Our family loves to cruise together and we have been on many of the Royal Caribbean ships together. We have a good idea of what each class has to offer, and what their pros and cons are.
With a friend, I cruised on Enchantment of the Seas, which is in the smallest class of ships. With my husband, we have cruised on 2 ships in the Radiance class. This smaller and older class of ships is fairly different from every other class that has come after it, because they don’t have a Royal Promenade. From the Voyager class up until to the Icon class of ships, the ships have had a Royal Promenade or Esplanade (in the case of the Quantum class) instead of an atrium. Also, the ships belonging to the Voyager class and later have been able to be amplified with some of the cooler, newer bells and whistles, such as water slides, fun tiki bars, improved pool decks, like the Lime and the Coconut, and more popular restaurants. When choosing a Royal Caribbean ships for your next family cruise, there are a lot of great options to consider and bigger doesn’t always mean better.
When Icon of the Seas was announced, there was so much buzz around it because of how different it would be from the wildly popular Oasis class. Instead of 2 or 3 waterslides, it would have 6 water slides making it the largest water park at sea. The Icon class would also move the aqua theater inside amongst other improvements, and a neighborhood designed just for families was added as a replacement for the Boardwalk. Because of all of these changes and improvements, there has been a lot of interest in these newer, bigger ships. Many people have been excited to give this class a try, even though cruising on them comes at a very high price tag.
While we had been on the Icon of the Seas as a family two years earlier, we were really looking forward to our cruise on Star of the Seas. This time, we went with my mother-in-law and my parents, and our main excitement was around the fact that the main show would be Back to the Future. And, just as with Icon of the Seas, we found that the Star of the Seas has a lot of things going for it. It really doesn’t seem crowded, which is pretty amazing. The number of different complimentary food options is really nice and was something that many cruisers were looking for. Even with all of these features, we were left wondering if perhaps the Star of the Seas and other ships in the Icon class are just too big or, in the very least, the cruises on these ships are too expensive?
To start, size and cost of something are definitely in the eye of the beholder. What I consider too expensive for my family, may be very different from what other families think of as affordable. Also, if I asked someone who was used to sailing on the Radiance class of ships how they feel about the size of even the Freedom class, they would likely say that it is too big. This seems to be the more appropriate question: Is the Icon class too big for my family and their needs and wants for a cruise vacation?
For my kids who only want to stay in the kids club or ride the water slides once, the answer is no. My mother-in-law would be simply happy with a hot tub and a margarita in her hand, which can be found on any ship. My parents prefer a quieter cruise vacation filled with trivia games and tasty meals. For me, I really like the neighborhoods found on the Icon class, but I can also find that on the Oasis class of ships. For my husband, he is drawn to the entertainment and the great bars (the Pesky Parrot is his favorite). Well, tiki bars can be found on other ships, and there is pretty good entertainment found on the other ships as well.
When it comes to sailing on Royal Caribbean’s newer ships, I would say that the biggest draw for us is the entertainment, as we really like the aqua shows and the production shows and find that the best performers in the business are found on Royal Caribbean’s newer ships. On the older ships, we discovered that Royal Caribbean makes up for the lower quality of in-house entertainment by bringing in some really great headliners. And, it seems that the more seasoned headliners really like performing on the smaller ships. Even so, if we stayed away from the newer, bigger ships, we know we would miss out on some great entertainment.
Personally, we found that the Icon class of ships may just be too overwhelming for our family. Our youngest son has an autism diagnosis and we have decided that, for him, less is more, and a smaller ship experience would be more appropriate. For my older parents, they could use a ship with less to navigate and a more classic cruise experience. And, while I love the entertainment on the newer ships, I would trade it for a more calming cruise experience on one of the older, less amplified ships. That’s just where we are at and will definitely guide our decision making when planning our next cruise.
So, is the Star of the Seas too big? Well, I would say that it really depends on you and your family’s wants and needs. Certainly, if you go on an Icon class ship and also find it a bit overwhelming, don’t assume that all of Royal’s ships will be that way. They have 30 ships currently sailing, all at various sizes and with an assortment of features and attractions.
Planning that next cruise vacation and finding the ship and itinerary that will work best for your family can be challenging and itself overwhelming. As someone who has sailed on all 7 of Royal Caribbean’s classes of ships, I can with confidence and experience help to narrow down the choices and find a cruise that is on a ship that is not only the right size for your family, but also the right price tag.
Contact me today so we can get started on planning your family’s next dream vacation.