Royal Caribbean International Cancels More Calls at Labadee

Royal Caribbean International Cancels More Calls at Labadee

Independence of the Seas in Labadee photo credit Spacejunkie2 Flickr

Royal Caribbean International is canceling additional visits to Labadee, its private destination in Haiti.

In different statements, the company has confirmed that its ships will no longer be visiting the port of call over the next few weeks.

After suspending visits to Labadee earlier this month, the company has decided to evaluate the situation in Haiti on a continuous basis, said Royal Caribbean International’s President and CEO Michael Bayley.

“We’ll continue to suspension on a rolling basis with three days advance notification for our guests sailing on itineraries impact and changed as we monitor and evaluate the situation in Haiti,” he explained in a social media post.

Newly affected sailings include Independence of the Seas’ March 21 departure. Instead of going to Labadee, the four-night cruise will now visit Grand Turk on March 23.

The April 6 sailing of the Symphony of the Seas has also been impacted and will now include a visit to Falmouth, Jamaica on April 12.

For its April 7 departure, the Oasis of the Seas will now be visiting St. Maarten instead of Royal Caribbean’s private destination in Haiti.

Other vessels affected by the cancellations include the Adventure of the Seas, the Mariner of the Seas, the Explorer of the Seas, the Grandeur of the Seas and the Odyssey of the Seas.

Serving as a private destination for Royal Caribbean International ships since the 1980s, Labadee is located in Haiti’s Cap-Haïtien region.

After receiving significant upgrades in 2009, the fenced-off resort offers various features, including a flea market, a roller coaster, and a zip-line.

In addition to several beaches, Labadee also has a two-berth pier capable of receiving some of the world’s largest cruise ships.

In addition to Royal Caribbean, the destination is also scheduled to host ships from Celebrity Cruises during the 2024-25 winter season.

Half of Global Cruise Fleet in Service for Second Consecutive Month

The cruising restart has seen a positive trend over the past few months. Fueled by various countries and markets reopening ports to cruise vessels, the industry saw an unprecedented number of vessels resuming revenue operations around the world over the summer.

As the restart continues, 205 ships are expected to be in guest operations by the end of September. This number means that, for the second month in a row, nearly half of the entire global cruise fleet is in operation.

According to the 2022 Global Cruise Ship Index by Cruise Industry News, the combined fleets of the nearly 90 active cruise lines currently account for approximately 410 cruise ships.

After significant growth over the previous months, 190 cruise ships were sailing with paying guests by Aug. 31. With 15 additional ships entering service through the end of September, the active cruise fleet is growing nearly 8 per cent this month.

More ships resuming service means that more cruise lines are relaunching revenue operations. In September, brands like Regent, Plantours and Star Clippers are welcoming guests back, making it 63 brands back in service.

The aforementioned data is from the Cruise Ships in Service Report by Cruise Industry News.

The restart numbers started growing in May, which saw 55 ships operating revenue sailings. In the preceding eight months – only an average of 20 ships were in service. 

A turning point, however, was reached in July. With the U.S. ports reopening for business, 141 vessels were back in service by the end of that month – an 82 per cent increase over June numbers.

From May to September, the average guest capacity per ship grew significantly, too, going from 994 to 1,454.

Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas Set to Resume Cruise Service

After a 17-month pause, the Oasis of the Seas is back in cruise service for Royal Caribbean International.

Sailing on its first post-pandemic commercial cruise later today, the first Oasis-Class vessel is launching service from Bayonne, in the New York region.

Based in New York the first time, the vessel is now offering a series of seven-night voyages to the Bahamas.

Through the end of October, Oasis is making weekly visits to Nassau, Port Canaveral and Perfect Day at CocoCay – Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas.

Home to North America’s tallest waterslides, the popular port of call features unique attractions and saw a $250 million transformation in 2019.

After the New York program, the Oasis is repositioning to Miami for the winter season. Through December, the vessel is sailing alternate itineraries to the Eastern and Western Caribbean, including stops in Mexico, Honduras, St. Maarten and Puerto Rico.

One of the world’s largest cruise ships, the 2009-built Oasis of the Seas has a capacity for over 5,400 guests.

Built-in Finland, the vessel introduced a groundbreaking design that is highlighted by features such as Central Park, a park with real plants, surrounded by shops and restaurants. 

The vessel also has its public areas divided into seven different zones, known as neighbourhoods. Each one of them has a different appeal, with unique attractions. The BoardWalk, for instance, reproduces a seaside pier, with a carousel, carnival games, retail outlets and eateries.

The Oasis of the Seas was also the first ship to feature a dancing-waters theatre, a zip-line and a moving bar.

In 2019, the vessel underwent a $165 million refurbishment in Spain as part of the Royal Amplification program.

After a two months period in drydock, the ship emerged with new additions, such as the tallest slide at sea – Ultimate Abyss; The Perfect Storm trio of waterslides; a reimagined Caribbean pool deck; and new kids and teens spaces.

