More cruise ships will skip a visit to Royal Caribbean's private beach in Haiti.

Guests booked on cruises in the summer and early fall are getting notifications from Royal Caribbean, that their visits to Labadee have been cancelled.

Following on cancellations that began in March due to civil unrest in Haiti, the cruise line has been forced to cancel more cruises into September 2024.

Royal Caribbean had previously cancelled visits to Labadee through the end of May 2024.

Read more: Is Royal Caribbean still going to Labadee, Haiti?

More Labadee cancellations

On Tuesday, cruisers began to share updates they received from Royal Caribbean that their itineraries have been updated to drop Labadee and replace it with another port or a sea day.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog has spotted different cruises cancelled in June, August, and even September.

In most cases, ships are being re-routed to Grand Turk in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

As an example, the Adventure of the Seas September 21st sailing has had her visit to Labadee replaced with a visit to Grand Turk.

"Due to the continuing situation in Haiti, we'll now visit Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, instead of Labadee, Haiti," the statement said in an email to booked passengers.

"We're sorry for the change - your safety is our top priority."

Similar emails have been sent to guests booked on cruises with scheduled stops in Labadee throughout summer 2024.

Guests who had any shore excursions booked for their visit to Labadee will automatically receive a refund to their onboard accounts.

The cancellations affect ships such as Adventure of the Seas, Independence of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, and Symphony of the Seas all due to visit Labadee in the summer.

No other cruise lines sail to Haiti.

Understandable disappointment

Guests have already started sharing the news and their opinions on the change.

"For the folks looking forward to Labadee, for the folks in Labadee, and for Royal, I am sorry this has been so tough," wrote WAYNO on the RoyalCaribbeanBlog message boards.

"Understandable but sad as I was pumped to visit both private destinations in a single sailing," wrote tntornadox on another message board.

A necessary change

The civil unrest in Haiti has forced Royal Caribbean's hand in this situation, even if Labadee is not near the areas of conflict.

Located on the north coast of Haiti, Labadee is a walled-off private enclave for Royal Caribbean cruise guests. It's at least a 6-and-a-half hour drive from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Royal Caribbean started cancelling visits to Labadee following the fallout of a siege of the government by gangs that began in mid-March. Since then, the country has experienced a major upheaval with a new government, prison break, and many deaths.

More than 53,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince and food shortages are taking place across the island, according to reports.

A state of emergency was declared on March 3, followed by the prime minister’s resignation on March 12. 

In July 2023, the US State Department raised the security threat to a Level 4 due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure.

Where is Labadee?

Labadee is located on the northern coast of Haiti, whereas the majority of the violence is occurring further south in more populated areas.

In short, it's walled off from the rest of the country and is in a remote area. It's guarded by a private security force. Guests aren't permitted to leave the area. 

Unlike other ports, such as Cozumel or Nassau, you won't be able to book a third-party excursion. Instead, all tours in Labadee have to be reserved directly through Royal Caribbean. Moreover, all food and supplies are brought ashore from the ship, rather than from elsewhere in Haiti. 

Work is officially underway on Royal Caribbean's new beach club in Nassau, Bahamas.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on Monday for the new Royal Beach Club, Paradise Island.

The 17-acre Royal Beach club project was first announced in 2020, but the cruise industry shutdown of 2020 forced a delay in it becoming a reality.  Nonetheless, today's milestone signifies the official start of work for the new offering.

The official opening is slated for sometime in 2025.

Royal Caribbean Group President and CEO Jason Liberty and Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley were joined by The Bahamas' Prime Minister Philip Davis and Deputy Prime Minister I. Chester Cooper to commemorate the major milestone.

Construction will begin in the next few months, and Royal Caribbean hopes it will offer an authentic Bahamian experience. Plus, it is the first-of-its-kind project that gives back to the people of The Bahamas with a unique public-private partnership allows Bahamian nationals to hold up to 49% equity in the venture. 

The first of the Royal Beach Club destinations, the Nassau club aims to offer Royal Caribbean passengers exclusive access to a prime spot to enjoy an unparalleled beach experience.

