| Explorer of the Seas |
THE
WINNING
EQUATION
By Richard H. Wagner
(originally published in The Log, Navy
League of the United States, New York
Council (Spring 2007)
WINNING
EQUATION
By Richard H. Wagner
(originally published in The Log, Navy
League of the United States, New York
Council (Spring 2007)
ABOVE: EXPLORER OF THE SEAS (Photo by Michael Verdue
courtesy of Royal Caribbean). BELOW: Captain William Wright,
Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice Preseident of Marine Operations.
courtesy of Royal Caribbean). BELOW: Captain William Wright,
Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice Preseident of Marine Operations.
EXPLORER OF THE SEAS is Royal
Caribbean International's primary entry
into the New York cruise market. In 2007,
the ship will begin sailing from the Liberty
Cruise Ship Terminal in Bayonne, New
Jersey on a year-round basis to
destinations such as Bermuda, the
Caribbean and Canada. This follows a
successful season in 2006 during which
EXPLORER sailed from Bayonne for part
of the year.
By deploying this one ship to New
York, the world's second largest cruise
line has become a major player in this
market. This is because EXPLORER is
one of the world's largest cruise ships - - a
megacruise ship at 137,308 gross
registered tons, capable of accommodating
3,835 passengers. In fact, she is larger in
terms of gross tonnage than any passenger
ship in service except Cunard's QUEEN
MARY 2 (See The Log, Winter 2006 at p.
17) and fleet-mate FREEDOM OF THE
SEAS (See The Log, Summer 2006 at p.9).
(FREEDOM's sister ship, LIBERTY OF
THE SEAS, will also be larger when she
goes into service in May).
Royal Caribbean is well-known for its
large cruise ships but it does not build such
ships merely to awe the public. As
we shall see, they are key to Royal
Caribbean's business strategy. "These
have been a huge success. We wouldn't
continue to march down the path toward
large vessels if it wasn't something that we
weren't more than 100% convinced was
the right thing to do from a business
perspective," commented Captain William
Wright, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice
President, Marine Operations, when The
Log spoke with him onboard EXPLORER.
The Line
In order to put Royal Caribbean's strategy
in perspective, it is necessary to look
briefly at the growth of the line. Royal
Caribbean was born in the late 1960s when
an American, Ed Stephens, flew to Oslo,
Norway, with the hope of interesting
Norwegian businessmen in investing in a
company that would offer Caribbean
cruises out of Miami on ships that were
expressly built for that purpose. At that
time, there were a few pioneers offering
cruises out of Miami but they were using
ships that had been designed for other
roles. For the most part, these were ships
that had once competed in the transatlantic
passenger market, which had been all but
wiped out with the advent of commercial
jet service to Europe. Stephens recognized
that the calm waters of the Caribbean did
not require ships with the strength needed
to handle the rigors of a transatlantic
crossing. A Caribbean cruise ship could
be lighter, which would create fuel savings
and shallower draft, which would allow it
to enter more island ports than the former
ocean liners. Furthermore, the ships could
be less streamlined, more box-like, and
thus able to carry more passengers and
have more revenue producing amenities in
the same physical space.
Stephens also saw the jet airliner, not
as an enemy, but as a key to the future
success of the cruise business. Instead of
marketing the cruises just to Florida
residents as the other lines were doing, the
new company would sell its services
nationwide, offering cruise packages that
included air travel to Miami.
Norway was a good venue for seeking
potential investors because a number of
Norwegian businesses had done very well
in the oil tanker and cargo ship businesses
and were looking for ways to expand.
Also, with the discovery of North Sea oil,
the country was poised for growth.
Stephens convinced three large investors,
I.M. Skaugen, S/A, Anders Wilhelmson
and Company, and Gotas Larsen Shipping
Corporation, to form a partnership. The
resulting company was called Royal
Caribbean Cruise Line and was
incorporated in 1968.
By 1972, Royal Caribbean had three
purpose built cruise ships in operation,
each of approximately 18,000 gross tons
and carrying about 750 passengers. The
concept proved a success and these ships
are viewed as the prototype for all
subsequent cruise ships.
Other companies and businessmen saw
the potential of the cruise ship business and
adapting some of Royal Caribbean's ideas
as well as developing their own, they too
began to flourish. As the industry grew,
Royal Caribbean was placed in the
position of having to expand to meet the
competition.
The traditional way a passenger ship
company expands is by acquiring more
ships. However, the more hulls a line
operates, the greater its cost of operation.
