Royal Caribbean
Icon Class
The largest cruise ships ever built, and the most ambitious.
Photo: Chakie2 / CC BY-SA 4.0
Ships in this class: Icon of the Seas, Star of the Seas
Icon Class is Royal Caribbean's newest and biggest, organised into eight distinct neighbourhoods so a ship this size still feels navigable. It carries the largest waterpark at sea, an enormous family-focused zone, and a genuinely quiet adults-only area at the front.
What's onboard
- Category 6 - the biggest waterpark at sea, with six slides
- AquaDome, a glass sphere at the bow with a waterfall and a show venue
- Surfside, a whole neighbourhood built for families with small children
- The Hideaway, a suspended adults-only pool overlooking the wake
- Central Park and the Royal Promenade, carried over from Oasis Class
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Best for
Families who want everything onboard, and first-timers who want the ship to be the destination
Worth thinking about
It is genuinely enormous. If the idea of 7,000 people aboard sounds exhausting rather than exciting, look at Radiance or Vision Class instead. These ships also command the highest fares in the fleet and sell out furthest ahead.
Thinking about Icon Class?
Tell Katie who's travelling and roughly when, and she'll tell you which ship in this class fits — and which cabin on it.