Unlike the private island experience, the Royal Beach Club is an extra-cost venue with a limited capacity.  Guests visiting Nassau on a port stop will have the opportunity to purchase admission to the beach club.

The club is located on a narrow strip of land near where the cruise ships dock on Paradise Island.

The club will have three pools with swim-up bars, live music, two beaches, four restaurants serving local food.

The capacity of the club should be about 2,000 guests.

More details are expected closer to the opening.

To reach the beach club, passengers will have to taxi a complimentary water shuttle from Bay Street located near the Straw Market. Once onboard, guests will have two drop-off options: near Sapphire Beach and the west end of the pool.

The look of the club will take inspiration from its home country. The local architecture will be crafted by a local Bahamian architectural firm. Bahamian entrepreneurs and businesses are integral to the construction and management of the new venture, creating hundreds of job opportunities both immediately and in the future. Bahamian residents have already engaged in workshops. 

Another world-class experience

The start of construction means this dream is coming to fruition, and Royal Caribbean couldn't be more excited for it.

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Jason Liberty said at the event, "Marking more than the beginning of the construction process, today’s groundbreaking event symbolizes partnership, momentum and continued economic development for so many Bahamian entrepreneurs and the entire community."

"We are grateful to our partners for their support, especially the Bahamian government, who stand with us here today in celebration of what is to come"

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley also spoke, "As we break ground on Royal Beach Club Paradise Island, together with the government and the people of The Bahamas, we are celebrating what partnership and innovation can achieve. This will be yet one more reason, in Nassau’s bright future, to experience a destination we have visited since the very beginning of Royal Caribbean more than 50 years ago."

"The beauty and charm of the island are why we chose to debut the Royal Beach Club Collection in Nassau, and with the collaboration and support of local entrepreneurs and the wider community, we know that what we create will far exceed everything we imagined.”

Honorable Philip Davis, Prime Minister of The Bahamas spoke about the importance of this new beach club, "With the signing of this Heads of Agreement for the development of Royal Beach Club Paradise Island, we embark on this project to further enhance the vitality of our tourism product. Signing today’s agreement, we add another world-class experience to our tourism offerings. And even more importantly, we take a bold step toward greater Bahamian empowerment in the tourism industry."

No one wants to get sick, especially on vacation, and Royal Caribbean implemented a program in 2023 that got rid of one of the worst illnesses people sometimes catch on cruise ships.

Within Royal Caribbean Groups' environmental stewardship report for 2023 is a section that details what the company is doing to improve public health on its ships.

The Norovirus Eradication Campaign was launched in 2023 on Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises vessels with the ultimate goal of eliminating transmission of norovirus on its ships.

Norovirus is referred to as "the stomach flu", and is easily spread from person to person.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 19 to 21 million cases of vomiting and diarrhea illnesses caused by norovirus each year. 

Norovirus is transmitted when someone ingests particles of vomit or feces from an infected person, such as through consuming food touched by an infected individual, touching contaminated surfaces and then their mouth, or placing contaminated objects on clean surfaces.

The CDC says the most common symptoms of norovirus are diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and stomach pain. 

While only about 1% of all annual norovirus cases reported in the U.S. happen on cruise ships, the perception is it occurs more frequently due to media reports of gastrointestinal viral outbreaks on cruise ships. This is partly because health officials track illness on cruise ships, so outbreaks are found and reported more quickly on a cruise ship than on land.

You're far more likely to catch norovirus at a long-term care facility, hospital, childcare center, or school.

Regardless, because of the media attention reports of the virus on cruise ships attract, Royal Caribbean Group took action to mitigate cases.

A new approach

In June 2023, Royal Caribbean launched a norovirus eradication campaign that included a range of new protocols and policies.

The six tenants of the program were outlined in the Seastainability report:

1. Enhanced acute GI training for onboard medical teams and traveling PHOs 

2. Increased PHO oversight of our Outbreak Prevention Plan, which covers requirements like hand washing, buffet oversight and disinfectant mandates for all public areas aboard our ships

3. Switching to PDI SaniCloth Prime hospital-grade disinfectant wipes (Link contains affiliate link, which costs you nothing extra to use!)

