Thrill Water Park in Perfect Day at CocoCay. It's an 'adrenaline-pumping' place with mat racer slides and two family raft slides including one with a clear tube that arcs out over the ship's edge.

Success measured in screams

'We'll measure our success by the screams,' Schimelman said. For the new Crown's Edge, each harnessed daredevil will walk along the giant Crown and Anchor high above the sea with the bottom dropping out at random times.

For the returning favorite, FlowRider, the surf park's orientation on Icon was flipped so the epic photo opp of riders will have ocean in the background.

With F&B options, neighborhoods can be all-day hangouts

Icon's neighborhoods were created to be places people can hang out all day, with entertainment, food and beverages, so Thrill Island is served by Base Camp, with its included and extra-charge food and drink options such as a milkshake bar.

Balancing Thrill Island is Chill Island, with its four pools — including Royal Bay, touted as the biggest at sea — and six whirlpools. Schimelman said people always ask for more pools, and Icon delivers — Royal Bay's 'massive.' Cloud 17, an adults-only pool, has its own Lime and Coconut Bar.  

There are pools in Surfside, too, the neighborhood created for young families. And Freed said that with three grandchildren under 2.5 years old, she imagines herself spending time there at the Water's Edge, a pool where adults can keep an eye on the kids in Splashaway Bay. Surfside also has a carousel and several food and beverage options.

Beefed-up Royal Promenade 

Icon's two-story Royal Promenade is 'really now the heart of the ship,' not just a pass-through space, according to Schimelman. Travelers embark on Deck 5 via two entrances flanking a floor-to-ceiling window. The Pearl, a 'majestic, incredible structure' houses a staircase leading up to Central Park.

Royal Promenade holds Latin bar Bolero's, Giovanni's Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar, the 1400 Bar (named after the ship's project number at Meyer Turku), Starbucks, the Absolute Zero ice rink and the entrance to Adventure Ocean.

Central Park evolves as a place to stroll, hang out, hear music

Icon's Central Park, with more than 13,000 live plants and trees, is more developed as a place to sit, stroll and hang out with additional seating and walk-up windows for take-away such as bento boxes from Izumi in the Park. There will be music from Lou's Jazz Club, and Bubbles Champagne Bar will open early, serving a selection that includes mimosas and bellinis.

Empire Supper Club may carry a $200 charge

Besides Chops Grille, the new Empire Supper Club is found in Central Park. With an eight-course menu and cocktail pairings, a three-piece band 'like a throwback to old school New York' and a single seating (for 38 diners), 'It's an evening, not just dinner,' Schimelman said. The price is TBA — approximately $200 per person.

The Suites Neighborhood offers a double-deck Coastal Kitchen overlooking AquaDome so diners will be able to see the shows. There's also The Grove, a restaurant beside the private suites pool.

Accommodations

During her 'Coffee Talk,' Freed also singled out accommodations like the infinite balcony rooms, offering 250 square feet of interior space with a window that drops down to let in fresh air. A curtain separates the 'balcony' area and the main room. And the bathrooms are different: the showers are rectangular, instead of round, with a bench.

Icon has 419 infinite balcony rooms.

On the high end of the housing scale, the Royal Loft Suite rises across two levels with two walls of glass. It contains two bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

In the Surfside neighborhood, the Ultimate Family Townhouse covers three stories with its own patio and white picket fence. It sleeps up to eight, with two bedrooms upstairs, one a quad for kids, each bed with its own television.

Ultimate Family Townhouse is going for up to $125K

Measuring 1,722 square feet of interior space with an additional 750 square feet of balconies, this one-of-a-kind suite's average price is $82,000 for a week, though for some holiday sailings, it's going as high as $125,000.

Icon of the Seas is due to depart Finland on its crossing to the US Dec. 23, and the ship's inaugural cruise from PortMiami is set for Jan. 27.

About the Author

Anne Kalosh

Editor, Seatrade Cruise News & Senior Associate Editor, Seatrade Cruise Review

Anne Kalosh covers global stories, reporting both breaking and in-depth news on cruising's significant people, places, ships and trends. A sought-after expert on cruising, she has moderated conferences around the world, including the high-profile State of the Industry panel at Seatrade Cruise Global. She created and led the acclaimed itinerary-planning case study for Seatrade's cruise master classes held at Cambridge and Oxford universities. She has been the cruise columnist for AFAR.com, and her freelance stories have appeared in a wide range of publications, from The New York Times to The Miami Herald.

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