Royal Caribbean has confirmed that its Vice Chairman Adam Goldstein has left the company.

A spokesman from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. confirmed that Mr. Goldstein has departed the company.

A statement to RoyalCaribbeanBlog thanked Adam Goldstein for his contributions:

Adam Goldstein has made countless contributions to our company since the day he came to RCL in 1988. Adam worked his way up through various roles at the company to eventually serve as president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, president and COO of RCL, and most recently as vice chairman.
 
Every step of the way, our company was growing, strengthening and becoming more successful – and the parallels between Adam’s achievements and the company’s are no accident. Adam will always be family to us and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.

Adam Goldstein served as President & CEO of Royal Caribbean International from 2007 to 2014. From 2014 to 2018, he served as President & COO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. 

Credit to Seatrade Cruise News for first reporting the departure.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd announced today it has appointed Adam Goldstein, to serve as vice chairman.

Goldstein will assume his new post in May 2018. In his new role, Goldstein will continue to oversee RCL’s global government relations and destination development efforts, and will represent the company in industry associations.  Both areas have been a constant focus for Goldstein across a career filled with challenging assignments.

Goldstein ia a 30-year veteran of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, has served as RCL’s president and chief operating officer since 2014.  He also served as the President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International prior to Michael Bayley.

RCL’s chairman and CEO, Richard Fain, said, “Adam has played a pivotal role in our success since he joined the company in 1988. He has exerted a positive influence across the company and provides exemplary leadership in our industry and in the communities we serve. As Adam transitions to his new role, I look forward to working with him to continue to build on these successes.”

Goldstein said: “It remains an incredible privilege to work with the men and women of RCL, who help create the memories of a lifetime for our guests, and who know the importance of doing good while we do well. I look forward to focusing my efforts in a few key areas where I can help advance the cause of both RCL and the cruise industry.”

At the Seatrade Med 2014 trade event, Royal Caribbean's COO Adam Goldstein was named the Seatrade Mediterranean Personality of the Year 2014.

Goldstein was presented the award at the event during the opening conference session of Seatrade Med 2014, which is being held this year at the Fira de Barcelona.

Seatrade chairman Chris Hayman spoke about why Adam Goldstein deserved the award, "He was one of the first North American executives to identify Europe as a second source market from an industry standpoint and set about tapping into that potential by spearheading deploying of vessels into the region, and in particular the Med, to ignite local demand."

On receiving the award, Adam Goldstein said, "I would like to say thank you to Seatrade, UBM and V.Ships Leisure for this award. The success of any enterprise is that it is a team effort. I am thoroughly grateful to be the recipient of the Seatrade Mediterranean Cruise Personality of the Year."

Royal Caribbean Ltd, the parent company to Royal Caribbean International, promoted Adam Goldstein from CEO of Royal Caribbean International to a newly created position president and chief operating officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., effective immediately. 

As a result, Royal Caribbean is now searching for a new CEO of Royal Caribbean International.

Goldstein's new position will have him working with Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain on the strategic direction for the cruise line.  Goldstein will also oversee human resources, information technology, supply chain, corporate communications, safety and environment, government relations, guest port operations and commercial development. 

“Royal Caribbean was a five-ship company when I arrived here, and today we are many times larger than that,” Goldstein said in a statement. “The opportunity we have is to take even greater advantage of our global scale and knowledge, while delivering the guest satisfaction that helped us grow to where we are today.”

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein spoke with CNBC about safety in the cruise industry as part of an effort to set the record straight.  

Royal Caribbean has had some negative attention lately after two cruise passengers went overboard from their cruises.

In an exclusive intereview with CNBC, Goldstein spoke about the work Royal Caribbean's crew does every day to provide a safe cruise experience for its guests, "I having been in this cruise business for over 25 years now, my frame of reference is two and a half decades of an, extraordinarily safe of track record of great duration. Tremendous attention to detail and training that prepares the crew and the officers to do everything that they need to do from to delivering satisfaction to the guests to being extremely safe and environmentally responsible. "

"And so there's no question in our minds, in my mind, that the last two or three years have been an anomaly, and that given the foundation of discipline and attention to detail, the cruise industry will resume its long-term very safe track record. "

Goldstein's reaction to the negative news forced Royal Caribbean and the whole cruise industry to change how it looks at the guest experience, "It was very off base and we don't want to see it anymore. The cruise industry, as a whole, has stepped forward as worked together in a different and better way than before the sequence of incidents. We are much more proactive as an industry on the safety front. 

