Royal Caribbean details how the Icon Class cruise is evolving
Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, which launched in January 2024 from Miami, isn't just the world's largest cruise ship. It's the product of more than 50 years of cruise ship innovation.
The first-of-its-kind ship offers unmatched ways to enjoy a cruise vacation, no matter what your vacation style or mood. Icon of the Seas makes it easy to make your cruise a high-energy, theme park-style experience or a relaxing resort getaway, or a mix of both. And families love that about it.Royal Caribbean welcomed nearly 200,000 families on board during Icon of the Seas' first year, and from those families, the cruise line gathered a lot of feedback about what they loved and about what would make the vacation experience even better.
Although Icon has been a massive success, passenger feedback revealed that there were opportunities to improve upon it. And that's what innovation-focused Royal Caribbean set out to do as it built its next Icon, Star of the Seas, which launches from Port Canaveral, Florida in August.
What exactly did the cruise line learn from Icon and how is the Icon Class evolving based on those insights?
That's what Royal Caribbean executives detailed in a new Making an Icon Class video that the cruise line shared as it prepares to launch its next 'Icon of Vacations,' Star of the Seas.
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Royal Caribbean explains how it's building on Icon of the Seas' success
Transcript:
Michael Bayley, Royal Caribbean President: Icon has been the most successful new ship we've ever launched. We see many Icon coming in the future.
Jennifer Goswami, Sr. Director, Product Development: We've delivered on the ability for guests to feel connected with water. We've revolutionized the open decks, the hideaway for our adults, Thrill Island — the first water park at sea, Chill Island with so many different pools, the Aqua Dome with revolutionary entertainment.
Michael Bayley: We are delighted with the success of the class of the ship, so we're excited to welcome Star of the Seas in the summer of this year.
Jay Schneider, Chief Product Innovation Officer: In Star of the Seas, you're going to see a continued evolution of the Icon class.
Jennifer Goswami: We've had a year of learnings from Icon. We've learned a lot. We've made some changes. We've built on the foundation of 50 years of innovation. We've worked with futurist firms. We've worked with guest trends. We've talked to our guests. We did different focus groups. We really took the culmination of what every different aspect of the research told us.Star of the Seas will deliver what families love about Icon, and more
Emily Rodriguez, Manager, Thrills & Attractions: Star of the Seas is going to deliver exactly what our guests have loved about Icon of the Seas. All of the thrills and the chills. It will feature the largest water park at sea. Category 6 has the two big family raft slides, the drop box slide, two body slides, and our two mat racers as well. We keep learning and we keep adding more.
Jennifer Goswami: Now we're just really kind of dialing into those details to make it even better. So, we will continue to be the world's best family vacation, but we will make sure that we've looked after every part of the family.Jay Schneider: We had the opportunity to rethink the experience of the Icon class. We're leaning into kind of a next level of programming across the ship.
You'll see the evolution of Empire Supper Club, our fine, opulent entertainment experience on Icon that is just an amazing home run.
Jennifer Goswami: Star will debut with Lincoln Park Supper Club, which is a Chicago-themed supper club experience where we will have a completely new menu, completely new music, delivering the same notion of entertainment, but in a whole new way.
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Royal Caribbean shares how feedback shaped Icon Class updates
Jennifer Goswami: We've really taken the time to double down on our understanding of all of our family spaces. We've learned that Surfside skewed to kids about 10 years old. We've made some changes to Surfside.
We've redesigned our playscape to allow for a little bit more challenge. We've added in some new toys into Splashaway Bay. We've made some adjustments to Adventure Ocean after speaking to families and kids.
And teens gave us a lot of feedback. They're looking for a more natural way to connect. They want things that they can do that allows them to socialize with one another that's actually not completely tech-based.
So, we've really taken a lot of this feedback and integrated it into Star.Jay Schneider: There's so much that's being brought to life. We're amplifying the Pearl, and so we're bringing more color and vibrancy into that arrival moment as you board the ship. And so, all of those areas have been areas that we've been focused on.
Jennifer Goswami: The Icon Class delivered the world's best family vacation, but we want to do that tomorrow. We want to do that next week. We want to make sure that we keep delivering, and we make sure that we are collectively building the right product.
Jay Schneider: It's all designed off of guest research with opportunities for us to continue to adjust and continue to make better so that what people see on day one is nothing but an amazing home run.
(The Arena Group will earn a commission if you book a cruise.)
, or email Amy Post at or call or text her at 386-383-2472.
This story was originally reported by TravelHost on Jul 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
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