Unlike earlier wipes, PDI wipes carry an EPA claim against norovirus, helping them play a key role in reducing acute GI cases onboard cruise ships.

4. New contactless tap technology, eliminating the need for crew to handle guest cards

5. Enhanced crew training on what to do when experiencing acute GI symptoms and how to avoid cross-contamination in food and beverage service areas

6. An update to our Safety & Quality Management system to stop self-service in buffets if the onboard norovirus rate exceeds 1.5%

According to the report, after the eradication campaign was implemented in June 2023, there was not a single norovirus outbreak onboard any Royal Caribbean International or Celebrity Cruise ship for the remainder of 2023.

It is worth noting the CDC outbreaks page does list Celebrity Constellation as having an outbreak in January 2024.

Something else trialed was the implementation of Synexis BioDefense purifiers. On eight cruise ships, these units reduced the presence of microbes associated with diseases like COVID-19, influenza and norovirus.

97.3% public health inspection scores

Another big step Royal Caribbean Group made in improving the health of guests and crew members on its ships was to invest more in its public health inspection program.

All cruise ships participate in the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program, which has been in place since the 1970s to conduct random, unannounced inspections of ships if they wish to visit a port in the United States.

The program enforces strict health and safety guidelines, covering the cleaning of high-touch areas and the management of food storage in freezers, refrigerators, and galleys.

Royal Caribbean Group hired  new internal public health inspectors to help the ships improve their public health practices.

The team reviewed public health trends and past areas of concern to come up with recommendations to do better.

As a result of these and other improvements, the average United States Public Health Services (USPHS) inspection score was 97.3 across the fleet. In fact, 10 ships scored a perfect 100

A ship must score 85 or above to pass inspection.

Should you be concerned about getting norovirus on a cruise?

Royal Caribbean Group's eradication program is certainly a positive step, but if you're still worried about catching norovirus, the risks are low.

Even before this new initiative was put into place, the CDC acknowledges that risks are quite low on cruise ships compared to your chances of catching it elsewhere on land. In short, the math points to it being an unlikely scenario for you to encounter.

Moreover, the cruise industry as a whole was already headed to a better place prior to 2020. The rate of acute gastroenteritis illnesses on cruise ships decreased during 2006-2019 for passengers and crew, according to CDC data.

Read more: How To Avoid Getting Sick on a Cruise

The CDC advises frequent hand washing with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds to prevent the spread of norovirus. Key times for handwashing include after using the restroom or changing diapers, and before eating, preparing food, or handling medicine.

If you want to bring something on your ship to help lower the chance of catching norovirus, Lysol and Clorox products are among the bleaches the Environmental Protection Agency lists as being effective against norovirus.  Before you buy anything, keep in mind bleach isn't allowed on cruise ships.

Read more: What can you not bring on a cruise

Instead, you could pack hydrogen peroxide wipes (just don’t flush them down the toilet). We recommend these Clorox Healthcare Hydrogen Peroxide Wipes for taking with you on your ship (Link contains affiliate link, which costs you nothing extra to use!).

Royal Caribbean Group's work is far from done, but it's getting closer than ever to its big eco-friendly goals.

On Monday morning, Royal Caribbean Group released its annual "Seastainability Report", which outlines its environmental goals and progress made to reach them.

In 2023, Royal Caribbean Group advanced its goal of achieving net zero emissions by surpassing half of its carbon intensity reduction target, conducting successful biofuel trials in Europe, and launching the first waste-to-energy system on a ship in the maritime industry.

Plus, there are the overarching goals of reducing carbon intensity by double-digits by 2025 and introducing a net-zero cruise ship by 2035. 

Highlights from the report

Here are the major achievements reported in this year's report:

Sustainability

• Achieved a 6.8% reduction in carbon intensity, surpassing half of its ambitious carbon intensity reduction goal.
• Expanded energy options following successful biofuel trials, demonstrating that alternative fuels can be integrated without modifying engines or affecting onboard systems.
• Enhanced global local sourcing, cutting transportation distances by 37%, which supports local communities and reduces Scope 3 emissions in certain areas.
• Advanced marine species protection through the Shellbank program, using genetic technology to match DNA of critically endangered sea turtles to specific sites for conservation and to combat illegal harvesting.