The Oasis of the Seas is the 14th Royal Caribbean ship to resume service since the COVID-19 pandemic operational pause.

The ship is also the tenth to return to service for the operator in the United States after the Freedom of the Seas became the first ship to do so in July.

With a 25-ship fleet, Royal Caribbean plans to have 21 vessels in service by the end of the year.   

Royal Caribbean: Cash Flow Positive in Six Months

Independence of the seas photo credit Dave Jones 

The Royal Caribbean Group expects to be cash-flow positive in about six months, Jason Liberty, senior vice president and CFO, said on the company's Q2 earnings call.

Liberty noted that the third and fourth quarters of this year will continue to be “painful” and cautioned that 2022 will not be a normal year although trends to normalcy should be picking up during the year.

Going from four ships in service at the end of April, the group now has 29 out of 68 ships sailing and will introduce seven more this month.

By the end of the year, Liberty said, 85 per cent of the Royal Caribbean fleet should be sailing.

As for the newbuilds, Liberty said they will be introduced on 10-month delays from when they originally were expected to enter service.

Richard Fain, chairman and CEO, noted how Royal Caribbean is focused on operating their cruises safely and safer than other vacation alternatives, while still exceeding pre-pandemic guest expectations, and doing so in a fiscally prudent manner.

He underscored that their safety protocols are working and that the ships allow them to control the environment to an unusual extent: 100 per cent of the crew is vaccinated, and in July, 92 per cent of the passengers were vaccinated.

“We have had people test positive, but since people around them have been vaccinated, it means these have been isolated cases,” Fain said. “The vaccines are the ultimate weapon and they work.

“In light of the Delta variant, we have strengthened our protocols further.

“Cruises have become the example of how best to deal with COVID-19,” Fain added.

Royal Caribbean CEO Fain: Cruising Has Restarted

The CEO of Royal Caribbean Group, Richard Fain, has highlighted the changing times since the CDC’s conditional sail order in October and hopes for a more topical approach to the resumption of cruising.

“The CDC issued the conditional sale order last October in an effort to provide a path for cruising to reopen in the United States … When the conditional sale order was written, there were no vaccines. The disease was on an upward trajectory and heading towards a terrible peak. Testing was less available and more costly, and therapeutics were limited. In general, the situation looked very bleak back then,” Fain said in a video post on social media.

“Last October, preparing for resumption service based on extensive protocols made good sense. But today, a vaccine approach makes much more sense than this old protocol-based approach. The vaccines are bringing down the incidence of COVID-19 in society; the testing enables us to catch cases early. And the preparation we're doing allows us to handle individual cases safely and simply,’ he added.

Click on the above image to hear the Interview.

Fain said that he expects that the CDC will take these changes into consideration.

“We look forward to a constructive dialogue with health officials in the United States and elsewhere, for the path forward under these new circumstances,” he said.

According to Fain, 100,000 cruisers have sailed aboard Royal Caribbean Group’s ships since the pandemic started, with 10 having tested positive for the coronavirus.

“And all of them have been handled smoothly and without undue disruption of other guests’ cruises. And without undue burden on the communities and the governments involved,’ he said. “Our experience with these 100,000 guests is a very powerful proof of concept. In essence, we've just had 100,000 test cruisers and demonstrated that the process works.”

The cruise industry overall has carried more than 350,000 passengers since the pandemic with “minimal disruption,” he added.

“This is precisely what we thought would be the case. And now it is the most powerful and reliable evidence in multiple real-world settings,” he said. “No longer are we talking about when will cruising restart cruising has already restarted.”

Fain also said that Royal Caribbean’s post-pandemic cruises have received higher ratings from guests than pre-pandemic.

Fain also stated that the coronavirus vaccines are a “gamechanger,” but he can’t say yet if all Royal Caribbean sailings will require them from guests.

“We have announced three cruises that will require inoculations for all adults, and there are likely to be more. But each circumstance is different. And I would note that the cruises we are currently operating are operating without requiring vaccines,” he said.

Fain finally called on people not to become complacent, as letting “our guard down” and stopping to take simple precautions would cause another spike.

“I, therefore, encourage all of you to get your vaccine, follow the CDC advice, and we can be sailing in time to meet President Biden's goal of reopening society in time for the Fourth of July,” he concluded

Royal Caribbean ‘Out-Wowing’ Itself

Perfect Day at CocoCay

 

“We are going to keep pushing the envelope. At Royal Caribbean we are never satisfied with the status quo,” said Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales and trade support and service.

“That is why, as we Royal Amplify an Oasis-class ship, people might say ‘Vicki, there was nothing wrong with it, why do you need more bells and whistles?’ But we do not build ships like cookie cutters. With the Oasis, Allure, Harmony and Symphony, we continued to innovate aboard each new ship in the class, while most cruise lines build identical ships after the first one in a class, just changing the decor,” she continued.

“Our chairman has always said ‘Do not think about cost, (instead) think about how we can make our product better and better.’ And if you push the cost aspect aside and are driven by what is going to be the best experience for the consumer, that does change how you think about your product.

