Royal Caribbean takes a new direction in onboard offerings - brand name foods, goods and entertainment.
Royal Caribbean's new mega-ship, Allure of the Seas, is the proving ground for a series of onboard innovations that the line plans to expand to the rest of its fleet. Lisa Bauer, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations, took us on a tour of all the new unique features, which in one sense are an answer to other lines' upgrade programs, like Holland America's Signature of Excellence and Windstar's Degrees of Difference. Royal Caribbean's upgrade strategy will be implemented on each Royal Caribbean ship during its regularly scheduled drydock.
In some cases, the upgrades will be rolled out sooner -- especially on newer ships, where the company feels they should be deployed as soon as possible. This especially includes the DreamWorks Animation agreement that is already in full force on Allure and will be deployed on Liberty of the Seas in January, Oasis of the Seas in February, and Freedom in March.
Lisa explained that Royal Caribbean's extensive market research led to the DreamWorks deal and a number of other ideas. "People have been telling us that they want 'branded entertainment' and services," she said. In other words, they like to see product names on ships that they are familiar with, especially in the realm of entertainment.
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Shrek & Fiona - Dreamworks characters on stage in "Let Me Entertain You"
AquaTheater Dance Party with Madagascar characters
Marquee for a DreamWorks character breakfast
'Name' Entertainment
It could be argued that Norwegian Cruise Lines figured that out first. That line started putting "Second City" on its ships back in 2005, and decided to put the Blue Man Group on Norwegian Epic in 2008. Not long after NCL revealed that news to a fair amount of acclaim, Royal Caribbean announced it was putting its first fully licensed Broadway show -- "Hairspray" --on Oasis of the Seas, followed by "Chicago - the Musical" on Allure of the Seas.
This was indeed a sea change in cruise ship entertainment, one that most other lines have not yet matched. Most cruise lines still have in-house production companies that create stage shows based on well-worn premises such as "A Salute to ____" (fill in the blank)." It could be Hollywood, Broadway, Gershwin, the Fifties, the Sixties, Rodgers and Hammerstein, etc.
But fully licensed versions of Broadway hits or other proven live show successes cost more, and entertainment is not a revenue producer for the cruise lines. So innovation becomes a question of return on investment. If Royal Caribbean spends extra millions of dollars to put up DreamWorks characters and "Chicago - the Musical" on a cruise ship, can they charge more for the cruise to make up the added cost?
"Yes, we can make it up," says Lisa Bauer. The next test will be when the line puts the Broadway show "Saturday Night Fever" on Liberty of the Seas. (Note that the line is putting these "branded shows" on ships with the largest passenger capacities. Obviously, it is easier to pay for an expensive show when you can spread the cost over a greater number of guests.)
The introduction of DreamWorks is similar to what Disney has been doing on its cruise ships for years now - especially with costumed characters. DreamWorks Animation was started by a former head of Disney Entertainment, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and the concept of bringing animated characters to life is the same.
"We see the difference between Royal Caribbean and Disney as being one of 'kids (for Disney) vs. family (for Royal Caribbean),'" she said. While Disney loads its vessels with Disney characters and has entire decks devoted just to kids, Royal Caribbean has focused more on rolling the DreamWorks characters into shows that appeal to all ages; the Royal Promenade parade, for example, is not much different than it was before DreamWorks arrived, but cartoon characters have been added to the action. Royal Caribbean is not doing DreamWorks stage shows in its main theater, although "Shrek, the Musical" has opened on Broadway.
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This brings up one of the most basic questions of which is better, big or small ships? Big ships not only have room for more attractions but the cost for these added crowd pleasers can be spread out over more cruise fares. Oasis and Allure of the Seas already command much higher than average cruise prices, but the customer gets a lot more "Wow for the dollar."
The concern, in my opinion, is whether these ships can continue to command higher cruise fares as they age. This is not a bet Royal Caribbean is apparently willing to take too far right now, so the line has already announced it will not be building any more ships of this size in the forseeable future. It will be interesting to see how this mega-ship attraction continues to play out over the years. Either they will be cash cows for decades, or they will be dinosaurs. We are betting on the first scenario, but economic conditions can always change the outlook.
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Flying Princess in the Move It, Move It parade
Parade Dragon fits in with Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon
Kung Fu Panda leads on phalanx of Asian warriors
Unlike Disney, which puts most of its entertainment focus on its traditional stage productions, Royal Caribbean is not doing DreamWorks stage shows on its main stage even though "Shrek, the Musical" has opened on on the road in 10 cities.
What other brands have arrived on Allure of the Seas, and will be seen on other Royal Caribbean ships if they become successful? Boutique designer "Guess" has one of the largest "accessories" stores anywhere on the Royal Promenade of Allure of the Seas, and the store manager claims it already has one of the best sales records of any Guess outlet. Similarly, there is a dedicated "Coach" boutique in Central Park, which just coincidentally happens to be one of Lisa Bauer's favorite brands.
