Ep. 393 - Bonus - Isn't it Iconic?: Sailing Onboard the Largest Ship in the World - Icon of the Seas

00:00.00 dclduo Welcome back everybody to this week's bonus episode of the DCL duo podcast brought to you by my path unwinding travel and sam not only is it brought to us by my path unwinding travel but our guests today are from my path unwinding travel right. 00:14.45 Sam Yes, I'm super excited. We have 2 guests joining us today because they just went on what is the newest ship that's been introduced in a while and the largest ship that's been introduced in a while. Um from royal caribbean the icon of the seas but I'm really. Excited to welcome first timers to our show both Margaret and Sarah welcome ladies. Yeah, thanks for awesome. Well thank you for joining us. We know from social media and following both of you. 00:37.71 Margaret Thank you. 00:37.90 Sara Thank you so much. We're excited to be here. 00:49.27 Sam That you were recently on the icon of the seas I believe you were on like a preview cruise to the um to their maiden voyage because we actually had another friend who was on the on the maiden voyage. But um, before we start talking about this. Amazing ship. Ah this mammoth ship I should say we've got to introduce folks to who you are and what your background is with Disney and Disney Cruise line we both we as we said at the top of the show. You are both travel advisors with my path unwinding. So we know you have a ton of experience booking these cruises but what is what's your what. Your personal experience Margaret. Why don't we start with you. What's your personal experience sailing on cruise lines and Disney Cruise line in particular. 01:34.53 Margaret So on cruise lines I have probably since I've been on 30 or more cruises in the last six year well yeah probably 6 years um Disney Virgin norwegian carnival celebrity 01:39.73 Sam Wow. 01:51.66 Margaret Royal Caribbean I've been on on pretty but pretty much been on quite a few that all on all of them. So um, on Royal Caribbean I'm ah a diamond member on Royal and I've. 01:55.77 Sam Wow. 02:02.66 Sam Ooh look at you. 02:05.25 Margaret I've been on the smaller ships and the oasis class ships and and now icon. So. 02:09.22 Sam Amazing, amazing and now have you been on all of our all of our favorites. The 5 Disney Cruise line ships 02:17.80 Margaret I have not been all I have repeated some of the Disney Cruise ships but I have not been on all of them I have been on um, wonder in Alaska and the the New Orleans um Mexico Cruise in conciers. Um. 02:21.35 Sam Oh interesting. 02:31.29 Sam Um, oof Oh fun. 02:33.11 Margaret And the dream. Um, ah it's hard to remember a lot of griev is but I'm also I'm also have been a Disney vacation member at Walt Disney World since 1996 ah so 02:37.70 Sam Um, yeah on the itinerary. 02:47.59 Sam Wow! What's your home resort or home resorts. Yeah, ah. 02:47.61 dclduo Ah. 02:51.61 Margaret Um, old key west which was the only home resort that existed at that time but our family goes all the time I'm a huge Disney fan and thus why why? I'm a good fit as a travel advisor for my path and winding. 02:54.68 dclduo Yeah. 03:03.75 Sam Awesome I Love that. 03:03.78 dclduo Nice. What about you? Sarah. 03:08.56 Sara Um, I've sailed a bit too. Not as much as Margaret. Um, but I've done um the disney wonder and then I recently did the Disney wish um which I loved it was such a beautiful ship. Um. 03:10.68 Sam Disease. 03:13.24 dclduo Um. 03:22.90 Sam Oh yeah. 03:25.43 Sara Then I've also sailed with celebrity rural caribbean and then I sailed on virgin scarlet lady about two months ago so 03:33.14 Sam Oh Wow we're jealous. We're gonna be yeah. 03:33.77 dclduo Nice. We'll be taking our first we'll be taking our first Virgin Cruise in October for Sam's birthday yeah we're pretty excited about that Cruise. So yeah, that'll be fun, but let's talk about icon. Because that's what everyone seems to want to hear about these days. Ah that in the world cruise that royals do and they're doing some good marketing over there. Um I'd love to know so let let's start with some of the the particulars about icons so icons the largest ship in the world. At this point if I'm getting that right and I'm curious. How many people does she hold. We throw that you to you Margaret. 04:07.93 Margaret Um, if you if you had maximum capacity and crew if you counted that it's over 10000 people but I think maximum capacity is 77600 guests 04:14.55 Sam Wow. 04:20.35 Sam Wow, That's crazy. Yeah, yeah. 04:21.88 dclduo Wow wow! Yeah yeah, although and others you say although interestingly royal tends to tends to um, ah, report over a hundred percent 04:23.62 Margaret That's with every room being fully occupied. So I don't I don't think you will experience that maximum capacity but but that's what it. 04:38.67 dclduo Occupancy across their cruise lines so you may you may find a day where you're sailing that ship completely full. You may um. 04:40.63 Margaret You may. 04:43.40 Sam Well, but they may but they may say 100% occupancy because there's people in every room but not a full room if you know what I mean by that meaning like 1 person in every room when there could be 4 Yeah yeah. 04:51.70 Margaret Right. 04:51.78 dclduo sure sure I I don't know what their occupancy measure is sure I mean you can't if they can't have more people on the ship than it can support that would not be advisable. But yes, um, and so this so icon was released last. Month in January or did it just start sailing here in February me throw that to you sir good go ahead. Margaret no okay go ahead Sarah go ahead. 05:08.45 Margaret January was its first. 05:14.35 Sara Um I think January Twenty so sorry I just I think January Twenty Seventh was the maiden I believe. 05:22.20 dclduo Ok, and when were you both on the ship. 05:26.50 Sara January Twenty Third January Twenty third 05:30.70 Margaret Yes. 05:32.82 dclduo So was it like a fortnight preview sailing basically ahead of the Maiden voyage sir. 05:37.46 Sara It was it was through Margaret three. It was a three night sailing 05:41.13 dclduo Or a three night 05:49.55 dclduo Okay, all right? Well 3 nights to experience the largest ship in the world that's got to be a tall order. Um, yeah, that is hard that is hard. Um I don't even know where to begin let me let me just start with like let's. 05:53.99 Sam Yeah, that's art. That's a lot of space. Yeah. 06:03.45 dclduo Let's start with my favorite topic which is dining So let's talk about dining on icon of the seas ah give me a sense of so full disclosure. The only Royal ship that I have been on was um oh she was name of it. 06:18.19 Sam Wasn't it independence of the seas Brian or freedom. Yeah. 06:19.54 dclduo Indie indie yeah, the only the only royal ship I've been on is indie independence of the seas and they had 1 main dining room and a pizza place and maybe 3 or 4 specialty restaurants on board and a Starbucks the buffet sure every every cruise ship has a buffet. Ah I would think but. 06:28.41 Sam And a buffet. Yeah. 06:37.41 dclduo What does icon have to offer did they move away from the 1 big restaurant concept for main dining and what kind of specialty restaurants. Do they have what what's going on with dining on on icon Margaret let me throw that one to you. 06:50.98 Margaret Um, there's more than 20 places to dine on icon of this ease and 11 of them. Um, eleven them eleven of them are complimentary. So um, that includes them being dining. They do have a main dining room. Um, as as traditional. 06:58.42 dclduo Wow. 07:00.77 Sam That's a lot. 07:06.17 Margaret Royal caribbean ships do as well as the wind jammer which is their big buffet and I must say the wind jammer on icon is huge and it's beautiful and and very well thought out and I think it will not be as much of a traffic gm as it is on some of the other royal caribbean ships. That being said Sarah and I did not even eat in the windjammer while we were on board because we were trying everything else. So and that includes all their specialty restaurants as well as the ones that are included with your cruise fare. 07:31.57 dclduo Um, and. 07:33.49 Sam Go yeah. 07:40.33 dclduo So so even if you went on a 7 second set so even if you went on a seven night sailing and ate in dining at least twice a day you would still not hit all of the restaurants on board this ship like that's crazy. Wow. So. 07:41.50 Sam What kinds of things Do they have. That's right. 07:49.66 Margaret Um, a. 07:51.82 Margaret Most likely not most likely not. 07:55.50 Sam Yeah. 07:58.16 dclduo Like what are some of the offerings that they have across the the includes the inclusive ones you mentioned the the buffet you mentioned main dining but what are the other things are included I I assume a pizza place. But yeah, but what else is kind of included. 