“So we will keep pushing the envelope, with new features aboard our ships, a new class of ships, the Icon class, and enhancing Perfect Day at CocoCay and other islands in the Perfect Day Collection.

“Perfect Day at CocoCay is probably the most talked-about destination today,” Freed continued. “Of all the places we call around the world, this is our number one rated port of call, so it is definitely resonating with our guests.”

The island has turned out to be so popular, in fact, that on some itineraries ships call twice during the same cruise.

Royal Caribbean is also driving innovation elsewhere, its latest newbuilding, the Quantum Ultra-class, 158,000-ton, 4,100-passenger Spectrum of the Seas, introduced in 2019, is deployed in the Chinese market.

Royal Amplified

Also going to China in 2021 will be the next Oasis-class ship, the 227,626-ton, 5,448-passenger Wonder of the Seas.

Meanwhile, the Quantum-ultra class Odyssey of the Seas will be deployed in the North American market, launching service from Port Everglades in November, moving to the Mediterranean for the 2021 summer season.

In addition, the 2009-built Oasis of the Seas just underwent a $165 million renovation last fall.

“Even though the ship is only 10 years young,” Freed said, “we are adding some new features. We always want to out-wow ourselves.”

The Oasis is sailing seven-day Caribbean cruises from Miami this winter before moving to Cape Liberty for the summer season.

Added Freed: “She will be very popular in the Northeast market. Our guests will be able to get on an Oasis-class ship in their own backyard. They will also call at Perfect Day at CocoCay.”

Building a new port facility in Galveston, the port said it will be able to accommodate Oasis-class ships.

“Anytime we build brand-new facilities, we want to make sure that all our ships will fit into that facility,” Freed commented.

Freed continues to be as committed to travel agents as ever. And despite the changing industry, fewer retail storefronts, and the internet, she said that travel advisors are very important to cruise sales.

“Cruising is a complex product. You are talking about somebody’s vacation that they have worked hard for all year long, and we see the need for travel advisors becoming even more important, because people want to make sure they get it right.

“It is true they can go to the internet and find a lot of information, but at the end of the day, there can be too much information, and you get consumer confusion. That is when you need a professional who can guide you to make the right buying decision. You need someone who can be a valued interpreter.”

The new-to-cruise are asking for a shorter cruise experience, according to Freed. They are looking for a three-, four- or five-day getaway, which is a good way for them to test the waters and find out if cruising is right for them.

“This was one of the motivators that led us to flip the short-cruise market upside down. Instead of putting older hardware in the market, we put in the Royal Amplified (modernized) Navigator and Mariner of the Seas, ships that typically in the past would not have been in the short cruise market.

“Their next step may be a seven-day cruise on an Oasis-class ship. Or they can be millennials who prefer shorter vacations, but may repeat their short cruise three to four times a year.”

What are the basic selling points for Royal Caribbean? “There is so much I can say,” Freed answered, “but I like to sum it up in a few words: we are a combination of quality and energy.

“There are some beautiful quality brands out there – Celebrity is a quality brand, and then there are some lines that have energy, but nobody has the unique combination of Royal Caribbean.”

Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2019-2020

Passenger dies ‘jumping from cruise ship’

Passenger dies ‘jumping from cruise ship’

 
Oasis of the Seas.

A cruise passenger died after jumping from the tenth deck of one of the world’s largest cruise ships.

The 46-year-old man from Florida leapt from Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas while it was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

He was reported to be an events contractor with LGBTQ+ travel firm Atlantis Events which had chartered the vessel on a week-long Caribbean sailing from Miami.

More: Royal Caribbean unveils raft of changes to the trade sales team

A four-hour search shut down the ship on Wednesday evening as the 4,000 passengers on the cruise were assembled to establish who was missing.

Dive teams and state police agencies in San Juan recovered the body several hours later, according to the US Coast Guard.

Royal Caribbean confirmed that CCTV footage seemed to indicate the man purposefully jumped from the ship although the circumstances around the incident have not been confirmed.

“We are assisting authorities with their investigation of the death of a male guest in San Juan, Puerto Rico,” the line told the Daily Mail.

“Security footage indicates the man intentionally went overboard from Oasis of the Seas. Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Port Canaveral: Diversified Offering

A brand-new Terminal 3 is nearing the final stages of construction for Carnival Cruise Line at Port Canaveral, along with a 1,800-spot parking garage, all in preparation for the new Mardi Gras which will become the first LNG-fueled ship in North America.

Projections call for just under five million cruise guests in the fiscal year 2020, and over 5.6 million by 2024.

For port CEO Captain John Murray, the planning started years ago, wanting to be ready for LNG-fueled ships. The effort has paid off as Port Canaveral will host the Mardi Gras year-round and is expected to be home to Disney’s LNG-fueled ships as well.
“We are growing consistently,” Murray said. “All our cruise lines are very strong and over the next few years they plan to add additional ships.

