We loved our first cruise on Icon of the Seas so much that we decided to go on it for a second time in March 2025.
Someone was excited to be on the plane! We flew in first class which was exciting, but since it was a short flight we didn't get internet...
That was a mistake haha. Homegirl was BORED and kinda acting up during this flight. We hoped that she would just watch a movie on board but no such luck.
We left Wednesday night after work and got into the Hyatt Regency in Coral Gables pretty late and basically just went to bed.
I worked from 6am-2pm in the lounge area. Cody and Kayla walked around the area a bit and went swimming for a few hours.
Picture of our hotel.
Once I was done with work we went to Ben and Jerry's ice cream right down the street.
Then we stopped at a coffee shop which had won some awards that Cody saw to get him a coffee.
Entrance to the coffee shop.
The we hopped on the free trolley around the town. I thought this would be fun, but it was super packed and was used as a local transportation method. And without any narration it was a pretty boring ride. We had to be on it a while before it got back to our section, and we kinda regretted hopping on it. We ended up ordering pizza for dinner and went to the bar to use the $15 bar credit that they gave us during happy hour. Kayla fell asleep that night at like 8pm, so I stayed up reading and Cody watched some TV.
The next day, we got breakfast again at the hotel because it was included with the status upgrade that we used, and I worked again from 6am-2pm. Cody and Kayla hit up the pool around from noon - 4:30pm. We got dinner delivered to us from Miller's Alehouse and I finished up the Kingdom of Ash book which was the last book in the Throne of Glass series. I wanted to finish it before our cruise so that I wasn't trying to finish the end of the series while we were on the ship and miss out on other things.
The next morning, we took advantage of breakfast again which was really good and then caught a lift to the pier. We basically walked right on Icon as soon as we got there, and we went around getting our reservations for everything. Here is our seasoned pro running onto the ship.
Soooo excited!
She's like COME ON YOU GUYS!
She was excited that the balloons were our "family colors." Pink for Kayla, purple for me, and blue for Cody which is each of our favorite colors. I told her they must have known we were coming and put out our family colors for us.
In Central Park looking for ducks while we were doing reservations.
She looooved this slide!
She kept going down it, and I watched people... anyone that was not a kid... WIPED OUT on this thing... every teenager and above... I watched person after person wipe out... Must just be good for kids haha. I'm sure there's probably a sign up top saying that... that no one looks at haha.
Just sitting there drinking my Sailor Delights.
The Pearl!
Our bartender Edna remembered us!! She came over and greeted us and remembered us from the previous year! We couldn't believe it.
We went to lunch at the Windjammer and they had all you could eat lobster and steak available for the welcome aboard lunch.
Look at those lobsters!
And steaks! I was pretty impressed.
After lunch our room was ready, and I ended up taking a little nap while Cody and Kayla headed to the pool. I met up with them and swam in the pools/hot tubs. We danced to the sail away party and waved to the people watching the ships leave on Miami beach. I love leaving out of Miami for this reason! I love waving to the people along South Beach.. it's my favorite port to sail out of.
Kayla really liked jumping and climbing around Chill Island. She made a little friend and was running around with her a bit.
Running!
Jumping!
Waving!
Living the good life! After playing around on deck, we went to dinner at Giovanni's for dinner. Cody really likes it at Giovanni's and I could take it or leave it, but I don't mind going for him. At least they have decent pizza there.
After dinner, we took Kayla to the kids club and Cody and I went to the piano bar for a while. Roel from Amsterdam was really good, and the girl was Sarah from Miami.. she was alright.
We went to the 70's disco party. I love the disco party night.
Cody caught me a ring for Kayla!
And we had fun together drinking and dancing at the show. I love these promenade parties.
Love!
Then we got ready for the welcome aboard balloon drop at midnight. Cody was pretty drunk at this point, but we wanted to make sure that we got one of each balloon for Kayla.
Here is the cruise director getting ready to drop the balloons. I always have fun at these events. Afterwards we went to the piano bar for a bit. And Cody was whacking me with the balloons that we just got, and some woman behind us yelled at him to knock that shit off and he got super pissed at her. He was not happy that she said anything to him and kept making comments to her while we were there. Kind of luckily, the kids club called us and said that Kayla was ready to leave so we went to pick her up and headed back to our room for the night. Kayla was super excited and instantly took the ring we caught her. She had a rainbow supergirl cape on because it was super heros day at the kids club that night.