08:09.42 Margaret Do you want to know what's different than the other Royal Caribbean ships are do you need would like to know what? what is pretty standard on Royal Caribbean ships. 08:19.80 dclduo I would give give give it all because I'm ah most of our audience will be Disney Fanatics who have probably not set foot on another cruise. So yeah, yeah, yeah. 08:28.50 Sam Yeah, or maybe have once or twice but don't have a ton of experience on Royal yeah. 08:36.33 Margaret Um, so on Royal The giovannis is their Italian restaurant is on quite a few of their ships. It's a specialty these these ones I'm naming are especially restaurants that require an additional charge. So um, Chops Grill which is their steakhouse. 08:47.87 Sam You hear. 08:52.34 dclduo Um, yeah. 08:53.16 Margaret Um, Ezumi which is the Japanese Habachi and Sushi bar I'm trying to remember what else I'm sure I'm forgetting some but those are there Sorrentos you can still get pizza and the promenade but some of the ones they've added have. 08:57.73 Sam Oh yum. 08:58.74 dclduo Yep. 09:12.84 Margaret Um, really enhance what they offer on board. 09:17.45 dclduo So what? Yeah what have they added then Margaret. 09:24.30 Margaret Oh there's a list and we're trying to find it Sorry um here here we go The aquadome dining is ah they have aquedome market and um, they have. 09:24.90 dclduo Now. Alright. 09:41.30 Margaret Park Cafe Surf side bites the Pearl cafe. 09:50.37 Margaret It's I'm sorry. 09:52.30 Sam It's ok so tons basically tons of different offerings any any like unique um, ah type of cuisine that they've added on that you were sort of surprised to see when you were on when you were on icon. How about you Sarah. 09:52.55 dclduo That's okay. 10:07.43 Sara Um, had the aquaddo market had so many options. Um and there it's similar to the windjammer where it's just different. There are different options available. Um, but there they had Mediterranean They had a mac and cheese station. 10:16.30 Sam Here. 10:24.74 Sam Um, oh yum. 10:25.90 Sara Um, yeah, it was real that was that was actually my favorite. They even had pepperonipizzamac and cheese which was so I I had to try it just since it was so different but it that was actually 1 of my favorite things that I had on board. Um, there's a crepe station there. 10:42.66 Sam Oh wow. 10:44.62 Sara A sandwich and salad area and then Ginger which is Asian favorite. So there were a lot of options in that one area that that were really neat. 10:53.60 Sam Wow, that's so that's like 1 1 marketplace or 1 food location but with lots of different cuisines. Wow now. 10:54.60 dclduo Yeah. 10:57.41 Sara Yes, right. 11:00.78 dclduo Yeah I'm I'm looking at the website right now they've got they've got something called the empire supper club which is like a jazz lounge dinner experience. They they mentioned celebration table which appears to be sort of a private experience for 13 people with their own private lounge area. 11:18.72 Sam Oh my goodness. 11:20.53 dclduo Yeah, they've got the chop giovannis something called hooked seafood I mean this thing is just side scrolling forever. It seems like um with all the different restaurant options. Wow there's there's a lot going on here in terms of terms of food. They've got multiple. Ah you mentioned the surf side bites. They've got something called pier 7 11:39.23 Sam How how wait but stop there for a second Brian Margaret how did you all even decide where you were going to eat with that many choices like did you did you make reservations or did royal so because this was like a preview cruise. 11:40.44 dclduo Ah, the Habachi Grill this is this is crazy. Yeah. 11:57.11 Sam Did Royal sort of set up an itinerary for you all to eat at different places or how did that work. 12:01.83 Margaret For the preview crews most of the specialty restaurants were invite only by the royal executives so they were not part of the preview experience for most of the guests on board. Um for Sarah and I we just went around and tried as many things this week 12:08.24 Sam E. 12:18.92 Sam I bet I bet that's hard though with only you know three nights. Obviously it's it's hard to hit a lot of places and you know even if you want to do sort of snacks at different different places. But um, what about I have to ask the coffee offerings right? because I mean that's. 12:20.42 Margaret Ah. 12:37.25 Sam You and dear to my heart. Um I well I know well so I'm wondering though are there other places other than Starbucks where 1 gets coffee on a royal caribbean cruiser or was there one. Maybe this is such a. 12:37.37 dclduo East yes sam they will have a Starbucks because it's royal caribbean so. 12:51.27 Sam Big ship I can't imagine that one Starbucks could actually serve all of the passengers. 12:58.64 Margaret I'm a huge coffee person I have I have my coffee all day. So Starbucks is right there in the promenade across the way and up the stairs is the pearl cafe and there's there's really excellent coffee there. There's coffee in the park cafe in central park you can get. 13:01.60 Sam Yeah. 13:07.24 Sam He. 13:15.91 Margaret The Royal Caribbean coffee in the windjammer of course the mean dining room. But um, there's no shortage of places to find coffee on board. 13:21.60 Sam Oh my goodness now how is the ship. Oh sorry, go ahead. Sarah. 13:22.70 Sara And there's I know I was going to say in the aquadome as well. There's a a little coffee bar that has coffee and then coffee infused drinks as well. Yeah. 13:23.82 dclduo Um, yeah. 13:31.90 Margaret Um, yeah. 13:37.27 Sam Who you're speaking my language I love that now. How is the ship like laid out. Um. If he if you can give us a general sense of like are you know all of the adult bars or spaces in one area of the ship. All of the kids spaces and in a different area of the ship or is it more like I don't know let's say the wish where you've got things sort of interspersed amongst other um, you know other categories of of. Areas. What would you say? Sarah. 14:08.72 Sara It's a really good mix I mean everything spread out. They did an excellent job. Um, my mind just went blank I'm sorry. Ah. 14:27.14 Sara I'm sorry could you repeat the question. 14:29.21 Sam And sure sure what? what would you say is the way that they sort of laid out the ship is it laid out in sort of categories. Um, like we might see on some of the older Disney ships where you've got like all of the kids spaces in kind of one area of the ship and all of the adult space is kind of in another area of the ship and like. Dining sort of in another area or is it more like intersperse and sort of mix together like we see on the wish. For example. 14:54.41 Sara No, they did a really great job of ah, having separate neighborhoods. There's 8 neighborhoods on the ship so you have um, you know the hideaway for adults over 18 um, which has a bar hot tubs a pool. Um. 15:04.82 Sam A. 15:12.25 Sara There's Cloud Seventeen you know which is an adult only poolside oasis that has um their own access to the Lyman coconut bar. There's the sweet neighborhood. That's you know, such a great area too. It's just. 15:22.44 Sam Now cool. 15:30.70 Sara Secluded and there's a restaurant up there as well. Um, it is it is yes, there's surf side. Ah for kids that have. 15:34.28 Sam Is that like their version of concierge then the sweet neighborhood. Yeah okay, cool. 15:49.80 Sara Um, the Spshaway Bay with the colorful water slides and water cannons and there's an infinity edge pool on on that deck as well. So everything's really spread out so there's some thing for everyone. Ah if you want. 15:59.72 Sam Oh cool. 16:08.21 Sara Quiet and serene. There's a place for you If you want live Caribbean music you can go to an area for that. Um, yeah. 16:18.81 Sam Awesome that I feel like that that brings up the issue of entertainment. Um, what. 16:22.47 dclduo Actually before we go to inter actually before we go to Entertainment Sam I want to talk about some of the activities on the ship because I think what royal is known for is chacking these ships just full of stuff I saw someone come it the other day like royal has an entire water park on their ship and we can't get a water park at cast. So um i. 16:27.17 Sam Sure. 16:41.60 dclduo I'm looking at like the thrills section of things to do on board. They've obviously got the flow rider that it seems like most of the newer royal ships have gotten over time. But this top deck just looks like littered with things to do. There's looks like an entire water park hanging off the back of the ship. They've got something about. The Crown's edge that looks I can't you're like dangling out over the ship walking around the Crown logo on the side but like like yeah tell us about some of the offerings for activities on board. The ship. Let me throw that to you. Sarah. 