Icon of the Seas vs Wonder of the Seas: Which Ship Wins?

Wonder of the Seas and Icon of the Seas aren’t really rivals any more. Wonder sells three- and four-night Bahamas breaks from Miami; Icon sells seven-night Caribbean weeks from the same port. Decide which trip you want first, then weigh Icon’s waterpark and family neighbourhoods against Wonder’s lower fare.

Icon or Wonder: which suits your party

The choice usually comes down to who’s travelling, not which ship is newer. Here’s how it lands by group.

• Families with under-10s: Icon, without much doubt. Surfside is a neighbourhood built around young families, with the Water’s Edge pool, Splashaway Bay, Baby Bay, an arcade, a carousel and its own Surfside Eatery and Surfside Bites.
• Families with teenagers: Icon again, because the hardware is better. Category 6 has six slides, including Pressure Drop’s 66-degree free-fall and Frightening Bolt’s 46 ft drop, and Crown’s Edge swings riders 154 ft above the sea. Wonder answers with the Ultimate Abyss dry slide and a zip line that runs ten decks.
• Adults without children: Wonder’s Solarium is the calmer adults-only retreat, an open-air pool area. Icon replaced that idea with The Hideaway, a beach-club-style adults-only space with a suspended infinity pool 135 ft above the ocean. Quiet or lively is the question that matters, not old or new.
• Repeat Oasis-class sailors: Wonder, because it’s the Oasis layout you already know with the Suite Neighbourhood added. Icon moves the aqua show indoors under the AquaDome and swaps the Solarium for The Hideaway, so it feels like a different ship rather than a bigger one.
• First-timers: Wonder on a three- or four-night sailing is the low-commitment way to try a megaship. Icon only sells a week, which is a lot of ship if you aren’t yet sure you like the format.
• Multigenerational groups: Icon. Grandparents can base themselves in the Suite Neighbourhood, teenagers on Thrill Island, small children in Surfside and adults in The Hideaway, and the three-storey Ultimate Family Townhouse sleeps eight with its own slide, cinema room and private Surfside access.

What both ships share: neighbourhoods, included food and the kids’ club

Both are Royal Caribbean ships with the same neighbourhood idea, the same included entertainment and the same service standard. Adventure Ocean, the kids’ club for ages 3 to 17, runs on both, with a nursery alongside it.

The core venues repeat too: Main Dining Room, Windjammer, Sorrento’s, Park Café, El Loco Fresh and Starbucks, plus speciality names such as Chops Grille, Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen, Hooked Seafood and Izumi, and Coastal Kitchen for suite guests. Central Park with live plants, a Royal Promenade, the FlowRider, rock climbing, mini golf, an ice rink, a casino and an aqua dive show appear on both.

That overlap is the bit people forget while comparing deck plans. If you book the one you didn’t spend months researching, you still get the same private island, the same included food model and the same entertainment. The downside of choosing the wrong ship is smaller than the noise suggests.

Wonder of the Seas is Oasis class, not Icon class

Wonder of the Seas is an Oasis-class ship, the biggest of that class, while Icon of the Seas is the first of the Icon class. The two share the neighbourhood idea but not the neighbourhoods themselves.

Both have eight. Wonder added the Suite Neighbourhood, a first for Oasis class, which took the class from seven to eight. Icon’s eight are Thrill Island, Chill Island, Surfside, Central Park, AquaDome, The Hideaway, Royal Promenade and the Suite Neighbourhood.

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

Icon of the Seas is bigger than Wonder of the Seas by tonnage and length, but Wonder carries slightly more people at double occupancy, so it depends which number you care about.

Gross tonnage measures enclosed volume, not weight. Icon’s design figure is 250,800 GT and its register figure is 248,663; Wonder is 235,600 GT, with 236,857 as an alternative figure. Neither number tells you how full a ship feels.

Space per guest does, and there the two are level pegging, at about 33.0 GT per guest on Icon against 33.9 on Wonder. Icon’s much larger maximum occupancy is a berth count rather than a crowd: the near 2,000 gap between 5,610 and 7,600 is third and fourth berths in family cabins, which fill in school holidays.

Icon of the Seas: Category 6, Surfside and The Hideaway

Icon of the Seas is the first of a new class rather than a stretched Oasis ship, so the layout takes some learning. The full Icon of the Seas guide covers it neighbourhood by neighbourhood. These are the features you’re paying the premium for, so think hard about which you’d use across seven days.

• Category 6, the largest waterpark at sea: six slides, including Pressure Drop, the first open free-fall slide at sea with a 66-degree incline, and Frightening Bolt, a 46 ft drop. If the waterpark is the deciding factor, the Icon of the Seas water slides are covered one by one.
• Crown’s Edge, part skywalk, part ropes course, part thrill ride, swinging riders 154 ft above the sea.
• Surfside, a family neighbourhood with the Water’s Edge pool, Splashaway Bay, Baby Bay, an arcade, a carousel, Surfside Eatery and Surfside Bites.
• The Hideaway, an adults-only beach club with the first suspended infinity pool at sea, 135 ft above the ocean, plus whirlpools and a bar.
• AquaDome, a glass dome at the forward top of the ship housing the AquaTheater, with a 55 ft waterfall, four robotic arms and projection, in place of the open-air stern theatre.
• Seven pools and nine whirlpools, including Royal Bay, the largest pool at sea, and Swim & Tonic, the line’s first swim-up bar.
• The Royal Promenade with floor-to-ceiling ocean views and The Pearl kinetic sculpture.