For each ship in the fleet, there is the cost
of a crew, fueling the ship, docking fees,
etc. From an operating cost perspective, it
thus would be more efficient to somehow
grow the line's capacity by increasing the
passenger capacity of its existing ships
rather than purchasing more ships,
provided that the cost of increasing the
capacity of the existing ships was less than
or equal to purchasing more ships.
Accordingly, Royal Caribbean took a
bold and innovative step in 1977 when it
sent SONG OF NORWAY back to the
builder. The Wartsilia shipyard in
Helsinki, Finland cut the ship in two and
spliced a new 85-foot section in the
middle, adding more passenger cabins. In
1980, NORDIC PRINCE was similarly
"stretched." While this had often been
done with cargo ships, it had never been
done with a passenger ship before. But,
the experiment worked and Royal
Caribbean was able to meet the
competition with larger ships.
Of course, a line cannot expand
indefinitely by chopping up and stretching
its existing fleet. However, the same
economics that led to the stretching of the
two existing ships made it attractive to
build bigger ships rather than purchase
more ships of similar size to the existing
fleet. Due to economies of scale, it is less
expensive, for example, to operate one
ship with a 2,000-passenger capacity than
two 1,000 passenger capacity ships. As a
result, in 1982, Royal Caribbean
introduced SONG OF AMERICA, a
31,000 gross ton ship with a 1,400
passenger capacity - - one-third larger than
the company's stretched ships.
The competition also began to build
larger ships but Royal Caribbean was
planning yet another revolutionary move.
In 1987, it took delivery of SOVEREIGN
OF THE SEAS - - the first megacruise
ship. Her 73,129 gross tons were more
than that of any prior passenger ship save
only the superliners QUEEN MARY,
QUEEN ELIZABETH, and NORMANDIE.
It is important to recall that gross tonnage
is a measure of revenue producing area,
not physical weight. Thus, while
SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS was smaller
in size than the largest passenger ships then
in service, QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 and
NORWAY, her more box-like structure
enabled her to accommodate more
passengers and have more
revenue-producing amenities.
During the remainder of the 1980s and
the early 1990s, Royal Caribbean added to
its fleet three sisters for SOVEREIGN as
well as six slightly smaller megacruise
ships. It also acquired Celebrity Cruises,
which it operates as a separate premium
brand. This acquisition resulted in a
change in the company's corporate
structure. A holding company, Royal
Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., was set up to own
Celebrity and a newly-formed subsidiary,
Royal Caribbean International ("RCI"),
which would operate the Royal Caribbean
line.
Reflecting its new owner's business
strategy, over the next few years, Celebrity
would also be equipped its own with
megacruise ships including the 90,000
gross ton Millennium-class. Four
similarly-sized ships would also be built
for RCI.
The competition was not idle and they
too were building megacruise ships. In
1998, rival Princess Cruises unveiled the
first cruise ship of over 100,000 gross
tons, GRAND PRINCESS. However,
Princess did not hold the record for long.
In 1999, RCI eclipsed all ships then in
service by a wide margin when it put the
137,000-ton VOYAGER OF THE SEAS
into service. Four sisters would follow.
In 2003, Cunard's QUEEN MARY 2
became the world's largest passenger ship.
Although QM2 also does cruises, she was
designed to do transatlantic crossings and
as such, Captain Wright sees her as being
in a different category than the RCI ships.
"There is a whole different look and feel
about it. She has a much comparatively
narrower beam, she is long, long and
slender, and that is what gives her that
extra speed that they need for the
transatlantic routes. And, I think the ships
just have a whole different feel to them.
Clearly, the Royal Promenade which we
have here on the Voyager-class sets her in
her own class by herself."
Nonetheless, in 2006, RCI introduced
an even larger ship, FREEDOM OF THE
SEAS. At 154,407 gross tons and serving
up to 4,400 passengers, she is now the
world's largest passenger ship.
"FREEDOM for all intents and purposes is
a stretched Voyager. It was purpose-built
at that length."
The net result of this is that in terms of
number of ships in service, Royal
Caribbean with 34 ships in its two brands
is approximately 40 per cent of the size of
industry leader Carnival Corporation with
its eleven brands. However, when looked
at from the perspective of how many
passengers each company is capable of
serving, Royal Caribbean is approximately
half the size of Carnival.