17:13.40 Sara Um, there is the Crown's edge which is the walkway with the skywalk and it's kind of part obstacle course part skywalk part thrill ride. So you're on the skywalk and then at the very end you hold on and just kind of. Ride your way back, but you're kind of over the side of the ship. So. It's not for the faint of heart. Yeah I did not do that. It is um, you are and they can. Ah yeah, they video they can video your entire experience. So. 17:32.50 Sam That sounds terrifying we So are you like in a heart is it like a zip line harness kind of a thing. Oh my God that sounds terrifying. 17:38.39 dclduo Um, yeah. 17:49.36 Sara You can have a keepsake to take home with you. 17:53.60 Sam Ah, ah, leg midness. 17:53.38 dclduo Yeah, it's also it looks like you're almost like walking the plank and then it yeah you zip line around like this thing looks crazy to me. Um, yeah, what did you experience any of the water park aspects of the of the ship this I mean it looks like they've got. Ah, if I'm counting maybe like 3 or 4 water slides. 18:11.62 Sara Um, right? they have 6 record breaking water slides board right? um. 18:13.73 Sam Oh my goodness. 18:17.16 dclduo Ah, does one just dump you in the back of the ship into the ocean or so like oh my God Oh man. Yeah. 18:25.42 Sam No, then you become Shark Bait Brian ah 18:29.43 dclduo I mean are the are these water slides that kids can do or are they like do they have like height restrictions on them. 18:34.95 Margaret They do have height restrictions. Um, the lowest you have to be at least forty eight inches tall to do some of the the slides there's one. That's the frightening bolt. That's this tallest drop slide I think it's the only drop slight. It's sleep. 18:42.20 Sam Yeah. 18:51.60 Margaret At sea. But it is the tallest drops like where it drops you you have to be fifty two inches tall to do to the to do that. But this is a category 6 water park right? on top of the ship. Um, it's all it's aft and and top so it's. 18:53.77 Sam Yeah. 19:09.64 Margaret Massive. It is hard to describe just how big it is. 19:11.41 Sam Wow So you don't even need to go to Coco key because you have you like you don't have to go to the water park at Coco key because you've got this water park on the ship right? yes. 19:25.57 Margaret It's true or you could do both I mean that's kind of my motto is to do both. 19:27.69 dclduo Yeah, ah yeah I mean I think Royal is known for these like you know, like just you're you've got all kinds of options everywhere you go from food to thrills to all that sort of stuff What what are so. 19:28.96 Sara Ah. 19:30.62 Sam Yeah now I. 19:36.70 Sam Yeah. 19:41.10 dclduo We've we've talked pool and we've talked kind of well we haven't talked the pool deck like how many pools does this ship have because that's. 19:46.87 Margaret There's 7 There's 7 pools on board. The ship. 19:48.52 Sam Oh my goodness and and well how big. Yeah. 19:49.67 dclduo Like how big are we talking how big. Yeah yeah, like it it Sarah you said you've been on the wish is it pools like the size of the wish on their pool deck or is it are these bigger pools. Wow. 19:56.86 Sara I have there are actually bigger pools. 20:08.45 Sam That's crazy I can't even imagine Well I guess but is the water park included like the water park on the ship is that included in the regular. Oh Wow yeah. 20:16.24 dclduo Yeah. 20:16.40 Margaret It's included. It's included in your cruise fare and so are all the pools so except for the the sweet pool in the sweet class but that that seems obvious but the royal bay pool is forty Thousand gallons and it's the largest pool at sea. 20:22.79 Sam Ri Said the concierge kind of sweet last yeah. 20:33.50 Margaret It has inwater loungers. Um it raised whirlpools so that middle part of the ship on the top is just like the chill zone and there's 3 decks of it. So on one deck you have the royal bay pool and then on the other side is the cove pool and the cove pool is. 20:41.70 Sam The. 20:51.18 Margaret Is more of a low key pool. It has in pool loungers and it sits on the edge so you have a view of the ocean and and as Sarah mentioned before if you go up to the top. The the top deck on. Um. 20:59.10 Sam Um, oh wow. 21:06.30 Margaret Is dek seventeen is the cloud 17 pool and that's the one that has the infinity edge and that's where you would find the more zin like atmosphere and all of these pools have access to the lime and coconuts so which is their big bar and they have a swim up bar um swim and tonic is the name. 21:10.80 Sam Wow. 21:24.38 Sam Um, my God as women Tonic that's cute. Yeah. 21:25.93 Margaret Um, it where you can swim up to it I mean it's just it's just so much when you say sare and it's it is so beautiful. That's the other part of it. It's really a beautiful and well done. 21:33.80 Sam Yeah, yeah. 21:34.44 dclduo What sits in the what sits in the front of the ships. You know I've seen the the photos of the ship and all that sort of stuff and it looks like it's wearing like a glass dome baseball cap on the from. Basically what what's inside of that area on the ship. 21:50.57 Margaret That would be the aquadome and that is where the so the front of the ship typically on um on a Royal Caribbean ship would have the solarium um and instead of that we have this big aquadome which is an entertainment. It's it's it's it's all glass. 21:51.54 dclduo Okay. 21:57.23 Sam M. 21:57.56 dclduo Okay. 22:07.99 Margaret I'll let Sarah add to that to what what it's hard to describe the aquadome until you've experienced it it. It has. 22:15.68 Sara Um, it is and that's where the Aqua theater show is um in the pod. There's pods there too where you can sit in these pods that are next to the glass and you have such an amazing view. Um out towards the ocean. 22:18.41 Sam Oh. 22:30.00 Sam Oh cool. 22:31.65 dclduo Yeah. 22:33.46 Sara There and that's also where that coffee bar is that has the coffee in the specialty coffee drinks. 22:39.35 Sam It oh I love that I saw the the pictures um you all posted of that area those pods that you're talking of specifically and that really just looks like a beautiful, a beautiful place to kind of just hang out and chill and. And watch the the seas go by as you're enjoying you know a cocktail or something. Um, you know what what's Jeff on you keep interrupting me Brian ah, ah. 22:58.87 dclduo Can we also can we can. We also just take I just want to take sorry I so's say 1 more thing as I'm watching this video I know but you always take that you get the whole show to yourself half a time I I am excited for this one like I am there's a full size basketball court on this thing. Not even like the half court that you get on Dc like as their scroll as arere doing there. 23:09.40 Margaret Um, what. 23:18.26 dclduo Overhead shot. It's like a legitimate double basket full size basketball or on the top deck of this thing that is unreal. Ah, of course of course they're leaning into the new thing. So this this ship looks like a continuation of the O aceis class in the sense. It's got the big middle. 23:20.30 Margaret Yes, and also pickle ball. There's also pickle ball. 23:27.75 Sam Ah, of course is pickable the new sensation. The new sensation. 23:37.49 dclduo You know mall like atrium that they they started putting on those ships unenclosed right? It's it's open air. Um, is it. How is that space because the one on. 23:49.52 dclduo 1 of the reasons I didn't like independence of the seas is they had that big metal atrium but it's completely enclosed and you know you can't see the ocean or anything from it. But I'm wondering how this space is on icon. 24:01.41 Margaret Well the promenade on on the icon has natural light coming in it from the glass wall that's behind the pearl. Um, which is the first feature that you will see when you board the ship. Um and it it's a kinetic. Tiles like 3000 kinetic tiles I'm sure you in all of the features that they have put out on icon they have had a picture of the pearl. It is massive. It's like way bigger than you think it's going to be but when you go up those stairs in the pearl. 24:30.30 Sam Wow. 24:34.42 Margaret It's all glass off the side of the Pearl cafe so you have all this light coming into the promenade. 24:38.84 dclduo Interesting. 