With huge new ships like Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, new technology has been the solution for Royal Caribbean to make the experience onboard for guests as easy as possible.  Royal Caribbean CIO Bill Martin spoke with InformationWeek magazine about five innovations Royal Caribbean has used to make the experience better for guests.

1. Facial Recognition Software
   When you board the ship for the first time, a high resolution photo is taken of you and this photo is used for security as well as for merchandise systems such as the point of sale system.  Facial recognition software allows computers to categorize photos taken all over the ship by Royal Caribbean photographers for easy pick up later.
2. Shape Recognition Cameras
   At each of the 24 restaurants on the ship, shape-recognition cameras count the number of people seated and if any are waiting.  Royal Caribbean works to ensure there is no waiting at its restaurants.
3. Interactive Media
   Remember the shape recognition cameras from the previous entry?  Well that data on restaurant crowds gets sent in real-time, in the form of red-yellow-green signals, to 300 digital signs around the ship, so that people can self-select the least-crowded restaurants.
4. Wireless Everywhere
   There's Wi-Fi internet coverage onboard, along with wireless wristband for children to allow parents to track their kids movements on an iPhone app.  The specially equipped iPhones are for rent during cruises.
5. Real-Time Analysis
   Royal Caribbean is using the data it receives during the cruise to help make decisions "on the fly" and bring attention to problems as they occur, not after.

Royal Caribbean has more real-time data than ever before because every point of sale terminal and booking system is networked, so analysts can know what’s selling well, what services are being under-used, plus the demographics of who’s on board. Analysts onshore have started crunching that data while the cruise is sailing. Combine that with the interactive media on the ships, and Royal Caribbean has a chance to put customized offers in front of people, say for a particular type of spa treatment that has more openings than usual, to a person most likely to want such a treatment, delivered direct to their interactive TV.

A river cruise expert at Travel Weekly, Michelle Baran, wrote a review of her experience on Oasis of the Seas.  She had heard a lot about the newest Royal Caribbean ship and wanted to see what it was all about.

The Oasis of the Seas is a destination, it is a spectacle, it is a vacation unto itself -- but a very specific type of vacation. It's a floating, mostly inclusive (with plenty of opportunities to spend additional cash), family-friendly resort, with something for a lot of different people: people who enjoy food, active people, people who want to relax, people who want to be entertained.

Overall, Baran seemed to be impressed with the ship and a fan.  Her passion are river cruises and she makes a number of comparisons between the two varieties of cruises.  It's a good quick read about the different amenities offered on the ship, especially interesting to get a different perspective on the ship.

Later this month, I will embark upon a 7 night cruise aboard Oasis of the Seas and wanted to write a pre-trip report before the final trip report comes down.

Who

Me and my 4 month pregnant wife
My parents
My sisters (older than 18)

Earlier this year, my parents voiced their desire to go on a family cruise.  We have been veteran cruisers of the Caribbean, so we wanted to take a different itinerary than normal.  Originally, we were looking for a cruise to Alaska but my sisters, always looking to worship the sun gods, preferred an itinerary that was a little warmer.  The next idea was to cruise on Mariner of the Seas out of Los Angeles and do a Mexican Riviera cruise.  My wife and I planned that we would fly out a few days early and spend some time at Disneyland and all would be perfect.  

Well, then my father decided he wanted to cruise on something bigger than Mariner (seriously) and we mentioned that it doesn't get much bigger than Oasis of the Seas.  After looking into it, we all agreed on taking Oasis of the Seas, departing Fort Lauderdale on July 24, 2010.  

Cabins

We have booked 3 cabins for this cruise.  My wife and I have a cabin that overlooks Central Park (as do my sisters), while my parents have a veranda balcony over the ocean.  My wife and I are usually fine with inside cabins (we'd rather spend the money elsewhere) but the Central Park cabin gives us a balcony to sit on and people watch, which will be fun.  

Itinerary

Our cruise will stop at 3 islands, Labadee, Costa Maya and Cozumel.

