I Cruised On Symphony and Legend: Is Icon Class Really Better Than Oasis Class?

I cruised on both Symphony of the Seas, an Oasis Class ship, and Legend of the Seas, an Icon Class ship, in the last couple of years.

Icon Class is newer and larger, but it clearly builds on many of the ideas that made the Oasis Class successful.

Both are enormous resort-style ships divided into different neighbourhoods. Oasis Class ships have seven neighbourhoods, but the bigger Icon Class has eight.

I sailed during the peak summer holiday season on both ships, but they didn’t feel too busy; they are clearly well-designed to spread guests out.

They’re More Similar Than You Might Expect

Both classes of ships have distinct neighbourhoods rather than feeling like one enormous ship.

Both have Central Park and both have a Royal Promenade.

Both have huge entertainment venues, ice skating, pools, family attractions and lots of restaurants.

Icon Class feels like an evolution of Oasis Class rather than a completely different concept.

I was surprised by how familiar some parts of Legend felt after sailing on Symphony in the past.

One thing they have got rid of on the Icon class ships is the “Rising Tide” bar.

This is essentially a bar on a moving platform, and it rises up from the Royal Promenade up to Central Park.

I thought it was a bit of a gimmick, and clearly Royal Caribbean thought they could make better use of the space on the newer Icon-class ships.

Central Park Is One Of The Things Royal Caribbean Kept

Central Park exists on both Symphony and Legend of the Seas.

This is an outdoor area with real plants, restaurants, bars and cabins overlooking it.

This is a good example of Royal Caribbean keeping an Oasis Class idea that worked really well.

The AquaDome Was One Of My Favourite Icon Class Changes

Symphony of the Seas has the outdoor AquaTheater at the back of the ship.

On Legend, this style of entertainment has moved to the enclosed AquaDome at the front.

I loved the AquaDome area; it was one of my favourite parts of the ship.

I preferred watching the aqua shows in the AquaDome to watching them at the back of the ship on Symphony.

The enclosed AquaDome venue changes the atmosphere of the shows and removes any uncertainty about the weather – fewer shows will need to be cancelled due to weather issues.

I enjoyed all of Legend’s shows, but the AquaDome productions were a particular highlight.

The AquaDome is also a place where you can spend time outside of showtimes, rather than simply being a theatre that opens up only for the evening performances.

The Entertainment Was One Of My Favourite Things About Both

Both classes have huge production shows, aqua shows and ice shows.

Symphony has the more traditional AquaTheater and “Studio B setup“.

Studio B is a multipurpose indoor arena on Royal Caribbean cruise ships that features a hidden full-size ice-skating rink beneath a removable floor.

The venue seats roughly 700 to 900 guests and transforms from an ice theatre for professional ice shows into a venue for game shows, open public skating, laser tag, and dance parties.

Legend has the AquaDome and Absolute Zero.

On Royal Caribbean’s Icon-class ships, Absolute Zero has the largest ice-skating arenas at sea, serving as an advanced venue for ice shows and digital projection performances.

The space can also be transformed for activities such as specialised onboard events or laser tag.

I watched all of the shows on Legend of the Seas, and really enjoyed them.

The venues on Icon Class feel like the newer versions of ideas Royal Caribbean had been developing on Oasis Class for many years.

Boardwalk vs Surfside

Symphony of the Seas has the Boardwalk neighbourhood with the carousel, restaurants and AquaTheater.

Legend replaces the Boardwalk concept with “Surfside”, which is deliberately aimed at families with younger children.

I barely went into Surfside on my Legend of the Seas cruise.

I sailed during the school summer holidays, and there were lots of children onboard.

But this actually worked really well for me because the children seemed to stay concentrated in the areas designed for them.

The rest of the ship generally didn’t feel overrun with children or particularly busy.

If you are worried that the Icon class is designed around children and families, this should put your mind at rest.

It was easy to stick to the neighbourhoods without lots of children, and I certainly didn’t need to go to the Surfside neighbourhood to enjoy the ship.

Icon Class Has Far More Waterslides, But Did I Care?

Legend has the enormous Category 6 waterpark.

Symphony has waterslides too, but they are nowhere near the scale of Icon Class.

I hardly went near the waterslides on Legend.

This was partly because it was the summer school holidays, and these areas were understandably popular with children and families.

Despite barely using one of Icon Class’s headline attractions, I still had loads to do onboard.

You don’t necessarily have to be interested in waterslides to enjoy Icon Class. If I had sailed outside of peak season, I probably would have given the slides a go – but I don’t feel like I missed out particularly.

Having more attractions onboard doesn’t automatically make the ship better for everybody.

Symphony Has A Zip Line, Legend Has Crown Edge

Symphony has the traditional Oasis Class zip line over the Boardwalk area.

Legend doesn’t have that same Boardwalk zip line.

Instead, Icon Class has an attraction called “Crown’s Edge”.

Crown’s Edge is an area that combines an elevated ropes course, a skywalk, and an open-ocean zipline.

This attraction does cost extra (anywhere between $15 and $90 at the time of writing), but all charges are subject to change and dependent on whether it is peak season or low season.

The zipline on Oasis-class ships is free to use.

This is a good example of Icon Class ships improving on Oasis class ship ideas – but then charging extra.

The Kids’ Areas Actually Helped The Rest Of Legend

This deserves its own section because the reality actually surprised me.

I sailed during the school summer holidays, so there were a lot of families onboard.