Next morning, we slept in a bit and then ate at the surf side eatery which was alright. Then we went around to the pools/hot tubs but Kayla was in a mood because they were all pretty crowded. I don't love the pool situation on Icon... they have lots of smaller pools which are only ok in my opinion. I like the bigger pools on the Oasis style ships better I think.
We ended up going to the shark party in surf side and Kayla liked "catching fish" and did that for a while.
She caught a fish!
She also LOVED this pink slide that is in the surf side area. She went on it over and over again. And I sat there watching and it was like CLOCK WORK... anyone bigger than a small child got hurt coming down the slide or it didn't feel good for them to go down it. I could tell when any teenager or above came up that they were going to wipe out on the slide. They really should have a size limit for the slide because it was almost kind of amusing to watch... I was like... uh-oh... don't do it... and then yep! Crash and burn! lol We also rode the carosuel for a bit... Kayla loves it now that she can go on her own. We also hung out and swam in the surf side pool area. Kayla wasn't feeling the kids slides.
Kayla decided that she didn't want to hang out with anymore and ditched us for the kids club around 3:45pm, and they had kids dinner there where she got to walk with the group to Surf Side Eatery which she felt really cool about. So I hung out at Cloud 9 and enjoyed laying down on the comfortable seats and listening to music/reading my book. And then Cody and I ended up going to Hooked for dinner and it was soooo good as usual. I think that it's my favorite restaurant.
After dinner, I went to the kids club to talk to Kayla to see if she wanted to come to the ice skating show with us... and she looked at me like a deer in the headlights and barely wanted to come over to me, because she was worried I was going to take her away from the kids club... she said she wanted to stay there for the night, so we said ooook! So we went to ice skating show on our own, and I really like this ice skating show. I think that it's my favorite one, because I like the effects that they add to the ice.
Afterwards we went to the 1400 bar with our bartender friends.
I love popping the bubble! We had a few drinks there, and then we went down to the casino. I wasn't doing too good and then I hit a little on the buffalo game. Cody ended up pretty much just losing. Cruise ship casinos are always tight. Around 11pm, we were tired and decided to go pick up Kayla for the night. We got there and that little stinker didn't want to leave. She told us "No. Never." and didn't want to leave with us! We had to convince the little rascal into leaving with us. I'm glad that she likes the kids club and has fun there... but sheesh.
We slept in the next morning, and then went out to the pools. I couldn't convince Kayla to go to the kids pools/slides again. We enjoyed swimming for like an hour or two before she got bored with it, and was ready for the kids club for a few hours. I enjoyed some more time at cloud 17th area in the shade.
We went to the 4:30pm showing of the Wizard of Oz. Kayla was hungry so we got her pizza to eat, but they wouldn't let it in the theater so we had to eat outside the theater. Ms. Emoji from the kids club recognized us. We ate the music hall quickly and then went to the show.
Kayla was acting really scared before the show started, but she really enjoyed it once it started.
She really liked the rainbow munchikins songs.
She still didn't love the wicked witch parts.
Happy girl! She loved it. After the show, we went to get dinner quickly at Windjammers. It was italian night but I didn't really think the food was very good there. Kayla liked the meatballs that she ate, but I wasn't too impressed with it.
We went to the Aquashow afterwards, and we were excited to see it again because it was so brand new last time that they were still trying to get the show together. They added guys on a big wheel in the beginning which was pretty neat.
There wasn't a ton of diving in this show, but it was still pretty good.
Kayla sat up on a mat up above us and watched the show with a friend of hers from the kids club.
Show!
She kept pointing stuff out and talking to us througout it.
I love these guys jumping on the tight rope. I think it's soooo cool. She knows this is my favorite part, so she goes where is my favorite part??
Her favorite part is still the aerial parts.
She LOVES watching this act.
They also added this skate boarding bit into the act. It was a huge build up with robots moving the pieces of the ramp into place, and I was expecting something crazy after all the build up... It took up a really long time in the show and I' m not 100% sure that it was worth it.
Aquashow is all of our favorite!
More scenes.
The whole crew at the end. It's sooo cool.