Community Support

• Introduced Royal Caribbean International's Artist Discovery Program, featuring emerging Caribbean artists aboard the new ship, Icon of the Seas.
• Developed specialized training programs for Bahamian entrepreneurs through the Small Business Development Centre's (SBDC) Royal Caribbean Kickstarter Programme, aimed at boosting local tourism-related businesses.
• Debuted the first accessible Star Class suite on Icon of the Seas, enhancing inclusivity.
• 100% scored on public health inspections on 10 ships, with a 97.3% average fleet wide between Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises.

Innovations

• Launched the first at-sea waste-to-energy systems on Silver Nova and Icon of the Seas.
• Initiated construction of the first tri-fuel methanol-capable ship, Celebrity Xcel.
• Extended the partnership with the University of Miami's OceanScope, providing additional funding to support over two decades of ocean conservation and research on Royal Caribbean Group ships.

Partnerships

Royal Caribbean Group has three primary groups they work with to assist on their journey.

For the past 20 years, they've worked with University of Miami’s OceanScope program to share ocean data.

Since 2016, the World Wildlife Fund has been a partner in supporting conservation efforts, such as the Hawksbill Turtles, Polar Bears, and Whale Sharks.

The company also supports Shellbank, which is a genetic technology program that matches DNA of critically endangered sea turtles to specific locations to create priority conservation sites and prevent illegal harvesting.

Net Zero progress

Water sustainability

Waste management

Supply chain

Sourcing Goals

Workforce

Fans of the decade of excess are going to want to check out Royal Caribbean's new show.

Utopia of the Seas is the sixth Oasis Class cruise ship and launches this summer with an all-new show that follows up on arguably Royal Caribbean's best musical tribute show to date.

Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President of Entertainment Nick Weir posted a teaser on his X account that revealed the name of its next show.

"Aqua 80 Too" is all the video teaser displayed, but it is clearly a follow up to Aqua 80 that first debuted on Oasis of the Seas.

Held in the open-air Aquatheater, Royal Caribbean first debuted Aqua 80 on Oasis of the Seas in 2019 to coincide with her massive amplification.

Read more: Oasis of the Seas ship guide

Like all Aquatheater shows, it features a live performance of world-class acrobats, extreme sports athletes and divers set to music.  In the case of Aqua 80s, it's only music of the 1980s.

It's a musical tribute to the decade, and many cruisers have come back loving the show.

Reddit user kanojo22 posted, "I must recommend the Aqua80 show. It was amazing! I watched it 3 times and loved it every time. Even my kids who aren’t 80s music fans like me thought it was great."

Their post sparked a great deal of responses echoing the initial post.

LitigatedLaureate added, "Aqua 80 is the best cruise ship show I've ever seen. Honestly I'd rather sit and watch Aqua80 over a fair amount of actual Broadway shows I've seen."

KTrentLR agreed, "I couldn't agree more! Aqua '80 is the best aqua show in the fleet."

Royal Caribbean has not officially announced the entertainment for Utopia of the Seas yet, but Mr. Weir is fond of leaking bits of information about new shows on social media.

His passion for his shows is evident in how much work goes into crafting these original productions.  As such, he enjoys sharing behind-the-scenes previews of what guests can expect.

Utopia of the Seas is currently under construction at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Since the Aquatheater isn't ready yet, Royal Caribbean can still prepare for the show from land.

Royal Caribbean has its own Entertainment facility in South Florida, where the cast for the new show will begin rehearsals.

Inside the custom facility are stages where cast members can practice nearly all aspects of the show so that when they can get onboard the ship, they're not starting at the first step.

Coming July 2024

Utopia of the Seas will be the first new Royal Caribbean's ship that offers shorter cruises first. Usually new ships  conduct longer voyages when they enter service.

