This is the full accommodations episode of Royal Caribbean’s Making an Icon series, which I shared in March 2023 ahead of Icon of the Seas’ debut. It’s Royal Caribbean’s video, not mine, and it follows the designers from the first guest and crew research through mockups and a stateroom factory, to the 28 types of rooms and suites they came up with.
Making an Icon: Icon of the Seas Accommodations Episode
Icon of the Seas accommodations, the full Making an Icon episode from Royal Caribbean: how 28 room types were researched, designed and built for families.
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Key Takeaways
- Royal Caribbean says it designs rooms for a new class of ship in three ways: traditional, evolutionary and revolutionary, and every stateroom on Icon got new design, furnishings and technology.
- The details were scrutinized right down to how far away the charger is and how close the soap is.
- Crew feedback about what guests bring along led to more storage, so a week on board feels like home.
- It was the longest design period they’d ever taken on, starting more than five years before the debut, with mockups first at their home office and then at a stateroom factory about 30 minutes from the shipyard.
- The result is 28 types of accommodations across 2,805 staterooms, with layouts that separate sleeping space from relaxing space.
- The infinite balcony rooms drop the steel wall between inside and out, and the touchscreen in the room controls the blinds and the infinite balcony.
- About 25 percent of staterooms on an Oasis class ship can hold a family of three or more. On Icon, Royal Caribbean says it’s 80 percent.
- Family options include the family infinite balcony with a split bath and kids bunks with their own TVs, the Surfside Suite with a kids nook, and the Ultimate Family Townhouse.
Good to Know
Keep in mind this is a preview from March 2023, before Icon of the Seas sailed. You’re seeing designers, mockups and renderings, and the episode ends with the rooms still being built and every room still due for inspection and final touches ahead of the January 2024 debut.
If a view matters to you but you’re booking an inside room, it’s worth a watch. Royal Caribbean says more interior staterooms now face Central Park or Surfside, so even those rooms get some kind of outside view.
For suites, the Sunset Suites have wraparound balconies, and some suites look out through the Aquadome for a panoramic view. Families who want to be right by the action will like the Surfside rooms, where the kids can look out and see the family neighborhood with Splashaway Bay, the Lemon Post bar and the Water’s Edge pool.