Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor Society has released a new batch of construction photos, highlighting the progress of Symphony of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean shared the photos on the official Crown and Anchor Facebook page, as well as with members of the media.
Symphony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's newest Oasis-class ship, under construction at the STX shipyard in France. The ship is scheduled to be delivered in 2018.
Construction on Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas is progressing, and we have a new bundle of photos to share.
Our friends at Saint Nazaire, une ville à la mer posted these photos, which were taken this week.
© Hervé GLAIS
Symphony of the Seas will be the cruise line's fourth Oasis Class ship.
Each quarter, Royal Caribbean's management gets on the phone with investors to discuss its quarterly earnings. Much of the call is dedicated to the discussion of rather uninteresting fiscal reports, however, there are a number of tidbits that Royal Caribbean fans can glean during the discussion.
During Royal Caribbean's first quarter 2017 earnings call with investors, we picked up on five interesting points worth noting.
Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO Richard Fain made a quick reference to some of features coming to the new smart phone app that the cruise line is developing.
Dubbed, "Project Excalibur," this new app will offer new ways for guests to have a simpler experience onboard.
"Starting over two years ago, we have found intuitive digital applications to make the guest experience simpler and more comfortable," Fain announced during the call. "You'll be able to open the door to your room without pulling out a card or a key, request a beverage real-time from the comfort of your lounge chair, and get recommendations for your traveling companion based on their preferences."
"We take our guest vacation time seriously, and technology is a great enabler to improve the use of that."
Royal Caribbean CFO Jason Liberty made mention of the fact onboard revenue continues to grow, and that is a reflection of a shift in where guests spend their money. Specifically, they are spending more money on experiences, in lieu of buying things.
Onboard revenue yield was up 8.9% for the quarter, which was driven by new hardware, shore excursions and Voom.
"As I mentioned over the past couple quarters, guests spend has continuing to shift towards areas that involve experiences over buying things," Liberty explained.
Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley added, "What we are seeing is a switch to more experience-related revenue streams, and obviously we are trying to leverage that. Things like shore excursions obviously, and beverages and beverage packages. "
"I think really what we are seeing is we're seeing a really good pick up on our pre-cruise sales, and that has been driving a lot of these revenues. There's various theories on how impactful pre-cruises sales are, and one of the theories is that if you sell a dollar pre-cruise, you'll probably see anywhere from 20 to 50% uptick in the onboard spend by the very same guest."
Two days ago, Royal Caribbean announced that Mariner of the Seas would return to North America after spending many years in the Asia-Pacific region.
Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley explained, "With Mariner moving back into the States, that was really about timing. Mariner was coming out anyway when Quantum Plus came into the market, and we had an opportunity because we have some revitalization and drydock work that's quite extensive that we're planning for Mariner."
Bookings in general are quite good for Royal Caribbean, and even the yet-to-be-launched Symphony of the Seas is doing well with guests booking it.
"Symphony of the Seas, which comes out in April of next year, the forward bookings are terrific."
An investor asked how passengers under 35 years old view Royal Caribbean, and Michael Bayley elaborated on the appeal of cruising to millennials.
"When a millennial has a child, they really come into our sweet spot...for Royal Caribbean certainly. As soon as those millennials get kids, then they really want to have a great time with their family, and we work very well for them. "
"The one obvious thing that's quite meaningful is digital technology and access through Voom to the world around them. Of course, that's something we put into place a couple of years ago, and I think that's really proven to be successful."
"The other component is the whole idea of multi-generational vacations, and that's something we really do focus on. This idea that we can offer a multi-generational experience to our customers. And of course, the Oasis Class ships really are the great expression of that."
"And then dining I think is becoming something that's slightly different with the millennial market, and that's something we're obviously focused on, both in our current fleet, and also as we look at our new builds coming online."
Royal Caribbean released a new batch of construction photos, highlighting the progress of Symphony of the Seas.
Symphony of the Seas is Royal Caribbean's newest Oasis Class ship, under construction at the STX shipyard in France. The ship is scheduled to be delivered in 2018.
We have another batch of fresh photos to share of the construction progress being made on Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas.
Symphony of the Seas will be the cruise line's fourth Oasis Class ship.