"The second thing though that we took from the sequence of incidents that occured in the industry is to do even more to ensure guest comfort while we were keeping them safe. We looked for redundancy of comfort systems, making sure the air conditioning, the heating, the toilet systems, the food provision, everything could continue even under very difficult circumstances. "

"And we've made progress in that regard, and i think the whole industry has."

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein appeared on CNBC and discussed his disappointment with the United States' government shutdown and its impact on Royal Caribbean's business.

Goldstein commented on how the government shutdown has affected Royal Caribbean, "We are receiving most of the services that we need, particularly from the United States Coast Guard and Customs & Border Protection. But as you mentioned, when it comes to bringing our customers to national parks such as Acadia up in Maine, we are not able to do that and it's very frustrating for us and for our guests."

When asked if it was financially better for Royal Caribbean to keep guests onboard their ships or allow them to go on excursions, Goldstein responded, "It's not a money making proposition to disappoint your customers. They bought these vacations a long time ago with high expectations. They want to see these national parks.  We're not going to improve our situation by being a part of their frustration."

Speaking at the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) conference in Cartagena, Colombia, Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein and Chairman Richard Fain commented on the future of the cruise line in a number of directions.

Minuto30 covered the conference where Goldstein spoke about which parts of the world Royal Caribbean will focus its efforts in the coming years and mentioned they will strengthen its presence in the Caribbean, its natural destination, but is dedicated to recognizing "business opportunities everywhere."

"There are other regions like Asia-Pacific, also emerge as potential cruise," Goldstein added, stressing that these routes are also near the American public, who "will remain the largest source of world cruises".

Later Richard Fain addressed one of the thorniest issues surrounding this industry: safety.  He said that cruise ship safety is "essential" along with respect for the environment.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein is proud of what his company has been able to achieve in terms of success in the China cruise market.

"China is already our third-largest market in the world, behind the US and the UK, which is amazing, and we believe it will grow even more," said Goldstein, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International.

Royal Caribbean reported the number of passengers embarking on China home-ported sailings has quadrupled from 25,000 in 2010 to 115,000 last year.  This year, Royal Caribbean is expecting to see that number rise to 300,000 guests.

Goldstein believes that it will take some more time, but eventually the Chinese cruise market will eclipse the United States cruise market, however, he does see it will bypass the UK cruise market in the next five years.

Part of Royal Caribbean's success was bringing bigger ships over, including Voyager of the Seas and Mariner of the Seas.

"When we first came to China in 2008, and talked about 2,000 people getting on in Shanghai and getting off in South Korea, no one believed it," Goldstein recalled.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein posted a new question and answer post on his blog and not surprisingly, many questions were about Quantum of the Seas.  We haven't heard much in the way of new details about this brand new class of cruise ships, but today we got a few more tidbits.

One guest asked Goldstein what was the the biggest motivating factor behind Quantum of the Seas.  

Goldstein responded, "With every new ship class our focus is on providing an enriched guest experience. In addition to that, the Quantum class of ships gave us an opportunity to introduce major advancements in ship design. Our internal teams have worked hard to integrate many diverse experiences into a comfortable and exciting cruise vacation. The newbuild design process has been a fundamental building block of our culture as I discussed in a blog article earlier this year."

Another question was posed about if the Schooner Bar will exist on Quantum of the Seas.  Fans of this fun bar will be happy to know Goldstein confirmed that the Schooner Bar will indeed be onboard Quantum of the Seas.

The decision to homeport Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship in Bayonne, New Jersey is a question at the top of many people's minds and CEO Adam Goldstein commented on the deployment decision.

Goldstein feels that the New York cruise market is very important to the brand, “It’s an appropriate place to homeport as she begins service."

Some of the new innovations the cruise ship features, such as bumper cars and skydiving, should attract first time cruisers according to Goldstein.

“It should help the perceptions some people may have about the cruise experience,” he said.

Goldstein was very proud of the Music Hall, saying that Royal Caribbean was one of the last to still place an importance on live music – with up to 30 performers sailing with the ship.

When Goldstein was asked if the decision to homeport Quantum of the Seas in the New York area opens up possibilities for new ships going to places other than Florida, he answered that there are more ports the Quantum-class vessels can go in comparison to the Oasis, but not that many.

The success metrics of the new Quantum ships will be measured via revenue generation and yields tied together.

“What people pay to be onboard (is the metric),” Goldstein continued, adding that fuel savings will come from hydrodynamics and the overall shape of the hull, along with changes and innovations to the propellers, the engines, air conditioning, lighting and more.