If you're brave enough to try the most challenging thrill attraction Royal Caribbean has ever conjured up, you can book it now.
The first Icon of the Seas cruise is just two months away, and the ship is full of all sorts of thrills to entice its passengers, including an entire water park, surf simulator, and ropes course that goes over the side of the ship.
Bookings for the Crown's Edge opened on Tuesday for guests to reserve a spot.
Crown's Edge is part skywalk, part ropes course, part thrill ride, and an all-out test of courage. It's a ropes course-style attraction that goes around the ship's Crown and Anchor logo.
This activity first takes passengers on a ropes course as they walk and balance on different shapes and pathways. Sounds easy? Here’s the catch: you’re walking off the side of the ship with nothing but the ocean below you.
If that doesn’t sound thrilling enough, the walkway drops for the second part of the ride, and you suddenly find yourself swinging 154 feet above the ocean back to safety.
Royal Caribbean thinks it will be the ultimate aerial adventure and a new test of bravery.
The cruise line says the ride experience is approximately 90 seconds and may vary by rider. The full experience will be approximately 15 minutes long, which includes time for gearing up.
To try this thrill, you'll need to pay $89.99 per guest for a spot.
It should come as no surprise that Royal Caribbean is charging for Crown's Edge, as the line confirmed it would be an extra-cost activity back in November 2022.
The Crown's Edge is not the first signature attraction Royal Caribbean has charged extra for.
The cruise line started charging for pool deck casitas, the escape rooms, and North Star observation pod once demand began to exceed available times, and so the cruise line used nominal pricing to help ensure it was easier to get a spot.
Crown's Edge ride requirements
In order to try the Crown's Edge, you need to be at least 6 years old, weigh at least 44 pounds, and be 49 inches tall.
You cannot be taller than 83 inches and weigh no more than 297 pounds.
Planning Crown's Edge
Before it was built, Royal Caribbean was planning out how this thrill attraction would work from it's Miami headquarters.
In their Innovation Lab, Royal Caribbean first built out the safety briefing area where guests will gear up and learn what they need to do to enjoy the experience in a proper manner.
Royal Caribbean Senior Product Owner, Emily Rodriguez, talked about what they get from designing this space in the real world, "in building out this space, I think it helped us understand what that flow would look like, and how to think through all of the small details to how we brand the jumpsuits, how we brand the helmets, and what the photo and video experience would be like."
Royal Caribbean then used tape in their headquarters parking lot to map out to provide the scale of the experience, "We wanted to do here is tape out the experience to understand scale."
The climax of the experience is a drop through portion, which Royal Caribbean described as "pretty scary" when they tested out the drop harnesses with just a 4 foot drop in a warehouse in Bulgaria.
More thrills coming
Whether you try the Crown's Edge or not, there are lots of other hair-raising thrills waiting for you on Icon of the Seas.
There's an entire neighborhood of the ship called Thrill Neighborhood to house them all.
The Category 6 waterpark has 6 record-breaking slides, that include slides that can boomerang you off a slide’s “lotus leaf wall” over the ship’s edge, or have you wait anxiously for the free fall slide’s “floor” to drop beneath you:
- Pressure Drop: the industry’s first open free-fall slide
- Frightening Bolt: the tallest drop slide at sea
- Storm Surge & Hurricane Hunter: family raft slides which can fit 4 riders per raft
- Storm Chasers: the cruise industry’s first mat-racing duo
The waterpark slides are complimentary.
Icon of the Seas will also have a FlowRider surf simulator, Lost Dunes miniature golf, the Adrenaline Peak rock climbing wall and a sports court.
No cost for these activities either, although there are private sessions you can pay for at the FlowRider.
Read more: I learned how to surf on a weekend cruise
