Icon of the Seas Top Deck Challenge Waterpark Preview

Key Takeaways

• Royal Caribbean says they knew they wanted water everywhere, so they started with the water and built the rest of the ship around it.
• The open decks were designed in a totally different way, with more space and different areas aimed at different kinds of people.
• The plan started with five waterslides. The Category 6 name came along with the decision to add a sixth slide.
• The slides are so big and complex that the plan was to build them separately from the ship and bring them over by barge.
• The open decks run bow to stern as a three deck high experience, and Royal Caribbean says there’s 62 percent more water surface area, not just at Thrill Island but on the main pool deck too.
• Two separate towers hold the slides, which let them design longer and faster slides.
• The team had to plan carefully for the weight, and for wind and turbulence around the funnel, while working within a set weight reservation and water reservation.

Good to Know

This is a behind the scenes preview from March 2023, not a tour, and I didn’t film it. You’ll mostly see the team talking along with renderings and construction shots, since the ship hadn’t sailed yet.

If you’re a waterpark family, this one gives you a good feel for how much Royal Caribbean built Icon around water. Thrill Island is where you’ll find the waterpark, and Chill Island and The Hideaway are where the pools and other water spots come in.

What I found interesting is how much of this comes down to engineering. Every slide, pool and gallon of water has to fit within the ship’s structure, and they say it took a lot of outside experts to make it work without pushing back the delivery date.