Royal Caribbean is adding a non-smoking casino to another of its mega ships, replacing other venues.
Symphony of the Seas is one of the biggest ships in the world, and this fall it will get an update to expand its casino. The change will coincide with swapping out a couple of other venues.
In an email to casino players, Royal Caribbean confirmed it will expand the casino space on the ship sometime in Fall 2026.
Since there is no drydock scheduled, it appears the ship is conducting in-service work. This means the ship will continue sailing, but there will be a few weeks of construction while the work is completed.
A guest sailing on Symphony of the Seas this week heard the changes will be complete by September, "We are onboard and they are supposed to do it by September."
This change isn't unique, as the cruise line has made similar changes to most of its other Oasis Class ships.
We expect the Crown Lounge and comedy club to be removed so that the casino space can takeover.
Comedy Shows will be moved permanently to the Royal Theater instead of having a more intimate club feel.
The Crown Lounge will likely be relocated, which is a dedicated area for Crown and Anchor Society members that are at least Diamond level or above.
On other ships, this space has been moved to Deck 16 to replace the Teen Club. The Teen Club was renovated on those ships and become smaller.
What's coming next
When the new section of the casino opens, it will offer more space than ever for non-smokers.
When combined with the smoking section, there will be over 29,000 square feet of casino space.
598 slot machines and 38 tables games will be offered onboard.
A push for non-smokers to gamble more
Casinos on cruise ships have become big business for Royal Caribbean. They've systematically expanded the casino on numerous ships over the past few years, indicating the change is part of a strategy to offer more opportunities for passengers to gamble.
This all started with Wonder of the Seas when that cruise ship first entered service.
Wonder was originally destined for China and designed with more gambling spaces. But a last-minute change kept Wonder in North America, and the cruise line experimented with keeping plans for a non-smoking casino in lieu of a jazz club.
Shortly thereafter, all the Jazz on 4 clubs on other Oasis Class ships were converted to non-smoking casinos. The jazz performers were relocated to Central Park.
More recently, Royal Caribbean replaced a wine bar on Freedom of the Seas and a pub on Radiance of the Seas with non-smoking casinos.
Losing the comedy clubs is a hit to entertainment
While the Crown Lounge will be relocated to a different space, there won't be a dedicated comedy club anymore on Symphony of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean will continue offering comedy shows in the much larger Royal Theater, but it's a far less intimate venue.
Some comedians use "crowd work" to interact with guests and generate funny jokes. Trying to do that in a theater is more difficult since the comedian is further from the audience, and the audience cannot easily see each other.
Trying to solve a problem and make more money
This change on Symphony of the Seas is an attempt to accomplish two goals: generate profit and satisfy its guests needs.
While the original casino on Symphony of the Seas has a non-smoking section, it's part of a larger room. The reality is the smoke from the smoking section permeates across to the non-smoking side, leaving an odor.
While Royal Caribbean is unwilling to ban smoking in the casino, it prefers to add dedicated non-smoking gambling space instead.
The idea is to offer a completely smoke-free area for cruisers, so there's less compromise.
Gambling on Royal Caribbean has gained in popularity over the last few years. Not only has there been a surge in interest among passengers trying to take advantage of the casino loyalty program, but the expanding casino space on other ships clearly indicates the cruise line sees value there.
Legend of the Seas will debut with the line's first two-story casino, and Harmony of the Seas just had its casino expanded to become the biggest in the fleet.
Royal Caribbean doesn't share information regarding how profitable its casinos are, but the expanding casino footprint across the fleet is part of a pattern of actions that wouldn't make sense if it wasn't generating money for them.
