Icon of the Seas is one of the most expensive mainstream cruise ships at sea, and during her inaugural year, it wasn't uncommon to see rates as high as $2,000 per person for an interior cabin.
My partner and I couldn't justify paying those prices for a windowless cabin, so we booked a weeklong cruise over a year in advance for July 2025. However, due to scheduling conflicts, we changed our sail date twice and ended up on a 7-night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean in April.
In total, we paid $3,802.46, including taxes, port fees, gratuities, and change fees, for a balcony cabin. The catch? It faced the interior part of the ship, rather than having an unobstructed ocean view.
I've sailed in interior-facing balconies before on Oasis and Allure of the Seas. As a teenager, they didn't bother me. However, I wondered if now, as an adult, I'd miss waking up to the ocean, especially if I was already paying extra for a balcony.
Initally, we booked a Surfside guarantee stateroom, meaning that we left it up to Royal Caribbean to assign our specific stateroom to save money. However, over one month before our April 19 departure date, I was pleased to discover we had been assigned a Central Park infinite verandah.
Surfside is Icon of the Seas' brand-new family-friendly neighborhood. With splash pads, a carousel, an arcade, easy access to Adventure Ocean, and a kid-approved buffet, it's the ultimate spot for families to spend long days at sea.
However, being in our mid-20s without kids (excluding our adorable 12-year-old "puppy"), we knew that Surfside wasn’t the ideal fit for us.
While we loved that there was a purpose-built area for families, we were seeking a more relaxing cabin environment for lazy mornings and downtime between ship activities and excursions.
Still, my travel agent quoted us over $6,000 for an ocean-view balcony, so we thought it was worth the savings to have a balcony and natural light.
When we learned we had been assigned a Central Park infinite verandah cabin instead, we were excited about the change. Not only was the neighborhood more tranquil, but the stateroom was more midship than Surfside cabins — a bonus for my partner, who is easily susceptible to motion sickness.
This wasn't my first time in an infinite verandah
Last year, I cruised to the Greek Isles aboard Celebrity Ascent. My partner and I paid around $5,000 for our ocean-view infinite verandah, which included Wi-Fi, a drink package, and gratuities. Celebrity's Edge Class ships were the first to feature the new innovative balcony design, and Royal Caribbean brought the concept to its Icon Class.
Traditional balcony cabins have a door leading to a personal outdoor veranda, but infinite verandas were designed to bring passengers closer to the ocean by turning the entire stateroom into a balcony. What does this mean? Well, instead of having an outdoor portion of the stateroom, guests can lower the floor-to-ceiling window to create a seamless transition between the indoor space and the outdoors.
One of the major benefits is that these rooms are typically more private than regular balconies since you aren't sharing thin walls on the balcony. However, since our stateroom aboard Icon of the Seas overlooked Central Park, we had to be careful leaving the curtains open.
That said, we appreciated the extra living space. Because our stateroom lacked an outdoor balcony, the room felt larger and more open. Plus, the "balcony" furniture was more comfortable than standard outdoor furniture since it doesn't have to withstand rain, wind, and salty sea air.
Having sailed with Royal Caribbean for 15 years, I was impressed with the upgrades to the cabin
I took my first Royal Caribbean cruise aboard Freedom of the Seas in 2010. Since then, I've fallen in love with larger mega-ships and have spent over 50 days on Oasis Class ships, ranging from Oasis to Wonder of the Seas. While Royal Caribbean made strides modernizing the stateroom experience on newer Oasis Class ships, they hit a home run with Icon of the Seas.
To start, I've never encountered such a spacious shower in a standard cabin. While suites typically have larger bathrooms, Icon of the Seas' showers are a noticeable upgrade compared to the capsule showers on older vessels, even if the vanity area is more cramped.
The design was modern and practical, with plenty of space to move around comfortably. In fact, the entire length of the shower was about the size of my wingspan!
I also loved the addition of an extra shelf for toiletries. This made it easy to store our shampoo and conditioner bottles, face wash, razors, and shaving cream.
However, I wouldn't have complained if there weren't any shelves! The shower had a large bench, which would have easily kept our toiletries organized and within reach.
Plus, the bathroom had outlets — yes, real outlets! Cruise ships usually don't have traditional outlets in the bathroom. The most you'll typically find is a low-power plug for razors. However, on Icon of the Seas, you're able to use the provided hair dryer in the bathroom, freeing up the vanity for someone else.
My only true issue with the bathroom is that the shower pressure wasn't the best I've experienced on a cruise ship. While it wasn't the worst, the difference was noticeable, especially when compared to the higher water pressure I've experienced on other ships.
Moving on, I was impressed with the variety of charging options in the stateroom, ranging from American and European outlets to USB and USB-C ports.
With over 10 outlets in the room, it was easy to keep our devices charged throughout the week. Plus, I'm happy to report that there are two bedside charging options: a standard American outlet and a USB port.
Along with plenty of outlets, we found there was more than enough storage space for us to comfortably unpack during our 7-night cruise.
Between the two closets, four wire basket drawers, numerous shelves, and the dresser, we honestly could have packed for a two-week cruise and still had space to spare.
Across from the bathroom door were three large hooks, which were great for hanging our beach bags, purses, and lanyards. Hooks were noticeably missing from our interior cabin on Wonder of the Seas a few months ago, so having them on Icon of the Seas was a welcome addition.
Pro tip: Don't forget to look behind the full-length mirror. This is where you'll find the safe and over five extra shelves to keep miscellaneous items organized and hidden from plain view.
There were also plenty of standard cruise cabin features, including a mini-fridge (which went unused), a television, a sofa, and a vanity area with a mirror.
One feature my partner and I really liked aboard Wonder is that we could stream from our mobile devices to the stateroom's television.
Unfortunately, we couldn't stream on Icon of the Seas. Royal Caribbean's selection of complimentary TV shows and movies isn't the best, so we missed the convenience of streaming our own content.
While infinite verandas are clever designs, we wouldn't book another interior-facing cabin again
Our cruise aboard Icon of the Seas was more exhausting than we thought. Between exploring new areas of the ship, taking advantage of our unlimited specialty dining package, and going ashore, we found we spent more time resting in the room than anticipated.
We felt disconnected from the ocean and hated feeling so exposed. Whenever we returned for an afternoon nap, we'd have to close the blinds to keep guests in other staterooms from looking directly into our cabin. Consequently, we missed the same level of natural light that typically fills an ocean-view cabin.
Additionally, our Central Park room was noisier than we thought. Our cabin, 10201, was located across from the Trellis Bar and above Izumi. At night, Central Park is a hot spot for dining and music, and during the day, the music from the pool deck could be heard drifting down into the area.
Elizabeth Wright
Elizabeth graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with her M.A. in Journalism in May 2023. Growing up, she traveled frequently with her family and fell in love with cruising after sailing on the Oasis of the Seas during her freshman year of high school. Having sailed on over 30 cruises across different lines, including Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, Margaritaville at Sea, and Princess, she loves sharing her insight and expertise on all things cruising!
