It’s a very busy time in the cruise business, but not necessarily a time for big news. We are actively engaged in planning for 2013 as well as beginning to discuss our ship deployment for 2014/5.
Our Project Sunshine work continues in earnest behind the scenes, but alas it is not yet time for us to say anything about our beautiful new ships-to-be. Don’t worry, we won’t be shy when the time comes.
Captain Bill Wright, whom many of you know from his time as Master of Freedom of the Seas and then Oasis of the Seas during their respective debuts, has concluded his exemplary service as Senior VP, Marine Operations and will return to the fleet as a full time Captain later this year. Some of us think he heard our marketing message “The Sea Is Calling…Answer it Royally” and took it more literally than the rest of us. But it will be to the benefit of many guests and crew to have Captain Bill back on the water full time.
Speaking of Captains, sadly one of our all time finest – Eigil Eriksen – recently passed away. I would like to publicly express my condolences to his family. My best memory of Captain Eriksen was when he and I participated in the Lion Dance when Sun Viking began its Asia program in the early 1990′s (yes I did one with Captain Bang as well).
Last month I had the pleasure of being in Singapore for the maiden visit of Voyager of the Seas. Two weeks later it was Lisa Bauer’s turn to be with the ship when it arrived in Shanghai for the first time. No matter who’s there, it’s an exciting time for our brand in Asia.
A post script on the Tony Awards – we were very pleased to have been able to showcase our off off off off off off Broadway production of Hairspray live from Oasis of the Seas. It made a very positive statement about the caliber of our entertainment. Despite all of our marketing, we believe most noncruisers do not yet appreciate how good our entertainment has become. Thank goodness the live link worked – it was nerve wracking down to the last second – and we are excited that approximately six million people viewed the performance. The Tony Awards producers were very supportive of this undertaking. Some of the post event media treated our participation in the show as a controversial product placement. Interestingly, the coverage I read was not particularly critical of Royal Caribbean for doing such a product placement but rather of the trend toward more intrusive product placement citing our initiative as an example. If anything, the commentators opined that Royal Caribbean had been given an opportunity it shouldn’t have received. From my vantage point, this is the direction in which product placement is moving. Over a half million of our guests per year can see one of Hairspray, Chicago or Saturday Night Fever on our ships which promotes Broadway style entertainment. The Tony Awards audience saw that such entertainment exists on Royal Caribbean International. Makes sense to me.
I have sailed with Royal many times and just love all your ships, but will the Majesty undergo any upgrades or enhancements in the future. She is a wonderful ship, but could use some new dining choices and better stateroom televisions. Next are there any plans for a new ship from Royal because I would love to see how you can top the Oasis class ships.
Hi Wanda, at this time there are no plans to enhance Majesty of the Seas. As for new ships on the horizon, you can find the most up-to-date information here.
I’m a big fan of Broadway and a member of your Crown & Anchor Society. I assumed that entertainment on a cruise ship could never be as good as a Broadway show – but I was wrong. We have been so impressed with your shows and entertainers.
I loved seeing you as part of the Tony Award show and of course I assumed you paid for the privilege. Putting on the Tonys is an expensive undertaking. It was very appropriate and fit right in with the show. Congratulations on pulling off a live performance for millions of viewers.
Thank you very much, Margaret! We appreciate your congratulations and we couldn’t be more thrilled that you enjoyed the show.
Adam,
Back during the swine flu scare I had a cruise booked on the Mariner out of LA to Mexico. A week and a half before we set sail the itinerary was switched and we went north. At first I was a little disappointed because I was looking forward to warm weather but instead got the cold on our way to Astoria, OR, Victoria, BC, and Seattle, WA. You guys reconfirmed with that experience why I will always cruise with you. RCI went above and beyond to insure our cruise would be fantastic, and it was. Well the reason I am writing you is I initially would not have booked this itinerary but now that I have experienced the beauty of the Pacific NW I would book that cruise again in a heartbeat. So I guess my question is any thought to maybe doing a three month tour out of LA on a Vision or Radiance class ship prior to or after the Alaska season? That would greatly cut down on my expenses by not having to fly out of SoCal to another port. Keep up the good work and I can’t wait to see what RCI has in store for us with Project Sunshine. Take Care, Michael Earl
Thanks for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed the Pacific Northwest!
I think everyone in the entertainment industry agrees that product placement has become part of the economics of the business, and the question is whether it fits (for example, characters in a show have to drive a car, so what if the car company pays for it to be their brand) or is blatent. I recall that ET turned out to be a fan of Reeses Pieces because M&M didn’t want to participate. Personally, I thought the Tony Award broadcast was a case of fitting in very well, While Broadway shows have long done national tours, Las Vegas productions, dinner theaters, and college/high school productions (in fact Les Mis has a specific school edition of the show) moving a full-scale show aboard a ship and bringing broadway to many thousands of people who might never have the experience is a major evolution, and was worth spotlighting.
Funny side-story. During the run of the HBO series The Sopranos, I watched one night as Carmella found Tony at home watching yet another animal documentary and said that she had been at dinner with a friend whose husband worked at Kroll Associates (where I’ve worked for 24 years). Tony said “The private eyes? Carmella said that they could hire Kroll to find the missing Adriana, and “They’re not as expensive as you think.” The next morning, I asked the company’s founder Jules Kroll what had happened. He said he was as shocked as the rest of us. It wasn’t pre-arranged. And David Chase never told us why he did it.
Can I close by wishing the Goldstein family, Captain Wright’s family as he re-enters the fleet, and the entire Royal Caribbean U.S. family a great 4th of July holiday.
Alan
Thanks for your insight, Alan! Hope you had a great 4th of July as well.
I was very excited to see that RCCL would be part of the Tony Awards. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the performance and can’t wait until we are able to be watching in person. Good Job!!!!
John & Mae, we appreciate your comment and are glad you enjoyed the performance.
Can you imagine how excited we were to find out that our original 12 day Transatlatic crossing on the Vision in April 2013, had been expanded to 17 days. Now we’ll get to not only Paris (the reason we scheduled this crossing in the first place) but to Ireland as well as the other ports. As Crown and Anchor Diamond members who have sailed on the Vision on its Holy Land cruise, we are asking if the Vision has a Diamond lounge? We are also interested in finding out if Royal will be having a round trip to Hawaii from California? We are now looking forward to our Explorer cruise in Jan. 2013.
Cruising from Galveston. Awhile back the Rhapsody of the Seas had Key West as a port of call.
Is there any chance that Key West would come back to the itinerary from Galveston?
Also, how about putting a mid-size ship to cruise from Galveston during the summer months?
Just think of all the would-be cruisers from the middle of the country and West coast who refuse
to sail on Carnival.
Best Wishes from this Diamond Cruiser.