Afterwards, she headed back to the kids club for the night and we went out around the ship. The piano bar was off for the night, so we didn't really have anywhere late night to go. We wandered into the jazz bar and had a drink and kinda wandered the ship fo ra bit.
Next day was a pretty similar pattern... slept in, ate breakfast, went to the pool for a few hours... We went for a walk around the track which Kayla loves to do.
Back to the boardwalk down the slide!
Going around the carosuel a few times.
Happy to go on her own! Around 3pm she went to the kids club and Cody hung out for a few hours around the ship.
We went to Hibachi for dinner that night and had a good time as usual. I ordered the filet and shrimp. And as the guy was passing them out, I kept holding out my plate thinking that he was going to give them to me... but he never served me and all the shrimp were gone. So I was like... hey where are my shrimp? And the guys was like ummmm... and the guy next to me goes, " you put it on my plate" and I'm like who does that??? If you didnt order it... why did you let him put it on your plate? Shrimp stealing bastard.
And the worst part was that this was his plate at the end of the night... He didn't eat a single shrimp! He actually didn't eat any of his food... who comes and pays extra for hibachi and doesn't eat any of it. Like I get, if the cook makes an accident and offers you shrimp and you're like suuure I'll take them. But the guy didn't even eat them or give them to anyone else?? I was flabbergasted. I guess writing about it in hindsight it's not as crazy of a story as it felt at the time. I was livid at this guy haha. The cook did end up making me more shrimp... but what the heck. You know what you ordered guy.
There was also a HUGE group of Brazilians a couple of tables ove rand it was one of their birthdays and they sang happy birthday in English and then did a super pumped up version in Braziian. Cody was like damn, I never got a cheer like that for my birthday. And funny enough, after dinner went to the 1400 bar and Cody was talking with some people and it was actually the Brazilian guy who's birthday it was. It was his 65th birthday and was on board with a huge group. Cody was drinking and drinking with them because the piano bar wasn't really great that night. Roel got called off because he had a family emergency so it was just the girl, Sarah, playing that night so we decided not to go.
We went to the one hit wonder party. We had fun at it, but it wasn't as fun as Utopia's party.
I do typically enjoy these promenade parties though. We hung out at the 1400 bar and Cody was drinking and talking with the Brazilian guys. Cody was pretty darn drunk... I think he got caught up drinking and showing how much he can drink with the Brazilian guys.
The next day was crazy... Cody was super hung over all day and Kayla didn't feel like swimming and walking around the ship today. She wanted to hang out in the room on her ipad and relax a bit... so she and Cody stayed in there until like 2:45pm. So I enjoyed my time outside reading and listening to my music. I ended up meeting up with them at the Overlook bar area. The bartenders whipped her up a milkshake with cherries that she was happy about. Kayla wanted to have dinner at the kids club so we took her there right around 5pm, and then we went swimming for a little bit... or at least tried to. We ended up sitting by an old couple that was telling us how bad their timeshare was and how they hated being stuck in the fees with it. So we ended up leaving the pool and getting ready for dinner at Chops. Chops is another one of my favorite places to eat on the ship and it was good as usual.
We went to the piano bar for a bit, and it was slammed. There was a new guy that joined the ship and he was pretty good.
We went to the comedy show and FINALLY all of the comics were good. We haven't had great luck on royal with comedians being that good, but these guys were actually pretty funny.
Afterwards, Cody decided to call it an early night and I decided to go to the Crazy Quest. It wasn't a very big crowd at all. I was kind of surprised. It wasn't very well attended. Of course, I always pick a bad/small group and was in a crappy section... but it was still entertaining to watch. I always laugh during it. I went to the piano bar afterwards for a bit and it was really good, but I couldn't stay too long because I had to pick up Kayla from the kids club.
The next day we all went on a behind the scenes tour of the main dining room. They described to us the process of how they take the orders and bring them out to everyone and then they took us behind the scenes to see the kitchen.
They have 3 floors with their own kitchens that seat 650, 750, and 850 people each. Waiters have to work up from 10 tables, to 12, to 14, and up to 22 tables. The ones that can do 22 tables are called tigers.
Here is some behind the scenes stuff.
Food preparation info.
The kitchens and people working the stations.
Ice sculptor
Watermelon carving
Bread animal
Another fruit animal
And another... clearly I was interested in al these haha
Temperature monitoring
Chef's cooking.