Labadee: Our plan will be a beach day here.  Everyone has been to Labadee before and we will find a spot on the beach somewhere.  Currently, Barefoot beach seems like a good choice and so we're going to go there.  I'm particularly happy that the ship can now dock at Labadee, as I've always found tenders to be incredibly slow and inefficient.

Costa Maya: Plans for this stop are still very much up in the air.  My sisters will likely opt for the beach but my dad really wants to check out the Mayan ruins.  His plan is to do this at Cozumel but I've heard good things about the Mayan Ruins at Costa Maya and so I'd like to take a tour here instead since I'm not keen on spending all day at the beach.  One excursion to the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins sounds pretty interesting so we will need to discuss this stop some more.

Cozumel: I love Cozumel and my wife and I could spend days here.  Our plan is to spend the morning in the city of Cozumel doing shopping and having lunch.  Last time we were here, we went to Pancho's Backyard for lunch, which was good but it didn't feel very authentic. This time, I'm looking for some real Mexican food for lunch, so we will need to do some more research.  After lunch, we're going to take a taxi over to Paradise Beach to spend some time enjoying the beach there.  We had a great time last time at Paradise Beach and looking forward to it once more.  Not sure what the rest of my family is planning for Cozumel. I'm hoping to change my dad's plan for Mayan Ruins to Costa Maya (as previously mentioned) so we will see what they have in mind, but I kind of like the idea of spending this day with just my wife.

Ship Plans

Needless to say, Oasis of the Seas is one big ship.  Given that we are only making 3 stops, the emphasis of this cruise is spending time on the ship.  My wife is a show junky, and so she plans to go to every show on every evening.  Like a good husband, I will likely go to them as well.  The Broadway musical "Hairspray" is playing and I'm looking forward to seeing that (we have tickets for it already).  The rest of the shows don't do as much for me but we will see.

While my wife loves shows, I love the restaurants and I can't wait to check them all out.  We have a reservation already for Giovanni's Table already but I'm hoping to be able to stop at Izumi, the sushi restaurant.  I love sushi and could eat it every day so I really want to go here at least once.  The other restaurants are less intriguing for us, but we're going to leave it up in the air.  We are fans of the main dining room, so getting to know our servers and that whole experience is important to us.

Aside from that, our plans for the ship aren't laid out.  There's going to be a lot of exploring and a lot of time spent at the pools.  We're about 3 weeks away from our cruise and I can't wait!

Just a quick note that Oasis of the Seas has skipped the port of Costa Maya due to high winds and waves from Hurricane Alex.  Cruisers aboard Oasis of the Seas mentioned the change in itinerary on Cruise Critic. The ship's captain informed guests that the ship will not be stopping at Costa Maya as previously planned and the ship will instead have a sea day.

Good news for Royal Caribbean stock holders, travel agents in Bahrain have reported an 80 percent increase in bookings compared to the first six months of last year and Royal Caribbean is leading the way.

Travel agents said the US-Norwegian company Royal Caribbean International was leading the sales with Princess Cruises and the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) not far behind.

Travel agents there seem to be quite pleased with how well Royal Caribbean itineraries are selling.  Oasis of the Seas is generating a lot of interest as well as their most popular package that sets sail from Singapore to Phuket, Thailand and Penang, Malaysia and then back to Singapore over a period of two nights.

"Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruise and NCL are all in the market selling like hot cakes."

Port Everglades, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is gaining ground quickly on Miami, Florida for most cruise passengers in the world.  Miami has been the traditional "cruise capital of the world" for many years but recent changes have made Port Everglades, located just 28 miles to the north, a close competitor.  If current trends continue, Port Everglades will overtake Miami by 2012, thanks to in part, Royal Caribbean.

Liberty of the Seas, currently serving Europe, will return to the United States next year and has been announced to call Port Everglades it's home port.  Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, the two largest cruise ships in the world, already call Port Everglades home.  This leaves just Majesty of the Seas left in Miami as Royal Caribbean's presence.  

