Icon Ocean View Balconies

[thrifty99]

I’m looking at OV Balconies for the new Icon of the Seas. Every sailing date I look at only shows them on deck 12 currently. Have they only released a limited number of cabins today and more will be released later?  Or are the OV balconies on the other decks another category not shown yet (with the balcony glass that opens / shuts)?

[Florida Fan]

I booked the Jan. 27th cruise around 6AM this morning. I saw only 1 OV balcony for 2 people, and that was on the 14th deck.  I didn't want to be that high, but I booked anyway and will keep checking for a year for a price drop & better location.  My guess is that the inaugural date will move around anyway, so lots of unknowns.  And yes, I paid for refundable.

[thrifty99]

9 hours ago, Florida Fan said:

I booked the Jan. 27th cruise around 6AM this morning. I saw only 1 OV balcony for 2 people, and that was on the 14th deck.  I didn't want to be that high, but I booked anyway and will keep checking for a year for a price drop & better location.  My guess is that the inaugural date will move around anyway, so lots of unknowns.  And yes, I paid for refundable.

I looked later and saw mainly deck 14 also.  I'll keep checking.  

 

And Congrats on booking the inaugural sailing!!! Always wanted to do that.  

[LisaLisa87]

I booked an OV balcony on the 2/17 sailing at around 10am. At that time, there were options on 4 or 5 different decks, although a few of the decks showed only 1 or 2 cabins available. There are 3 people in our party, so that may have made a difference. Luckily we like the aft third of the ship, because midship balcony cabins were considerably more expensive.

[colesc15]

I was able to get one of the aft facing balconies for February! From what I can tell, only deck 14 has aft facing, non suite balconies? 

[phnett]

Will this ship be doing any transatlantic? 
 

Edited October 25, 2022 by phnett

[neverbeenhere]

14 minutes ago, phnett said:

Will this ship be doing any transatlantic? 
 

No, Miami only.  In the future, no. It was built for families and families aren’t big on transatlantic cruises. 

[fsjosh]

Adding a third person to your booking increases your options. They've limited the 2 person rooms. 

[Ourusualbeach]

20 hours ago, thrifty99 said:

I’m looking at OV Balconies for the new Icon of the Seas. Every sailing date I look at only shows them on deck 12 currently. Have they only released a limited number of cabins today and more will be released later?  Or are the OV balconies on the other decks another category not shown yet (with the balcony glass that opens / shuts)?

Balcony cabins that hold 2 guests are only found on decks 12 and 14 so you won't find availability on any sailing date until Royal removes the occupancy restrictions for the cabins that are designed to hold 3 or 4 guests. 

[Ourusualbeach]

5 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

No, Miami only.  In the future, no. It was built for families and families aren’t big on transatlantic cruises. 

Depends on when the ship is ready as to whether she will do a TA or not.  It is quite likely that it has just not been released.  In 5 years she will also need to make her way back to Europe for a drydock and there will be a TA both East and West bound. 

[Jimbo]

18 hours ago, colesc15 said:

I was able to get one of the aft facing balconies for February! From what I can tell, only deck 14 has aft facing, non suite balconies? 

What category does it say on your confirmation and did you book it for 2 people or more then 2?

Edited October 25, 2022 by Jimbo

[colesc15]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

What category does it say on your confirmation and did you book it for 2 people or more then 2?

Category is a D4 and for two people 

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, Jimbo said:

What category does it say on your confirmation and did you book it for 2 people or more then 2?

Aft facing on deck 14 are D4 and are for 2 guests.  Who would have thought that the aft balconies which have a larger balcony would be the cheapest balcony category.  

Edited October 25, 2022 by Ourusualbeach

[Jimbo]

10 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Aft facing on deck 14 are D4 and are for 2 guests.  Who would have thought that the aft balconies which have a larger balcony would be the cheapest balcony category.  

That's why I think they are hard to find, maybe Royal is going to recategorize  that section of the ship

 

I have one on hold for  just under $2800  but not really the month or Itinerary I wanted. Which are better, the middle ones or the corner ones?(deck 14) with $225 OBC . Hoping to find something better within the next 7 days.

Figured not much to lose with refundable deposit.

 

Does anyone have a good picture of the back of the ship, showing those aft cabins balconies?

Edited October 25, 2022 by Jimbo

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

That's why I think they are hard to find, maybe Royal is going to recategorize  that section of the ship

 

I have one on hold for  just under $2800  but not really the month or Itinerary I wanted. Which are better, the middle ones or the corner ones?(deck 14) with $225 OBC . Hoping to find something better within the next 7 days.

Figured not much to lose with refundable deposit.

 

Does anyone have a good picture of the back of the ship, showing those aft cabins balconies?

I wish that were the reason they are hard to find.

 

Most of them are unsold but have been removed from inventory along with a lot of other cabins in the same category.

