Royal Caribbean has been on a mission to make the painful parts of cruising easier.
It has done that in lots of little ways, like making it slightly easier to both log on to ship Wi-Fi and switch your internet service between devices. That's just a sort of incremental improvement, but making something happen near automatically that used to take a few clicks does count as an improvement.
Add in lots of small improvements, and the overall cruise experience will get markedly better. Royal Caribbean (RCL) also offers "Express" check-in lanes at some terminals. These allow passengers who have completed all of their pre-boarding items properly to board the ship faster.
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Not everyone qualifies, and it's only being used on select sailings. If you get Express, however, you do get onboard faster. Once onboard, the improvements will keep coming.
Royal Caribbean recently made it so people who buy dining packages can book their reservations before they get on the ship. That solves two problems.
- Anyone with a dining package no longer has to stand in line on embarkation day (the day the ship sails) to make multiple lunch and dinner reservations.
- Because those people aren't in line taking 15-20 minutes to make all those bookings, people who want a reservation or two face much shorter lines.
But, the cruise line's biggest improvement has to be the new elevator system being used on Icon of the Seas and Utopia of the Seas. These elevators don't have buttons. Instead, passengers input their desired floor on keypads near the elevator, and they are given a letter that corresponds to which elevator they should take,
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Royal Caribbean's elevators are just the beginning
While elevators seem like a small thing, the new system is actually a major improvement to the onboard experience. Passengers no longer have to jockey for position to board an elevator during crowded times.
In addition, the new system generally makes no more than two stops. That prevents you from being in a full elevator that stops on every floor where the person in the back is always the one who needs to get out.
It also eliminates the experience of having a kid push every button the second their parent isn't looking.
Fixing the elevator experience was something Royal Caribbean prioritized with the launch of Icon of the Seas. At a media event on that ship, Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley talked a little bit about the process of launching the new elevators.
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"We were obsessively focused...We know a lot about the flow of people. We know a lot about how to create a delightful experience that also moves people around," he said. "We were really nervous about them."
Despite those early jitters, Bayley has been pleased with the elevator, which will be part of Star of the Seas, the next Icon-class ship, and seemingly all Royal Caribbean ships going forward.
"We've been delighted with the elevator lobbies," he added.
Royal Caribbean wants to fix cabin entry
Currently, Royal Caribbean passengers use their SeaPass card (a plastic room key) to enter their cabins. Select ships also allow people to buy special bracelets that can serve as door keys.
SeaPass cards, however, are easily lost or forgotten. Many people wear them on lanyards, or carry them in a purse or wallet.
It's easy to forget yours by the pool, leave it at a bar, or forget it in a machine in the casino on ships that use that system to log play. Star of the Seas will be testing a new facial recognition technology that will make it possible to use your face as your room key.
"Star of the Seas will be the first cruise ship to embrace facial recognition as a way to make it easier to get to your cabin," wrote Matt Hochberg on The Royal Caribbean Blog.
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This will be a pilot with a small number of cabins, at least at first.
Royal Caribbean filed a patent on this technology in November. In the filing, the cruise line said it planned to use facial recognition to unlock cabins but also could be used for other functions onboard as well.
Anyone who has gotten back to their cabin and realizes their key is either inside or lost somewhere on the ship will appreciate this option. That's especially true during times when Guest Services, the place where you go to get a new key, is busy.
Currently, many US cruise ports use facial recognition when ships arrive instead of making people show their physical passports.
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