 
“We are going to become the Florida port that can expand as the tonnage will be on the market and there won’t be as many berthing options in Florida as there have been in the past.”
Other big news at Port Canaveral includes the summer arrival of Marella Cruises in 2021, a deployment move announced late last year that had been in the works since 2017, said Robert “Bobby G” Giangrisostomi, vice president, cruise business development.
“They were looking for an American product,” he said, adding that the port’s proximity to Orlando was key.

Long term, the big homeport customers have major deals with Port Canaveral, including Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Disney, and Murray said in November he was negotiating a new deal with Norwegian.

With options, Carnival’s latest arrangement could extend to 45 years. For the port, terminal infrastructure is about building smart. “Flexible terminals,” commented Giangrisostomi. “A 1,200-foot ship can have up to 7,000 passengers. You have to be flexible. LNG ships, big ships, medium ships and Port Canaveral can handle them all.”
Deals also include more parking infrastructure, which may not be as long term.
"We have to look at what the concept of parking could be in 10 years,” Murray said, noting autonomous vehicles and an 83 per cent jump in Uber and Lyft usage at the port year-over-year.

Shorter cruises? Plan for more drive-in passengers. Estimates suggest that 40 to 60 per cent of guests embarking at Port Canaveral are drive-in customers.                   
“We are 200 miles closer to the entire Southeast,” explained Giangrisostomi
Another metric that is up is port-of-call business. With an expected 83 transit calls this year, that number jumps to just over 100 next year with more visits from the Oasis of the Seas sailing from Bayonne.

"Our port-of-call business is substantial,” added David German, director, cruise business development. “It’s good for the local community, with 6,000-plus passengers.”
The out-island arms race has paid dividends to all the Florida ports, Murray added. With cruise lines spending big developing their own destinations in the Bahamas, they have a reason to keep ships in nearby homeports.

New facial recognition has sped up clearing ships with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which can now happen in as little as two hours for 5,000 disembarking guests.
"They clear the ship very quickly. It helps the cruise lines get to zero counts much sooner,” Murray said.

“Being ready and out front for our cruise customers,” Murray answered when asked about how to run a cruise port successfully. “The guests are the most important part of our operation … easy in, easy off, easy on the ship, easy off the ship. We want to be number one in customer service … It boils down to the end-user.”

Puerto Rico emphasizes that tourism infrastructure is intact

 
San Juan's busy cruise port on Jan. 8.

Puerto Rico is open for tourism. That’s the message from Discover Puerto Rico CEO Brad Dean, who reported that San Juan welcomed close to 15,000 visitors from three cruise ships on Jan. 9.

A state of emergency remains in place in southwestern Puerto Rico, which was impacted by earthquakes on Jan. 6 and 7. “Travelers should not be dissuaded by the state of emergency. Gov. Wanda Vazquez has kept that in a place to continue to ensure that those in need receive adequate government funding and support,” Dean said.

 

Dean said power in Old San Juan has been fully restored. “It’s business as usual at all major hotels,” Dean said.

Flights are operating normally to and from airports in San Juan, Ponce and Aguadilla. Taxi and rideshare options are available. Ferry services to and from Vieques and Culebra are running. 
The Ponce cruise port, the Puerto Rico Convention Center and major attractions such as El Morro, El Yunque, San Cristobal Fort and all areas around San Juan are open for business.

Two tourism sites, Punta Ventana in Guayanilla and the Ruins of the Lighthouse in Guanica reported damage, along with several hotels and many homes and businesses in southwestern Puerto Rico.

Extended drydock forces Liberty of the Seas to cancel five cruises in 2021

Liberty of the Seas

Royal Caribbean International cancelled five 2021 cruises on the Liberty of the Seas to accommodate an extended drydock.

The scheduled drydock is part of the line’s $1 billion Royal Amplification fleet enhancement program that spans 10 ships over four years and includes the Freedom class of ships, of which the Liberty, built-in 2007, is a part of. The line’s Oasis of the Seas recently completed its upgrade under the program. 

The ship’s cancellations begin with a Feb. 14, 2021, sailing. Royal said that all passengers have been informed and that it is offering them alternative cruises. The other affected sailings were to have departed on Feb. 21 and 28 and March 7 and 14.

Royal Caribbean completes Oasis of the Seas makeover

The Oasis of the Seas now features the Perfect Storm trio of waterslides. Photo Credit: Tom Stieghorst

Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas is ready to begin its Caribbean season from Miami, fresh off of a 53-day drydock in Cadiz, Spain.

The 10-year-old ship received $165 million in refurbishments and improvements, including many elements that first appeared on Royal Caribbean's Quantum-class ships.

Among those elements are the two-story Music Hall and the Bionic Bar, where two robotic bartenders mix drinks for passengers.

Also retrofitted onto the ship was a package of slides that weren't part of Royal Caribbean's featured lineup when the Oasis debuted in 2009. The package includes the 10-story Ultimate Abyss dry slide and the Perfect Storm, three high-speed waterslides known as Typhoon, Cyclone and Supercell.

