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.

Royal Caribbean has stopped all visits to its private destination of Labadee, Haiti due to violence and lawlessness in the country.

Labadee is the name of a beach area reserved exclusively for the use of Royal Caribbean ships and its passengers on a peninsula in northern Haiti.  It's walled off from the rest of the country and Royal Caribbean employs a private security force there.

Royal Caribbean has leased the 260-acre site since the 1980s, and it's 130 miles north of Port-au-Prince (about a six-and-a-half-hour drive) and has not been impacted by other periods of unrest in the country.

There news reports of violence and killings in and around the capital of the country, Port-au-Prince, due to gang activity.

In March, Royal Caribbean announced "in an abundance of caution" its cruise ships would halt visits while the cruise line monitors the safety of the situation.

Prioritizing the safety of its guests and crew members is why Royal Caribbean made the decision, as it does in any part of the world which faces geopolitical issues.

"Please know that the safety and comfort of our guests are always our highest priority. Our Global Security and Intel Team is closely monitoring the evolving situation in Haiti, and in an abundance of caution, we are temporarily making adjustments to sailings visiting Labadee," the cruise line announced.

As the summer 2024 cruise season approaches, many are wondering what is happening with scheduled visits to Labadee and what are the chances it will still occur.

Visits cancelled through September 2024

Royal Caribbean has cancelled all visits to Labadee in between April and September 2024.

"We have suspended all visits to Labadee fleetwide... and we continue to monitor the situation with our Global Security & Intelligence team," the company posted on their website in their latest update.

For sailings beyond September 2024, Royal Caribbean is monitoring the situation and will advise guests booked on cruises that have a scheduled stop to Labadee if something changes.

Usually these updates come in an email to passengers and travel agents in the weeks leading up to a cruise.

There is no set timeframe when a stop can be cancelled by, as the change could occur right up to the day the ship is scheduled to visit. We've seen emails go out much sooner than that, but it's important to note itineraries can change at any time.

Her is the official statement by Royal Caribbean:

We have suspended all visits to Labadee fleetwide through May 2024, and we continue to monitor the situation with our Global Security & Intelligence team. Please know that the safety and comfort of our guests are always our highest priority. We are committed to keeping you informed, and itinerary modifications are being communicated directly to guests ahead of their sailings. Please check back for any potential changes. Thank you for your understanding.

Factors influencing Royal Caribbean’s decision

While there has been no reported incidents of violence in Labadee, an abundance of caution seems to be the primary factor in cancelling calls to Labadee.

Royal Caribbean has a team at headquarters that monitors incidents that could impact their cruise ships.  From severe weather, to political situations, to economic factors, these are all taken into consideration when it comes to the safety of its guests, crew, and ships.

In March 2024, Royal Caribbean announced its first ever world cruise would bypass the Middle East due to unrest in the area of the Red Sea.

As the situation deteriorated there, Royal Caribbean took proactive action to change the sailing and move the ship elsewhere.

Where are Royal Caribbean ships are going instead of Labadee?

With Royal Caribbean ships getting re-routed away from Haiti, alternative ports of call are the first choice in trying to update an itinerary.

Each ship has its own replacement option, as choices of where a cruise ship can go instead depend on factors contingent on that day. That means a ship cannot just change where it goes arbitrarily. It's dependent on availability of an open port.

Some ships have gone to Grand Turk; Perfect Day at CocoCay; or Falmouth, Jamaica.

In other cases, the ship stays out at sea and a sea day replaces the visit.

There is no obligation or requirement for the cruise line to replace the scheduled port visit with another port. 

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.

Eagle-eyed cruisers spotted what looks like construction equipment on the site of what will be Royal Caribbean's next big project.

Royal Caribbean has big plans for a new private beach club in Nassau, Bahamas that will open sometime in 2025. Royal Beach Club at Paradise Island is the cruise line's first such club, and perhaps one of the early steps is beginning.

Royal Caribbean Blog reader Susan Linhares shared photos from Friday of equipment arriving to the narrow strip of land near the Port of Nassau.

A barge carrying earth moving equipment was spotted being offloaded onto the area.

On Saturday morning, Earl McGrath took additional photos that showed the equipment still in place.