Utopia will sail from Port Canaveral, Florida on 3- and 4-night cruises to The Bahamas, each scheduled to stop at Royal Caribbean's private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Why short cruises? It's an effort to attract first-time cruisers, who are leery of going on any cruise ship for a week.

The idea is to offer short cruises on its newest hardware so that anyone who is considering a short cruise as their first sailing will see a clear delineation between what options are out there.

The inaugural sailing is 3-night weekend cruise on July 19, 2024. 

While Utopia is about 7% smaller than Icon, she is still packed with plenty for passengers to do to keep them busy.

On the top deck, you'll find three pool areas, an aqua park for kids, surf simulator, zip line, basketball court, and 295-foot dry slide down the back of the ship.

The Royal Railroad will feature a classic train motif that delivers a mixed reality experience. After prototyping the train car experience at Royal Caribbean's Miami headquarters, the team feels confident it will deliver an incredible new option for passengers.

Izumi has been moved up to Central Park, which is a first for the Oasis Class. Izumi will also have a new pickup window which allows quick grab and go offerings for guests.

Park Cafe will have a new evening terrace experience, which the cruise line hopes will invigorate evenings in this neighborhood.

Giovanni's Italian Kitchen and Wine Bar has been relocated into the deck 11 and 12 former Wonderland location.

Speaking of food, there will be a food truck on the pool deck, and a tiki bar on the Royal Promenade.

Expect another family dog on Royal Caribbean's second Icon Class cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean made headlines when it announced a golden retriever puppy would live on Icon of the Seas as a crew member, and it garnered a lot of attention.

The "Chief Dog Officer" on Icon of the Seas is Rover, who joined the ship at just 6-months-old.

Rover will soon be joined by a second dog in the fleet when Star of the Seas debuts in 2025.

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley confirmed to travel agents on a webinar on Wednesday that Star of the Seas will have its own dog, "Rover is super happy on Icon. And of course we're going to have Sailor on Star of the Seas."

There's no word yet which dog breed Sailor will be, but Star of the Seas will indeed continue the trend of having a "family dog" on the ship.

Having a dog on a cruise ship is a symbol for the fun and family-centric nature that Royal Caribbean wants for its Icon Class vessels. If you're going to appeal to families and be a game-changer in terms of being different from other ships, a dog onboard is one way to do that.

Royal Beach Club groundbreaking scheduled

Mr. Bayley also confirmed the Royal Beach Club will have its groundbreaking next week.

"Next week we're going to the Bahamas for a groundbreaking ceremony for the Royal Beach Club in Nassau, which will be another new and exciting product for Royal Caribbean guests," he said during the webinar.

Nassau Cruise Port’s chief executive Michael Maura told local media last week the ground-breaking ceremony will take place on Monday, April 22. 

The goal is for a summer 2025 opening.

Royal Beach Club will be a new type of shore excursion experience opening in 2025, exclusively for Royal Caribbean guests.

Read more: Everything we know about the Royal Beach Club at Nassau

Once opened, it promises to create, "the ultimate beach day" for its guests. The Royal Beach Club is exclusively for Royal Caribbean cruise passengers, but unlike its private island of Perfect Day at CocoCay, admission is not complimentary. Instead, it will cost extra to visit the beach club and space is limited to about 2,750 guests per day. 

Full details have not been announced for the new beach club, but Mr. Bayley added during the webinar the cruise line will share more news about that destination experience over time.

Construction equipment was spotted last week arriving to the site of the club, and the confirmation of a groundbreaking ceremony means formal construction will begin soon.

Ready to shake up the short cruise market

While hyping the launch of Utopia of the Seas later this summer, Mr. Bayley talked about the significance of having a new Oasis Class ship start off with short cruises.

He began by explaining why a new Oasis Class ship makes a difference, "If you look at the kind of the history of the short product in the cruise industry, over time, it kind of degraded. There was older hardware placed into the short market, and it was really a bad representation of the industry in terms of new to cruise."

"We decided to turn that upside down some time ago when we started taking ships like Freedom and Navigator and investing significant significantly into upgrades of the product."