The ship
EXPLORER is the second of the five
Voyager-class ships, going into service in
October 2000. "There are very small
technical differences but the overall
design, [the Voyager-class ships] are
identical. The deck schemes are different
but the basic ships are identical." She
is 1,020 feet long, 157.5 feet wide and has
a draft of 29 feet. Her 1,185-member crew
is Norwegian and international.
Royal Caribbean recognized that the
Voyager-class ships were not just an
evolutionary step in the development of the
cruise ship but a leap forward that required
some new thinking about the way a ship is
operated. To begin, there would be a more
formal approach to training the officers to
run the ships. "We felt that because of the
unprecedented size of the ship that it was
appropriate to also do simulator training
just as the airlines have done for many
years. So, at our STAR Center in Dania,
Florida, we actually replicated the bridge
of the Voyager-class ships. Our officers,
when they go there, take the normal bridge
resource management training, which is
interpersonal relationships. But they then
also train on exactly the same equipment
that they use onboard the ships. It's a
ship-specific simulator, which is unique in
the maritime world. Airlines have been
doing it for years but I believe we are the
only company, passenger or otherwise, that
has actually made that kind of investment."
This more sophisticated approach to
training reflected the fact that the bridges
on these ships are not the traditional type
where the officers have to walk from one
console or instrument to another to collect
and process data but rather more closely
resemble an airplane cockpit. The officers
sit in high-backed chairs in front of a
U-shaped console. Computer displays and
the controls for the ship are within arms
reach. Moreover, the systems installed
such as the Dynamic Position System,
which links navigational data with the
propulsion systems thus enabling very
precise handling and positioning, are
state-of-the art. This type of bridge has
now been standardized across the Royal
Caribbean/Celebrity fleet. "When an
officer goes from one ship to another it
would be the same, the same technologies."
Along the same lines, Royal Caribbean
decided to abandon the traditional
propeller and shaft method of propulsion
and rely upon the pod propulsion in the
Voyager-class. "There is one what we call
a 'fixipod' - - it is a pod but it does not
move, it does not rotate. [In addition,
EXPLORER] has two azimodal pods
which can rotate 360 degrees. They are
pulling whereas the fixipod is pushing.
The fact that they are pulling is a great
advantage because the water, the
environment that the propeller is working
in, is much purer. Since it is a more
laminated water flow that is hitting the
propeller it is operating at higher
efficiency. If we had the propeller at the
end of a shaft the water that eventually
reaches the propeller is somewhat
turbulent because of the rotation of the
shaft and the struts that are supporting the
shaft, and that takes away the efficiency.
We get about ten percent better efficiency
by having the pods pull rather than push."
This also allowed Royal Caribbean to
dispense with rudders on these ships. "We
steer by rotating the pods themselves.
They are really fantastic. These vessels
would be extremely challenging to
maneuver if you didn't have azipods.
You'd be very much more dependent on
tugs. Here, for all intents and purposes we
operate tug free even under challenging
conditions."
EXPLORER has six engines giving her
a maximum speed of 22 and a half knots.
"She is a diesel electric ship so all the
engines are used for power generation."
Service speed varies from leg to leg of a
cruise. "One of the things that we are
paying a lot of attention to right now with
fuel prices as high as they are now is to
make sure that we have reasonable legs.
Sometimes we depart a little bit earlier
than we might have five or six years ago so
we keep the speed down to more economic
levels. We spend a lot more time now
really scrutinizing our itineraries for
overall economy"
The increase in the cost of fuel has
required Royal Caribbean to adapt in other
ways. "We have eight ships in total [RCI
and Celebrity] that are gas turbine ships. It
is a fantastic technology, we love it, but it
is expensive. It is so expensive, in fact,
we are just getting started on a project
where we retrofit a diesel generator on all
these vessels. It is a hugely complex
project. That will give the [captains] the
opportunity to run the diesel when they are
in port. [In addition,] the captains, in
certain confined water, like to have two
turbines running, not for speed but just so
in case they lose one, they would have the
other one. Now, they could get by having
the diesel there. It would give them some
steerage, some flexibility, even if they lost
the one gas turbine. It's going to be about
$15 million a ship. We found the room [for
the equipment] but it is complicated. A lot
of other systems have to be re-directed, the
piping arrangements - - it is a huge project.
In many ways, it is more complicated than
stretching the ships."
Caribbean International's primary entry
into the New York cruise market. In 2007,
the ship will begin sailing from the Liberty
Cruise Ship Terminal in Bayonne, New
Jersey on a year-round basis to
destinations such as Bermuda, the
Caribbean and Canada. This follows a
successful season in 2006 during which
EXPLORER sailed from Bayonne for part
of the year.