I expected the ship to feel packed with children.

Instead, the dedicated family areas seemed to draw families away from other parts of the ship.

Surfside and the waterpark were always busy, but the ship overall didn’t feel particularly crowded.

The children seemed to stay nicely in the places designed for them.

As an adult travelling without children, I actually appreciated the separation!

This is one area in which Royal Caribbean have clearly made some great improvements over the years.

According to Royal Caribbean, Legend of the Seas and Icon class ships in general were built from the ground up specifically to provide the ultimate family holiday.

The Cabins Have Some Familiar Ideas

Both classes have cabins facing into the ship as well as traditional ocean-facing balconies.

Symphony offers Boardwalk and Central Park views from their interior balcony cabins.

My cabin overlooked the Boardwalk area on Symphony, and I could see the ocean out of the back of the ship, over the AquaTheatre.

Have a look at that cabin here:

Legend of the Seas has Surfside and Central Park views.

On Legend, my balcony faced inside the ship, and I had no ocean view at all.

It felt quite strange to be on a cruise ship and not know whether the ship was at sea or not!

Icon Class Is Bigger, But Did It Feel Bigger?

Size and Capacity Comparison between Oasis class and Icon class ships

	Oasis Class (e.g., Oasis / Wonder / Utopia etc.)	Icon Class (e.g., Icon / Legend/Star etc.)
Gross Tonnage	226,838 GT	250,800 GT
Length	1,188 feet	1,196 feet
Passenger Decks	18 decks	20 decks total (18 guest decks)
Double Occupancy	5,602 to 5,734 guests	5,610 guests
Max Passenger Capacity	6,988 guests	7,600 guests (More multi-berth cabins for families)
Crew Capacity	2,300 crew	2,350 crew

The statistics make Legend significantly bigger, but what matters to me is how crowded it feels onboard.

On my sailing, there were around 6,500 passengers onboard. Despite that number, I generally didn’t find Legend crowded.

Just because the cruise was sold out didn’t mean that every berth was full. Find out more about that here:

A Sold Out Cruise Ship Usually Isn’t Actually Full – Here’s Why

The neighbourhood layouts seemed to spread people around well.

Some of the busiest places were exactly where you would expect them to be – particularly the areas aimed at children.

I also thought that Oasis of the Seas didn’t seem crowded compared to other, smaller ships I have sailed on – particularly considering I was on a peak season sailing.

I think spreading guests out is one thing that Royal Caribbean do very well on their larger ships. The ships have clearly been very cleverly designed with this in mind.

What Icon Class Improved For Me

The AquaDome was a big improvement over the AquaTheatre on Oasis-class ships for me.

I loved having so many completely different entertainment venues to enjoy.

Family neighbourhoods meant I could largely avoid the busiest kids’ areas without feeling like I was missing out on important areas of the ship.

What I Didn’t Really Use On Icon Class

• Surfside – The dedicated, open-air family neighbourhood located on Deck 7 midship. It is designed specifically for young families.
• The waterslides/waterpark – located in the Thrill Island neighbourhood on Deck 16/20. It spans 17,010 square feet and features six record-breaking slides.

I didn’t use many of the heavily family-focused attractions.

I think that is Important to note, because these are some of the features Royal Caribbean uses most heavily to advertise Icon Class.

I could completely ignore these areas and still have a great cruise.

This makes Icon Class ships potentially more appealing to adults without children than Royal Caribbean’s advertising might suggest.

Advertising images above from Royal Caribbean’s Website, promoting lots of family fun to be had!

Is Icon Class Actually Better Than Oasis Class?

Not necessarily in every way.

Icon Class takes several successful Oasis Class ideas and develops and improves on them.

Some changes, particularly the AquaDome, were definite improvements for me.

Other huge additions, such as Surfside and the waterpark, weren’t things I personally needed.

Oasis Class still offers the same basic enormous-ship experience with neighbourhoods, great entertainment and lots of choice.

I think price should therefore be a major factor when choosing between the two classes of ships.

Which Would I Choose After Cruising On Both?

For families, Icon Class has obvious advantages.

For adults travelling without children, don’t dismiss Icon Class just because the adverts heavily market her to families.

My experience during the school summer holidays showed that having dedicated kids’ areas can actually make the rest of the ship feel calmer.

For me, the AquaDome and entertainment are much bigger reasons to choose Icon Class than the waterpark or Surfside.

I wouldn’t pay a lot extra for Legend of the Seas if there was an Oasis-class ship that I could sail on instead, more affordably.

For me, Oasis of the Seas felt about 95% the same as the newer, more expensive to sail on, Legend of the Seas.

Interestingly, Royal Caribbean got its idea about ships with Royal Promenades down the centre from a ferry!

The first Royal Caribbean ship of this design was Voyager of the Seas, and she went massively over budget.

Find out all about that fascinating story in the video below (and yes, I am wearing a wig in parts of this video, as I had just shaved all my hair off for charity!)

Before You Go

Legend of the Seas isn’t the first Royal Caribbean ship to carry that name. Find out what happened to the original, 1995 Legend of the Seas here:

I Cruised On The New And Old Legend Of The Seas. They Couldn’t Be More Different

Often, if I find the ship I want to sail on expensive, I then look at “sister ships” that are virtually the same to get a much better deal. Find out more about that here:

Before You Book a Cruise, Check The Sister Ships – Here’s Why