Changes coming to Royal Caribbean may offer you new ways to vacation, or shake up the cruise industry.
Royal Caribbean is never content maintaining the status quo when it comes to their product. I'm reminded of Royal Caribbean Group Chairman Richard Fain's comments about how there is no "new normal" when it comes to cruise.
"When we design our ships, we talk about a design formula of one third tradition, one third evolution and one third revolution," he said in a video a few years ago.
"As I said, our mantra is continuous improvement. And it means just that everything gets better. Every chance we get."
To that point, there are four big changes that we know about already for Royal Caribbean in 2025 that you should be tracking now.
The line will undoubtedly add other changes during the course of the year, but these are significant evolutions you can expect in the coming year.
Opening the first beach club
The first of three beach clubs in Royal Caribbean's portfolio will open in 2025.
Royal Beach Club Paradise Island will open in Nassau, Bahamas and be unlike a private island experience. It will be limited to just Royal Caribbean guests, but there will be an admission cost to it and not every passenger will have the opportunity to go because there is a maximum capacity.
It's essentially a Royal Caribbean run shore excursion, built to the standards their customers expect from them. It incorporates some of the best features from Perfect Day at CocoCay, along with some new improvements.
The beach club is conveniently located where the cruise ships dock. It will offer three pools with swim-up bars, live music, two beaches, and four restaurants.
There is no official opening date, but Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said last month he expects the opening to happen sometime between October-December 2025.
Two more beach clubs will open in the next few years in Cozumel, Mexico and Vanuatu.
It's a bold plan to offer something no other cruise line has, separating it from other vacations.
Major upgrades to Allure of the Seas
After delaying improvements to Allure of the Seas in 2020, one of the biggest cruise ship's in the world is about to get some serious enhancements.
In March 2025, Allure of the Seas will take a break for a month and undergo significant changes.
The ship is getting all sorts of additions:
- Redesigned Caribbean pool deck
- Ultimate Abyss slide
- New waterslides
- Kids aquapark
- Pesky parrot tiki bar
- Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade (specialty)
- Mason Jar southern American food restaurant (specialty)
- El Loco Fresh Mexican restaurant (included)
- Escape room
- Laser tag
- Upgraded kids & Teens spaces
- New suites
The total cost of all this work is $100 million-plus, and it will breathe new life into Allure.
Cabin recategorization
Beginning with cruises in 2025, Royal Caribbean will implement its new cabin codes.
These became visible when the 2025-2026 deployment was released, but we'll now have new room codes for certain cabins.
Part of the reason to make this change is to simplify the choices for travel agents as well as add new room types meant to appeal to certain types of people that cruise.
The goals of the room recategorization are:
- More options & configurations for guests with large families
- Separated Triple and Quad occupancy interior & oceanview staterooms
- New high occupancy guarantee staterooms
- New Junior Suite & Balcony categories
What this really means is this will be the first year the new room categories are in effect as it relates to the actual cabins on a ship. Most of this is changing the cruise lexicon, but it's important to be aware of these new sorts of cabins, especially if you're used to booking a certain room.
A prime example of this are the aft balcony cabins.
The aft facing balconies and Junior Suites are now going to be separated out as new categories new categories, starting with the Sunset Junior Suite.
Royal Caribbean says they are making the change so that guests can quickly and easily find these cabins.
Star of the Seas launch
It doesn't get more exciting than welcoming a new cruise ship, and the second Icon Class ship joins the fleet in 2025.
Star of the Seas will begin offering cruises from Port Canaveral, Florida in August 2025.
Star is the follow-up to Icon of the Seas, and considering how popular Icon has been, this will be Royal Caribbean's attempt to match their success.
While the ship will be more similar to Icon than not, there are a few tweaks, updates, and changes we can expect on Star.
There will be a couple revamped and new dining choices. Pier 7 is getting completely replaced, while Empire Supper Club is getting a new motif.
It also looks like Star will have a Broadway show onboard, with Back to the Future: The Musical.
The launch of Star of the Seas has a side effect, in that it will shift Wonder of the Seas to offer short cruises from Miami. This is significant, because Wonder will become the second Oasis Class ship to sail weekend cruises. And with Icon and Star offering weeklong cruises, and Utopia and Wonder doing short cruises, it sets up Royal Caribbean's proverbial chess pieces exactly where they want to be.