By deploying this one ship to New
York, the world's second largest cruise
line has become a major player in this
market. This is because EXPLORER is
one of the world's largest cruise ships - - a
megacruise ship at 137,308 gross
registered tons, capable of accommodating
3,835 passengers. In fact, she is larger in
terms of gross tonnage than any passenger
ship in service except Cunard's QUEEN
MARY 2 (See The Log, Winter 2006 at p.
17) and fleet-mate FREEDOM OF THE
SEAS (See The Log, Summer 2006 at p.9).
(FREEDOM's sister ship, LIBERTY OF
THE SEAS, will also be larger when she
goes into service in May).
Royal Caribbean is well-known for its
large cruise ships but it does not build such
ships merely to awe the public. As
we shall see, they are key to Royal
Caribbean's business strategy. "These
have been a huge success. We wouldn't
continue to march down the path toward
large vessels if it wasn't something that we
weren't more than 100% convinced was
the right thing to do from a business
perspective," commented Captain William
Wright, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice
President, Marine Operations, when The
Log spoke with him onboard EXPLORER.
The Line
In order to put Royal Caribbean's strategy
in perspective, it is necessary to look
briefly at the growth of the line. Royal
Caribbean was born in the late 1960s when
an American, Ed Stephens, flew to Oslo,
Norway, with the hope of interesting
Norwegian businessmen in investing in a
company that would offer Caribbean
cruises out of Miami on ships that were
expressly built for that purpose. At that
time, there were a few pioneers offering
cruises out of Miami but they were using
ships that had been designed for other
roles. For the most part, these were ships
that had once competed in the transatlantic
passenger market, which had been all but
wiped out with the advent of commercial
jet service to Europe. Stephens recognized
that the calm waters of the Caribbean did
not require ships with the strength needed
to handle the rigors of a transatlantic
crossing. A Caribbean cruise ship could
be lighter, which would create fuel savings
and shallower draft, which would allow it
to enter more island ports than the former
ocean liners. Furthermore, the ships could
be less streamlined, more box-like, and
thus able to carry more passengers and
have more revenue producing amenities in
the same physical space.
Stephens also saw the jet airliner, not
as an enemy, but as a key to the future
success of the cruise business. Instead of
marketing the cruises just to Florida
residents as the other lines were doing, the
new company would sell its services
nationwide, offering cruise packages that
included air travel to Miami.
Norway was a good venue for seeking
potential investors because a number of
Norwegian businesses had done very well
in the oil tanker and cargo ship businesses
and were looking for ways to expand.
Also, with the discovery of North Sea oil,
the country was poised for growth.
Stephens convinced three large investors,
I.M. Skaugen, S/A, Anders Wilhelmson
and Company, and Gotas Larsen Shipping
Corporation, to form a partnership. The
resulting company was called Royal
Caribbean Cruise Line and was
incorporated in 1968.
By 1972, Royal Caribbean had three
purpose built cruise ships in operation,
each of approximately 18,000 gross tons
and carrying about 750 passengers. The
concept proved a success and these ships
are viewed as the prototype for all
subsequent cruise ships.
Other companies and businessmen saw
the potential of the cruise ship business and
adapting some of Royal Caribbean's ideas
as well as developing their own, they too
began to flourish. As the industry grew,
Royal Caribbean was placed in the
position of having to expand to meet the
competition.
The traditional way a passenger ship
company expands is by acquiring more
ships. However, the more hulls a line
operates, the greater its cost of operation.
For each ship in the fleet, there is the cost
of a crew, fueling the ship, docking fees,
etc. From an operating cost perspective, it
thus would be more efficient to somehow
grow the line's capacity by increasing the
passenger capacity of its existing ships
rather than purchasing more ships,
provided that the cost of increasing the
capacity of the existing ships was less than
or equal to purchasing more ships.
Accordingly, Royal Caribbean took a
bold and innovative step in 1977 when it
sent SONG OF NORWAY back to the
builder. The Wartsilia shipyard in
Helsinki, Finland cut the ship in two and
spliced a new 85-foot section in the
middle, adding more passenger cabins. In
1980, NORDIC PRINCE was similarly
"stretched." While this had often been
done with cargo ships, it had never been
done with a passenger ship before. But,
the experiment worked and Royal
Caribbean was able to meet the
competition with larger ships.