 

This is one of the categories that allows groups to be held.  As TA's block group space Royal pulls an equivalent number of cabins from inventory so that they can honor the obligations to the groups that have been created.  Unfortunately the afts tend to get removed form inventory.  There are actually sailings that show a category as sold out but it can still be booed as a category (in this case D4) gty.  They fill that gty with the cabins that they pulled earlier.  This allows Royal to meet it's group obligations.  If they left everything up for sale then anyone could book the cabins and there would be none left to meet the group requirements.  This is why there are 180 and 120 day checkpoints at which Royal reviews all the groups and recalls group space if sales are slow.  This gives them time to sell it

[deliver42]

We just booked an ocean view balcony midship on deck 12 for Feb, 2025 with refundable deposit. Have nothing to lose. If the price drops, which i doubt, I'll get repriced, and if cabins for 2 open up closer to where I'd rather be, then I'll switch. It's worth the extra charge for refundable to me.

[Ourusualbeach]

11 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

We just booked an ocean view balcony midship on deck 12 for Feb, 2025 with refundable deposit. Have nothing to lose. If the price drops, which i doubt, I'll get repriced, and if cabins for 2 open up closer to where I'd rather be, then I'll switch. It's worth the extra charge for refundable to me.

You don't need to have a refundable deposit to do either of those 2 things.  Both can be done with a non refundable deposit.  The only thing a refundable deposit gets you is the ability to cancel for a full refund of your deposit before final payment.

[thrifty99]

13 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Balcony cabins that hold 2 guests are only found on decks 12 and 14 so you won't find availability on any sailing date until Royal removes the occupancy restrictions for the cabins that are designed to hold 3 or 4 guests. 

Thank you - that makes sense. I prefer a lower deck - will keep checking to see if / when they open those up. 

[deliver42]

Since it's 2 years away, I'll still be able to sleep nights if  something goes wrong, I won't be out $500.00.

[Spurschick]

13 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Depends on when the ship is ready as to whether she will do a TA or not.  It is quite likely that it has just not been released.  In 5 years she will also need to make her way back to Europe for a drydock and there will be a TA both East and West bound. 

Totally agree. Not only what you already mentioned, but I can imagine as some point as they bring out more Icon class ships there is likely to be one based in the Mediterranean for a summer season. 
 

As Icon 2 is due out second quarter of 2025 I can feasibly see Icon going to Europe for that summer Season with Icon 2 in US.

 

There will be plenty of demand in Europe for her.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Spurschick

[colesc15]

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Aft facing on deck 14 are D4 and are for 2 guests.  Who would have thought that the aft balconies which have a larger balcony would be the cheapest balcony category.  

That's what I thought. It felt like at minimum they should have been a higher category balcony. From what I could tell in the aft pictures, the center ones appear to be deepest and the corner ones don't look truly corner because it didn't look like the balcony wrapped around unless I was seeing it right. 

[Ourusualbeach]

23 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

That's what I thought. It felt like at minimum they should have been a higher category balcony. From what I could tell in the aft pictures, the center ones appear to be deepest and the corner ones don't look truly corner because it didn't look like the balcony wrapped around unless I was seeing it right. 

I also do not think the balcony wraps.

[Ourusualbeach]

41 minutes ago, Spurschick said:

Totally agree. Not only what you already mentioned, but I can imagine as some point as they bring out more Icon class ships there is likely to be one based in the Mediterranean for a summer season. 
 

As Icon 2 is due out second quarter of 2025 I can feasibly see Icon going to Europe for that summer Season with Icon 2 in US.

 

There will be plenty of demand in Europe for her.

I'm not familiar with the ports in Europe as much.  I know the route Oasis class does but could Icon do the route that Odyssey is doing or does Odyssey max out on ship size for some of those ports.

[Spurschick]

23 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I'm not familiar with the ports in Europe as much.  I know the route Oasis class does but could Icon do the route that Odyssey is doing or does Odyssey max out on ship size for some of those ports.

I would guess it would probably do comparable itineraries to what the Oasis class ships were doing. Not too sure on the other ports.
 

One would assume that when they build these ships they consider what ports they are able to fit in across multiple regions/ports.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Spurschick

[Ourusualbeach]

7 minutes ago, Spurschick said:

I would guess it would probably do comparable itineraries to what the Oasis class ships were doing. Not too sure on the other ports.
 

One would assume that when they build these ships they consider what ports they are able to fit in across multiple regions/ports.

They will eventually need to have more than just the one itinerary for Oasis class ships.  With 5 OA class now thats one in for a drydock every year.

 

I must say that they did time the deliveries of the big girls well.

 

2023 Symphony

2024 Oasis

2025 Allure

2026 Harmony

2027 Wonder

2028 Symphony

2029 Oasis, Icon, Utopia

 

 

Things start to get crowded in 2029.  maybe Icon gets delivered very late 2023 then you have

 

2028 Symphony, Icon

2029 Oasis, Utopia

 

They have a few years to figure it out.