If you're like me, you can't get enough updates on Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas.
The new ship doesn't sail with passengers until January 2024, but what we've seen so far has created a ton of intrigue among cruise fans and even people that have never cruised before.
With Icon of the Seas being the first ship in the new Icon class, there will be a lot of new concepts and venues onboard. Royal Caribbean hasn't announced them all yet. They will slowly reveal more leading up to the ship's launch, but in the meantime we have a look at a few of these areas.
Icon of the Seas will have more than 40 food and beverage concepts, with 23 of them completely new to Royal Caribbean.
Speaking of innovations, Icon of the Seas will have 26 new features never before seen on a Royal Caribbean ship, which includes 15 new water experiences.
During an immersion session with Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President and Chief Product Innovation Officer Jay Schneider last month, more concept art was shared of places on Icon of the Seas we knew about and many more we did not.
I wanted to share a look at what these new areas look like to give you more insight into what Royal Caribbean has planned.
Izumi sushi to go
Icon of the Seas will have the largest Izumi ever. It will also have a new location in Central Park.
Izumi will have a "sushi to go" window, where you can order a bento box of sushi and take it elsewhere on the ship to enjoy.
Mr. Schneider was asked if the Royal Caribbean app would be used to order food from the window, and he responded there would not a need for the app, as the turnaround time should be pretty quick since the options are locked in.
Supper Club
In a previous session, Mr. Schneider accidentally leaked the name of the Supper Club venue. We got a better look at what this venue looks like, although no new information.
"There will be a new dining experience. I'm not talking about it yet. This is an example of eatertainment, so really a blend of best of entertainment and best of culinary. And so we'll we'll share more on that experience in the coming months."
Mason Jar on Wonder of the Seas was first example of eatertainment.
It appears this will be located in Central Park.
New entertainment
There will be another entertainment venue coming to Central Park that hasn't been announced yet.
"We're bringing a dedicated entertainment venue to Central Park. We're not talking about what that is yet."
Mr. Scheider said adding this venue, plus the Supper Club and other restaurants, is meant to evoke, "the spirit of making an all in total inhabitable neighborhood".
Overlook
The Overlook Lounge is located in the AquaDome neighborhood, and it is in front of the AquaTheater.
The Overlook Lounge will have 160 degree views of the ocean and it's right above the ship's bridge,
Royal Caribbean designed this to be a great bar and lounge experience.
New dining experience in AquaDome
In addition to the Overlook Lounge, there are other dining experiences that will be added to the AquaDome.
"There's actually a couple of bars we haven't talked about yet...But there's other adjacent bar experiences."
In addition to the Hooked specialty restaurant, Mr. Schneider teased a look at a new dining experience, "We have a new dining experience that will be available in the AquaDome, and it's adjacent to the open deck. So we're pretty excited about that."
Celebration table
Another dining venue in the AquaDome will be Celebration Table.
Mr. Schneider described Celebration Table as, "a bit of a hybrid of chef table and celebration, as we lean into more really back to the moment of people trying to make experiences together."
"Having this space, that can be something where you could have a wedding party, or birthday party, or some amazing experience that you might want to have there, given the views that it has."
The Lemon Post bar
Another new concept is The Lemon Post Bar, which is described as the first "mommy and me bar".
Located in the Surfside neighborhood, the idea is mom or dad can get a cocktail and their kids can get a non-alcoholic cocktail.
Crew member areas
Royal Caribbean has re-imagined the crew spaces on Icon of the Seas.
"It was really about giving them the same level of finishings, treatments, experiences that our guests have."
In coming up with the crew spaces, Mr. Schneider admitted the first take on crew areas was a failure, "a group of architects and with some executive input, designed a crew cabin and we brought everybody through that experience. And our crew. Hated the experience, universally hated the experience."
"So what we did is we pulled a series of crew aside, set them down for a couple of weeks with our architects, and they literally sketched out with the crew the cabin of the future that they wanted, not that what we would have designed in a vacuum."
"We then reran crew through that from a testing perspective and overwhelming success from what they got to see."
The Grove
A new dining venue in the suites neighborhood is called The Grove.
Mr. Schneider said guests can expect a lounge space, with an "uplifted kind of buffet canopy style to go food."
1400 Bar
Opposite the Pearl, where you enter the ship, will be the 1400 Bar.
It's a bit of an homage to of the actual new building process to the hull number, because every ship built in a shipyard gets a hull number before the ship actually gets named. Icon of the Seas' hull number was 1400.
"There's a terrace seating outside of the 1400 bar, with great seating overlooking the ocean."