Wonder of the Seas: Boardwalk, the Ultimate Abyss and the Solarium

The case for the older ship is stronger than the novelty of Icon suggests, and it rests on the things Icon removed or never had.

• The Boardwalk, a neighbourhood modelled on a seaside pier, with a carousel and the aft-facing outdoor AquaTheater.
• The open-air stern AquaTheater, where divers and aerialists perform against the ocean rather than under a dome.
• The Ultimate Abyss, the dry slide that Icon doesn’t have.
• The Solarium, an open-air adults-only pool retreat, and a calmer one than Icon’s Hideaway.
• Restaurants Icon doesn’t have: The Mason Jar for Southern cooking, Johnny Rockets, The Dog House, 150 Central Park, Wonderland, Solarium Bistro, Vitality Café and the Bionic Bar.
• Wonder Playscape on the top deck, a zip line that runs ten decks and The Vue, a cantilevered bar.

Cabins: Infinite Balcony is not a walk-out balcony, and Wonder’s interiors are bigger

Wonder of the Seas has the larger standard inside cabin, at 172 sq ft against Icon’s 156 sq ft, while Icon’s balconies start bigger, at 196 sq ft against 182. The bigger surprise is the Infinite Balcony, which people often get wrong before they book.

It isn’t a balcony you step onto. A floor-to-ceiling glass wall drops at the push of a button to turn part of the cabin into open-air space, and with the glass closed you gain up to 50 sq ft of living space over a traditional ocean-view balcony, roughly 250 sq ft in total. If you want to sit outside with a door behind you, book a conventional balcony instead.

Family cabins are where Icon pulls ahead, and Icon of the Seas cabin types run wider than Wonder’s. The Family Infinite Ocean View Balcony sleeps up to six, with a separate bunk alcove with its own televisions and a split bathroom, shower and sink on one side, toilet and sink on the other.

The Spacious Infinite Ocean View Balcony is 200 sq ft including a 50 sq ft balcony, the Family Infinite Oceanview Balcony is 285 sq ft and the Surfside Family View Balcony is 196 sq ft.

On Wonder, Boardwalk balcony cabins look over the Boardwalk and the AquaTheater and are noisy during shows, while Central Park balcony cabins are the quietest balcony position on the ship. Some inside cabins have virtual balconies.

The Suite Neighbourhood holds more than 400 suites with a private sun deck, plunge pool, bar, lounge and Coastal Kitchen, and the Ultimate Family Suite sleeps 10 with 1,134 sq ft inside and a 212 sq ft balcony.

Cabin position matters more than ship class. Icon has 18 passenger decks and a Royal Promenade 110 m long, so a cabin near the lifts saves a surprising amount of walking over a week, especially with children or a mobility aid.

Itineraries: seven nights on Icon, three and four on Wonder

This is the difference that decides most bookings, and it has nothing to do with hardware. Icon of the Seas sails seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises round-trip from Miami. Wonder of the Seas sails three- and four-night Bahamas and Perfect Day at CocoCay round-trips from Miami, leaving on Mondays and Fridays, and the pattern is on sale years ahead.

Both call at Perfect Day at CocoCay, and Wonder’s short sailings also call at Nassau, where Royal Caribbean’s Royal Beach Club Paradise Island sits. Icon’s Caribbean calls include CocoCay, Cozumel, Costa Maya, Basseterre, Roatán and Philipsburg.

Miami isn’t permanent for Icon. Royal Caribbean lists the ship as moving to Galveston, Texas, for six- to eight-night Western Caribbean cruises calling at Costa Maya, Roatán and Cozumel. If you’re booking flights to Florida, check the home port on the sailing you’re looking at rather than the one in the brochure.

What is extra on board: gratuities, service charges and Wi-Fi

The fare buys the ship, not the whole holiday. Both ships charge the same way, so the extras don’t separate them, but they change what a week costs against a long weekend.

• Gratuities are added daily per guest, at a higher rate in suites than in other cabins.
• Service charges of 18% apply to drinks and drinks packages, speciality dining and dining packages, room service and the minibar. Spa and salon treatments carry 20%.
• The Deluxe Beverage Package covers drinks up to a set price per drink, with the 18% added at checkout. If one adult over 21 in a stateroom buys it, every adult over 21 in that stateroom has to. The drink packages on Icon of the Seas are priced per person per day, so the bill scales with the length of the cruise.
• VOOM Surf + Stream is sold per device, per guest, and is cheaper booked before you sail than bought on board; one plan can cover up to four devices at a falling rate per device.

Suite guests get some of this included. Sky and Star categories include VOOM for one device per guest, and Star also includes the Deluxe package and daily gratuities.