24:42.26 Sam That's really key because I feel like if you're in the middle of a ship and you can't tell you're in the middle of a ship and you just feel like you're in a shopping mall. It just doesn't have the same I don't know there's something like something nostalgic about being like in a you know on a ship and and. Seeing that ocean as you're going by so that would yeah because I think that's the that is I think one of the criticisms Brian came back from ah the independence of the seas with so I'm glad to see them sort of changing that you know one thing I'm always curious about is. What's like included versus what is extra on royal and then you know on this ship in particular are there some you know, new or newer things that we've you know that you've only seen maybe on the the more recent or like the oasis class ships that are on this ship. And and are they included or not and I'm thinking things like I don't know flow rider um bumper cars those kinds of you know, sort of activities Sarah what would you say are there are there some new things that this ship has or. Maybe not necessarily completely new to icon but new er. 25:51.70 Sara Um, I know there's a charge for Crown's edge and that's that's the the walkway the yes the skywalk. Yes yes, and then the flowrider. 25:54.30 Sam What is Crown's edge oh that walkway thing that with a zip line thing that we just talked about. Yeah yeah. 26:08.26 Sara Has you can have lessons which I know that's not new to icon. Those are an additional charge. 26:25.92 Sam Okay, cool. Any other things that you can think of that are you know, additional charge or do they actually do they have a um, do they have an escape room on this ship. 26:36.33 Margaret Yes, they do They have the Royal escape. 26:40.34 Sam Oh Wow and that's something that's an extra charge I Assume right. 26:47.14 dclduo Yeah I would I would imagine it's It's an extra charge on all the other ships. So I mean maybe they give it away for free. Um. 26:52.75 Sam Yeah I doubt it they're not going to give away those things for for and. 26:55.93 dclduo Well the the problem with that is you have to charge for it right? or else if 7000 people are trying to do an escape room across you know, however, many nights of a cruise. There's just no way you could get everybody through it. So um, yeah, let let's talk about you. Want to talk about shows Sam and I'm I'm curious because you know I think um. 26:58.58 Margaret Number 1 27:03.32 Sam Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 27:13.91 dclduo Royal takes a different approach to a lot of its shows than you know Disney does from the standpoint of storytelling sometimes ah I'm looking at the list of shows on board. What did you get to see any of the shows on board Sarah during the preview cruise. 27:28.65 Sara We did we saw wizard of Oz which was beyond amazing. They did such an excellent job. It's Broadway caliber and the largest live orchestra at sea. Ah, which there was a strings ensemble. 27:42.15 Sam Um, a wow. 27:45.49 Sara As well I mean it was just it was phenomenal. 27:47.57 Sam Wow would you say Margaret would you say comparable to like the Disney Cruise line stage productions 27:48.68 dclduo So if I'm if I'm understanding. Oh go ahead's him good. 27:56.52 Margaret Yes, very much so and it's very high tech. There's a lot of technology that goes into these stage productions and this theater is the biggest theater at sea I think the royal theater across is like a hundred and thirty five feet wide is. 28:07.93 Sam My gosh. 28:14.77 Sam Wow and Sarah you mentioned the aqua theater tell our audience what the aqua theater is um because I don't think you know there's no Disney Cruise lineship that has an aqua what is. 28:26.64 Sara 8 28:28.51 Sam What is it? what happens in an ah in the Aqua theater I Even if you didn't get to see it on this particular ship. 28:32.67 Sara Right? But can we pass that one to Margaret. 28:39.91 Sam sure sure yeah Mark let me also say the question again Margaret ah Margaret Sarah mentioned the aqua theater previously. 28:42.57 Sara Okay, thank you. 28:49.83 Sam Can you tell our audience. What is the aqua theater because we we don't have one of those on a Disney Cruise line ship. Let's be honest, so what? what kinds of shows or what what kind of entertainment. Do you expect to see in there. 29:02.56 Margaret Sure so the the aqua theater is inside the aquadome. So that's that big glass dome that you see on the Ford of the ship. Um and it it is massive so inside this theater. 29:10.58 Sam This is. 29:18.40 Margaret They're going to do acrobatics hide their high divers. There's um, different. There's several different shows. There's aquanation that we saw a few bits of that they previewed and then there's another show called Pirates versus Mermaids and um I I don't know. 29:33.16 Sam Oh wow. 29:37.68 Margaret Lot about that but it looked very interesting but around that aqua theater is like hooks restaurant and the overlook with the pods that we were talking about earlier where you could just sit and look through the glass as well as the aquadome market and um, the. So that whole like is a whole neighborhood on the ship but this aquedium one of the things about the theater. It has the tallest waterfall at Sea. So from the ceiling of the aquidome will be water falling and and some of the. Pieces of the show that we were able to see is that there were these this aerial show is beautiful with the water coming down and the technology right and they have robot lights it with robot arms I mean it's it's it's a high tech. 30:21.58 Sam Wow! So like acrobatics in water. Essentially. 30:33.41 Margaret Part of the show and when we were on board. They had only had water in the the pool there for like ten days so they hadn't had a chance to figure out all the little ins and outs. But there's a diver that will dive from the top the very top into the pool there. It's pretty. 30:44.12 Sam A. 30:50.16 Sam Oh my god. 30:52.77 Margaret Spectacular and and this is all included in your cruise fare. This is not an extra charge. 30:56.12 Sam Wow, That's crazy. 30:58.52 dclduo I I love it royaly' just leaning into like we've got the tallest waterfall the the longest water slides like it's the most deck chairs of his like this is the awesomest ship in the world. Yeah, um, yeah, exactly. 31:00.60 Margaret It. 31:03.89 Sam It's tall us dive. Yeah I mean I'm like hearing a movie trailer in my head you know the movie trailer is right like it's like that movie trailer voice. 31:11.55 Margaret Yeah. 31:15.61 dclduo And a world where but so there's a third entertainment space right? the the I don't know what they call it but the ice rink basically they've got ice skating ice capades at sea. Basically right is that right? marker. 31:30.30 Margaret That's right, Um, it is actually on one end of the promenade and it's It's new to it's called absolute zero I was looking up the name for it but where they have several ice skating shows and um I Think. You should be able to do ice skating if you make a reservation there you should should be have ice skating for guest as Well. I know they do on the other ships that was not not something that they advertised but I know you can go ice skating on the other ships. So I'm assuming that you can go ice skating on the icon as well. 31:49.20 Sam Oh oh I Want to go ice skating on a ship. 31:51.85 dclduo Wow! yeah. 32:00.74 dclduo Yeah, one and looking good. 32:03.42 Sam When you if you wait wait wait I got to ask a technical question here Brian so how do I book I skating on my next cruise because we're going on oasis and allure like in a couple of months how do I actually book is do I have to book that on board or is that. 32:19.40 Margaret So so this is how Royal will do all the entertainment. So once you get on board. You can open up your app and make all your reservations. Yes, yes it. 32:30.22 Sam Ah, very key so they were trying to make it easy for you? yeah. 32:34.89 dclduo Yeah, now looking at the entertainment that they have in the ice rink. They the absolute 0 it looks like they have a kid specific show which which brings to mind for all of our Disney Cruise line fans out there. What's the kids experience like on board. Do they have. I mean I know royal has kids clubs the ones on independence of the sea were charitably just sort of like meeting spaces with some video game machines and lots of sort of they did lots of programming I guess you know lots of group activities with the kids. Ah, but what's the kids experience like on. Icon. Do you have a sense of that Sarah let me throw that one to you. 33:12.60 Sam Sarah why don't we throw that? yeah. 33:16.35 Sara Okay, um, yeah, they had a great ah they have a great space for kids adventure ocean and they have a specific area for babies from 6 to 36 or 6 to thirty six months ah juniors which they call the aquanauts those are for 3 to five year olds um and they have to be potty trained ah and then so I mean it's for ah, kids 3 to 12 and. 33:36.24 Sam Ah, aquanauts. 