Of course, a line cannot expand
indefinitely by chopping up and stretching
its existing fleet. However, the same
economics that led to the stretching of the
two existing ships made it attractive to
build bigger ships rather than purchase
more ships of similar size to the existing
fleet. Due to economies of scale, it is less
expensive, for example, to operate one
ship with a 2,000-passenger capacity than
two 1,000 passenger capacity ships. As a
result, in 1982, Royal Caribbean
introduced SONG OF AMERICA, a
31,000 gross ton ship with a 1,400
passenger capacity - - one-third larger than
the company's stretched ships.
The competition also began to build
larger ships but Royal Caribbean was
planning yet another revolutionary move.
In 1987, it took delivery of SOVEREIGN
OF THE SEAS - - the first megacruise
ship. Her 73,129 gross tons were more
than that of any prior passenger ship save
only the superliners QUEEN MARY,
QUEEN ELIZABETH, and NORMANDIE.
It is important to recall that gross tonnage
is a measure of revenue producing area,
not physical weight. Thus, while
SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS was smaller
in size than the largest passenger ships then
in service, QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 and
NORWAY, her more box-like structure
enabled her to accommodate more
passengers and have more
revenue-producing amenities.
During the remainder of the 1980s and
the early 1990s, Royal Caribbean added to
its fleet three sisters for SOVEREIGN as
well as six slightly smaller megacruise
ships. It also acquired Celebrity Cruises,
which it operates as a separate premium
brand. This acquisition resulted in a
change in the company's corporate
structure. A holding company, Royal
Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., was set up to own
Celebrity and a newly-formed subsidiary,
Royal Caribbean International ("RCI"),
which would operate the Royal Caribbean
line.
Reflecting its new owner's business
strategy, over the next few years, Celebrity
would also be equipped its own with
megacruise ships including the 90,000
gross ton Millennium-class. Four
similarly-sized ships would also be built
for RCI.
The competition was not idle and they
too were building megacruise ships. In
1998, rival Princess Cruises unveiled the
first cruise ship of over 100,000 gross
tons, GRAND PRINCESS. However,
Princess did not hold the record for long.
In 1999, RCI eclipsed all ships then in
service by a wide margin when it put the
137,000-ton VOYAGER OF THE SEAS
into service. Four sisters would follow.
In 2003, Cunard's QUEEN MARY 2
became the world's largest passenger ship.
Although QM2 also does cruises, she was
designed to do transatlantic crossings and
as such, Captain Wright sees her as being
in a different category than the RCI ships.
"There is a whole different look and feel
about it. She has a much comparatively
narrower beam, she is long, long and
slender, and that is what gives her that
extra speed that they need for the
transatlantic routes. And, I think the ships
just have a whole different feel to them.
Clearly, the Royal Promenade which we
have here on the Voyager-class sets her in
her own class by herself."
Nonetheless, in 2006, RCI introduced
an even larger ship, FREEDOM OF THE
SEAS. At 154,407 gross tons and serving
up to 4,400 passengers, she is now the
world's largest passenger ship.
"FREEDOM for all intents and purposes is
a stretched Voyager. It was purpose-built
at that length."
The net result of this is that in terms of
number of ships in service, Royal
Caribbean with 34 ships in its two brands
is approximately 40 per cent of the size of
industry leader Carnival Corporation with
its eleven brands. However, when looked
at from the perspective of how many
passengers each company is capable of
serving, Royal Caribbean is approximately
half the size of Carnival.
The ship
EXPLORER is the second of the five
Voyager-class ships, going into service in
October 2000. "There are very small
technical differences but the overall
design, [the Voyager-class ships] are
identical. The deck schemes are different
but the basic ships are identical." She
is 1,020 feet long, 157.5 feet wide and has
a draft of 29 feet. Her 1,185-member crew
is Norwegian and international.
Royal Caribbean recognized that the
Voyager-class ships were not just an
evolutionary step in the development of the
cruise ship but a leap forward that required
some new thinking about the way a ship is
operated. To begin, there would be a more
formal approach to training the officers to
run the ships. "We felt that because of the
unprecedented size of the ship that it was
appropriate to also do simulator training
just as the airlines have done for many
years. So, at our STAR Center in Dania,
Florida, we actually replicated the bridge
of the Voyager-class ships. Our officers,
when they go there, take the normal bridge
resource management training, which is
interpersonal relationships. But they then
also train on exactly the same equipment
that they use onboard the ships. It's a
ship-specific simulator, which is unique in
the maritime world. Airlines have been
doing it for years but I believe we are the
only company, passenger or otherwise, that
has actually made that kind of investment."