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Coach Boutique on Allure of the Seas
The first Guess Accessories store ever at sea
Starbucks Coffee also makes its debut on Allure
Next door to Coach is the eponymous art gallery called "Britto," for Romero Britto, said to be one of the favorite artists during the days when Royal Caribbean had art auctions onboard. Lisa says that Britto has already created a great deal of original artwork and reproductions for the Allure gallery. Among those original creations is a special Royal Caribbean teddy bear. In a gesture of good will, the artist also agreed to personally decoratively paint the crew lounge on Allure.
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A Britto sculpture
A glass version of the Britto Royal Caribbean bear
A Britto original mosaic in the Britto Gallery
Similarly, Royal Caribbean has created an exclusive gallery onboard Explorer of the Seas - one of its smaller mega-ships - devoted to American pop art icon Peter Max. Lisa says the gallery will feature "original paintings by the artist as well as enhanced prints." Generally, that means giclee prints the artist has embellished with a touch of original paint and a personalized signature. Lisa says Peter Max, known for his ability to produce prodigiously, has already created some $1.2 million in original work for the exclusive Royal Caribbean gallery on Explorer.
Another branding opportunity was given to Starbucks Coffee on Allure. The ship has a regular Starbucks coffee stand, just as one might find on shore, located within the Royal Promenade outside Bolero's Nightclub. This Starbucks sells everything you can buy in a regular Starbucks on land from coffee macchiato to scones and biscotti. For those who don't want to pay extra, you can always go to the Seattle's Best coffee shop just down the "street" from Starbucks where everything is essentially free just as it is on Oasis. Interestingly, Starbucks and Seattle's Best are both owned by the same parent company.
One of the more exciting brand innovations onboard Allure comes from Coca Cola. The cruise ship already sells "soda cards" onboard where for a set fee per cruise one can have all the Coca Cola brand drinks one can drink. In this case Coke has created special cups with electronic chips to tell the soda dispending machine they have a real customer ready to drink. When this customer puts his cup in the dispenser he gets a menu of some dozen different Coke products to choose from - and even mix and match. I don't even like carbonated, caffeinated beverages that much, but that Coke machine looks like a lot of fun.
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Typical Starbucks pastries on sale on Allure
The new Coke dispensers for soda card programs
One of the guest services "Royal Express Kiosk" workstations
Moving on to other features that just make life better on Allure of the Seas, Lisa Bauer then showed us the "Royal Express Kiosk." These workstations near the Passenger Services Desk supply what the majority of people request from the service desk - a copy of their bill. These workstations also go to the web sites of all the major airlines and allow people to check in and even print out their boarding passes. You can also review your show and restaurant reservations and make new ones. Now, it is true that you can also see and make such reservations on your generous 32-inch flat panel television in your stateroom - but you cannot print from it.
We ended up our tour of Allure enhancements at the "Vintages" wine bar. This bar is similar to the wine bars sister cruise line Celebrity has on its Solstice-class ships. The bar features an automatic pouring system where the guest prepays a certain dollar amount for an electronic card readable by a pouring machine that pours tastes of fine wines by two, four or eight ounce servings. It is a terrific way to taste an very expensive wine without having to buy an entire bottle of even a full glass.
The pourer has 10 bottles, each one with a full description and separately priced per ounce according to its value. Some vintages may cost $10 or much more just for two ounces - but you can read a complete description of the wine (and the price per ounce) before you commit to pouring. The bar also serves up a very tasty array of tapas such as thinly sliced aged Carpaccio, ham, cheese, slightly toasted baguette rolls, octopus, Mediterranean olives and other goodies.
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Lisa Bauer and the other tasty tapas treats at Vintages
The iPad menu which creates your table at Vintages
Johnny Rockets - one of the first brands ever put on any cruise ship
If you decide you want to order something more substantial your menu comes on an iPad with pictures and prices connected to the "point of sale" system. You build your virtual meal, with pictures of your wine, your hors d' oeuvres and your tapas selections, and as you select each item, one thing at a time, you see it added to your virtual tabletop on the iPad. When you are ready you press the button to buy it. The waiter then delivers it.
Without a doubt, Allure is the most revolutionary cruise ship ever built. As a sister to Oasis of the Seas she already had a head start, but Royal Caribbean introduced Allure fully inbued with its new philosophy of ship deployment. The line used to wait longer than most cruise lines to add new features to older ships. Now it is the line most eager to add new enhancements as they become available to all its ships. Since the line is on something of a hiatus when it comes to building new ships, this new philosophy to upgrade existing ships could not have come at a better time.
The older ships already scheduled for upgrades when their scheduled dry dock arrives include Radiance and Splendour of the Seas. Radiance is a newer ship, but Splendour is one of the older models launched in 1996. Among the enhancements will be a new Crown and Anchor concierge lounge for Diamond members.
