Trip log, day two. At Sea.
7-Night Western Caribbean Royal Caribbean Cruise from Miami, Florida
March 16, 2025
Cruise Compass – Day 2
Icon of the Seas Deck Plan
Slow start to a Sunday at sea sailing north of Cuba on our way to Honduras. We are just starting our first full day onboard, but we are already planning our escape, I kid, I kid – departure. Using the Royal Caribbean app, we answered a couple questions and selected a preferred debarkation time.
Before heading out to get some coffee, we made sure Emily could safely maneuver in the room and the shower on her own with the assistance of only crutches. In fact, the room was amazing and easy for her to maneuver. The standard bathroom was setup in a way that she was able to get in, shower, and out on her own. There is a grab bar as well as a seat, plus the pull down shower head.
We actually purchased a collapsible stool for her to use in the shower, but it was not needed. There is even a ledge where she can elevate her leg if needed. This is the first cruise in over 30 cruises that she has not been able to go to the gym every morning, which is taking some getting used to for her.
Isabelle and an headed out to the Pearl Café. On the way out, we spotted an envelope outside our door containing an invite to an art auction! Was this a random invite or a targeted ad?
We settled into a spot at the Pearl Café with some breakfast pastries and coffee. Just like last year, we purchased the coffee card which is a much better value and one that we come out ahead on compared to the drink package. We were able to purchase the coffee card with a promotion prior to the cruise and effectively made our coffee purchases more than half of the posted prices. It varies, as they charge us one or two punches based on what we order.
Emily joined us in some lounge chairs along the floor to ceiling windows in the Pearl Café, which offer an impressive and relaxing view.
We have not been onboard yet for 24 hours and I am willing to say the Icon of the Seas is so much better than Wonder of the Seas. With so much of the ship left to explore, we’ve already discovered plenty of spots to sit and enjoy ocean views. There are two support columns in the Pearl Café with a shelf where we spotted books and PUZZLES!!!
We sat in the Pearl Café for a bit enjoying the relaxing views and caffeine, but the atmosphere took a turn when a group exercise class started just at the base of the Pearl staircase on deck 5. The music plus the instructor’s coaching resulted in a mild headache.
We headed over to Schooner Bar for Morning trivia, but arrived early near the end of Samurai Sudoku challenge. Trivia was well attended and the bar offered more than enough room for more guests to come and participate.
Afterwards, we set out to explore the ship and check out some of the shops.
It is refreshing to sail on a ship with a duty free shop; not that the prices are great, but there are some items that you just can’t find on land aside from the international duty free shops at airports.
They had a plentifully supply of Blanton’s, and were selling a full set of bottles for $1192 featuring one of each lettered horse stopper: B-L-A-N-T-O-N-S. That feels like cheating, but it is one quick way to complete the set.
We picked up a Limited Edition Hendricks Gin that is not sold domestically and they said that it will be delivered to our stateroom Friday night. Awesome; no side trip necessary on debarkation morning and we can safely pack the bottle way before heading off the ship.
There is a small retail jewelry area in what is best described as a hallway near the elevators on deck 5 called Pavilion on Five. In my opinion, this is a great use of space as it does not take up valuable venue space and in turn is in a prime location for window shopping 24-hours a day. When the ‘shops’ were open, we saw salespeople in the area and there was a cash register along the wall for guests interested in making a purchase.
I’m really close to ditching my smart Apple Watch and going back to a traditional dumb watch. I know what I want, but that would require me to stop cruising to afford it. Nevertheless, there is a selection of Disney watches available onboard and I would have been tempted if the 90th Anniversary Donald Duck watch depicted Donald golfing like the Tee Time Mickey Mouse watch along with a bonus Donald ball maker instead of a matching pin.
Back to Schooner Bar for Visual Trivia: Cartoon Dogs. We were given a laminated sheet with 16 different cartoon dogs and asked to write the name of each dog. There were four we missed, two of which we were familiar with, but just didn’t know the dog’s name and 2 we’ve never seen before. This could be a fun concept for DCL trivia given the depth of characters in the animation archives.
So far with trivia on this cruise, we have been in contention. No professionals with perfect sheets or multiple teams with perfect sheets. It has been refreshing!
There were still some shops to explore, as well as many other spaces and venues. The RCL shop near the Pearl had some amazing limited edition items from the launch of the ship that if variations were sold themed to the Disney Treasure, I would have instantly purchased, especially at these clearance prices.
I stopped buying pins to buy pins years ago, but the Icon of the Seas pin set was really cool. On occasion, I will still purchase a unique pin, but I could easily be lured into buying a box set like this for DCL if reasonably priced.
Another retail shop was near the aft elevators on deck 6 near Playmakers featured some Vineyard Vines apparel with Icon of the Seas and Royal Caribbean graphics and embroidery. We also found a Rover plush and you can read more about Rover here.
