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Deciding which cabin to select for a cruise can be difficult, especially on Icon of the Seas given there are a total of 28 different room types. For ourrecent cruise on Royal Caribbean’s newest and largest ship to date, we booked an Icon of the Seas Ocean View Balcony room, cabin 14258.
Reviewing the deck plans, this portside balcony cabin is a D2 category balcony stateroom. And it is a pretty typical balcony cabin when compared to many other ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet with just a few enhancements.
So, was this stateroom a letdown? Find out in our Icon of the Seas balcony room review.
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Was Our Icon of the Seas Balcony Room a Letdown? Here’s Our Honest Review
We have sailed on all five Oasis Class vessels, previously the largest class of Royal Caribbean cruise ships. So, we were interested to see how the new Icon Class staterooms compared.
With this class of ships, Royal Caribbean did introduce a number of new stateroom categories. Perhaps the most talked about is the newInfinite Balconies. While not new to the industry, this type of stateroom is new to Royal Caribbean, and the consensus is you either love them or hate them.
We’ve stayed in similar cabins on sister brand, Celebrity Cruises, and can say that we prefer a traditional balcony setup. But, it really all comes down to your preferences. Would you prefer the traditional open balcony or more interior cabin space? And for us, the answer is that we prefer the separation between our room and balcony, especially in warmer destinations like the Caribbean.
Thus, we opted for an Icon of the Seas ocean view balcony room for our sailing. It’s important to note that even if you choose a traditional balcony layout, not all balcony rooms have an ocean view. Icon of the Seas features Central Park view balcony cabins as well as new Surfside family view cabins. These cabins still have a balcony but face interior towards these neighborhoods rather than outward towards the ocean.
Our Icon of the Seas balcony room, 14258, is considered midship but pretty conveniently located near the aft bank of elevators. Being on Deck 14, it is quick walk up to the outdoor decks beginning on Deck 15. It is also a quick walk or elevator ride down to the Central Park neighborhood on Deck 8, Surfside on Deck 7, and the Royal Promenade on Decks 5 and 6. With the new smart elevator design on Icon of the Seas, grabbing an elevator is more convenient than ever.
According to Royal Caribbean’s website, this Icon of the Seas Ocean View Balcony room measures in at 204 square feet with a 50 square foot balcony.
Layout of an Icon of the Seas Balcony Room
At first glance, we were quite surprised by this Icon of the Seas balcony room. Given all the other enhancements around the ship, I guess we were expecting a bit more. Most of Icon of the Seas’ public spaces have been elevated with upscale finishes and decor, yet the cabin looked pretty ordinary.
Immediately entering our cabin, the bathroom was to the right. Tucked around the corner from the bathroom was the closet. Continuing into the room, there was the desk with the sofa across the way. The bed was closer to the balcony which is our preferred setup. It was located on the forward wall facing aft.
While Royal Caribbean did make some changes to the bathroom and closet, the rest of the Icon of the Seas balcony room is pretty much what we’ve come to expect from the brand. The color palette is mostly muted featuring light wood tones with pops of blue and subtle Caribbean patterns.
There are also additional charging outlets around the cabin which is always an added convenience on a cruise ship. Similar to Celebrity’s Edge Class, this cabin features a digital touch screen for controlling the lights and temperature as well.
Inside the Icon of the Seas Balcony Room
Bathroom
The biggest difference cruisers will notice in the staterooms on Icon of the Seas are the upgraded bathrooms. While still rather small in overall size, the layout has been reconfigured to feature a rectangular shower with a glass door. Finally! This is a similar setup to Norwegian’s Prima Class and Carnival’s Excel Class ships.
The shower features a small seat on one end with shelves for storing towels above, similar to the design found in many hotels. There are also two hooks for hanging items and two small shelves to store other bath products. Still, there is only one hair and body wash dispenser.
The sink and toilet area features a standard cruise vanity with limited counter space. There are three small shelves off to one side of the sink and some additional small shelves behind the toilet. In terms of storage, it always helps that we bring a hanging shoe organizer where we store many toiletries and other small items.
