No one likes standing in line or waiting for customer service. People also generally don't like to sit around and not be completely sure when the doors will open.
Queues on most holidays are a reality. Checking into a hotel room often takes time and picking up a rental car can be a miserable experience. However, taking a cruise has quite a few problems for passengers that take time away from their vacation.
Related: Royal Caribbean Makes Passenger-Friendly tech Change
That's a Royal Caribbean thing. (RCL) has been actively thinking and working to improve. Specifically, the cruise line wants to optimize every part of the cruise experience that involves waiting in line.
Icon of the Seas, the cruise line's newest ship, has quietly introduced a series of changes designed to allow passengers to resolve problems without having to wait in line.
Improving the passenger experience is a key goal for the cruise line, according to Jay Schneider, Royal Caribbean's director of product innovation.
“We spent a lot of time researching with guests what their first-day experience is. And what we learned on that trip is that there is a lot of heavy lifting that the Royal Promenade requires today and we wish it didn't happen that way,” he said, according to a report. of Royal Caribe Blog.
“They want to start their vacation. They don't want to go looking for a Voom desk.”
Image source: Daniel Kline/TheStreet
Icon of the Seas brings improvements on board
While Icon of the Seas has been famous for its elevator system that sends passengers to the floors of their choice with limited stops, that's not the only innovation on board. Royal Caribbean has used the ship to launch a series of changes that will be easier to implement across the fleet.
One change includes a fairly significant improvement to its app, which will allow passengers to speak to customer services without having to queue at the counter. That process begins with an artificial intelligence virtual assistant that can answer simple questions.
Passengers can also choose to talk to a human, Royal Caribe Blog reported.
Royal Caribbean also improved its departure process by allowing passengers to use the app to select how they plan to leave the ship. On disembarkation day, they can also know when it is time to depart, something that was previously only available on televisions in staterooms and on other ships.
Royal Caribbean streamlines boarding (for some)
Passengers who have sailed on Icon of the Seas may also have noticed a slight but important change that Royal Caribbean has made to the boarding process.
Passengers who scanned their passports, took an identification photo, added a credit card and completed the health questionnaire in advance had access to an express boarding line. Passengers who did all of those things do not have to wait in line behind passengers who must complete one or more steps before boarding.
This is a small but welcome change for anyone who has been stuck in line behind someone who has a large group with several steps to complete.
All of these changes being tested on Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, could easily be added to more ships in the fleet. It's expensive and difficult to upgrade elevators on other ships (although it's certainly possible), but app-based changes are relatively easy to implement fleet-wide.
Royal Caribbean has generally taken the approach of trying major onboard changes on a single ship before expanding to others. The cruise line followed this process for its new dining menus and has also been testing allowing people with dining packages to reserve their meals before boarding.
The cruise line has not specified a timeline for implementing these changes on any other ships.