33:36.91 dclduo Okay. 33:48.11 Sam Is it like a is it there like a kids club space or is it like or and do they break it down further by age groups between that 3 to 12 year old age. 33:49.30 Sara Actually. 33:59.72 Sara If they do they have different spaces for different age groups. Um, and we were. There's like they're even in the adventure ocean. There's um. 34:05.45 Sam That's awesome. Were you guys able to tour those spaces while you're on board. Cool. 34:15.51 Sara A theater just for the kids in the kids area for them to be able to have the organized activities there as well. 34:21.22 Sam Wow oh that's awesome to this is it similar like so Brian mentioned he went on independence of the seas and like the the kids club spaces felt just like sort of meeting spaces. He said like Nathan really enjoyed art Nathan is our 10 year old son. He really enjoyed the activities though because even though the spaces weren't you know, bright and beautiful and maybe as um, enticing as they are on Disney Cruise line it felt like he felt like the programming was really great. Did you get a sense for. Whether or not royal was still sort of relying on their programming or were they doing like an elevated job on making these and spaces enticing as well. What would you say? Sarah. 35:05.79 Sara I'm like they did a really good job making the space enticing. There's 1 section called the arena which has all kinds of you know balls and just different climbing features where they can I mean even for the older kids at that particular area. And it's just for 6 to twelve year olds so they're the things that they have for them to do are you know a little or for older kids. That's not you know for the babies and um, just right right. 35:23.97 Sam E. 35:30.44 Sam Yeah, so so like a playground in the space. Essentially oh that sounds amazing. Oh Nathan's gonna be Navehan's gonna want to go on this ship Brian you just watch. He's gonna be. 35:39.71 dclduo Well. Look I kind of want to go on this ship. But I think you know after you experience in April and you tell me none and no, we're never sailing without mickey on board again then we'll know if we can ever experience this ship. But yeah, yeah, yeah, what about the nightlife. Oh go ahead. Go ahead. Margaret. 35:56.19 Margaret If we I was just saying if if we go back to talk about the neighborhood concept that that Royal has put in place for this ship if you talk about surf side Adventure ocean and the kids spaces are all right there in the surf side neighborhood and that and. 36:12.60 Sam E. 36:16.19 Margaret And that includes a lot. It includes the Splashway Aqua park and the baby Bay and right beside it is where parents can go to sit and relax at at the water's edge. So you know grownups can hang out at the water's edge pool Why their kiddos are at splash away Bay right there and there's also. 36:31.70 Sam Oh. 36:35.91 Margaret All the food and drink is right there too that you don't even have to leave the neighborhood for the day unlike some of the other Royal Caribbean ships where you would have to leave to go to the Wim Jammer for lunch if you wanted a buffet lunch. They have a buffet right there in serfside just for families with all your kids stuff so he's all. 36:41.78 Sam Um, now. 36:50.75 dclduo Oh my gosh. 36:51.52 Sam Ah, with Mac and cheese and and. 36:54.40 Margaret And and and the ocean adventure that Sarah was talking about is also right there officer is like close by you, you're all right there you wouldn't even for some you families so young kids you wouldn't even have to go to another part of the ship you could just hang out at the surface side neighborhood the whole shit. It's huge. It's really big. 37:08.39 Sam Wow Oh my goodness. 37:11.19 dclduo Wow. 37:13.22 Margaret It's that a whole back part of the ship. Um that you see in all the videos um of the ship that back that where on a Ais clashship that would be the aquatheat that is open right? That's the difference. 37:16.47 Sam Here. 37:23.91 Sam Okay. 37:28.30 dclduo Very cool. 37:28.56 Sam How many decks is this ship. Oh my god oh my gosh 20 decks. That's just ginormous. Oh yeah. 37:32.40 Sara 20 37:33.10 Margaret There's 20 decks total. There's 18 that desks can visit. 37:37.48 dclduo Wow Wow What you know we we so we skipped over rooms has has royal done anything interesting I mean I know they've got like their family crazy suite with the slide in it and that kind of stuff on some of the other ships was there anything unique that they've done with the rooms on this ship I thought I saw mention of like a. Like a family, not the ultimate family suite but something geared more toward families maybe in the sweet category. But if they've done anything unique here with the rooms. 38:05.53 Sara They have. They're actually 25 different room categories on icon it's crazy. Yeah, but there is. 38:09.16 Sam Oh my god. 38:12.65 dclduo But let me guess let me guess most room categories at sea. Ah. 38:19.36 dclduo Ah, though. 38:20.50 Sam How do you How do you But how do you guide somebody to so this is I there's a question you guys are both travel advisors like how do you guide someone to the right room category for them on a ship that has 25 room categories and Sarah I'll throw this one to you first like what. What? What are the kinds of things you're trying to figure out when you're working with a client to figure out what room category will were I mean on Disney we just have like not even half as many categories right. 38:47.81 Sara Right? Well a lot of it depends on what they're looking for. You know you have your ocean view rooms. But then you also have you know the central park view rooms or the um you know the surf side rooms you know where you can look inside of those areas too. 38:55.74 Sam A. 39:05.12 Sara Um, you know and then you have your interior but even in the interior categories. There's interior Plus there's um, the spacious interior I mean there's so many options that depending on how much size they want Um, you know that we can have kind of. 39:06.91 Sam Gosh. 39:24.30 Sam Wow What kind of room What kind of room did you all stay in. 39:24.10 Sara Guide from there. Um, but there is there's a request. We were in an ocean view Balcony stateroom. Still. 39:33.53 Sam Okay, now when you say balcon know but ocean view balcony. So you're looking out to the ocean there now there's all kinds of balcony staterooms though that look at different parts of the ship is that right. 39:47.74 Sara Right? right? um. 39:51.29 dclduo Yeah, they go ahead and. 39:52.13 Sara Yeah. 39:52.93 Margaret I'll jump in here I'm going to jump in here because it's a little different than the oasis C class ships that have central park balconies and ah boardwalk balconies that face inward on the ship. That's an oasis class ship for. 40:03.63 Sam Okay. 40:07.29 Margaret Icon A lot of those rooms are now what they call infinite balcony rooms. So it's it's a it's a glass window that's floor to ceiling and they open up but it makes your rim a little bigger because you don't have an out the traditional balcony. It's it's. 40:09.67 Sam Oh what does that mean. 40:17.90 Sam Um, oh. 40:21.95 Sam Oh interesting. So you're using that space. 40:22.90 dclduo Right? It's like converting every room to it's like converting it to a massive ocean view room but you can then slide the top partition of the glass down to make it an outdoor balcony. Basically. 40:26.79 Margaret It it. 40:31.92 Margaret And and one of the things I have to mention about all the staterooms every state room that we toward and and and Sarah and I toward them all is that the lighting is spectacular that they have this new led lighting. It is not harsh. It's very calming even. 40:44.30 Sam Really. 40:51.27 Margaret Inside cabins and I am not an inside cabin girl I like my balcony and I said you know what I could actually stay in this room. It was It felt bright and fresh and it did not feel claustrophobic like some inside cabins do on ships and it was. 41:00.15 Sam Um, really. 