With Royal Caribbean's largest ship able to accommodate nearly 10,000 passengers and crew, have you ever wondered how there's always enough water for everyone onboard?
Icon of the Seas, for example, boasts seven pools, along with a record-breaking waterpark featuring six slides and an indoor AquaTheater home to high-diving performances. On top of that, it's important to remember that guests also need water for everyday activities like showering, flushing toilets, brushing teeth, washing hands, and more.
The company takes immense pride in its state-of-the-art systems that allow ships to create, conserve, and treat every drop of water to ensure a constant, sustainable supply.
More than 90% of the water on Royal Caribbean ships is created onboard by turning salty seawater into freshwater through reverse osmosis or evaporation.
Reverse osmosis pushes saltwater through membranes to remove contaminants, while steam evaporation uses the heat from the ship's engine to boil the seawater and leave the salt as a byproduct.
Public health guidelines then require the new freshwater to be mineralized for flavor before being distributed across the ship.
Conservation efforts also dictate how water is moved around the ship. For example, they use aeration to create pressure to use less water, rather than forcing water out of faucets and shower heads at high volumes.
Additionally, water is repurposed wherever possible. For instance, did you know Royal Caribbean ships reuse the condensation from the air conditioning units to do laundry?
The company also hired a water specialist to oversee Perfect Day at CocoCay's Thrill Waterpark and the private island's irrigation system, which ensures that treated wastewater is used efficiently for landscaping.
Speaking of wastewater treatment, Royal Caribbean's Advanced Wastewater Purification System treats water to standards twice as strict as many local municipalities.
It uses bioreactors, UV light, and dissolved air to remove contaminants, so water can be safely returned to the ocean without impacting the fragile ecosystem.
Royal Caribbean's comprehensive approach to water management highlights the company's dedication to minimizing its environmental impact while maximizing comfort for everyone onboard and ashore, whether on a port-intensive European cruise or a 3-night getaway to CocoCay.
Commitment to sustainability
In addition to the company's water conservation efforts, Royal Caribbean strives to reduce the amount of food waste onboard its ships, hoping to reduce waste across the fleet by 50% by 2025.
By focusing on the front end of the food system and addressing many of the main causes of food waste, including inventory management and over-preparation, they've already reported a 24% reduction in food waste.
Other food waste-specific initiatives include developing a proprietary platform to monitor food supply and accurately estimate how much food should be produced, prepped, and ordered on a given day; using artificial intelligence to adjust food production in real-time; introducing a dedicated onboard food waste role; tracking guest demand for specific items and adjusting preparation; and introducing a new food waste awareness captain in crew dining areas.
Royal Caribbean Group's overarching sustainability goals are referred to as "Destination Net Zero." Everything from the reduction of food waste to water conservation helps the company work toward the delivery of a net zero emissions cruise ship.
Read more: How over 6,000 people are served meals every day on the world's largest cruise ship
