Royal Caribbean: Boarding world's largest cruise ship will be a breeze

mercedes · August 31, 2009

TURKU, Finland -- It's a truism of the cruise business: The bigger the ship, the more delays there are during boarding. But Royal Caribbean executives say the much-ballyhooed Oasis of the Seas -- by far the largest cruise ship ever built -- will be an exception to the rule.

Speaking during a tour of the soon-to-debut, 5,400-passenger vessel Thursday at the STX Europe shipyard in Turku, Finland, Royal Caribbean Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said the company is making some major changes to the way it handles the boarding process to ease congestion.

Perhaps the most notable difference: On port call days, the line will conduct security screenings on passengers reboarding the ship before they reach the gangplank, while they are still on land.

On most ships today passengers go through metal detectors and have their bags examined by x-ray machines only after they step onboard, creating a backup right around the doorway.

"There's one doorway (into the ship) and everyone has to come through that doorway and go through screening, creating a bottleneck," notes Fain. Under the new system of pre-screening before passengers reach the gangway, "there's no bottleneck anymore."

Royal Caribbean is developing dedicated security screening facilities on land at the ports that Oasis will visit including St. Thomas, St. Marten and Nassau, The Bahamas. Fain said that not just Oasis but other Royal Caribbean ships will be able to use them.

It's just one of several initiatives Royal Caribbean is taking to cut down on lines. Lisa Bauer, the company's head of hotel operations, said that during the design process for Oasis the company looked at every aspect of its operations to find ways to minimize hassles for passengers and is tinkering in a number of areas.

Among the most notable changes, says Bauer: the addition of "universal waivers" for activities on Oasis. In the past passengers had to stand in line to sign waivers each time they wanted to try a ship activity such as rock climbing or ice skating. Now they'll be able to sign a universal waiver online before they set sail that will clear them for all such activities in advance. Attendants at the various activities will be able to check that passengers have signed the waiver by scanning their keycards.

Also new, says Bauer: Mobile cash registers. Waiters on Oasis will carry around small tablets on which passengers can sign for drinks electronically -- eliminating the need to print out paper receipts for signing.

"No more paper," is the new mantra, says Bauer.

frostyboy64 · September 3, 2009

(WOW) THAT SOUNDS GREAT I LOVE ROYAL CARIBBEAN BUT THE LINES TO GET LONG AND I HATE TO STOP WHAT IAM DOING TO SIGN THAT SLIP (AT THE SHOWS WARE IT IS DARK)