41:06.27 Sam Is he. 41:09.21 Margaret They they have done a spectacular job and a lot of the rooms like our balcony room. The thing that I noticed that distinguished them they were one. They're very modern. There's a lot of technology in those rooms. Um, they have all the plugs you need the usbc and the Usb plugs and there's. 41:18.40 Sam He. 41:25.59 Margaret Ah, one Twenty Volt plug and then they have the european plug but also it was very calm that the the ship is very colorful on the when you're walking around but you come in your room in in those balcony rooms for very calm and modern. 41:32.97 Sam Um e. 41:40.57 Sam Lovely. 41:40.79 dclduo They they look to have this and I haven't seen this kind of room before it faces The it's a surf side neighborhood I guess and faces inward on the ship but it's a surf side family suite that has yeah that's that's really I mean it has like an alcove area where the. 41:51.35 Sam Yeah, that's that's the one Sarah was talking about. 41:59.46 dclduo You know it's like a Tv room where the kids can sleep and then you know, kind of a main bedroom area for the adults like that's ah it's really it's really kind of intriguing I haven't seen that kind of a layout before. 42:08.90 Sara Yeah, there's another one. The family infinite ocean view balcony that one's really neat as well. It's sleeps 6 but there's a bunk bed on one side of the cabin for kids. So it's kind of they have their own little space and. 42:21.27 Sam Oh. 42:24.23 Sara And then the parents have their own space in the bedroom. So that one that one was really unique I haven't seen a layout like that before on a ship but that was they did that was really neat. So. 42:31.56 Sam Oh I Love that. 42:31.62 dclduo Yeah. 42:34.64 Margaret so so 1 thing to note talking to our Disney fans out there. Um, for royal cribban you're going to but much further out than you to get the room that you want than you are on Disney um, we can book out as far. Ah I mean much further out I booked. 42:43.80 Sam E. 42:52.85 Margaret Icon of the seas like March of last year like when the for bookings first open for may of 24 so like more than a year and a half out you can book more than a year and a half out. So if you want some of these coveted suite rooms. You need to be looking eighteen months out 43:00.47 Sam Wow. 43:01.92 dclduo Yeah I'm. 43:11.90 Margaret To call your travel advisor. 43:12.36 dclduo Yeah I'm on the icon site right now and I was toying around with ah you know booking it goes out into a full twenty Twenty five part of 2026 at this point already. 43:21.19 Margaret Yes, and these ships are very full and we're even booking on star of the seas which hasn't even been ah, released yet. It hasn't even been finished. They haven't even finished building. It's expected to be sailing August of twenty twenty five but we can book it now this it's. 43:30.80 Sam Ah, right. 43:36.13 Sam Right? That's the sister So that's the sister to the icon Wow have they have they announced anything like really different between icon versus star. Okay, interesting. 43:36.57 dclduo Wow. 43:40.63 Margaret The sistership of the icon. So yes. 43:42.26 dclduo Now. 43:49.61 Margaret They have not announced very much yet about that. 43:55.87 Sam Interesting because I always feel like that's like you know they want to put something you know shiny and say this is this is the new thing even though it's a sister ship. There's going to be you know like Disney does with like the wish and the treasure right? There's different theming at least even though everything else is going to be this aim. But. 44:10.61 Margaret Break it. 44:12.63 dclduo Yeah, yeah, but let's let's talk about since we're talking about booking. Let's talk about pricing for a second I mean my sense is um I mean icon is price fairly high in comparison to some of the other royal ships so royal has such an expansive fleet. They can really differentiate pricing across the different ship classes I feel like. Like how should a Disney Cruise line fan thinking maybe I'll try royal like how should they think about the pricing on royal as opposed to booking something with with Disney Cruise line I'll I'll open that up to to either of you is it is it going to be potentially a savings over Disney Cruise line or is it going to be as expensive i. Doubt it's more expensive but I don't know. 44:49.67 Margaret Um, for the icon it might be a little more expensive but the offerings the offerings included are great and one of the things that is very different between Disney where which has a lot of things included like your soda package royal's going to. 44:51.91 dclduo Okay. 44:53.97 Sam Um, Wow he. 45:06.68 Margaret Price those out and it gets families on board that don't have to purchase things if they don't want it. So if you want if you want soda then you can just add the soda package and you go in your cruise planner um either in the app or On. On your account online and you just add the things you want and if you don't want them. You don't have to add them if you can have a perfectly wonderful cruise on Royal Caribbean without adding a single thing without paying for anything extra. So if you want it all if you want. 45:35.12 Sam And. 45:35.32 dclduo Are. 45:42.18 Margaret Everything included and not be in nickel the dime you're looking at suite class. Go star class all the way on the larger ships that wasis class the wonder the icon they all have star class that gets you all your specialty dining and all the drink packages and all the things that you want included and um. 46:01.27 Sam Yeah, well and and. 46:01.69 Margaret That's that's how you do it. 46:03.78 dclduo Since we have a lot of Disney since we have a lot of Disney Concier sailors who listen to this show I know full disclosure. We'll have Karen on for 1 of our upcoming live episodes actually compare kind of star class and concierge. Um in sky class I'll admit like. Where do the lines get drawn between star and sky if I'm a concieurs used to sailing concierge on disney like am I getting less than what I would get on disney sailing sky class because there's a big price jump between sky and star. 46:33.36 Margaret So with star class you get the Royal Genie um with star class with Skye You do not get the Royal Genie you still have access to Coastal kitchen which is the exclusive restaurant for the sweet class clients. You still get access to the sweet spaces. 46:37.30 dclduo Um. 46:39.52 Sam You see. 46:39.71 dclduo Okay. 46:45.41 dclduo Who. 46:50.50 Margaret You still can use the concierge in the that that they kind of live in Coastal kitchen. Um, but you're not getting the personal touches that you get in star class and it doesn't include all the specialty dining. It doesn't include the drink packages. That's that's the difference. You know when you get to the next level. 47:02.23 Sam E. 47:09.38 Margaret You are getting treated like a superstar and they do the genie actually meets you you know and and takes you places. So yes. 47:10.42 Sam Um, yeah. 47:16.93 Sam Yeah, it seems like sky class is fairly now I don't want to say similar. But if like if you're used to concierge on Disney it wouldn't be super like far off to go to sky class but star class certainly seems like this step. 47:32.55 dclduo You just don't yeah but I don't think you get access to in sky class correct me if I'm wrong here I don't think you get access to like the shore side amenities that you would get through concierge on Disney I Think that's where the star class is. 47:33.61 Margaret Correct I would agree with that a hundred percent yeah 47:36.10 Sam Up significantly? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 47:47.23 Margaret Royal caribbean doesn't have a shore side. That's where it becomes very different so with with Disney you have your letter that you send in one hundred and thirty days out um you don't do that with royal they contact you? Um, for. 47:47.87 Sam Use. 47:49.97 dclduo Right? okay. 47:58.98 dclduo Yep. 48:04.16 Margaret Because I just did sky class on allure in a grand suite um in November and I didn't hear from from what would be equivalent to shoreside um until like maybe seven days before right. 48:15.20 Sam Um, a Wow yeah. 48:17.68 dclduo Okay, yeah, because we've already we've already booked everything for our crews coming up in in April we just did it all online. So you're saying I might get a phone call at some point between now and then yeah. 48:24.10 Margaret The star class star class heard a little a little before us maybe thirty days but it varies between ships I cannot give you a date. It's not like exact they do take care of it and they're going to get you everything you want it. 48:32.73 dclduo Um, okay. 48:38.20 dclduo Yeah, ah. 48:42.83 Margaret It's just very different for us Disney people to to wait. It's a waiting game like so you booked it eighteen months ago and now you're trying to figure out if you've got all the stuff you want. It's a weight. There's a little bit of a weight. 