A first-of-its-kind experience

When it opens, the Royal Beach Club at Paradise Island will offer Royal Caribbean cruise ship passengers a new option while visiting Nassau. Nassau has traditionally been rated poorly by cruise ship passengers for a lack of compelling experiences.

The beach club is an attempt to address that issue, as Nassau is one of the busiest cruise ports for Royal Caribbean. Given its proximity to the United States and the close relationship the cruise line has with the country, Royal Caribbean cannot afford to allow a poor guest experience.

Located on Paradise Island adjacent to where the cruise ships dock, the 17 acres site promises to create, "the ultimate beach day."

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. This means not everyone on the ship will have the opportunity to go.

Read more: CocoCay tips, advice, and everything you need to know

Pricing details are not yet known, but the new club will offer beach and pool access, lunch, and the rental of a beach chair.

There will be private cabanas, pools, and special attention to highlight Bahamian culture within the space. This includes Bahamian fare, island-style barbecues, live music, and local artisans. 

Opening in 2025

The exact timeline for when the Royal Beach Club will open is unknown, but the line said it expects to start operations in 2025.

In an interview with a local Bahamian newspaper in January 2024, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley indicated it would be a summer 2025 opening.

According to Bayley, ground breaking could happen soon, "The Royal Beach Club project is moving along through the process. There’re a few more details that need to be confirmed and ironed out with our partners and with the government. We’re hoping to break ground in the coming weeks but certainly by the end of the first quarter we need to start breaking ground."

Owned & operated by Bahamians

Something truly different about this beach club will be how equity is shared with the Bahamian people.

49 percent of the The Royal Beach Club will be owned by Bahamians, with Bahamians running, managing, and operating it.

Bahamians will be invited to invest in the project and hold equity up to 49 percent, with the remainder being held by Royal Caribbean. 

In addition to keeping profits in The Bahamas through the equity program, the Royal Beach Club will participate in a new tourism levy that will direct 1% of gross profits to a fund to improve attractions and experiences in The Bahamas.

Over 10 years, the economic impact is projected to be approximately $1 billion through guest spend, government taxes and other expenditures.

Royal Caribbean's bold short cruise strategy

The Royal Beach Club is one piece of of the cruise line's careful maneuvering to dominate short cruises.

First and foremost, no other cruise line has beach clubs. That will be a difference maker for anyone considering a cruise ship vacation.

Moreover, it's located in the heart of where short 3- and 4-night cruises visit, meaning it boosts a major cruise port offering exclusively for the benefit of Royal Caribbean passengers.

The new club will be flanking the cruise line's change of having the brand new Utopia of the Seas offer short cruises beginning in July 2024. 

Typically, big new cruise ships sail 7-night cruises, but Royal Caribbean wants to dominate the short cruise market by offering weekend sailings on its best ships in a bid to attract new cruisers.

In September 2025, Wonder of the Seas shifts to offer weekend cruises as well.

Combined with a visit to the already super popular Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean will soon offer short cruises that appeal to first-time cruisers that offer port visits no other cruise line can match.

A second beach club in Mexico

Following up on its Nassau beach club will be the Royal Beach Club Cozumel, opening in 2026.

Similar to The Bahamas, the Cozumel beach club will have beaches, swim-up bars, pools, private cabanas, snorkeling, kayaking and other activities. There will also be a restaurant, bar and lounge, a street market and hands-on experiences like tequila tastings and cooking classes. 

No specific site has been announced, but it will be located "along the western coast of the island."

If necessity is the mother of invention, Icon of the Seas has a lot of children.

Royal Caribbean designed Icon as a "white paper cruise ship", which means it was build from start with no pre-conceived notions or basis on other ships.

In developing the ship, new ideas for Icon required changes and improvements to Royal Caribbean's standard operating procedure on other ships. As a result, a number of innovations and improvements came out of the process.

The ship's cutting-edge advances were heralded by Heather Bishop, VP, Digital Product at Royal Caribbean Group, and Jennifer Goswami, Director Product Development at Royal Caribbean Group. Both spoke at Seatrade Global conference in Miami earlier this week.

In recounting what makes Icon different, we counted 14 different improvements Royal Caribbean came up with just for Icon of the Seas.

