Icon of the Seas vs Star of the Seas: Which to Book?

Icon of the Seas and Star of the Seas are the same holiday in almost every way that matters: same size, same eight neighbourhoods, same cabins. Star is newer and a little more tuned for families. Pick your home port first, then the show and supper club you would rather have.

Is Star of the Seas bigger than Icon of the Seas?

No, Star of the Seas isn’t bigger than Icon of the Seas in any way you’d notice on board. They’re the same length and height, carry the same number of staterooms, the same crew and the same passengers, and Royal Caribbean puts them both at about 250,800 gross tonnes.

You’ll also see a second figure for the class, around 248,663 gross tonnes. It doesn’t change the answer. Use either number and neither ship comes out larger.

Icon turned up as the biggest cruise ship in the world, and its Icon-class sisters were built to match it, not beat it. Royal Caribbean says Star shares Icon’s DNA, refined with what it learned: upgraded restaurant concepts, fresh colour palettes, lighting and layout tweaks.

The rest is shared, from the AquaDome to Central Park, and the guide to Icon of the Seas walks through those eight neighbourhoods one by one.

Miami, Port Canaveral or Galveston: the choice you cannot change later

Icon of the Seas sails from PortMiami’s Terminal A at 2000 N. Cruise Blvd, and the guide to Icon’s Miami cruise terminal covers the drop-off, the parking and the walk to the ship. Star of the Seas is a Port Canaveral ship all year, sailing seven nights from Cruise Terminal 1, which has recently been renovated.

That one choice sets your airport and your transfer. Miami means Miami International.

Port Canaveral means Orlando International, which puts the theme parks on the same trip instead of a separate one. Port Canaveral is the second busiest cruise port in the world by passenger numbers, behind PortMiami, and a 1,000-space surface car park now serves Terminal 1.

Miami has one wrinkle to sort before you travel. Work at Terminal A has moved some Royal Caribbean departures to MSC’s Terminal AA next door, and passengers are told to drive past A rather than pull in. Follow the terminal letter on your boarding documents, not the address you memorised.

Icon’s Miami base won’t last forever. Royal Caribbean has announced a move to Galveston, Texas, where the ship will sail six- to eight-night Western Caribbean itineraries calling at Costa Maya, Roatán and Cozumel. In Texas it uses Royal Caribbean’s terminal at Pier 10, 1402 Harborside Drive, with shuttles from the north, south and Pier 14 car parks to the terminal.

Seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean weeks are the pattern on both ships, and CocoCay is the constant: every Star itinerary from Port Canaveral includes it, and it turns up on Icon’s Texas sailings too. The guide to how Icon’s itineraries are put together explains which route is which, and the guide to a day at CocoCay sets out what the island costs once you’re ashore.

Because the routes overlap so heavily, the week you pick matters more than the hull. Eastern and Western Caribbean weeks feel different, school holiday dates go first, and the same seven nights can look very different on price depending on when in the season you sail.

The Wizard of Oz or Back to the Future: the headline show on each ship

Icon of the Seas has The Wizard of Oz, a modern remake of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show with more than 600 costume elements and an original score played by a 16-piece orchestra. Star of the Seas has Back to the Future: The Musical, brought in direct from Broadway with a live orchestra, choreography and special effects.

Star also has Create, an original Royal Theater show built around a robot called KRE-8.

With young children, Oz is the safer bet: the story is known, the staging carries it, and nobody needs to have seen the film. Back to the Future rewards the adults who grew up with it and plays well to teenagers, so it suits a party with older children in it.

The headline production is the one part of the week you can’t swap once you’re on board, so work out which one you’d be sorry to miss and treat that as the fixed point.

Water, ice and comedy: how the rest of the entertainment differs

Icon’s AquaDome shows are Aqua Action!, with high divers, skateboarders, aerialists, slackliners and synchronised swimmers, plus Pirates vs. Mermaids. Star’s AquaTheater runs Torque and Pirates & Mermaids, so the pirate show is the one title the two ships share.