48:46.72 Sam Ah, you mean rope top. 48:47.35 dclduo Gotcha So I just all I did was all I did was jump the gun. Yeah yeah, got you gotcha. That's good to know that's good to know. 48:54.82 Sam Um, yeah, so it's like rope drop to book but not rope drop for all of your all of your actual onboard stuff. That's really funny. 48:59.58 Margaret Right? Exactly right. 49:03.55 dclduo Yeah I I will say having priced out star and sky. It's a huge jump especially icon seems to have I'll just ah me ask this as a question icon seems to have fewer of the star class level. Suites not in terms of numbers. But in terms of the offering. It seems like they only have like 2 categories of those star class suites on board is that is that right. 49:33.24 dclduo No fair enough fair enough. Um, let me let me reframe here then um, so ah so sam do you have anything else that you want to learn about I mean there's there is so much to talk about with this ship and maybe I should really just ask Margaret and Sarah what have we missed because we're not royal enthusiasts. So. 49:33.48 Margaret I'm not sure I'd have to look it up. 49:51.17 Margaret Are. 49:52.37 dclduo So know what we're not asking when it comes to these ships do either of you have anything that we haven't talked about that you wanted to make sure that you know folks would hear about. 50:02.38 Sara 1 thing to note is even with star class. Ah the empire supper club is not included. That's still an additional charge for star class. So. 50:06.34 Sam Oh interesting is that like a Chef's table kind of a meal tasting you know tasting menu. Oh the jazz club thing that sounds cool. 50:08.18 dclduo Oh wow, it's the it's the jazz club thing I mentioned earlier Sam um, it's like a jazz dinner club kind of thing am I getting that right? Sarah. 50:20.21 Sara It is yes, it's an 8 course dinner and it's paired with the jazz music and your and your drinks are all paired together with your meals and it's an it's an evening experience I mean it's most of the evening. It's not a short. 50:27.73 Sam Yeah. 50:37.86 dclduo Yeah, wow. 50:38.17 Sara Dinner. 50:38.66 Sam Yeah Wow I Love the idea of having the music paired with the drinks paired with the food like that sounds awesome. That sounds like a really fun, Really fun dining experience. Um, are there other um, did you get to check out the spa I mean I a spa I feel like you know this. 50:42.40 Sara Yes, yes. 50:49.94 dclduo Um, know the spa. 50:55.10 Sam Spa offerings I don't know if they're much different but obviously they all use the same company to run their spasas but were there any sort of unique um offerings or spaces in in the spa on board Margaret why? not when I throw this one to you. 51:11.35 Margaret So I actually went and got a massage in the vitality spa and um it was. It was pretty much what I expected based from what I've had on other royal caribbea Cruise ships that being say it it was. It's a 2 2 level. 51:13.57 Sam May he go. 51:22.84 Sam He. 51:29.37 Margaret Ah, it is a little more disappointing compared to all the other spaces on the ship. So um, it's all enclosed. There's no glass. You're not looking out so they have the heated loungers. You're just in a room with heated loungers. It's really beautiful, but it. 51:32.64 Sam E. 51:40.22 Sam In. 51:46.14 Margaret You know I'm kind of expecting next level with all the other glass on the ship that you could look out and see out I know you can on celebrity edge If you're in the spa and you take a Aco clash ship. You can so you can sit there with this gorgeous view while you're in the spot and this did not have that they they have. 52:00.24 Sam Um, he. 52:04.90 Margaret They have done a really nice job. It's with the vitality spabi and right next to the vitality cafe where you can get smoothies and drinks. It's all right there but um, yeah, that was probably the most disappointing as far as spaces on board not being that different. 52:11.12 Sam Yeah. 52:24.49 Margaret Or new or exciting compared to some of the other spaces on board. 52:26.91 Sam Yeah Sarah did you get a sense of whether or not the ship was really like ready to go in the sense of like obviously you guys mentioned the you know the aqua theater wasn't quite ready to go. But. Did it seem we were on the wishmaiden voyage and there were quite a few things that were not ready to go and I'm curious as to were there other things that um seem to not be ready to go I'm obviously understanding. This was a preview cruise. So. They wouldn't have had everything necessarily open for all of the um, all of the guests on board at the at this point they yeah did you get a sense of anything that in particular. 53:04.47 Sara Right? Um, not really I mean they were still putting the finishing touches on you know the Aqua theater show. But overall I mean it was pretty much ready to go. They had everything you know that we could see running and running smoothly. 53:13.50 Sam Wow. 53:22.40 Sara I mean it was it was they did a great job with that. 53:22.48 Sam Wow, that's amazing because I mean you think about the size of the ship and you think about the number of passengers. It's going to serve um and that's and I and I think it was pretty full for the Maiden voyage right? after you guys got off. Um. 53:36.60 Sara So right. 53:39.46 Sam At least from from seeing pictures from folks on board there. Yeah, it seemed like Wow they I mean I'm glad that they were more like I said more ready than the wish. Ah. 53:49.36 Sara Right. 53:52.42 dclduo Yeah, well yeah, go ahead. Sam No ask your good question. Good. 53:54.70 Sam Was there anything so ah, ah before yeah before we before we sort of wrap up. Ah, the show was there anything really surprising that you either you know weren't expecting or it was different than what you had sort of imagined. It would be um, but when you saw it in person you're like. Surprised you could be surprised in a good way surprised in a bad way but anything really surprising. Um I'll I'll start with you Margaret and then I'll throw this to Sarah. 54:23.70 Margaret Um, surprising um. 54:26.87 Sam Well because you I'm sure you had read a bunch of you know about the ship before you know they the or you you get the promotional materials particularly ones aimed at at travel advisors from Royal right? Was there some like. Base that they had um, described in one way that that ended up being I don't know maybe different than what you thought it would be. 54:46.45 Margaret So my surprise for the ship was the feeling of how everything flowed together. It wasn't like chopped up neighborhoods. It was really really connected and um, they connected the spaces very thoughtfully. 54:50.13 Sam Yeah. 54:58.56 Sam Oh good. 55:01.20 Margaret I love the colors that they had on board I I thought in the advertisement it might be garish. But when in real life. It was very vibrant and so beautiful at night with the lighting that they had you know even like the staircase was lit up like a rainbow. It was beautiful. So that's really. 55:12.50 Sam Um, yeah. 55:19.19 Margaret Just how beautiful the spaces are and how lush the central park was um, much more I think it was much better than the central park you get on o asis I love both? Um, the Ais clash tips have a central um park that has the rising tide. 55:29.56 Sam You hear. 55:38.35 Margaret Ah, bar in the middle of it and you have to walk around it. They have eliminated that bar and instead in the middle of the promen of the central park is a connection to the promenade. There's like a entry that takes you to the stairs to the Pearl cafe where you can walk right down to the promenade which just gave a better flow. 55:56.29 Sam Oh yeah. 55:58.29 Margaret The park cafe um, which I know is one of Sara's favorite places in mine too was had a glass wall that just opened up so everything was al fresco. It really just had like a fresh like even if you're not looking at the ocean. This was really a. 56:07.65 Sam Oh nice. 56:15.20 Margaret Beautiful space and really well done and my favorite place in the central park was bubbles which is a champagne. It's a walk-up window for champagne open it. It is up in morning noon and night and you can get. 56:26.90 Sam Oh ah, walk up window. Ah, you're speaking my love language Margaret. 