Chat with Guest Services in the app

Making it easier for passengers is an overarching goal with these improvements, starting with giving guests a way to bypass the Guest Service line.

Within the Royal Caribbean app, guests can chat directly with Guest Services.

Before you get an officer, you'll first interact with an AI Bot, that can help answer the common questions guests want to know, like "What can my SeaPass do?" and "How do I access Wi-Fi?".

The "Human in the Loop"  features adds the ability to connect you to an actual agent, without having to physically visit Guest Services. 

Read more: Royal Caribbean's clever idea using AI to get help on the world's largest cruise ship

No photo kiosks

You'll notice there are no photo kiosks on Icon of the Seas, because everything is handled within the Royal Caribbean app.

Traditionally, there was a photo area to go and view all the photos you took with the ship's photographers.  That area has been repurposed for something else, and instead, you can view photos within the Royal Caribbean app.

"We were analyzing where there were points in the vacation where guests kind of had to stop what they were doing," Ms. Bishop explained. "One of those is typically towards the end of the sailing, as they've accumulated photos, they would have to go down to the kiosk. And so there was a large crowd of people at the kiosk towards the end of the vacation."

Moreover, the team felt most people wanted their photos on their phone to be able to easily share with friends and family. By removing the kiosks and making it digital, you could eliminate lines and get people what they ultimately want.

Another traditional kiosk that's been removed are the shore excursion kiosks.

Taking away that space allows for a larger Royal Promenade, which is one of the nice ancillary benefits many guests note with Icon.

Destination elevators

One of the most noticeable improvements is how efficient the elevators are on Icon of the Seas, thanks to the destination elevators.

"Elevators, while kind of not always the flashiest of technology, have been an absolute smash hit for Icon," Ms. Goswami stated.

"When you're waiting outside of an elevator for three, four, five minutes, we call them microwave minutes where they feel like the longest minute of your life," she said.

Instead of pressing a button to wait for an elevator, guests push a button for which floor they want to go to and are assigned an elevator.

The change improves upon a problem that has plagued all cruise ships, and Royal Caribbean knew they couldn't go with traditional elevators on a ship planned to be even larger than the Oasis Class ships.

Read more: Icon of the Seas vs other Royal Caribbean cruise ships

Aquadome

Royal Caribbean sought to create a neighborhood on Icon that "evolves throughout the day", and the Aquadome is the result they came up with.

Encompassing more than 33,000 square meters and extending from Deck 14 to 20, the AquaDome neighborhood is truly one-of-a-kind. 

"We wanted to have one space that feels completely different at 9 a.m. versus 9 p.m.," Ms. Goswami explained.

"When you walk into the Aquadome during the day, you hear the waterfall we have. All of our technology is actually off intentionally because we really want it to be a quiet space."

"As the day transitions, we really turn it on. It comes to life. It feels like a different space."

Overhead is the dome itself, and it weighs 367 tons and is comprised of 12 different modules that are made of steel, glass, and aluminum panels.

Though projection mapping isn’t new, they’ve enhanced it during Aquatheather shows.

"We've added so much more flexibility to create our entertainment programs within the Aquadome, because it's now an enclosed space."

Stateroom attendant app

One focus on Icon was providing crew members with products to help them be more efficient and provide better service.

A new stateroom attendant app replaces the pads of paper they would traditionally carry around to track their progress between cabins. 

"Now we have an application for them that they can use to keep track of what rooms have been cleaned, and they get an alert if our guests have requested an item for their stateroom," Ms. Bishop said.

Guests can scan a QR code in their stateroom to indicate if they need additional towels, if there's an issue with the plumbing in their room, and that will send an alert to the stateroom attendant app, and they'll be able to provide service right away. This avoids having guests trying to flag down their stateroom attendant, or trying to find a phone to contact somebody.

Express boarding

Royal Caribbean has been working on making the embarkation process as easy as possible, and Icon of the Seas offers an express boarding option.

If you complete all the pre-embarkation check-in steps via the Royal Caribbean app, you'll get an enhanced SetSail Pass that gets you through the check-in process even faster.