Chief Dog Officers are part of the Icon Class. Sailor is already training for the role aboard the Star of the Seas when it begin sailing from Port Canaveral.
Surfside is located on deck 7 aft featuring an arcade, carousel, water activities and some food locations. We stopped in Sugar Beach as they were getting ready for an event. Across the way was Surfside Eatery, where Isabelle stopped into get some churros to share.
As lunchtime approached, we ascended to the upper pool deck area for an alfresco lunch at El Loco Fresh. This was not the best day as it was busy and very windy. We were in agreement, we should have planned for lunch elsewhere (such as Pier 7) given this was the first sea day. Before heading back inside, we grabbed pretzel bites from Basecamp to take to our next activity, a mystery game.
Just inside the elevator lobby off the pool deck, I noticed a floor/carpet blower in a custom enclosure featuring the Royal Caribbean logo for the air intake.
The lightbulb went off! There are so many scent diffusers out in the open on the Disney Treasure, why not CNC or 3D print a custom enclosure for the scent diffusers theme to the venue or cruise line in general to give them a more professional appearance. Below is a picture of the scent diffuser in one the Icon’s bathrooms, but similar if not identical versions are used by Disney.
We were really excited to check out ‘A Royal Mystery Puzzle Break.’ Smaller families were encouraged to team up in groups of at least 6. Thankfully, the bigger family sitting next to us welcomed us to their team. This was 100% a collaborative game, and there would have been no way the three of us would have been able to solve all the puzzles in the 50 or so minutes allotted. It was a challenge and we soon started solving the mini puzzles that would help us solve the mystery. Not a single team solved the all of the mini puzzles and the overall mystery outright in the allotted time. We did finish the mini puzzles and put in a guess, but I don’t think we guessed correctly, as it was literally a last second decision before having to turn in our card. I would highly recommend this actively and would return even to play the same mystery, as there were mini-puzzles solved by others on the team that we never saw. It was more divide and conquer with collaboration when needed on the more challenging components.
Afterwards, we stopped at the 1400 bar on deck 5 opposite the Pearl. I loved the menu which was derived the history of the cruise line’s ship classes. While there, Emily ordered the Fourteen Hundred which is Casamigos Blanco tequila, Italicus liqueur pearl shimmer syrup and lemon sour garnished with a citrus bubble. I ordered a can of beer that I did photograph (unlike the churros), it isn’t worth sharing.
We had been on the go all morning and into the early afternoon. We returned to the stateroom where we watched golf and took a cat nap. We did discover we could use the RCL app to control the temperature, lighting, and television in the stateroom. The light control was the most useful as it mirrored the scenes available on the actual touch panel and offered individual control of each dimmable light!
Tonight we are back in the main dining room where we presented the “Dine Like an Icon” menu.
Another night of excellent, timely service and mostly well-prepared dishes. The outlier was the calamari that was rubbery. However, the main player, lobster, was well received at our table.
As we leaving dinner and making our way to trivia, we spotted ROVER!!!!
The Royal Promenade has a number of statues including a very judgmental cat overlooking a now very well behaving dog.
Later in this cruise, we have a spot reserved to see the Wizard of Oz stage production in the Royal Theater. As a tie-in, there is a Wizard of Oz trivia session tonight. The trivia was based on the 1939 film and L. Frank Baum’s 1900 book. A lot of the answers we did not know were eventually revealed during the stage show. May have been able to win this one if we saw the production first.
We noticed a Make-a-Wish donation box near guest services along with a well hidden blue duck. Cool idea for a donation box, but I’d probably place it near the cashier in Casino Royale where cash is flowing and maybe generate more donations following a big win at the tables. There may have indeed been one in the casino, however, we didn’t need to go to the cashier on this trip.
We continued exploring the ship and headed out for a walk on the jogging track.
Near midship on deck 5, the jogging track expands into a lovely seating area with couches overlooking the ocean. This was a lovely spot to hang out, but as soon as the sun set and it was dark, the extended glass panels which extend a few feet above the railing turned into reflective panels, making this area feel more indoors. We took this as a sign to head in.
As we were waiting for an elevator, it opened and there was a roving piano entertaining guests.
Back in the room rather early, we were going to stream something to the tv like we did last year on the Wonder of the Seas. However, the TVs on the Icon do not seem to have the ability to stream. The backup plan was also not an option as the TVs are fixed to the wall making it nearly impossible to plug in an HDMI cable to stream from my laptop.
Time to rest up for the start of the week as we will be in Roatan, Honduras.
Complete Trip Log Index
- Day 1 – Miami
- Day 2 – At Sea
- Day 3 – Roatán, Honduras
- Day 4 – Costa Maya
- Day 5 – Cozumel
- Day 6 – At Sea
- Day 7 – Perfect Day at Coco Cay
the only dogs i don’t know are 1 and 11
Rover is toooo cute! Sucks about the hdmi/sstreaming. Im sure they want you to pay for their on demand movies.