Cruise ships, especially the newer ones from Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruise Line, have become huge floating cities. They are a lot like the casinos at the Las Vegas Strip resorts, filled with restaurants, entertainment options, pools, a spa, and of course, a hotel.
These giant cruise ships carry between 5,000 and 6,000 passengers (or even more) and that creates some logistical problems. That's why cruise lines stagger people boarding the ship. You don't want 6,000 people showing up at the same time to board for 5 or 6 hours to avoid traffic jams.
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There are a few other times on a cruise where you notice there are crowds and things can get a little jammed. Most of them, like entering the theater or another performance venue, are expected and understandable.
However, waiting in elevators also creates a problem because traditionally they operate seemingly randomly. If you're on a busy floor, it's not uncommon for the elevator to take a few minutes to appear, and when it does, it may already be crowded.
That creates a situation where crowds gather and sometimes chaos ensues. People may jump ahead in line or end up not getting into an open elevator because it is too far from where they are standing.
And, even once you get on an elevator, there's a chance it will end up stopping on every floor and the people in the back will need to get out. Or, sometimes more frustratingly, the elevator might stop at each floor because someone's child chose to press each button.
It's a problem that can actually affect passengers and make their cruise worse. Royal Caribbean, however, has solved that problem with innovative new technology.
Royal Caribbean solves its elevator problems
On its newest ship, Icon of the Seas, Royal Caribbean (RCL) – Get a free report It has a completely new elevator system. Instead of simply pressing a button and waiting for the elevator to appear, the new system allows passengers to enter the floor they need to get to on a touch panel that then shows them, by letter, which elevator they need to wait in front of.
The lift may take a minute or two to arrive, but once it does it will have room for you and in many cases the lift will go directly to your chosen floor. In the worst case, the elevator will make one or two stops that are displayed on screens inside so passengers know exactly what their ride will be like.
There are no buttons in real elevators. Once you're inside, you don't have the option to change which floor you're going to, and you won't be forced to stop at every floor because some kid wanted to press a bunch of buttons.
“We were obsessively focused… We know a lot about the flow of people. We know a lot about how to create an enjoyable experience that also moves people,” said Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley.
“We were very nervous about them,” Bayley said of the elevators. “We are delighted with the elevator lobbies.”
Icon of the Seas is full of innovation
While regular cruisers will notice the elevators because it's a change that affects every passenger, that's not the only innovation on Icon of the Seas. The first ship of the new Icon class, Icon of the Seas, also has a redesigned Royal Promenade: a two-story open space packed with restaurants and entertainment venues that serves as the heart of the ship.
Royal Caribbean has opened up the space by making it flow between places and eliminating dead ends. At the heart of the Boardwalk is the Pearl, an impressive structure that actually serves as structural support for the ship, allowing the cruise line to add windows along the boardwalk.
Inside the Pearl, the cruise line has transformed its Promenade Café into the Pearl Café, offering Starbucks coffee and an elevated menu of snacks and sandwiches. From Pearl, you can even climb a flight of stairs to Central Park, an outdoor space that is literally a park floating in the sea.
It may seem like a small improvement, but Icon of the Seas has an opening where passengers can move between locations and “neighborhoods” without having to ride elevators. That also improves the elevator experience because fewer people use them to travel one or two floors.