56:32.40 Margaret Probably you're sparkly rose or your champagne your mymosa. It's all there. It's right there and you have a beautiful spot to enjoy it. 56:39.34 Sam Oh I Love that awesome. Well, that's some great surprising things I I would never have thought of a walk up window for bubbly but it sounds perfect to me. Um, and the fact that the neighbor true I have not been on Virgin yet for shake for Champagne I'm looking forward to that. 56:49.38 dclduo What you you haven't you haven't been on virgin yet Sam for shake for champagne. So that's like the next level right? no. 56:51.21 Margaret Um. 56:53.92 Sara And. 56:56.54 Margaret Um. 56:59.60 Sam Sarah anything that you felt was surprising again either in a good way or bad way I thought margaret your point about the neighborhoods was really interesting because I I kind of expected it to be like choppy. But what you're describing it sounds like it. It really isn't yeah Sarah anything that you thought was really surprising you expected. Maybe 1 thing and you got something a little bit different. Again in a good or bad way. 57:17.98 Sara Right? Well and pingybacking off what Margaret said um the central park area I just I thought such a big ship. So many people. Yeah, there were so many times we were the only ones that we could see because the walkways. 57:25.97 Sam E. 57:32.50 Sam Wow. 57:34.37 Sara They flow so it's not just one straight path so you don't just see people. Um, and there's little park benches set up and we could just sit ah grab a glass of bubbles and and listen at night they had a live guitarist and he played classical. 57:41.40 Sam Ah, that's so nice. 57:52.60 Sara Just classical guitar and it was just so relaxing and during the day you can hear birds I mean it just it's such a relaxing atmosphere. Um that that that really surprised me but I I loved that was my favorite area of the ship I Just loved how relaxing that was. 57:55.59 Sam Ah. 58:06.84 Sam Wow. 58:10.71 Sara And then another thing was just the vastness of the gym. You know you read about it. But then you when you experience it it was it was huge. It's 2 levels they had you know a room for spin class. They had another room. Um, just for other classes and. 58:12.56 Sam E. 58:25.52 Sam Ah, wow. 58:29.66 Sara You know they have some of the machines are overlooking the ocean or next to windows they had weights I mean you name it they had it. It was the largest gym I've ever seen at sea and. 58:33.30 Sam How awesome. 58:39.97 Sam Wow, that's awesome. You know I loved you had some great pictures Sarah of that central park area and and what you're describing with this this idea of like it feeling empty like even though obviously that it's not always empty it I was amazed. 58:40.47 dclduo 12 58:54.91 Sara Right. 58:57.94 Sam By some of those pictures it really it really? they really like looks like you're the only ones there but I'm sure you're not yeah, that's awesome I Love that? yeah. 59:03.26 Sara Um, right? well and the flowers were beautiful too. They had orchids and just the living walls I mean it just it was beautiful. 59:15.24 dclduo Well, you may have sold Sam in theory on sailing on the icon of the seas. But I think we have to wait until April to find out whether or not she's actually going to set foot on another royal caribbean ship. Actually she has to because we're booked in may but that may be the last one and maybe the last one 59:15.50 Sam Ah, ah. 59:18.42 Sara And. 59:19.14 Margaret Um. 59:23.96 Sara I. 59:25.64 Sam I have to listen say we're we're going in April and in may we're going on I don't and never remember which one we're going on first one of them is Allure and 1 of them is oasis and these are might going to be my first 2 times on royal caribbean and so Brian is is. Yeah, he's constantly joking about this and were we ever going to after these 2 cruises book another royal and we'll we'll see I have to see if I like it. The 1 thing I will tell you I forget? Um I think it was Karen who is telling me that like cats was on board. One of the ships that were going on or maybe both the ships and I was like yeah I'm not i. 59:52.27 Margaret Um. 01:00:02.40 Sam I'm I'm out on that I'm out on that I do not like I think Kats is literally the worst show like ever done she did mention that Mama me is on one of the other the other one but I will tell you I'm not a big momma me a fan either is was it. 01:00:07.62 Margaret But yes. 01:00:14.35 Margaret Oh it was so wonderful. We really I really loved Mama Mia on the allure. Yes, on the allure. 01:00:15.60 Sara Ah, so. 01:00:18.99 Sam But that was on all lore right? Yeah yeah, cause you all did because you all did a ah my path unwinding group cruise on the lore this past November that's right? Yeah, so she said it was wonderful. So I might go see that but I don't know I I'm I'm not like I said it's it's I don't hate it with a passion like I hate cats. 01:00:24.45 Margaret Yes. 01:00:38.89 Sam But it's not. It's not my favorite show then again wizard of Oz is not my favorite show either. So it's not a bad. Ah. 01:00:43.40 dclduo Oh my god I love the wizard of oz. Well everyone out there everyone out there. You now know when it comes to Broadway Sam is more of a dog person than a cat person. So everyone out there now knows Sam the secret is out. 01:00:46.23 Sara So. 01:00:52.12 Sara I. 01:00:54.29 Sam Ah, ah I. 01:00:55.75 Margaret 1 thing that we did not the 1 thing we did not talk about is Rover right? Rover is yeah. 01:00:59.84 Sam Oh what's rover. 01:01:02.94 dclduo Um, oh he's the he's the onboard dog. He's the first dog at sea right? yes. 01:01:05.80 Sam Oh my goodness I forgot I did see something I did see a post about this about Rover what kind of dog. He's a golden retriever something like that right? all but he's still in training right? Oh she? okay. 01:01:11.42 Margaret Yes, yes, yes, yes, she's she it's a she even though her name is Rover and she she has a person her her I think it's called chief of staff. It has official name. But. 01:01:27.40 Sam Handler. Yes. 01:01:31.28 Sam Oh that's amazing. So that I will say that's a that's a perk um because the only dogs on board Disney Cruise line and on most cruise lines are service dogs right? They're only typically the only dogs that are allowed and it makes sense. You want it. 01:01:31.55 Margaret Rover is on board. 01:01:42.81 Margaret Pray. 01:01:44.72 dclduo Well, unless unless you're on board celebrity unless you're on board celebrity with Captain Kate and then you get her hairless cat. So yes yes bug 01:01:48.12 Sam Ah, dog highly trained. 01:01:50.97 Margaret Yes, bug right? Is it's a Hairless cat bug. 01:01:52.31 Sam But she has a cat. It's not it. That's not the same. Yeah see so that doesn't count because do as as Brian mentioned I am a dog person not a cat person and it doesn't matter whether we're talking shows. 01:02:03.70 Margaret Are. 01:02:08.31 Sam Or otherwise I'm always going to be a dog person and not a cat I'll take all the hate mail out there from from those of you listeners who are cat people and that's ok and I'll live with it. But. 01:02:14.76 dclduo Ah, ah. 01:02:15.49 Margaret I. 01:02:19.28 Sara Um. 01:02:21.17 dclduo There you go there, you go well Margaret Sarah thank you so much for joining us today to share a little bit about icon of the seas with our with our audience. We we super appreciate you taking the time and just ah, thanks so much. 01:02:30.82 Sam Yeah, but why don't you tell our listeners before we yeah I mean yes. 01:02:33.50 Margaret Um, thinking. 01:02:35.90 dclduo Oh yes, sorry, let me like let me do that again. Let me do that again. Sam wait sorry totally frap. Ah Margaret Sarah since you are both travel agents with our fabulous show sponsor my path unwinding travel. We want to be sure to give you an opportunity to let folks. Know where they can find you to book their next fabulous vacation maybe perhaps on the icon of the seas Margaret. Why don't we start with you. 01:02:54.32 Margaret Um, you can find me on Instagram with Cruise with Margaret or on my Facebook page which is my path and winding dash margaret or um on the website for my path and winding travel. 01:03:04.86 Sam Awesome Sarah what about you. 01:03:06.78 Sara Have both my Facebook and Instagram are my path unwinding Sarah with no h and then my email if that's a better way to reach me is just Sarah at mypathanwinding.com 01:03:18.10 dclduo Awesome. 01:03:19.65 Sam Awesome! And that's SARA as she said no h ah. 01:03:21.80 Sara Right? yes. 01:03:24.91 dclduo Yes, there you go? Well thank you Mark ah well there you go? Well thank you Margaret and Sarah for taking time out of your day to share a little bit about icon of the seas with our audience and we we just super appreciate you taking your taking time out of your weekend to do that. Thanks so much. 01:03:37.77 Sara Thank you for having us. 01:03:38.15 Margaret Thank you.