The ice arena is a cleaner split. Icon’s Absolute Zero, Royal Caribbean’s first oval rink and the largest ice arena at sea, sits on the Royal Promenade and stages Starburst: Elemental Beauty and Once Upon a Time: The King’s Royal Ball. Star’s ice show is SOL, performed by the line’s largest ice-skating cast.

Below that, Icon has a Manhattan-inspired comedy club with three comedians a night, plus Lou’s Jazz ‘n Blues, Dueling Pianos, the Schooner Bar and the Point & Feather pub. Star keeps Dueling Pianos for late-night singalongs. It isn’t the reason to pick a ship, but if a comedy set and live music are how you spend your evenings, the two lists aren’t the same.

Empire Supper Club or Lincoln Park Supper Club

Icon’s Empire Supper Club is an eight-course tasting menu built around 1930s New York, with wagyu, caviar and paired cocktails, a live jazz trio, 42 seats and one sitting a night. Star’s Lincoln Park Supper Club takes the same room and the same idea to 1930s Chicago: six courses plus an amuse bouche, unlimited champagne refills, a paired cocktail with each course and about three hours at the table, in a room modelled on Chicago’s Pump Room. You choose one of four main courses and one of two desserts.

Both charge a hefty per-person supplement, with 18% gratuity added on top of speciality dining, and guests holding the Unlimited Dining Package pay a reduced upcharge instead. With 42 seats and a single sitting on a ship carrying more than 7,000 people, this is the one thing on either ship worth sorting before you sail rather than on board.

AquaDome Market and where else the food changes

The AquaDome Market is where the two ships part company most visibly. Icon’s stalls are Mac’s, GNGR, Toast & Garden, Feta Mediterranean and Creme de la Crepes. Star keeps Feta Mediterranean and Creme de la Crepes and swaps the first three for La Cocinita, serving South American food, Pig Out BBQ and Mai Thai.

That’s a handful of counters on ships with more than 40 places to eat and drink, so treat it as a reason to prefer one ship rather than a reason to rule the other out. Beyond those counters the pair run the same broad spread of included and speciality venues, and the guide to Icon of the Seas restaurants covers which supplements are worth paying.

Star’s family changes: Surfside to age ten, an extra hot tub and tracked children

Star’s biggest changes are the ones aimed at children. Surfside, the family neighbourhood, was redesigned so it flows better from the toddler pools to the parent-and-child restaurants, and a family can spend the whole day there without leaving.

Star’s version is pitched at children up to about ten, against nought to six on Icon. Playscape got a redesign, Splashaway Bay gained additions, Adventure Ocean was reworked and the teen spaces were refreshed, with more analogue play and better meet-up areas.

Find My Kid arrived with Star: a reusable Adventure Ocean WOW Band for children aged three to twelve, bought at Adventure Ocean on Deck 6 for a one-off charge and tracked live on deck maps in the Royal Caribbean app. It works on the ship’s wifi without an internet package, opens the cabin door, carries pre-approved spending and shows the muster station.

It was piloted on Icon first and has since been extended to Legend of the Seas, so it’s no longer a reason to pick Star on its own.

Two smaller Star-only touches: facial recognition on cabin doors, piloted on a limited number of staterooms, and a reshaped Deck 15 where the bungee loungers, rope swing and small ropes course have given way to more loungers and a hot tub on the starboard side near the AquaDome Market entrance.

If your children are seven to ten, or teenagers who want their own space, Star’s refinements are the ones you’ll notice. If they’re toddlers, the two ships are closer than the marketing suggests.

Cabins: the same categories on both, so pick position not hull

Both ships have the same number of staterooms and the same cabin categories, so there’s no category on Star you can’t book on Icon. Position decides more about your week than the hull does.

On Star, select cabins have the bed facing the balcony so you wake to the sea rather than the corridor, and the top suite is the two-storey Royal Loft Suite with a 700 sq ft balcony and an outdoor Jacuzzi. Neither is a reason to pick the ship on its own, but both are worth asking about when you book.

Work out the category first, then the deck and the position. The guide to what each Icon of the Seas cabin category includes sets out the differences, and the advice on choosing the best cabin location covers the decks to avoid above and below the busiest spaces.

