To think that this looks absolutely hideous?

[KimberleyClark]

It’s Royal Carribbean’s latest cruise liner, Icon of the Seas. Don’t get me wrong, I love cruising, but on ships that look like ships, not floating theme parks or apartment blocks.

I watched that and it really put me off ever going on a cruise!

Whereas I can’t stand the idea of going on a cruise but, if I had to, I’d go on that one.

Clearly for children.

DCs and I would absolutely love this, DH would despise it

It’s like a box of the Candyland game exploded.

A fancy prison.

It looks like the most fun holiday I can think of! I would love it and so would my DD

I have been on plenty of more traditional cruise lines (p&o and celebrity) and new ones like virgin.

This looks fun as I like water slides and theme parks. I'd do it when it's not in school holidays plus an interesting itinerary (Ie not the Caribbean). So Norway or Alaska or Canada maybe if they are options)
Sane as I'd do for a Disney cruise, avoid the ones teaming with kids as much as possible.

This bit looks like a baby gym (do you still get those, my kids are teenagers!)

Only time I went cruising was years ago and they hardly bothered with passports. I am quite short and in the crush to get off the boat no one took anything to scan or look at or even take as name.
We then went through a sort of passport control area which had a few guys in uniform but they weren’t interested so we all walked through and went to discover the delights of the local town

If I go to hell when I die, I fully expect to wake up on that ship.

It’s the Flying Dutchman 💀

@Paperthinspiders that's sad. I have no doubt it happens, but but the bs about every cruise ship is just that, BS.

I wonder if she chose to jump? If so, it's so sad that it felt like her best/only option.

@awmum2b they'll have a blast!!

even if kids don't remember the details, they remember the feelings.

I presume they're normally pretty good kids (or you'd be mad to be contemplating any of it!!). The flight will go pretty quickly. Between the meals & movies etc. take colouring things and maybe a hand held games console (or phones) and you'll be there in no time!

It’s stress inducing to look at, I can imagine mayhem with parents frantically looking for lost DC.

This looks fun as I like water slides and theme parks. I'd do it when it's not in school holidays plus an interesting itinerary (Ie not the Caribbean). So Norway or Alaska or Canada maybe if they are options)

Ah... imagine a beautiful fjord... and then park that object next to it. <shudders>

There's an ad for one of the cruise lines which shows an idyllic little Norwegian village, dwarfed by a (comparatively normal) floating apartment block. Urgh. So glad Venice has banned these ugly leviathans.

I saw it described on Twitter as a "human lasagna".

It’s virtually impossible to accidentally fall off a cruise ship. You’d either have to jump or you’d need to be doing something really stupid like sitting on the rail or something.

@AlmostSummer21 thankfully they travel pretty well, although this will be their first long haul. Youngest doesn’t actually like a kids club, hopefully she will by then!! but she does love all the broadway style shows, swimming and discos and the staff are just incredible with the little ones. We’ve cruised twice since we had children and they’ve really enjoyed it, we like seeing new places without having to unpack and usually the food is pretty good. Plus a lot of the time it’s cheaper than an all inclusive and you’re not stuck in same place for the week.

We’ve not done any super large cruise ships like Icon though, plus we’ve only done Europe so this will be largely USA guests which should be an interesting dynamic. obviously it’s not finished being built yet and these are just simulations so will be interesting to see how it actually looks in real life and thankfully we’ve got a few months after the maiden voyage for them to iron out whatever kinks they’ve got.

As gaudy as this looks the kids will love it…but at the other end of the spectrum Cunard will always have my heart and if we weren’t travelling with kids I’d be back on the Queen Mary in a second, lol

Ships this size are environmentally catastrophic and a plague on the ports they visit. It's grotesque how our desire for a week of fun overrides any sense of proportion.

Yeah but I hate holiday resorts too....

To me it looks like a huge, insane looking freaky amusement park-like Norovirus incubator that I'd have to pay a fortune to step on to, but each to their own!

You couldn’t pay me to go on one of those sorts of cruises.

Just wanted to quickly update this now we've got back from our cruise, this ship is AMAZING. Yes it is huge and we were at capacity for Spring Break but it never felt busy, there are so many different bits to go to that there was never a crowd, except for the adult only pool/space which was like human soup!!! urgh!

The ship is immaculate, as you'd expect as it's brand new. It has loads of fantastic tech that helps with traffic flow and people management. There was plenty of hand wash stations before eating. The food was incredible and my little velcro girl even tried the kids club a few times so I got a bit of a break and to enjoy the sunshine! The shows were also outstanding and worthy of Broadway productions, there were 2 ice skating shows, an aqua show, the wizard of Oz musical and special things for the children in their own section of the boat. They have really tried hard to think about what works well on a cruise ship, plus all the staff were lovely and so professional, at times a bit too helpful and in your face for our British temperament.

I know it's not for everyone and I know that this thread was created to pour scorn on those of us that wanted to go on her but just wanted to update and If it didn't cost so much I'd sail on her all the time, in fact they've announced that an Icon class ship should be ready for the Europe market in 2026 and we would definitely book that to save the long haul flight time and cost.