Other features that have debuted on Quantum ships or on recent makeovers of Oasis-class ships include the Lime & Coconut multi-story pool deck bar, a Sugar Beach candy store, an El Loco Fresh casual Mexican eatery and a Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade.

Cruise chiefs talk expansion, recession

Norwegian Encore after float-out from Meyer Werft.

Another year, another non-recession.

How long can this go on?

It has been a decade since the so-called Great Recession bottomed out in June 2009. Since then the U.S. economy has experienced a remarkable 125 months of uninterrupted growth, breaking the 120-month record set by the 1991-2001 expansion.

Ten years of steady climbing has had a predictable effect on cruise sales. According to executives of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which recently reported third-quarter results, things couldn't be better.

"I can't stress enough the underlying strength of the business," Frank Del Rio, CEO of NCLH said in a conference call with analysts.

Despite doing nothing strategically to extend the booking window, it expanded by 10% in the third quarter, Del Rio said, "underscoring consumers' underlying appetite for cruising on our three brands."

Cruise lines are at that happy point where, at least in North America, an abundance of bookings is creating scarcity, driving prices higher, and stampeding more consumers to book even earlier to lock-in early booking savings.

All good things come to an end, to be sure, but the chances of them coming to an end in 2020 aren't that likely.

In its monthly survey of economists for November, the Wall Street Journal found that only 34.2% of economists expect the expansion to end in 2020, with another 29.3% saying it will end in 2021.

One of the main drivers of a classic recession, inflation, is expected to clock in at 1.9% in November, just below the Federal Reserve's target. The unemployment rate next month is forecast at 3.6%, meaning most of the people who want a job have one, providing fuel for further consumer spending.

Economists used to talk about the Goldilocks economy - not too hot, not too cold - and without much fanfare, we may be in one. But one troubling footnote is that the growth in the current expansion - 25% since 2009 - has been only half as strong as the 42.6% growth in the 1991-2001 period.

"It's been the slowest recovery in American history," said RCCL chairman Richard Fain in a talk at Travel Weekly's CruiseWorld event last week.

Fain said that expansions don't die of old age; there has to be a trigger, which right now isn't blindingly obvious to most observers. He said that when the recession does come, the cruise industry will do okay.

He recalled that the Oasis of the Seas, then the biggest cruise ship in the world with a startling capacity for 5,400 guests, was delivered in 2009 when the economy was flat on its back.

"The truth is it did beautifully even in 2009. Oasis was gangbusters, and it was because it met a need," Fain said.
He added that it was important that Royal Caribbean's cost-cutting during the last recession didn't cut from the guest-facing functions.

"Lots of businesses say 'Oh business is bad, we're not selling so many shoes, so we'll cut costs and lay off some people.' If we fill our ships, we can't let one customer feel like we've cut back in order to make our earnings look better," Fain said.

"We're going to continue to function, continue to operate, continue to market because it's the right thing to do to be in business five years from now," Fain added. "And everybody in this room will remember what we do."

Oasis of the Seas Enters Drydock for $165 Million Refurb

The Oasis of the Seas has arrived at the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz, Spain to begin her $165 million Royal Amplification drydock. The ship will be transformed over a period of two months in Spain, debuting in Miami in late November.

Additions include the tallest slide at sea – Ultimate Abyss; The Perfect Storm trio of waterslides, a reimagined, Caribbean pool deck; and new kids and teens spaces.

Debuting alongside this lineup is the cruise line’s first barbecue concept, Portside BBQ, and dedicated karaoke venue Spotlight Karaoke.

Among more changes will be the reimagined Pool and Sports Zone. The transformed neighbourhood will feature new ways to relax, celebrate and plunge into adventure, joining the popular twin FlowRider surf simulators, nine-deck-high zip line and twin rock-climbing walls, the company said.

Additionally, the new Portside BBQ will offer an authentic, meat-packed menu inspired by the best-in-class barbecue, Royal Caribbean said in a prior press release.

From smoked marbled brisket, pulled pork and chicken, to beef ribs and burnt ends, the casual eatery on the pool deck will tie it all together with classic sides – including mac and cheese, homestyle cornbread, baked beans and coleslaw – and desserts such as the Banana Dream and a brownie cookie mashup.

Across the way, guests can find Mexican grab-and-go fare at El Loco Fresh, serving up made-to-order tacos and burritos, quesadillas, mini salads and salsas galore. Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade will anchor the lineup in the signature Boardwalk neighbourhood. With 80 big-screen TVs, tabletop games, arcade classics, tournaments, an Owner’s Box VIP room, bar fare and ice-cold brews, Playmakers is where everyone in the family wins. Sugar Beach, with more than 220 types of candy and a new walkup ice cream window, is the icing on the already-tasty offering onboard Oasis, which includes Chops Grille, Giovanni’s Table and Izumi.

The Oasis will set sail on Nov. 24, 2019, beginning seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries from Royal Caribbean’s new, state-of-the-art Terminal A in Miami, the company said.