This more sophisticated approach to
training reflected the fact that the bridges
on these ships are not the traditional type
where the officers have to walk from one
console or instrument to another to collect
and process data but rather more closely
resemble an airplane cockpit. The officers
sit in high-backed chairs in front of a
U-shaped console. Computer displays and
the controls for the ship are within arms
reach. Moreover, the systems installed
such as the Dynamic Position System,
which links navigational data with the
propulsion systems thus enabling very
precise handling and positioning, are
state-of-the art. This type of bridge has
now been standardized across the Royal
Caribbean/Celebrity fleet. "When an
officer goes from one ship to another it
would be the same, the same technologies."
Along the same lines, Royal Caribbean
decided to abandon the traditional
propeller and shaft method of propulsion
and rely upon the pod propulsion in the
Voyager-class. "There is one what we call
a 'fixipod' - - it is a pod but it does not
move, it does not rotate. [In addition,
EXPLORER] has two azimodal pods
which can rotate 360 degrees. They are
pulling whereas the fixipod is pushing.
The fact that they are pulling is a great
advantage because the water, the
environment that the propeller is working
in, is much purer. Since it is a more
laminated water flow that is hitting the
propeller it is operating at higher
efficiency. If we had the propeller at the
end of a shaft the water that eventually
reaches the propeller is somewhat
turbulent because of the rotation of the
shaft and the struts that are supporting the
shaft, and that takes away the efficiency.
We get about ten percent better efficiency
by having the pods pull rather than push."
This also allowed Royal Caribbean to
dispense with rudders on these ships. "We
steer by rotating the pods themselves.
They are really fantastic. These vessels
would be extremely challenging to
maneuver if you didn't have azipods.
You'd be very much more dependent on
tugs. Here, for all intents and purposes we
operate tug free even under challenging
conditions."
EXPLORER has six engines giving her
a maximum speed of 22 and a half knots.
"She is a diesel electric ship so all the
engines are used for power generation."
Service speed varies from leg to leg of a
cruise. "One of the things that we are
paying a lot of attention to right now with
fuel prices as high as they are now is to
make sure that we have reasonable legs.
Sometimes we depart a little bit earlier
than we might have five or six years ago so
we keep the speed down to more economic
levels. We spend a lot more time now
really scrutinizing our itineraries for
overall economy"
The increase in the cost of fuel has
required Royal Caribbean to adapt in other
ways. "We have eight ships in total [RCI
and Celebrity] that are gas turbine ships. It
is a fantastic technology, we love it, but it
is expensive. It is so expensive, in fact,
we are just getting started on a project
where we retrofit a diesel generator on all
these vessels. It is a hugely complex
project. That will give the [captains] the
opportunity to run the diesel when they are
in port. [In addition,] the captains, in
certain confined water, like to have two
turbines running, not for speed but just so
in case they lose one, they would have the
other one. Now, they could get by having
the diesel there. It would give them some
steerage, some flexibility, even if they lost
the one gas turbine. It's going to be about
$15 million a ship. We found the room [for
the equipment] but it is complicated. A lot
of other systems have to be re-directed, the
piping arrangements - - it is a huge project.
In many ways, it is more complicated than
stretching the ships."
One of the most striking features of a
megacruise ship is how high they are.
Seemingly, if traditional construction
materials were used, such ships would
either become top heavy and thus unstable
or else have to have a compensating
weight at or below the waterline that
would produce such a deep draft that they
would not be able to enter or dock in
many of the most attractive cruise ports.
"We have a lot of aluminum on the upper
decks. The yard has actually developed a
technique where they can actually weld
aluminum and steel. As the ships
become higher then you try to reduce as
much weight in the upper decks as
possible."
Royal Caribbean envisions that it will
be able to sail ships like EXPLORER for
25 years but it is not the technology or the
condition of the hulls that limits their
usefulness to the line. "What we find
happens is as we evolve our vessels,
which is very positive, there is also a
negative side to it. We tend to offer new
amenities which then date our earlier
vessels because the guests now expect
them to be part of the ship. For example,
if a guest has had a balcony cabin, they
typically want to have a balcony cabin
again. Ships that don't have balcony
cabins or a large percentage of them
[become] a product that is more difficult
to sell when you have these new ships
that have [balconies as well as other new
amenities]. Typically, the fleet
maintenance is 25 years. There is an
after market that would be for a
lower-type, more economy-type cruising.
