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Sea ViewsFrom President and CEO, Adam Goldstein

Allure is Ready to Entertain You. Are You Ready for Allure?

And all that Jazz……

I’m lobbying to change the name of our newest ship to Entertainment of the Seas. The variety of entertainment options is amazing, and was further solidified last week when we conducted two previews of Chicago: The Musical at our Hollywood Studio.

As we watched the previews, I was thinking about everything it took to get to the final run through. I recalled the vocal director, Loren, during the auditions in New York when we were trying to find the perfect falsetto to play the Miss Sunshine role. I also laughed thinking about Christi Coachman’s comments that we were sending her to audition long-legged dancers for Chicago: The Musical and 4’10″ performers for the penguin characters of DreamWorks. She said it was the most complex casting ever!

Chicago: The Musical was definitely raising the bar for us. There was an element of risk taking a 6-time Tony Award winning musical that is normally 2:10 hours with an intermission and making it into a 90 minute version; not to mention it’s an Academy Award Winning movie that set high expectations. We worked hard to ensure all the key elements of the story were included, as well as every notable song such as, “All that Jazz,” and “Razzle Dazzle.” I’m confident that our guests onboard will not miss a single “beat” (pardon the bad pun).

The cast is incredible. Christi certainly did find us the long-legged dancers, and the choreography is especially impressive. The content of the show is definitely more adult than what we’ve done in the past. As a result, we have attached a “PG” content on the show reservations section of the website and there will be a message in the onboard cruise compass. However, when we did the run through, we had a number of kids there. My favorite comment came from a 9 year old who loved the dancing and when he left the studio, he said, “I need my exit music.” You will just have to see the show onboard to get that one!

Guest Post – Lisa Shares How Our Ships Adapt to New Ports!

Hello from somewhere in the Mediterranean. Captain Bill, John McGirl and I are on an extended trip in Europe, visiting Adventure, Navigator and Voyager of the Seas. At one time we never thought the Voyager class would leave Florida, and here we are visiting three in the Mediterranean.

We boarded Adventure in Rome, sailed to Palma de Majorca, transferred to Navigator and sailed back to Rome. We then flew (what an experience that was – with a 6-hour delay, we barely made it) to Voyager in Barcelona. This is the glamorous part of the job!! Then back to Rome we went on Voyager!

All three ship visits were different. It was interesting to see the different nationality mixes onboard each ship, yet the common theme was everyone enjoying the experience in their own way. No matter where people were from, the ice show is still the most popular entertainment around!

Adventure is spending her first summer in Europe after being in San Juan for nine years, so they have had to make some adjustments. We were all impressed with how they have handled the transition and it appears that she has been sailing in the Mediterranean for years. The biggest adjustments were related to ensuring we had the appropriate language skills. We also had to change the entertainment, so it was less about the language and more visual so everyone onboard could enjoy it. Dining times also were adjusted to account for the demand for later dinner seatings.

Only one day during our trip did we get the opportunity to get off the ship and have a few hours in Sardinia. We joined our Captain and Hotel Director for lunch shore side. Our Hotel Director Tony is actually from there, so we went to an amazing local restaurant. There weren’t any menus, and they just kept bringing course after course after course of fish. The guys loved it. I’ve never seen so much food, and was later told that was just meant to be the appetizer. The guys all loved the meal, unfortunately I don’t eat fish, but I greatly enjoyed watching them enjoy the feast and had some very good local cheeses and great conversation. Our Captain on Navigator is only 34 and he is impressive. Many of the crew came up to me and mentioned how much they love Captain Patrick. We are very focused on crew satisfaction, so it is always great to get unsolicited feedback from the crew.

The crew on all three ships are really enjoying Europe and seeing new places, versus the familiar islands in the Caribbean. During our all-crew meetings, they were also very excited by our new TV commercials featuring the DreamWorks characters. Those commercials got the biggest rounds of applause we’ve heard lately. I always ask the crew what they like most about the meetings and they often tell me the videos of Oasis and what is happening with the other ships, so we try to ensure the crew is very aware of all our new programs and what is happening in the fleet.

On Voyager, we actually held the Anchored in Excellence all-crew meeting in Studio B. We’ve never done that before, and it was really great. They opened up with our guest skater performing. That was a real WOW for the crew; sounds like we just found a new way to “Deliver the Wow” to our crew as well. None of us fell on the ice, so that was good news too!

We had an interesting entertainment experience on Voyager also. When we were in Muscat last year, we heard an amazing duo of a piano player and singer called Blisstronic. They were so good that I asked them if they might be interested in performing on a cruise ship. Ironically, their first week on Royal was the week we were onboard for Anchored in Excellence. They were a huge hit onboard. I also think they would be amazing in the jazz club on Allure, so maybe that is where they will go next. You never know where you can find great entertainment. If you ever see anyone amazing, let us know.

About Adam

Adam Goldstein, President and CEO Royal Caribbean International

Adam is a father and a Phillies fan. He's got a mean table tennis serve.

Adam Goldstein, the President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, has been answering it Royally since 1988. In 1998, Advertising Age named Adam one of their “Marketing 100,” the magazine's annual roundup of the best and brightest American and international marketing minds.

Goldstein graduated with honors from Princeton University, majoring in public policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He also has a law degree from Harvard and an MBA with distinction from INSEAD, the European business school in Fontainebleau, France. Adam and his wife have two children and live in Miami, Fla.

Lisa Bauer

Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing

Lisa Bauer is Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing overseeing Royal Caribbean International's global Marketing and Revenue Management as well the company's Sales & Marketing Offices and International Representatives around the world, which represents three of the company's brands – Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises. Lisa's blog posts have provided a behind the scenes look into new product developments including dining, entertainment and much more. Lisa is a huge animal lover, and has several cats and dogs, including a chocolate lab puppy named Coco Chanel and two rescue cats, Dolce & Gabbana.

John Weis

Associate Vice President, Guest Port Experience Royal Caribbean International

John Weis, Associate Vice President of Guest Port Experience manages our two private beach getaways CocoCay, Bahamas and Labadee, Haiti, all shore excursions world wide and was involved with the Clinton Global Initiative. His past blog posts have shared the latest on our work with rebuilding Haiti and offers ways for our guests to get involved. John is married and has two children, a boy and the girl. He is an avid diver and boater and has lived in South Florida for the past 35 years.

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo

Executive Vice President of Operations, Guest Port Experience Royal Caribbean International

Lisa Lutoff-Perlo is Executive Vice President of Operations for Royal Caribbean International overseeing Hotel Operations, Marine Operations, Land Operations, Entertainment and Activities, and Food and Beverage Operations. Lisa has held a variety of roles since joining Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in 1985 and last served as Celebrity Cruises' Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations, where she played a vital role in shaping extraordinary guest experiences for the brand and was instrumental in the delivery of the line's Solstice-Class of ships. In 2001, Travel Agent magazine named Lisa one of the "Most Powerful Women in Travel." Lisa is an avid and passionate (American) football fan and has named two of her puppies (she has 5) after her favorite team's quarterback.