Who Royal Caribbean is for
Royal Caribbean’s proposition is unusually easy to state: the ship is the vacation. An Icon- or Oasis-class vessel carries the better part of six thousand guests and is laid out as a set of neighborhoods rather than as a hull with decks, and a seven-night sailing on one is a week in a small resort town that happens to move at night.
That is a genuine preference and not a compromise. If you want a ship you can get lost on, a surf simulator, a proper theater and somewhere to put teenagers for eight hours a day, this is the line that does it best and has done for twenty years.
It is also the wrong answer for some people, and worth saying so. If you want quiet decks, small ports and dinner with the captain, look at the expedition and small-ship lines instead; these ships are busy by design.
What to know before you book
The private island is doing a lot of work. Perfect Day at CocoCay appears on most Bahamas and many Caribbean itineraries, and for a family it is frequently the best day of the week. Check whether yours calls there; two otherwise identical sailings can differ on exactly this.
Ship class matters more than itinerary here. On most lines the route is the decision. On Royal Caribbean an Icon-class ship and a Vision-class ship are different vacations on the same water, so pick the ship first.
Book the entertainment early. Shows, the ice rink and the specialty restaurants open for reservation well before you sail, and the good slots on a full ship go quickly.