That's where they go to."
Life on board
The megacruise ships are not merely
bigger cruise ships with more passenger
cabins than traditional ships. Rather,
ships such as EXPLORER are intended to
be full-pledged resorts at sea. Not only
is this reflected in the wide variety of
amenities on board but in the structure of
the ship itself.
According to a company statement:
"Royal Caribbean typically appeals to
couples and singles in their 30s to 50s as
well as family vacationers. The median
age is low-40s . . . . Our guests are
active travelers looking for an affordable,
cost-effective vacation that's fun, relaxing
and refined." In keeping with this,
EXPLORER has such amenities as a
rock-climbing wall, three pools, a
basketball court, a miniature golf course,
six whirlpools, jogging and in-line
skating tracks, a golf simulator, and a
large fitness spa. In addition, there are
bars, discos, a large casino, and for the
romantically-inclined, a wedding chapel.
Dining takes place in two seatings in a
three-deck high elaborately decorated
dining room. There are also alternative
dining areas, ranging from the informality
of a Ben & Jerry's ice cream shop to an
extra-tariff Italian specialty restaurant.
While Royal Caribbean seeks to
appeal to people who are physically
active, in addition to a large library,
EXPLORER does have a feature that is
definitely cerebral. In the Ocean and
Atmospheric Laboratory, scientists from
the University of Miami's Rosenstiel
School of Marine and Atmospheric
Science perform experiments and record
data regarding sea and weather
conditions. Since EXPLORER is
constantly at sea and has a regular
itinerary, the onboard laboratory affords
scientists an unprecedented opportunity to
observe changing conditions on a routine
basis. More than 100 scientific papers
have been published based upon work
done on EXPLORER. The scientists also
give lectures and the laboratory is open to
the passengers. "Tens of thousands of our
guests have actually gone through the labs
and the interactive Eco-Learning Center
that we have on board. They walk away
with a very positive experience. For us,
it was a win-win. We are contributing to
doing real, cutting-edge science that is
meaningful while at the same time
providing something totally unique to our
guests," notes Captain Wright.
Structurally, the tremendous size of the
Voyager-class allowed Royal Caribbean
to create an interior mall that is four
decks high, 394 feet long and as wide as
a street. The Royal Promenade links two
11-deck high atria and is lined with
shops, cafes, and various eating
establishments. Windows from interior
cabins look down at the street
performers, parades, and parties that go
on in this space. It makes the ship truly
seem like a city at sea. If this were not
enough, the ship is also big enough to
carry a 60 by 40 foot ice skating rink as
well as a four deck-high, 1,350-seat
theater.
The Way Forward
Royal Caribbean currently sails to some
180 destinations around the world. By
the end of the decade, the plan is to sail to
200 destinations. Moreover, future
expansion is not just measured by where
a cruise line sails to but where it sails
from. While Miami remains the "Cruise
Ship Capital," the lines are racing to
bring their ships closer to different
groups of customers, positioning ships in
ports that rarely saw a cruise ship just a
few years ago. In such ports, "you put an
emphasis on the drive-in market but
certainly there will be many guests that
will fly in."
As noted earlier, one of the
advantages of the megacruise ships is that
they allow Royal Caribbean to become a
major player in any market with one
move. For example, the third largest
cruise line, Norwegian Cruise Lines, has
been developing the winter cruise market
in New York since 2003 with two ships
that have a combined passenger capacity
of 4,210, offering cruises from New York
to the Caribbean. (See The Log, Winter
2005 at p.7). In 2006, Carnival
subsidiary, Holland America Line,
entered the market with the
1,918-passenger NOORDAM (See The
Log, Spring 2006 at 9) and she will be
joined during the 2007-2008 season by
QUEEN MARY 2 (2,620 capacity). With
EXPLORER entering the fray next Winter
with her 3,114 passenger capacity, Royal
Caribbean will have the largest single
ship in terms of passenger capacity in the
market. Furthermore, although Royal
Caribbean's total capacity will be less
than that of Norwegian Cruise Line and of
the two Carnival companies, its operation
will be more economically efficient since
the other companies must operate
multiple hulls to surpass Royal
Caribbean's capacity.
Along the same lines, "last year, we
introduced the LEGEND OF THE SEASs
[69,130 gross tons] sailing out of
Southampton [England] to the Med. In her
first season, she was elected as best large
cruise ship in the UK. We are really
excited about that. We are going to have
the NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS
[EXPLORER's sister] next year also
sailing out of Southampton."