"Bringing Utopia, a brand new Oasis class, straight into the short product market is just literally putting the best hardware in the planet into this market. And it is absolutely a green light for new to cruise."

Royal Caribbean thinks dominating the short cruise market means big opportunities given the numbers they're looking at.

"Our statistics tell us that in the United States, the market of potential cruisers is around 120 million people," Mr. Bayley explained.

He said about 15-20 million people cruise right now in the United States.

"We've only really touched 20% of the potential market in the United States and this kind of product, and you combine Utopia with with Icon, for example the seven night product, we've really got this stunning lineup of products that are really exciting and really tick the box, particularly in this multigenerational family."

He also said the current makeup of cruisers is evenly distributed among generations, "if you look at our demographics at Royal Caribbean International, we're kind of evenly split across all generations, and that's something that's quite special."

Royal Caribbean has been forced to cancel a cruise due to the conflict in the region of the Red Sea.

Guests booked on the October 14, 2024 sailing of Anthem of the Seas were informed by Royal Caribbean that they have decided to cancel a Middle East cruise because of concerns for the ship's safety.

A rise of attacks since October 2023 on commercial ships in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden by the Houthis has greatly impacted tourism in the area. This includes pirate activity and even drones to attack ships in the area.

There have been more than 60 recorded attacks so far, and the incidents have drawn a military response from a number of countries, including the United States.

"We have all been closely monitoring the unrest in the Red Sea and were hopeful everything would settle down. Unfortunately, due to security risks and with the safety of our guests and crew top of mind, we've made the difficult decision that Anthem of the Seas will instead have to transit around the southern tip of Africa."

Instead of sailing through the Suez Canal, Anthem of the Seas will sail without any passengers around Africa.

Anthem of the Seas was to sail through the Suez Canal as part of a repositioning from Southampton, UK to her new homeport in Singapore. It's not clear yet if any of the scheduled sailings from Singapore will be affected.

The cruise industry has had to reroute and cancel cruises as a result of violence in the area. 

"We're truly sorry for the impact that this has on your vacation plans," Royal Caribbean said in a statement to guests booked on the now cancelled cruise.

This isn't the first Royal Caribbean cruise to have changes made to avoid the Middle East.

Royal Caribbean announced its 9-month world cruise would be re-routed around Africa as well.  The original plan was for Serenade of the Seas to go through the Suez Canal in May. 

Instead of sailing through the Middle East, Serenade of the Seas will transit Africa and offer its guests an immersive tour of the continent. The 42-day route will visit a number of countries around Africa, including the Seychelles, South Africa, Namibia, Ghana, and Senegal.

Houthi attacks wrecking vacation plans

While cruises in the Middle East do not constitute a major region for sailings, it's certainly impacting many lines and people's vacations.

Attacks by the Iran-backed rebel group have prompted a military response, and the cruise industry has had to shift gears.

Royal Caribbean Group had already made changes to avoid the region when the Palestinians sparked a war with Israel on October 7. The ensuing conflict sparked the Houthis to launch their own attacks on interests in the region as a sign of support.

Carnival Corporation rerouted itineraries for 12 ships across seven brands for voyages scheduled to sail through the Red Sea through May.

This includes two world cruises on Princess cruise ships.

MSC Cruises cancelled three sailings in April to avoid the Red Sea. Instead of going through the Middle East, the MSC ships will sail with no passengers on board and go around Africa.

Cruise ships conclude one sailing and begin the next sailing on the same day, which means a lot has to happen to have the vessel, crew, and supplies ready in just a few hours.

Known as turnaround day, there are just a handful of hours in the morning and early afternoon to get everything ready while simultaneously ensuring passengers disembark so new ones can board.

The process is anything but simple, and involves a great deal of logistics from Royal Caribbean's headquarters, the ship, and the cruise terminal staff to make it all work seamlessly.

It's a fast-paced day of unloading, loading, stocking, preparing, and serving. All while ensuring the cruise ship passengers never notice any of it happening around them.

The disembarkation process

As a cruise ship returns to its homeport to complete its journey, the busy disembarkation process begins quite early in the morning.