Read more: Royal Caribbean check-in process

To qualify for it, you need to do the following within the Royal Caribbean app (not the website):

• Scan your passport (don't manually enter it)
• Take a selfie photo
• Enter all the personal information, including a credit card
• Complete the health questionnaire

Then when you at the terminal ,you can go through our express boarding lanes.

Port agents with iPads

Speaking of a faster embarkation process, the port agents within the cruise terminal are now given iPads to help speed up the boarding process.

With up to 7600 guests coming through the terminal on embarkation day, the last thing Royal Caribbean wanted was people going up to a counter and forming lines.

These iPads can be used to view guest information, make updates, and get them checked-in.

"It also gives us the flexibility to move around and move the flow of guests around in the terminal," Ms. Bishop said.

Read more: 30 cruise ship embarkation day do’s and don’ts

Apple Pay

Something else new in the app is the ability to use Apple Pay and the ability to store up to four credit cards in a wallet.

"If you're laying in bed at night, like most of us probably do, thumbing through on your phone, dreaming about your vacation, now you don't have to get up to go find your credit card if you want to book a shore excursion or buy a beverage package, it's all right there in a couple of taps and really easy to do."

Virtual queues

Eliminating lines was something Royal Caribbean was targeting on Icon, and another area of improvement is for lines at NextCruise.

"Oftentimes, that area gets busy towards the end of the sailing, and so Jennifer's team looked at, how do we create this amazing, amazing lounge space for our company?"

The fix was to create a virtual queue, so if it does get busy (especially at the end of a sailing), the team working there can put guests into a virtual queue.

"You can relax comfortably in the chair with your drink and wait for your name to appear at the top of the board until you're until it's your turn."

"For you" section in the app

Something else you might notice within the Royal Caribbean app is a new button labeled "For You", and it makes personalized recommendations for things like shore excursions, beverage packages, onboard activities, etc.

It does things like suggest a beverage package if you haven't purchased one, or create shore excursion recommendations.

In addition, there are better push notifications in the app on Icon.

"If you're getting close to your vacation, we offer great deals, great cruise, and we don't want you to miss out on that. So we're doing a lot of personalization around our push notifications as well."

Leveraging AI

Artificial intelligence isn't new to Royal Caribbean, but it's being used more on Icon of the Seas.

"We've been using AI for things like food waste to make sure that we are doing modeling to make sure that we have enough food to keep our guests full and happy, but also reducing waste and not over, over ordering food," Ms. Bishop said.

Read more: How 6,000 Meals a Day Are Made on the World's Largest Cruise Ship

"We also use AI and generative AI now in our customer self-service... in order to provide the most efficient service for our guests, we want to get them the quickest answer as possible."

In short, it helps get guests answers to basic questions like hours of operation, or schedule of events.

Digitalized departure

The app on Icon of the Seas also helps make getting off the ship on the final morning easier.

Guests can make a departure time request within the app, and then they will see when it's their turn to depart the ship in the app.

Read more: 8 reasons to get off your ship as early as possible on disembarkation day

A better pool experience

Not everything new on Icon has to do with technology. One focal point for this ship was to provide more connectivity to the ocean.

In the planning process, Ms. Goswami's team discovered in their research passengers felt cruise ships didn't provide much of a way to enjoy the ocean, "One of the most fundamental things that I think caught everybody off guard was that guests, while they're on the ocean, don't feel connected to the ocean."

"So you will see that now, even from the Royal Promenade all the way up, you can see the water."

In addition, the team made another change compared to what you might find on the Oasis Class ships. Icon has a centralized hub for the pools.

"We also pushed our pools outward so that you can see the water while being in the water, but also creating different kinds of experiences."

"We do have one large pool when you want a party. We have smaller pools when you don't feel like a party. We've created different experiences that you can have across seven days."

A true crew neighborhood

Another important innovation for Icon was giving crew members a better experience.

Royal Caribbean centralized what crew members need while working and living onboard Icon, "They don't need to leave and go all the way aft for an experience. Everything that they have, their cafe, the food, the bars, they're all forward," Ms. Goswami described.

Royal Caribbean worked with crew members to better understand their needs and come up with what would benefit them.

Read more: Photos show the secret crew-only areas on Icon of the Seas