Advances in ship design allow Royal
Caribbean and the other cruise companies
to enter these new markets. As noted
above, the first modern cruise ships were
designed to sail exclusively in the clam
waters of the Caribbean and intentionally
dispensed with some of the aspects of
traditional passenger ship design that
related to grey water sailing. However,
Royal Caribbean is confident that its
megacruise ships can handle the rough
weather associated with operating out of
ports like New York year round. "These
are ocean-going vessels with stabilizers
and the basic stability of such ships.
Even coming up [from Bermuda] last
night, [EXPLORER met] extreme
weather, they had over 90 knots wind at
one point, and the guests were fine. We
have two sets of stabilizers, four
stabilizers, and when those are working
they'll eliminate about 85% of the roll of
the vessel."
One factor that places a limit on the
size of megacruise ships is port facilities.
If you build the ship too big, there will
be no port facilities to serve it. Indeed,
one of the reasons for the development of
the new cruise ship terminals in Bayonne
and in Brooklyn is that today's
megacruise ships stretch the limits of the
Manhattan Passenger Ship Terminal.
When FREEDOM OF THE SEAS tied-up
there during her maiden call in New
York, "we had about 30 meters of
overhang. Thirty meters from the end of
the pier, the current isn't really that
strong. It is once you get into the deeper
waters of the Hudson that it really kicks
in. I had my bow literally up by the
parking lot. So, [a larger ship] would not
work there. Bayonne is much preferable
than up on the Hudson. These large ships
are moving something like 6,000 guests in
one turnaround day, maybe 7,000. That's
a lot of people to get into Manhattan and
off of Manhattan."
Royal Caribbean plans to introduce
six more ships by the end of 2010, when
it will have a total capacity of
approximately 89,200 berths - - an
increase of 21,300 or nearly one third
over today's capacity. With Carnival
planning to introduce another 20 ships in
this same time frame, such growth is
imperative for Royal Caribbean.
Two additional Freedom-class ships
will join the fleet, one in 2007 and the
other in 2008. However, a key part of
Royal Caribbean's growth strategy is
Project Genesis, which calls for a
220,000 gross ton megacruise ship for
delivery in Fall 2009. "Genesis is a
clean piece of paper design. As
remarkable as the VOYAGER was when
she came on the market, the Genesis will
be even more remarkable compared to
what is out there today. There will be
8,000 people onboard." Not only will
this tremendous size allow Royal
Caribbean to serve more passengers,
"you can do things that you would not
otherwise be able to do . For example,
the lifeboats on the Genesis will be 370
passengers. So, they literally are not
boats anymore. In fact, we are not going
to call them lifeboats, we are probably
going to call them life vessels or life
rescue vessels, signifying that these are
not small boats. They are going to be
catamaran hulled, twin engines, bow
thrusters, radars, navigation equipment - -
it takes the whole idea of a lifeboat into a
completely different environment."
While Norwegian Cruise Lines has
announced plans to build two 150,000
gross ton cruise ships, Royal Caribbean's
chief rival, Carnival Corporation, has
indicated that it has no intention of
following suit. "I think their president,
Bob Dickinson, said it at Sea Trade last
year that when they crunch the numbers it
does not work for them. They've made a
pretty clear business decision. We have
more experience than anybody and for us
it is a winning equation."
BEYONDHIPS HOME
CRUISE SHIPS HOME
ROYAL CARIBBEAN PAGE
ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS PROFILE
ENCHANTMENT OF THE SEAS PROFILE
EXPLORER OF THE SEAS PROFILE
FREEDOM OF THE SEAS PROFILE
GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS PROFILE
JEWEL OF THE SEAS PROFILE
INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS PROFILE
LIBERTY OF THE SEAS PROFILE
NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS PROFILE
SERENADE OF THE SEAS PROFILE
CRUISE SHIPS HOME
ROYAL CARIBBEAN PAGE
ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS PROFILE
ENCHANTMENT OF THE SEAS PROFILE
EXPLORER OF THE SEAS PROFILE
FREEDOM OF THE SEAS PROFILE
GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS PROFILE
JEWEL OF THE SEAS PROFILE
INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEAS PROFILE
LIBERTY OF THE SEAS PROFILE
NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS PROFILE
SERENADE OF THE SEAS PROFILE
Cruise ship feature/inside interview - Explorer of the Seas - Royal Caribbean - page 1