The ship will then move to New York in May 2020, calling Cape Liberty her homeport and sailing seven nights to the Bahamas.

How Carnival and Royal Caribbean Are Rejuvenating Their Fleets

How Carnival and Royal Caribbean Are Rejuvenating Their Fleets

Royal Caribbean will introduce Music Hall to Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.
Credit: 2019 Royal Caribbean International

As cruise competitors seek the attention of new and returning clientele, the trend for lines to offer the best in deck attractions, fine dining and world-class entertainment continues. New and ever-grander ships are on the horizon, but brands are updating their existing vessels to have all the latest that clients expect, as well.

In short: The differences between older and newer ships are becoming imperceptible.

Here, we take a look at two companies updating their ageing vessels — Carnival Corporation & Plc, and Royal Caribbean International — and what clients can anticipate on future cruise vacations.

Carnival Corporation & Plc

Caribbean Princess, from Carnival brand Princess Cruises, recently went all out to update its kid-friendly pool deck with the new Reef Splash Zone. Central to the waterpark is Splashpad, featuring Winnie the Whale, an “Animal Planet” focus of the Camp Discovery Youth & Teen Centers onboard. The whale playfully emits water from its fluke and spout among other interactive sprays, showers and a splash pool. There are other whale murals for more “Instagrammable” moments, as well as a family game zone with oversize backyard-style games.

Carnival Sunrise will feature new amenities such as a waterpark, waterslides, a children’s splash zone and a SportSquare.Credit: 2019 Carnival Cruise Line

The surrounding pool, whirlpool and bar area has also been refreshed. Morgan’s Bar serves mocktails with names such as Crazy Coconut and Berry Nice to Meet You that guests can enjoy while lounging on plush sectionals. And just a deck below, the outdoor portion of Camp Discovery showcases a destination-themed water table that is educational and illustrates itinerary spots such as Sydney Opera House in Australia, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and the Panama Canal.

Meanwhile, Carnival brand Carnival Cruise Line has completely transformed Carnival Triumph into the new Carnival Sunrise, which now sports a pleasantly more subdued aesthetic and contemporary amenities. It also features two redesigned Captain’s Suites and updates to all other cabins.

Like Caribbean Princess, Sunrise newly touts a children’s splash zone, a waterpark and waterslides. There’s also a SportSquare with a ropes course and minigolf, as well as a Serenity adults-only retreat. Camp Ocean, Circle “C” and Club O2 are dedicated to kids, teens and tweens, respectively.

Enhanced entertainment onboard Sunrise includes The Punchliner Comedy Club, hosted in the new Limelight Lounge; Playlist Productions in Liquid Lounge; and other live music and parties. The shipboard shops, photo gallery, spa and fitness centre have also been updated.

Onboard culinary venues now include Guy’s Burger Joint, Guy’s Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que Smokehouse, BlueIguana Cantina and BlueIguana Tequila Bar, RedFrog Rum Bar, Alchemy Bar, The Chef’s Table and Cherry on Top, as well as the upgraded Lido Marketplace, Pizzeria del Capitano and Java Blue venues.

Royal Caribbean International

With the success of its latest vessels, Harmony of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean is now eyeing its Oasis-class vessels for dramatic enhancements. Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas will soon share even more with their younger sister ships for greater consistency across the fleet while still showcasing some individuality.

Oasis and Allure will feature the colourful candy and ice-cream shop Sugar Beach.

Credit: 2019 Royal Caribbean International

In time for its 10-year anniversary, Oasis will relaunch this November after an extensive two-month refurbishment. Leading its new onboard features will be a redesigned Pool and Sports Zone complete with a Splashaway Bay children’s waterpark; The Perfect Storm trio of waterslides; and the famed Ultimate Abyss dry slide. Splashaway itself will feature three waterslides for kids, plus two drench buckets, water cannons, fountains and pools. Across the board, all youth clubs will be redesigned, as well.

The pool deck will add The Lime and Coconut bar, and El Loco Fresh for Mexican cuisine will be located near the pool. Other additions will include Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade for pub food and Sugar Beach for candy and ice cream along the Boardwalk. Also, for the first time, Portside BBQ will be a poolside barbecue restaurant serving savoury meats.

Combining a bar scene and entertainment will be Bionic Bar, where robotic bartenders will show off their drink-making skills. Other new entertainment options will include Spotlight Karaoke on the Royal Promenade, and the energetic live Music Hall will be introduced to the Oasis-class from the Quantum class. What’s more, there will be a Clash for the Crystal City laser tag game and Royal Escape Room – Mission Control: Apollo 18.

Meanwhile, Allure will mostly mirror the updates of Oasis when it comes back online in May 2020 following its own two-month revitalization.

It, too, will receive Splashaway Bay; the Ultimate Abyss dry slide; and the Typhoon, Cyclone and Supercell waterslides. The Lime and Coconut, Portside BBQ, Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, El Loco Fresh, Sugar Beach and Bionic Bar are also on the menu, as are Music Hall and Spotlight Karaoke. But fresh to only Allure will be Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar, which will combine the existing Giovanni’s Table restaurant and Vintages bar into one.