Most cruise ships arrive at the terminal in the early hours of the morning, usually around 6 or 7am. The ship docks at the pier and then is required to file paperwork with the local authorities to allow the disembarkation process to begin.  A ship returning to port is no different than an airplane flying into an airport; the immigration and border patrol process needs to occur.

Once the ship is cleared, crew members begin working to get what's necessary off the ship and start prepping for the next sailing. Hundreds of crew members start turnaround day at 6:30 a.m., before guests onboard have even started disembarking.

Passengers can enjoy one final breakfast onboard and then must disembark the ship shortly thereafter. Royal Caribbean requires all guests to be out of their stateroom by 8am.

Read more: How long does it take to get off a cruise ship?

At the same time, passenger luggage is offloaded to the cruise terminal so that it can be retrieved later. Thousands of pieces of luggage will be taken by a crew of longshoremen from the ship to the terminal.

Luggage was collected the night before by housekeeping staff from the ship's hallways, and organized based on the tags guests used to indicate what time they would be disembarking.

In addition, the process of unloading waste begins.  Cruise ships have a sophisticated approach to managing where everything goes once people are done with it, from human waste to recycling to leftover food.

Read more: Where does the poop go on a cruise ship?

Royal Caribbean's ships have a designated waste and recycling center. There are separate teams to deal with each incoming recyclable: glass, cardboard, plastic, and metal.

The ship has an incinerator, as well as a compactor for processing plastic waste. The compactor crushes approximately 528 gallons of water bottles.

Once the ship returns to port, it can then transport plastic, aluminum, paper, and glass for recycling through a third party vendor.

Cleaning and maintenance

While the ship is being resupplied, other crew members are hard at work prepping the ship to look its best.

Every cabin on a ship is turned over at once, which begins as soon as the first guests disembark.  An army of crew members tackle the cabins to clean and sanitize the room for the next room. The thousands of cabins need to be ready for the next set of passengers by as soon as 1pm. The Oasis Class cabins have around 2,700 cabins each.

Dirty laundry is taken from the cabin to the laundry rooms below the ship's waterline so it can be sanitized for use again.  Meanwhile, clean linens, towels, and duvet covers are brought into the cabin to replace what was taken.

Not only do cabins need to be cleaned, but the rest of the ship too.

Public venues such as bars, restaurants, shops, and the pool deck are all reset accordingly.  Surfaces are wiped down, and dining facilities readied so they can be used again.

Depending on the circumstances, this is also when shoreside maintenance teams come aboard to repair and service various parts of the ship.  Similar to a race car pit stop, some work gets done on turnaround day if it requires supplies not onboard.  Every ship has a team of maintenance workers and engineers to keep things operating, but occasionally workers are needed to come onboard to do additional work.

Restocking and preparation

A Royal Caribbean cruise ship has to be supplied with just about everything passengers and crew will need for the duration of the cruise.  Some supplies are actually stocked for more than one sailing will need, in case there's a delay returning to port. 

Frozen items, such as prime rib or fish, are brough every two or three weeks. More than 10,000 rolls of toilet tissue, 1,000 new light bulbs, almost 2,000 pounds of coffee are typically brought onboard.

Read more: How over 6,000 people are served meals every day on the world's largest cruise ship

On turnaround day, trucks carrying 500 pallets of new inventory will arrive at the cruise terminal to be loaded.  In the case of Royal Caribbean's Oasis Class ships, about 600,000 pounds of food and beverages get loaded on the ship. And it all has to be loaded onto the ship in about 9 hours.

The supplies need to be perfectly planned for the next cruise so that there's enough of what the ship needs without having excess and not running out of anything at the same time. 

All of the new supplies get brought onboard on the ship's lowest deck, which is usually deck two. 

The chefs inspect all of the herbs, fresh fruits and vegetables, specially sourced meats, and other food items to ensure the best quality for our guests.

The embarkation process

While a cruise ship is still unloading waste and loading provisions, new guests are ready to start their Royal Caribbean vacation.