What adds to the bill: gratuities, supplements and the airport you fly into

Gratuities and add-ons are charged the same way on both ships, so they won’t separate your two quotes, but they will decide whether the week comes in on budget. Compare the two on the same date and the same cabin category before you decide the newer ship is worth more.

Royal Caribbean adds automatic gratuities per guest per day, at a higher rate in suites and charged daily unless you prepay them. They’re charged for every guest in the cabin, including infants and children, so a family of four pays four sets of daily gratuities for the week.

On top of that, 18% goes on drinks and drinks packages, speciality dining and dining packages, room service and the minibar, and 20% on spa and salon treatments.

The port decides the rest. Miami means a flight into Miami International and a transfer to the terminal, and the comparison of every way from Miami airport to PortMiami sets out the choices.

Port Canaveral means Orlando International and an optional theme park day at one end of the cruise. Both usually mean a hotel night, and the hotels near PortMiami worth booking are the ones within a short ride of Terminal A.

Who each ship suits, and who should book something else

Both ships are sold as the world’s best family holiday, and for most families either one delivers it. The differences sit at the edges, which is exactly why they matter.

• Families with children under six: Icon. Its Surfside is pitched at nought to six, with the toddler pools and family restaurants in one place.
• Families with children aged seven to ten, or teenagers: Star, for the redesigned Playscape and Adventure Ocean, the refreshed teen spaces and the better meet-up areas.
• Families adding Orlando: Star, because Port Canaveral puts the theme parks on the same trip as the cruise.
• Couples and adults travelling without children: either, with one catch. Both have the adults-only Hideaway, but both are enormous, with more than 7,000 people on board at full capacity. If you want quiet, this is the wrong class.
• Anyone who wants a new map each year, small-ship atmosphere or long port days: neither. Seven nights with a private island day and a couple of Caribbean ports is the pattern on both.

If neither fits: Legend of the Seas and the Oasis-class options

Legend of the Seas is the third ship in the class and the one to look at if the flight is the problem. Its first season is seven nights in the Western Mediterranean from Civitavecchia and Barcelona, calling at Naples, Palma de Mallorca and Marseille, before it moves to Port Everglades for a Caribbean winter of six- and eight-night itineraries.

On board are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Hollywoodland Supper Club and Royal Railway, Legend Station, plus 28 dining options, seven pools and the largest waterpark at sea. For a UK reader who’d rather not cross the Atlantic at all, that’s the same class of ship without the transatlantic hop. Where a ship sails decides more bookings than how old it is.

If the price of the Icon class is the sticking point, the Oasis class is the other place to look, and the comparison of Icon of the Seas and Wonder of the Seas works through what the extra money buys. Star also shares its Florida port with Utopia of the Seas, and the comparison of Icon of the Seas and Utopia of the Seas is the one to read if you’re choosing between the newest ship and an Oasis-class week from the same coast.

Icon of the Seas vs Star of the Seas FAQs

Are Icon of the Seas and Star of the Seas the same ship?

They’re very nearly the same ship: same hull, same eight neighbourhoods, same stateroom count and the same seven-night Caribbean pattern. They differ on the headline theatre show, the supper club theme, the ice and AquaDome shows, a handful of family spaces and the home port.

Which is newer, Icon of the Seas or Star of the Seas?

Star of the Seas is the newer ship by roughly a year and a half. Icon came first, as the biggest cruise ship in the world, and Star was built to the same design with the refinements Royal Caribbean had learned from running Icon.

What is the sister ship to Icon of the Seas?

Star of the Seas is Icon’s sister ship and the second ship in the Icon class. Legend of the Seas is the third, with a first season of Western Mediterranean cruises from Civitavecchia and Barcelona before it moves to Port Everglades.

Do the two ships have the same deck plans?

The deck plans are broadly the same, with the same number of staterooms and the same cabin categories on both. Star was refined with layout adjustments, so treat a cabin number as a starting point rather than a guarantee that the room is identical.

Is there a dog on board both ships?

Yes, both ships have a resident golden retriever as Chief Dog Officer, from the same breeder: Rover on Icon of the Seas and Sailor on Star of the Seas.