One Royal Caribbean passenger didn’t find the sympathy she was looking for when she posted a video complaining about her stateroom while sailing on Icon of the Seas earlier this year.
A Tiktoker named Abby, who goes by (@abbiesnormal) on the social media platform, complained that her cabin’s balcony had an “obstructed view” of the ocean.
According to Abbie, who was sailing on the world’s largest ship with her husband, there is a railing at the bottom of the balcony that spans the length of the cruise ship and blocks the bottom of her view when she’s sitting on her balcony, especially at night.
The railing in question is likely there as a safety measure or a support for Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, with most modern cruise ships likely set up similarly.
The saga began when Abbie posted a 15 second video of her view at night on February 26, 2024. Over the video, white text asked “should this rail be considered an obstruction on my balcony.” The video was viewed 49.2K times, and commented on over 100 times, with most responding that the balcony wasn’t obstructed or that it was too dark to see anything.
@abbiesnormal
#iconoftheseas #balcony #ocean
♬ original sound – Abbie❤️
Determined to make her point, Abbie posted a follow up video the next day on February 27 showing her view in the daylight. Despite only having a little over 5,000 followers on TikTok, the video went viral and has been viewed more than 1.5 million times at the time of publication.
“I look over, there’s this rail. It goes all the way down, all the way down… So, when you sit on the balcony, with an unobstructed view, you should be able to just see right down at the ocean. But you can’t,” Abbie said in the video.
“It’s obstructed by about a foot or so and that messes up the way the ocean looks at night,” the TikToker continued.
While Abbie was likely looking for validation that her cabin should be classified as an “obstructed view,” the TikTok community did not hold back on telling Abbie how wrong they thought she was, with some asking if the video was posted as a joke.
“‘Should this be considered an obstructed view?’…shows the most unobstructed view I could possibly conjure up,” commented one user.
“I can’t imagine being on such an amazing vacation and complaining about an imaginary obstruction in your perfect view,” wrote another.
Still determined to prove her point, Abbie posted a third video on March 10, which has been viewed 36.2K times. In the latest installment, Abbie shows a balcony from Ovation of the Seas that she says is unobstructed, to illustrate how her balcony onboard Icon of the Seas was different.
@abbiesnormal
Replying to @Brittany Ovation of the seas. Nitice how tgeres no foot wide white block holding a rail outside the bottom of my balcony. I could post others🤷♀️
♬ Coastline – Hollow Coves
Ultimately, the TikTok community still wasn’t buying it, with some commenting on other unrelated videos from Abbie’s cruise to jokingly ask if the view was obstructed there, too. Even so, it does seem like Abbie found the rest of her time aboard the massive 7,600-guest ship to be more satisfactory from her other content.
While it’s not clear what sailing Abbie took part in, the new ship has been alternating between Western and Eastern Caribbean cruises based out of Miami, Florida, since her maiden voyage, which embarked just a few months ago on January 27, 2024.
Cruise Cabins Onboard Icon of the Seas
As the world’s largest cruise ship, weighing in at 250,800-gross tons, Icon of the Seas has nearly 30 different types of staterooms and suites for all different kinds of guests, from those traveling solo to couples and big families.
All cabins have a smart design, featuring extra storage, USB ports and outlets, app-controlled lighting and temperature that can be controlled via guests’ phones, and a modern design.
In total, Icon of the Seas has 535 interior staterooms, 276 ocean view staterooms, and 1,815 balcony staterooms – and that’s just counting normal staterooms, not suites. There are then many different types of cabins within these three categories to choose from.
Icon of the Seas Cruise Ship (Photo Credit: Ceri Breeze)
For example, there are standard interior cabins, interior plus rooms, spacious interior cabins, and more – all of which have no view or look into a different part of the ship, such as the Central Park area.
Then, there are ocean view cabins, which also vary in size and quality, ranging from port holes to big windows for panoramic viewing and traditional private balconies.
For those looking to sail in the utmost luxury, there are also 179 suites onboard to choose from. Options begin with smaller junior suites and family suites and range to loft suites and family townhouses as big as 1,772 square feet. The ship even has its own “suite neighborhood,” which spans across four decks.
Read Also: Icon of the Seas Size Comparison: Facts and Stats
Of course, there are some cabins where views are obstructed onboard. According to Royal Caribbean, an obstruction is “something that blocks a proportion of the direct outward view from a stateroom,” usually something like a lifeboat or the “outer structure of the ship” – none of which applied to Abbie’s stateroom.
Additionally, passengers would be able to see that they were booking a cabin with an obstructed view before locking in their choice, or would be made aware that they could potentially be placed in an obstructed room if allowing the cruise line to assign their stateroom, depending on the category they selected while booking. An obstructed stateroom shouldn’t ever be a surprise.