Voyager of the Seas — the original model for the larger Oasis class — is also part of the line’s Royal Amplified fleet enhancement program. The ship is set to emerge from a refurbishment before the others in October. It will tout two of the three Perfect Storm waterslides (Typhoon and Cyclone); a refreshed Solarium; a redesigned Vitality Spa; and updated areas for babies, kids and teens. The vessel will also feature Battle for Planet Z laser tag, as well as 72 new inside and balcony staterooms, plus a Suite Lounge and Diamond Lounge.

Lastly, Royal Caribbean recently announced that it will remodel a Freedom-class ship (sized between Voyager and Oasis classes). Like Voyager, Freedom of the Seas will reemerge in March 2020 with redesigned children’s facilities and The Perfect Storm duo of waterslides, plus the Clash for the Crystal City laser tag game; a Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade; Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen; Izumi Hibachi & Sushi; and a retooled pool deck showcasing Splashaway Bay, El Loco Fresh and The Lime and Coconut.

Damage to Bahamas shipyard leaves cruise lines scrambling

The aft end of the Carnival Vista on the Boka Vanguard at the Grand Bahama Shipyard.

Damage to a drydock facility at the Grand Bahama Shipyard in the Bahamas is proving inconvenient and expensive for the cruise industry, and it demonstrates how few drydock options exist on the U.S. East Coast.

The damaged drydock, the largest of three at Grand Bahama, was put out of commission on April 1 when a crane collapsed while raising the stern of the Oasis of the Seas to repair its propulsion pods.

The accident forced Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) to take the Oasis to a yard in Europe to finish repairing it.

The repairs, plus the cost of three canceled Oasis cruises, will pare an estimated $52 million from RCCL's 2019 earnings. 

But Royal is not the only line affected by the loss of the Bahamas drydock.

In June, Carnival Cruise Line's 4,000-passenger Carnival Vista also developed a problem with its Azipod motors that required immediate replacement of their bearings. Normally, the work would have been done in drydock at Grand Bahama, a facility jointly owned by RCCL and Carnival Corp. 

But on June 20, Carnival Cruise Line disclosed to investors that because it was not possible to use Grand Bahama, the ship would go out of service for 17 days, and three July cruises from Galveston, Texas, would be canceled.

The cost was projected at between $50 million and $62 million, partly because it will take more time to complete than it would have if the ship had been drydocked in the Bahamas.

Carnival turned to what it said was a "first of its kind" solution, loading the entire ship onto a semi-submersible, heavy-lift transport vessel, the Boka Vanguard, built to haul offshore oil and gas drilling rigs.

The loading and lifting operation was scheduled for the weekend of July 12 to 14, after which the Vista was to head for the Grand Bahama yard for the repair work. 

Both situations underscore how dependent cruise lines are on Grand Bahama Shipyard for drydock space that is within a quick sailing distance from their headquarters in Florida and from ports on the Eastern Seaboard.

Walter Nadolny, assistant professor of marine transportation, ship construction and stability at the State University of New York's Maritime College, said there are several reasons for the infrastructure deficit.

One is that costs are low in the Bahamas. 

"The United States is the most expensive place in the world to build and repair a ship," Nadolny said. Most U.S. shipyards of the size needed to work on late-model cruise ships are accustomed to cost-plus contracts from the U.S. Navy and are too expensive, he said.

The Carnival Vista arrives at night in Grand Bahama after being picked up by the Boka Vanguard.

Second, the specialized gear and materials have been concentrated in Grand Bahamas and are not easily duplicated.

"If they brought [the Carnival Vista] into Jacksonville Yard, in Jacksonville, Fla., right now by bringing in all the stuff they need to do the repair, they'd be incurring duties," Nadolny said. "The logistics they need are probably sitting in the Bahamas, which means we've got to bring people in, we've got to bring equipment in, [and] it could be stuck in customs."

Cruise lines have grown to rely heavily on Grand Bahama because most of what they do there is routine refurbishments that are predictable and can be scheduled well in advance, he said. 

But unforeseen situations are posing more of a challenge. "The intricacies of changing out Azipods make it a little more difficult," Nadolny said. 

Carnival had the option of sending the Vista to Europe, where cruise ship drydocks are more numerous, Nadolny said, but that would have meant extra transit time. 

"Now, instead of a three-week downtime, it's going to be a seven-week downtime or a 10-week downtime," he said about the European alternative.

Before 2000, when the predecessor of Grand Bahama Shipyard was founded in Freeport, cruise lines were more dependent on U.S. yards. For example, when the Carnival Ecstasy caught fire leaving Miami in 1998, it was sent to the giant Newport News Shipbuilding yard in Hampton Roads, Va.

But ships have been growing in size.

"The reason why Grand Bahama came about is specifically that there were no large drydocks in the southeast part of the U.S. that could accommodate these mega-cruise ships," said Lawrence Rapp, principal consultant at Seawise Consulting, which focuses on new building and refurbishment management.

