Icon of the Seas stunner: You won't believe how full the world's largest cruise ship is sailing

25.07.2024 - 17:10 / thepointsguy.com / Michael Bayley

Thinking of booking a cruise on Royal Caribbean's new Icon of the Seas? Get ready for monster crowds.

The world's largest cruise ship is sailing at a stunningly high level of occupancy, a top Royal Caribbean executive revealed Thursday.

Speaking to Wall Street analysts during a conference call to discuss quarterly earnings, Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley said the six-month-old vessel is averaging a 132% load factor on sailings — that is, its cabins are 132% full.

For more cruise news, guides and tips, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter.

That's a massively high number that essentially means that every cabin on the ship on every sailing is currently being occupied by at least two and sometimes three, four or even five people.

By comparison, the average load factor for ships operated by Royal Caribbean Group brands has been running at 108% in recent months, according to data released on Thursday by the company.

Related: Yikes! Does Icon of the Seas really cost that much

Cruise ships can have occupancy levels above 100% when cabins are filled with more than two people. Most cabins are built for two people, and that's the typical number of people that occupy any given cabin. But cabins on some ships also have pull-out sofas and pull-down bunks that allow for extra passengers — usually children. When some of them are occupied, that can boost a ship's reported occupancy numbers above 100%.

"We're just delighted," Bayley said of the sky-high load factors on Icon of the Seas.

Bayley has called the ship the most successful vessel in the history of the company.

The unusually high load factor for Icon of the Seas likely means the ship is sailing with a huge number of children on board, who are packing into cabins with their parents instead of staying in separate rooms.

That would make sense, as Royal Caribbean has marketed the vessel as the ultimate family vacation destination. It was built with an unusual amount of family-friendly attractions, including a new-for-the-line outdoor "neighborhood" called Surfside, dedicated to families with young children.

Icon of the Seas also features the largest water park ever built on a cruise ship, with a record six decktop waterslides. It also has seven pools and all sorts of other family-friendly attractions, including a rock climbing wall, surfing pool, ice skating rink and sprawling kiddie play areas.

In addition, Icon of the Seas has a lot more cabins that have extra bunks to accommodate families with children than earlier Royal Caribbean ships.

At 248,663 gross tons, Icon of the Seas is more than 5% bigger than the biggest cruise ships that were sailing before it debuted, all of which were Royal Caribbean ships, too.

Icon of the Seas is designed to hold 5,610