Gary Shteyngart: Crying Myself to Sleep on the Icon of the Seas

Table Of Content

• There are more dining venues onboard Icon of the Seas than any other ship in the fleet
• Costa Smeralda (Costa Cruises)
• I sailed on Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas. These were my 8 favorite amenities on the world's largest cruise ship.
• The world’s largest cruise ship has 20 decks, 7 pools and would cover almost 4 city blocks
• The World’s Largest Cruise Ship Will Set Sail In 2024
• Sun Princess (Princess Cruises)
• Cruises

Her face was as tight as a 19-year-old’s, she had so much surgery.” With those words, and beneath a cloudy sky, humidity shrouding our weathered faces and red necks, we set sail once again, hopefully in the direction of home. Finally, I visit a comedy revue in an enormous and too brightly lit version of an “intimate,” per Royal Caribbean literature, “Manhattan comedy club.” Many of the jokes are about the cruising life. “I’ve lived on ships for 20 years,” one of the middle-aged comedians says. “I can only see so many Filipino homosexuals dressed as a taco.” He pauses while the audience laughs. He segues into a Trump impression and then Biden falling asleep at the microphone, which gets the most laughs. As I fall asleep that night, I realize another connection I have failed to make, and one that may explain some of the diversity on this vessel—many of its passengers have served in the military.

There are more dining venues onboard Icon of the Seas than any other ship in the fleet

All staterooms and suites on Viking Vela offer their own private verandas. New features on this ship are minimal, as Viking Cruises has long attempted to keep its experiences similar across its ships, for guest experience continuity. Accordingly, expect the same decor and design, as well as restaurants and entertainment, that you might’ve already experienced on past Viking cruises. Following Silversea Cruises’ first Nova-class ship, Silver Nova, Silver Ray gains a spot as one of our most-anticipated new cruise ships for several reasons. The ship, which follows 2019’s Mein Schiff 2, provides a range of attractive features, including a new type of cabins. New single cabins will be available for single travelers who don’t quite need the same amenities or spaces as their coupled fellow cruisers.

Costa Smeralda (Costa Cruises)

You know, you really drank me under the table that night.” I laugh as we part ways, but my soul cries out, Please spend more time with me, Mr. and Mrs. Rand; I so need the company. There is a middle-aged African American couple who always seem to be asleep in each other’s arms, probably exhausted from the late capitalism they regularly encounter on land. Many couples are a testament to Loving v. Virginia, and there is a large group of folks whose T-shirts read MELANIN AT SEA / IT’S THE MELANIN FOR ME. I smile when I see them, but then some young kids from the group makes Mr. Washy Washy do a cruel, caricatured “Burger Dance” (today he is in his burger getup), and I think, Well, so much for intersectionality. But compared to the rest of my mediocre meals on Icon of the Seas — including dinner at a specialty restaurant — my complimentary pork pita wrap from the food hall's Mediterranean-inspired stall was admittedly pretty decent. Both of the ships boast status as some of the most environmentally conscious ships ever to take on the high seas.

I sailed on Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas. These were my 8 favorite amenities on the world's largest cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean shares big 2024 plans passengers will love - TheStreet

Royal Caribbean shares big 2024 plans passengers will love.

Posted: Sun, 21 Apr 2024 01:45:00 GMT [source]

If you’re a cruising fan — or even an avid traveler of any type — then you already know this new cruise ship that’s been making waves in a big way (literally). Icon of the Seas marks not only a big deal for the cruise line but also the cruise industry. It’s the first of the newest class of ship from Royal Caribbean (Icon class) that promises to pack more things onboard to do, see, and experience than ever before. For children, the ship features the AquaMouse slide with a new Mickey and Minnie adventure story and two casual cafes named after Disney princesses Moana and Mulan. Additionally, there are adults-only lounges themed after Disney park attractions. The Disney Treasure, a sister ship to the Disney Wish, will launch in December 2024, offering Disney-loving families another cruising option from Port Canaveral.

The world’s largest cruise ship has 20 decks, 7 pools and would cover almost 4 city blocks

Started in 2010, Royal Caribbean Blog offers daily coverage of news and information related to the Royal Caribbean cruise line along with other relevant topics of cruising, such as entertainment, news, photo updates and more. Star of the Seas will sail out of Port Canaveral; however, the home port for the third ship is currently unknown. Prior to arriving in Miami on January 10, the ship sailed to Cádiz, Spain and Ponce, Puerto Rico for some finishing touches. The crew also enjoyed a massive celebratory party at CocoCay.

The vessel is slightly larger than its sister ship Iona and was constructed at the popular Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. She is currently the largest in the P&O fleet and is the largest ever constructed vessel purposely for the British market. This is the first world-class vessel from the fast-growing MSC Cruises and was built at the popular Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France. Since her delivery in October 2022, she has been the largest MSC cruise ship ever. That will be until the sister ship MSC World America arrives in 2025.

Royal Caribbean’s ‘Utopia Of The Seas’

Any new ship is exciting, but with what Icon of the Seas promises for passengers, it’s rightly getting even more buzz. And while it has officially joined the fleet, passengers can’t yet sail for a couple of months. The ship will head to Spain for final touches before sailing to Miami. In June 2023, the ship hit a major milestone when it completed its first sea trials outside the shipyard in Turku, Finland.

Sun Princess (Princess Cruises)

As such, expect that same classic elegance and cruising tradition that you might experience on these three sister ships, just with a few modern updates. The ship’s Piazza is surrounded by domed glass and takes its inspiration from historic piazzas, offering access to a range of luxurious venues. The Horizons Dining Room is now three stories tall, and other dining options on the ship will include both new and classic Princes Cruises favorites.

Instead of steel walls, the interior is open and airy, with floor-to-ceiling windows to bring passengers closer to the water and make the central thoroughfare feel less like a shopping mall. One of the most anticipated on-board amenities will be the largest waterpark at sea. Pinnacles, it is explained to me over translucent cantaloupe, have sailed with Royal Caribbean for 700 ungodly nights. Pandemic Pinnacles took advantage of the two-for-one accrual rate of Pinnacle points during the pandemic, when sailing on a cruise ship was even more ill-advised, to catapult themselves into Pinnacle status. This is a large, multichandeliered room where I attended my safety training (I was shown how to put on a flotation vest; it is a very simple procedure).

They already speak English better than most of the passengers and, per the Serbian lady’s sales pitch above, better understand what America is as well. Crew members like my Panamanian cabin attendant seem to work 24 hours a day. A waiter from New Delhi tells me that his contract is six months and three weeks long. After a cruise ends, he says, “in a few hours, we start again for the next cruise.” At the end of the half a year at sea, he is allowed a two-to-three-month stay at home with his family. As of 2019, the median income for crew members was somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000, according to a major business publication.

Mein Schiff 8 is expected to arrive in late 2024 and will be the largest cruise ship for the cruise line to date. While not many details regarding the ship have been released just yet, we do know a few things. Expect lots of natural light, suites that offer 270-degree views, eight restaurants, and more. Yes, the ship is on the smaller side, but it just proves that, sometimes, great things come in tiny packages. Disney is opening its second cruise ship-focused Bahamian island in June 2024, Lighthouse Point, to cruisers, so Disney Treasure guests will have that new experience to look forward to as well.

There's a reason Royal Caribbean's new mega-cruise ship is only operating seven-night sailings. The vessel is different from other large ships in the cruise industry and boasts features like the Zipline and the AquaTheater. This is the ship that helped push the cruise industry to new heights.