After the previous operator of the Freeport yard went bankrupt, Carnival and Royal Caribbean invested in it.

"That's worked reasonably well until this accident," Rapp said. "The only real fallback that exists is Newport News, but they're committed to Navy contracts. If the Navy ship isn't finished, then you don't get the dock, so it's just not reliable enough for the cruise industry."

At the start of the year, Grand Bahama had 25 projects scheduled for 2019. It is not known how the crane accident will impact that total or when the damages from the accident will be repaired. Grand Bahama Shipyard officials have said nothing about the cause or consequences of the accident.

Phone and email efforts to reach the yard for comment were unsuccessful. 

Problems with podded propulsion systems continue to dog the industry, making the need for repair facilities acute. The sister ship of the Oasis of the Seas, the Allure of the Seas, is currently operating at less than full speed because of a technical problem with one of its pods.

In May, Royal Caribbean International sent a letter to passengers booked on the Allure saying that the ship would be leaving some ports early and substituting some ports for others through October because it could not sail at full speed.

Nadolny said the only cost-effective drydock alternative to Grand Bahama for ships needing work along the East Coast would be another Caribbean facility. 

He said a yard could be built in another offshore location; Haiti, for example. But it would require that country to say "We want to do this" and then devoting the necessary resources.

Rapp said that keeping a drydock operation in the black can be tricky.

"There are a lot of risk factors," he said. "It's hugely capital intensive. There are all sorts of labor issues. It's not something that's easy to make money with. You look at a drydock bill for a big cruise ship and you think 'Look at all that money.' Most of it is going to subcontractors for interior refurbishments and so on."

He added: "The amounts going to the shipyard are substantial, but they're not constant, and they're not reliable."

Carnival to use platform ship to fix Vista

Carnival Cruise Line said it will hire a heavy lift vessel used in the oil and gas industry to enable repairs on the Carnival Vista's underperforming azipod units.

https://vimeo.com/345668784The Boka Vanguard, built in 2012 and operated by the Dutch speciality shipping firm Boskalis, is the largest vessel of its type in the world, capable of transporting equipment of up to 117,000 tons.

Carnival will use the ship as a floating dry dock to pick up the Vista on its platform and transport it to Grand Bahama Island, where repairs will occur.

The Boka Vanguard is a bowless ship with a flat 230-by-920 foot watertight deck. The ship's tanks will be filled with seawater to submerge it so that the Carnival Vista can be towed over it. Then the tanks will be evacuated, raising the Vista onto the Boka Vanguard's platform.

The Boka Vanguard is expected to arrive in Bahamian waters on July 5 to prepare for Carnival Vista's arrival on July 12. The loading, transport and repairs are expected to take approximately two weeks, allowing Carnival Vista to return to Galveston in time for its July 27 voyage, Carnival said.

The Carnival Vista's azipod propulsion motors will have all of the bearings replaced while it is out of service. Carnival turned to the novel solution because the drydock it would normally use at the Grand Bahama Shipyard was damaged in April by crane collapse. The cranes were attempting a repair on the Oasis of the Seas, which also needed work on its azipods.

In 2013, Costa Cruises obtained a $30 million option on the Boka Vanguard for possible use in refloating the sunken Costa Concordia in Italy, but the option expired when Costa decided on a different method of raising it.

Carnival Vista cruises cancelled to fix thruster

Carnival Cruise Line has cancelled three July departures of the 3,934-passenger Carnival Vista to fix a propulsion problem. The Vista is a relatively new ship that entered service in May 2016.

The problem left the ship only able to operate at reduced speeds. Carnival said the Vista has been operating on revised itineraries the last two cruises because one of its two azipod thrusters is not operating normally.

The cruises cancelled are the Vista's July 6, 13 and 20 departures from Galveston, Texas. Guests will get a full refund of cruise fares and any pre-purchased excursions.

Carnival is offering a credit of 100% of the fare paid towards the cost of a future Carnival cruise. It has also offered up to $200 per person for independent air expenses or change fees.

"We sincerely apologize for the unanticipated disruption to your vacation plans. We are deeply disappointed that we will not be able to deliver the cruise we had planned for you," a Carnival guest letter said.

Carnival said the seven-day cruise scheduled to depart on June 22 from Galveston will now be an eight-day cruise departing June 23.  The cruise scheduled for June 29 will now depart on July 1 and will be a similar eight-day cruise. After that, the ship will be out of service for 17 days while all azipod thruster bearings are replaced.

In a conference call with analysts about 2019 second-quarter earnings, Carnival Corp. CFO David Bernstein said fixing the problem will take longer than it might otherwise have because damage to the drydock at the Grand Bahama Shipyard made it unavailable.

The drydock was damaged when a crane collapsed while making repairs to the Oasis of the Seas in April.

In its second-quarter earnings statement, Carnival said 2019 earnings would be reduced by $62 million to $74 million by "voyage disruptions related to Carnival Vista."