Dessert prepping station.
Everyone has to order their supplies ahead of time that they will need and it gets dropped off to them.
Service elevators
Drink stations
More drink stations. It was the perfect day for this tour because it was kind of breezy outside and it wasn't a good day for swimming or laying out.
Funny enough, we ended up eating in the main dining room for dinner that night as it was lobster night. We each had 2 lobsters for dinner and it was actually pretty good. This was one of the rare times that we've ever ate in the main dining room on Royal.
My baby!
Cody and Kayla walking together.
We went to the kids ice skating show and Kayla was all about it. She kept saying Humpty Dumpty did it!
I was like girl ssssshhhh... people don't know that haha.
I like that they have kid versions because that is what she prefers. Afterwards, she went to hang out in the kids club for a bit.
Here is Cloud 17 which was my spot. I liked trying to find a place to sit and relax/hang out here. I loved seeing the view and listening to music/reading my book. I wish they had a place that had some shade though.
We went to the Effectors show. We saw the parade on a different ship so I was excited to see their origin story.
It was a pretty good show. I think Royal does a good job with it's shows.
Cody and I went to he 1400 bar and hung out with our bartender friends, Craig, Shawn, and Eka. We ended up doing shots with a group and did something called a woo woo shot and it was actually pretty good. We went to the piano bar and had a great time. We actually drank quite a bit that night, Alwin was our bartender there and he took great care of us... and just kept bringing our drinks. My drink of choice this cruise was a curacao cosmo and it was delicious.
We were sitting in the front row, and a guy came up to dance on the stage area and he decided he was going to do a strip tease show and of course came over to me, and ended up spilling on of my brand new drinks all over me. I was like daaang it! Luckily I was drunk and just kinda laughed it off, but I was sticky for the rest of the night. But we did have a great night... my only regret was not requesting them to play Alice (who the fuck is Alice?) next time I'm at a late night piano bar like that I'll definitely request that song.
The next day we got up and went to Coco Cay. We ended up playing in the ocean because the pool is just too cold.
Kayla loves playing in the sand and playing with her sand toys though.
Carrying water over to make a sand castle.
Relaxing at the beach.
Kayla loves these pods in the water and she loves laying in them.
Picture with the ships in the background.
Kayla saw us taking a picture together and she was like HEY!! HEY!!! What about me... and then she ran over haha.
Not to be left out... she's the center of the picture lol.
Family shot.
Love!
Playing in the water.
My girl!
Here is her sand toys.
We had a nice day playing and hanging out at the beach. It makes me wonder if maybe we are beach people?? I dunno... I can see if for a day or two but I dunno about for a full week. I am interested in trying out Mrytle Beach again.
Stealing daddy's hat and trying to sit in the shade for a minute.
Family shot with our ship in the background.
Both ships that were in port. Once we got back to the room we took showers and got dressed and what not.. and then Kayla wanted to do kids dinner at the kids club for her last night so she went off to the kids club.
I love sitting up top on the ship and waving goodbye to the other ship from Coco Cay. This was the other ship we were in port with.
After waving goodbye, I decided to hang out in the Cloud 17 area for a bit and relaxed. Afterwards, I went back to the room and packed up our stuff and then Cody and I went to Hooked for dinner, which was a great farewell meal. We loved Hooked!
Cody's favorite bar in the overlook area... the Rye and Bean.
He went there just about every day for her coffee martini. He made friends with the bartenders there.
We went back to the piano bar again, but it wasn't the same as other nights because we were leaving early the next day and couldn't really drink much.
We were joking that this looks like Bobby's mom! We kept spotting her and we were like oh my gosh!
Here are our bartender friends from the 1400 bar. Eka, Craig, and Shawn.
They took a picture with us in it too.
We went to the late night comedy show. The comedians were good on this ship so we were glad to go.
The next morning, we got right off the ship without any incident and got right to the airport. We had airport lounge passes and got to hang out there for a bit.
Overall, I would say that we had a great cruise. It's hard to have a bad cruise... especially on Icon of the Seas. We continually love going on Royal Caribbean and always have a great time as a family and individually. Kayla was enjoying the kids club a lot more on this cruise than usual, but we're glad that she had a good time. Can't wait for our next adventure!