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s level of commitment is less clear. Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., declined to comment on its future plans to sail from Miami, nor would he say whether Royal, which owns several brands including Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises, intends to keep its headquarters at the port after its building leases expire in 2011 and 2014.

Miami, for it's part, admits it needs to do more to lure Royal Caribbean back to Miami.  Recently the port of Miami inked a deal with Carnival to keep Carnival in Miami until at least 2018 and County Manager George Burgess said, "We need to roll up our sleeves and negotiate with Royal, just like we did with Carnival".

Port Everglades earned a lot of Royal Caribbean's new found loyalty thanks in part to how it handled the Oasis of the Seas situation.  When Royal Caribbean was shopping for a home port, it received a lukewarm reception from Miami but Port Everglades agreed to double the terminal budget from $37.4 million to $75 million. Royal Caribbean then promised to send even more passengers to Port Everglades to compensate for the extra cost of the 5.5-acre super terminal, which has 90 ticket counters.

According to the ZOLL Medical Corporation, a guest aboard Oasis of the Seas was saved with the help of a ZOLL AED Plus. It was the first time the unit was used aboard the 6,200-passenger mega-ship, the largest passenger liner in the world.  Back on March 27, a guest collapsed in the buffet line and another guest, familiar with CPR, asked for a defibrillator. A crew member brought the defibrillator, the guest used it to shock the man which revived the man, who was later brought to a local hospital for further treatment.

"The value Royal Caribbean places on passenger safety is commendable. By strategically placing AEDs throughout their entire fleet, Royal Caribbean realizes the value these life-saving devices can play in improving outcomes from sudden cardiac arrest when every second counts," said Jonathan A. Rennert, President of ZOLL.

These defibrillator units can be found on all 27 ships of the Royal Caribbean fleet with ten alone on Oasis of the Seas.

The Ministry of Tourism in the Bahamas released new tourism statistics for the country that first quarter numbers for 2010 are "a new Dawn of Hope" for a country that has been hit hard by the global recession.  Cruise arrivals for Nassau/Paradise Island and Grand Bahama as first ports of call up by 22.9 per cent and 41.8 per cent for the three months of 2010 and the largest reason? Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas.

Assessing the reasons behind the increase in cruise passenger arrivals, the Ministry of Tourism said: "Most of the increase by first port of entry to the Bahamas overall came from Royal Caribbean International's Oasis of the Seas. Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas helped to push the increase in cruise arrivals even higher. With the introduction of the Oasis of the Seas and the Freedom of the Seas to the Bahamas itinerary, it increased the number of passengers brought in by Royal Caribbean by 68.3 per cent.

There's a rumor swirling through the cruise industry right now that Oasis of the Seas may move over to serve European ports sooner rather than later.  Classic Cruises cites a few anonymous rumors they've heard that Oasis of the Seas could be headed for the Mediterranean as several ports are ramping up their facilities to handle larger passenger volumes.  In addition, And Royal Caribbean executives have been reminding Mediterranean port officials that Port Everglades and all the Caribbean ports where Oasis of the Seas pulls into required investments in their infrastructure upgrades.

Given Royal Caribbean's recent track history of moving their larger ships "across the pond", (Mariner of the Seas, Independence of the Seas just to name a few), it isn't out of the question and just recently Cruise Manager Carla Salvado said at the recent MedCruise assembly in Constantza that she would welcome the giant ship.

Royal Caribbean does have a 10-year agreement with Port Everglades that stipulates that the it must move 17 million passenger between 2008 and 2018 for its three brands, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara, according to a spokesperson.  Royal Caribbean has also said Oasis and Allure of the Seas will home port in Port Everglades.  Of course, at one point in time Royal Caribbean did also say that its Voyager Class ships would never leave Florida.  

It's likely too early to get worried that Oasis will be leaving soon, but you never know what can happen in just a few short years and given Royal Caribbean's recent love affair with Europe (and it's high cruise demand), you can never count this out as a possibility.