Included in the fare on Icon are the seven pools and nine whirlpools, Category 6, the FlowRider, rock climbing, mini golf, the shows, ice skating and laser tag. Speciality restaurants are extra on both ships with 18% on top, so a longer list of restaurant names doesn’t make either ship better value.

Icon’s price premium: 15 to 30 per cent, and how to test it

Icon of the Seas tends to cost about 15 to 30 per cent more than Wonder of the Seas for a similar cabin. Look at it the other way and Wonder comes in 15 to 25 per cent less per person. Treat that as a rough gap, not a rule.

The two aren’t like for like. Wonder’s three- and four-night sailings are priced as a short break, so a headline fare against Icon’s seven nights compares different things. Work out cost per night instead, and put the flights in, because a return transatlantic fare spread over three nights is far more expensive per night than the same fare spread over seven.

Then add the extras at their daily rate, since gratuities, a drinks package and Wi-Fi are charged per day on both ships. Royal Caribbean prices each sailing individually, and what Icon of the Seas sailings cost moves with cabin, date and how far ahead you book.

Whatever the gap comes out at, ask what it buys: if nobody in your party will use Category 6, Surfside or The Hideaway, the premium is paying for someone else’s holiday.

Crowds: the week you sail matters more than the ship

Neither ship has a meaningful edge on crowding by design, with 33.0 GT per guest on Icon against 33.9 on Wonder. What does change is the week: third and fourth berths fill in school holidays, so a family sailing can carry several hundred to around 2,000 more people than a week when cabins are two people on the same hull.

The passenger capacity figures for Icon of the Seas explain where those extra berths sit.

Book whatever can be booked before you sail. Wi-Fi and drinks packages are cheaper pre-cruise than on board, and on a ship with a waterpark this size it pays to decide which pools and venues you want on which day before you’re standing in a queue.

Rough seas, mobility and walking distances on both ships

Icon of the Seas has a parabolic bow, designed for extra stability and a smoother motion at sea. Both ships sail the same Caribbean routes out of Miami, so they meet the same conditions. You’re on the same sea either way.

Icon is the better ship for accessibility, with wheelchair-accessible staterooms across multiple categories and 28 cabin categories in total, and more accessible options than earlier classes.

Walking is the thing people underestimate. Icon has 18 passenger decks and a promenade 110 m long; Wonder has 18 to 19 decks. On either ship, a cabin near the lifts and near the neighbourhood you’ll use most saves minutes several times a day.

From the UK: long-haul flights for a three-night cruise

Both ships sail from Miami, which means a transatlantic flight either way. That’s straightforward for a week on Icon and awkward for a three-night Wonder sailing: you can easily spend longer in the air than on the ship.

Two approaches make Wonder’s short cruises work from Britain. Pair the sailing with a few days in Florida or Orlando so the flights are spread across a proper holiday, or take Icon’s seven nights instead and treat the crossing as part of the trip. Getting from Miami airport to PortMiami is the bit to sort before you commit to flights, because the transfer decides if a short sailing works at all.

If neither ship fits: Star of the Seas

Star of the Seas carries the same Icon-class hardware, with Category 6, Crown’s Edge, Surfside, The Hideaway, the AquaDome and eight neighbourhoods on a 250,800 GT hull, but sails year-round seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises from Port Canaveral (Orlando), with every voyage calling at Perfect Day at CocoCay.

It also has differences of its own, including a Lincoln Park Supper Club and a Central Park planted with more than 30,000 live plants.

See also our Icon of the Seas guide.

Icon of the Seas and Wonder of the Seas FAQs

Does Wonder of the Seas have a non-smoking casino?

Wonder of the Seas does have a non-smoking casino. Before the ship moved to Miami, an enlarged non-smoking casino replaced the Crown Lounge on deck 4, a new Crown & Anchor Lounge went in on deck 16 and the teen area was refreshed.

How many cabin categories does Icon of the Seas have?

Icon has 28 cabin categories, more than earlier Royal Caribbean classes, with wheelchair-accessible staterooms available across several of them and family layouts such as the Family Infinite Ocean View Balcony that sleeps six.

Does Icon of the Seas run on different fuel from Wonder of the Seas?

Icon of the Seas runs on a different fuel from Wonder of the Seas. Icon is LNG-fuelled and also carries fuel cells and shore-power capability, while Wonder is conventionally fuelled. It changes little about your week on board but does reflect how recently each hull was designed.

Can you book a short cruise on Icon of the Seas?

You can’t book a short cruise on Icon of the Seas from Miami. Icon sells seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean round-trips there, and six- to eight-night Western Caribbean sailings once it moves to Galveston. Short Bahamas breaks are Wonder’s product, not Icon’s.

Is Icon of the Seas worth the extra money?

Icon of the Seas is worth the extra money only if your party would use what the premium buys: Category 6, Surfside with young children, The Hideaway or the AquaDome. Otherwise Wonder’s fare buys the same private island, the same included food and entertainment, and a cabin layout many passengers prefer.