These new mega monster cruise ships - Royal Caribbean Icon class et all

[MrsShawnHatosy]

Does anyone actually like them? They look awful to me. From what I can see there is a huge central atrium running almost the length of the ship, and balcony cabins overlooking this atrium? I prefer smaller ships and I go on cruises to feel like I am at sea, to be able to see, hear and smell the sea.

If course they do, or they wouldn't be building and operating them.
You couldn't pay me to go on a boat of any sort in the open sea for fun, but we all like different things.

What a strange question, just because you wouldn't like them, doesn't mean that other people wouldn't. We're all different, surely you know that?

It doesn’t appeal to me, I was on a ship recently with 1800 people / 900 cabins and that felt like a lot of people. But good design and decent plentiful facilities it may not feel that much bigger with 8000 people?!

Well, lots of people must like them because they keep building them. A cabin overlooking the atrium is a lot better than an internal cabin with no windows at all on other, smaller ships.

I think it becomes more of a resort thing than a ship at sea thing?
I’m guessing that lots will be trying it for the first time and that time will tell if they work as holidays or not.
Plane travel used to be special before it was just a seat to abroad like a bus. Cruising going the same way.

@Peony1985Cruising doesn’t have to be like that but it’s cost. There a lot of expedition cruises available on smaller ships and we regularly use one that’s 100 passengers. However it’s expensive and they aren’t family ships. For couples though they are great if you are a bit older! We use ones where shore excursions are included and we have guest speakers and no other entertainment. Guests talk to each other.

We did take dc on 3 cruises when they were young as they enjoyed the clubs but some of the shore excursions were poor value for money and I ended up booking our own trips ashore. The best one was P&O to Norway on a bigger ship for DMs 90th birthday (just me and her) but DH and me are now going to Norway on a 100 passenger ship in 6 weeks. I think the big ships flood resources where they visit and you are herded around. When it’s 100 it’s much more personal but I know it is expensive.

Yes we’ve been on one. It was incredible, far more enjoyable than smaller ships we’ve been on. It’s so big everyone is spread out, I don’t think we queued for anything really, even getting on and off the ship was amazingly smooth. My teens absolutely loved it, there was so much for them to do, the food was great. We’d book again in a heart beat.

Legend of the seas will be in Europe next year if anyone wants to give it a try.

We had an ocean balcony, the inward facing balconies didn’t appeal.

Icon of the seas has been out over 2 years and is still operating near capacity year round, they have Star of the Seas now operating, Legend out this year, Hero next year and another on the way. These ships cost over a billion to build, I think we can assume the demand is there, no company would be investing like this if it wasn’t.

Huh? Of course some people like them. I wouldn’t go on a cruise or do an AI hotel but understand different strokes for different folks. Ffs.

I thought I’d hate it but went on Arvia last year which is about 5.5k passengers and loved it. It never felt crowded and it was excellent value compared to a hotel based fortnight away

I've never been on one but I feel that if you like all inclusive holidays (which I don't) maybe you'd like this too. Different strokes.

It wouldn’t be for me, but clearly there is demand. A bit like AI holidays, I can’t think of anything less like travel and we don’t do them, but loads do.

Yes 1.8 billion apparently! Mind blowing. In terms of capacity Icons maximum takes 7,600 (double occupancy plus kids). That’s 8-12 years before it recuperates build costs alone.
I think it’s more about brand and market share than these super cruisers making profit.

I love crossing but honestly I prefer mid sized/large/xl ships never I simply don’t want to be sat talking to the same people every day for 10-14 days. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy a bit of conversation and small talk but being with the same travellers on the same table and seeing the same 20 People on the smoking deck every day fills me with dread. I don’t go on holiday to make friends, I go on holiday to spend time with my DH and explore new places. I’m never going to be the person who adds their holiday buddies on fb and plans to go away with them in the future. So a huge faceless ship would probably do me fine 😂🤷🏼‍♀️

We like smaller ships of 600-700 passengers, it’s perfectly possible to keep yourselves to yourselves if you wish,that is our preference. The ships never feel crowded. We always get our own table. Much prefer the floating boutique hotel vibe to the floating holiday resort vibe. I like that the smaller ships can get into more out of the way places and don’t always have to dock at container ports or huge cruise ship terminals with ten other ships.

We've been on RCI but not the mega ships and I have to say I really enjoy them, so much to do, so much entertainment if you want it, but probably won't again or rarely because of the environmental impact and the thing of thousands of passengers tipping out at once into sometimes quite small ports. There is always lots of space, we have done shared dining and sit alone dining and enjoyed both. I didn't think we'd enjoy the shared dining but it was actually really nice to sit with the same group of people every night, ours were all from other countries so we learned about their lives, talked about what they had done that day or planned for the next day then said goodbye till the next night. No staying in touch, no buddying up for activities unless you want to.

I am trying a small ship Norway cruise this year and will be very interested to compare.