Our friends at Saint Nazaire, une ville à la mer posted these photos, which were taken on April 19, 2017.
© Hervé GLAIS
The AquaTheater suites for Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas are awaiting installation at the STX France shipyard in Saint Nazaire, France, and we have some photos of the ship's progress to share.
Our friends at Saint Nazaire, une ville à la mer posted these photos.
© Hervé GLAIS
Royal Caribbean has released new photos of Symphony of the Seas' construction progress. We can see the bow being attached to the ship's superstructure.
Symphony of the Seas will be Royal Caribbean's fourth Oasis Class cruise ship, and will debut in Spring 2018.
The azipods for Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas have arrived at STX Franch shipyard earlier today, and were unloaded to make their way to the ship for installation.
Kudos to Saint Nazaire, une ville à la mer for sharing these photos with us. Merci!
© Hervé GLAIS
Azipods are a multi-directional propulsion unit, which claims to use less fuel than traditional systems, and to provide greater maneuverability in all operating conditions. Royal Caribbean uses azipods to propel and safely maneuver its ships on the high seas.
We ran across a new batch of Symphony of the Seas construction photos that were recently posted that show off the progress the ship is making.
Kudos to Saint Nazaire, une ville à la mer for sharing these photos with us. Merci!
© Hervé GLAIS
It has been barely 24 hours since Royal Caribbean pulled the curtain back and revealed Symphony of the Seas, and we are already giddy with anticipation. New cruise ships are always exciting because the prospect of a new experience suddenly creates intrigue with the new possibilities, and it seems like the cruise line's 26th ship in the fleet is going to epic.
Without a doubt, there is plenty more for Royal Caribbean to reveal, but with just the news from day one, we found five aspects of Symphony of the Seas that already have us excited to cruise on her.
Symphony of the Seas is the fourth Oasis class ship, but first of her kind to stray from the sort of itineraries Oasis of the Seas first pioneered.
Symphony of the Seas is headed to some new (or much less frequently visited) ports for Oasis class ships. These new stops include St. Kitts & Nevis, Costa Maya and Roatan.
If you are a fan of the more "traditional" Caribbean ports, there are still some Eastern Caribbean sailings that visit Labadee, San Juan and St. Maarten.
Just like when Oasis of the Seas was being built, Royal Caribbean is building an all-new cruise terminal for Symphony of the Seas (and sister ship Allure of the Seas is joining in too).
PortMiami Terminal A promises to be state-of-the-art cruise hub and future home of Symphony of the Seas. The ‘Crown of Miami,’ a 170,000-square-foot terminal, scheduled for completion for the arrival of Symphony and Allure, will be the most innovative cruise facility in the United States. Royal Caribbean anticipates at least 1.8 million passenger moves at PortMiami, thanks to having the world's largest cruise ship calling Miami home.
Royal Caribbean is bringing back its 10-story thrill slide, known as the Ultimate Abyss, to Symphony of the Seas. While the slide is not new to Royal Caribbean (it originally debuted on Harmony of the Seas), there is something different we can look forward to experiencing.
On Royal Caribbean's website, they included an indication that the version on Symphony of the Seas might have something additional, not found on the version on Harmony.
After riding the Ultimate Abyss on Harmony, any enhancements on Symphony of the Seas are sure to make an already exhilarating ride into an even better one.
If you follow the progress of a Royal Caribbean ship during construction, you will notice that the cruise line really enjoys teasing guests with possibilities of what is to come, and they are already at it with Symphony of the Seas.
Besides the Ultimate Abyss hint earlier in our countdown, there are two other clues of what is to come.
The first tease is with the promise of something "daring" and "a whole new challenge".
It also appears there will be new culinary experiences on Symphony of the Seas to enjoy.
During a conference call with members of the media, Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley mentioned something about Symphony of the Seas' Solarium that has caught the attention of a few folks.
With any new ship, one of the most common questions is usually about what makes this ship different from other ships in her class. Bayley was not keen to share many details, but did indicate the adults-only area towards of the front of the ship will be "quite a lot" different from ones on other Oasis Class ships.
What that means is anyone's guess, but perhaps this could signify the return of a pool in the Solarium, following the omission of a Solarium pool on Harmony of the Seas.