The final passengers are usually off the ship around 9:00am - 9:30am, and the embarkation process begins in earnest around 10:00am.

Once the local authorities clear the ship, new passengers are allowed to board and that means certain venues need to be ready for them as soon as they board. Bars, pools, and certain restaurants are open and ready for new passengers just a couple of hours since they waved goodbye to guests on the previous sailing.

One requirement of all new passengers is to complete the mandatory passenger safety drills, which is required by SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea). This is an international maritime agreement that establishes all passengers know what to do in case of an emergency.

In the case of Royal Caribbean, the eMuster drill allows guests to watch a safety video on their mobile device and then report to their muster station so they know where it is.  A subset of crew members must staff the muster stations to be able to check guests in, ensure they understand what to do in the case of an emergency, and answer questions.

Read more: 15 Royal Caribbean boarding process tips for a fast embarkation

Back at the cruise terminal, luggage from new guests is brought onboard the ship to be delivered to passenger's cabin. Embarkation runs until about 3pm, so that means a steady stream of new passengers boarding and getting luggage on the ship.

Each piece of luggage needs to be screened to ensure there are no prohibited items. Any bag flagged by security in the security process is held back and the guest notified to come to security so the bag can be opened and inspected.

Read more: What can you not bring on a cruise

If there's no contraband in the luggage, it is then taken onto the ship and delivered.

A frenetic and well-planned day

It's no simple task to unload and load a cruise ship in just a few hours, but Royal Caribbean makes it look so easy considering how it's done every few days on every ship in the fleet.

Turnaround day ensures everyone and everything gets taken off the ship in a timely manner, and then subsequently getting ready for the next sailing. It's an exercise in extreme logistics, and the average cruiser has no idea how much goes into making it all work.

Crew members from officers to the lowest ranks work together to make such a complex operation run smoothly. The cruise line and all of its crew have to be really efficient every step of the way.

Cruise ships are often described as a small city, and it takes a great deal of effort to make it all work just right.

If you've had problems logging into your Royal Caribbean account, you are not alone.

Since early last week, many readers have reported problems logging into their Royal Caribbean account suddenly.

The issues seemed to have begun on April 9 with an error when someone tries to login with the correct username and password.

Acessing your Royal Caribbean account provides access to cruises you have booked, where you can manage an upcoming sailing.  This includes being able to make payments, book shore excursions and other add-ons.

After inputting the correct login credentials, the website responds with the error, "The email or password is not correct." It further warns additional login attempts could result in the account being locked.

According to reports by Royal Caribbean Blog readers, it affects both the Royal Caribbean app and website.

Neesa shared her annoyance at the problem, "Same, android hits a snag. Directed me to change password. Still can't get on. Uninstalled and then installed again still no good...ugh, so frustrating."

U_Baz0 also wrote, "Yeah having the exact same issue, really bizarre."

The problem has continued for the following days, and our readers are still reaching out to inquire about the problem as of the posting of this article.

A screenshot from the Royal Caribbean X account indicates they are aware of the problem.

The problem also seems to be affecting sister cruise line Celebrity Cruises' website.

How to fix being unable to login

While Royal Caribbean has seemingly not implemented a fix on their end yet, many readers have reported success to get around the problem.

Instead of trying to login, first reset your password on the Royal Caribbean website.  Change the password to something else, and then try logging in again.

In my case, this strategy worked.  

Some people reported the workaround not solving the issue for them. 

KKcarl wrote, "We have not been able to access the app for two days. I changed the password and tried to uninstall the app at least three times. Still get the "Sorry, we hit a snag" error message.  Very frustrating."

Some readers also reported having to uninstall and then re-install the Royal Caribbean app to get it working, even with the password reset.

Call the cruise line if it's important

While Royal Caribbean works on a solution, if you have a time critical issue to handle, you can always call Royal Caribbean.

Booking entertainment, making a final payment, and taking advantage of a good promotion on a pre-cruise offer are all able to be done by contacting Royal Caribbean by phone. 

The Royal Caribbean phone number is 1-800-256-6649.

I do not recommend emailing them with any timely problems.