Main Cabin Area
The closet in these Icon of the Seas balcony rooms also received a mini makeover, and personally, we think it’s for the worse.
Now, the closet features two sides in a roughly 2/3, 1/3 layout. The smaller side is a full length closet with a small clothes bar which is ideal for hanging dresses. The larger side has a clothes bar on top for hanging your remaining garments and four storage cubes below.
These cubes are exposed and have metal baskets. Unfortunately, they aren’t really ideal for storing clothes so we used them for shoes only. Packing cubes don’t fit well in them and there’s the potential for delicates to get snagged on the metal wiring. Further, the baskets are not on a sliding track making it a nuisance to access the items.
When it comes to shelves, there aren’t any in the closet. Utilizing all space in the cabin, there are some shelves behind the full length mirror. This is also where you will find the safe. But again, these shelves aren’t conducive to storing much as they aren’t very deep.
The desk, positioned on the left, had a small elevated shelf as well as several power outlets. There is one 120V outlet, 1 European outlet, 2 USB outlets, and 2 USB-C outlets. There’s also a series of five desk drawers, 3 of the shorter height and two slightly larger, one of which contained the hair dryer. This is also where you will find the mini-fridge.
The seating area on the right included a somewhat larger sofa but no coffee table. It provided plenty of space for two adults to sit and even stretch out a bit with our laptops when we needed to get work done. There is a small moveable table on one side of the desk that could be used here as well.
The Royal king bed was on the right (forward) wall. There was a small shelf on each side of the bed.Both sides of the bed had a USB outlet for easy charging access, but only one side had a power outlet.
Overall, the bed in this Icon of the Seas balcony room provided adequate comfort during our trip. We had no issues falling asleep after our long days and nights on the ship.
Across from the bed was the television. Additionally, tucked around the corner from the desk on the same wall as the television were a full length series of small shelves with two USB outlets. This was the perfect spot to store small electronic devices like cameras and phones for charging. This helps to free up the desk from all the cords and clutter.
Balcony
Finally, there was the balcony. At 50 sq. ft., the size of the balcony is what we have come to expect from mega-ships. There was enough room for 2 adjustable chairs, 2 small ottomans, and a small round table.
There was certainly enough space for the two of us to enjoy the ocean views and sail in and out of ports. It was also a great spot for us to do some work in the afternoons.
Given this cabin’s location, there is a slight obstruction from a beam supporting the deck above. Further, this cabin is located within the vicinity of Crown’s Edge a few decks above, so we could occasionally hear other cruisers when sitting outdoors. Though, this background noise was not an issue, nor could we hear it from inside our room.
Recap of Our Icon of the Seas Ocean View Balcony Room Review
While we were a bit disappointed that the Icon of the Seas balcony rooms did not get more of an upgrade, our cabin still served its purpose during our inaugural voyage.
When compared to the infinite balcony cabins, we still prefer this traditional setup. In the Caribbean setting, it is helpful that we could still go outside on our balcony and come back into a cool air conditioned room when we needed to cool off.
We did appreciate the upgrades to the bathroom, especially the shower. This puts the cabin more on par with newer ships from other contemporary cruise lines. It also has a more hotel-like feel even if still smaller.
This cabin also has the most outlets of any cruise ship stateroom we’ve ever seen. There’s plenty of charging space for everyone’s devices.
Even though we didn’t like the new layout of the closet, we were able to get all our clothing stowed away for our 7-day voyage. Yet, it might be difficult for a family of four to do so in this cabin. But luckily, Icon of the Seas does offer a variety of cabins specifically designed for families which do offer more space.
Overall, we would say that this cabin offered a comfortable mix of size and value while still providing direct access to the ocean.
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Comments
Have you sailed in an Ocean View Balcony room on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship? What is your preferred cabin category when you cruise? Drop us an anchor below with your review of this stateroom category.
