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 About Royal Caribbean International

Editor's Note: Royal Caribbean has announced that it is toughening its smoking policy. Beginning in January 2008, smoking will be prohibited in all staterooms and suites aboard all ships except Legend of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas and Splendour of the Seas; those three will follow suit in the summer of 2008. However, passengers can still light up on stateroom and suite balconies. Royal Caribbean will also designate one lounge on each ship in its fleet as completely non-smoking.

The world's second-largest cruise line, Royal Caribbean International (originally Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines) began in the late 1960's as a consortium of Norwegian ship owners who wanted to get in on the rapidly expanding American market. Ever since their first ship, the brand-new Song of Norway (no longer in the fleet) debuted in 1970, the company has prided itself on introducing new shipboard innovations. After completing their first three ships (the others were Nordic Prince and Sun Viking) by 1972, Royal Caribbean "stretched" their first two ships and built the much larger Song of America in 1982. These early Royal Caribbean ships became the prototype for virtually all cruise ships since.

But, Royal Caribbean's biggest splash came in 1988 with the monumental Sovereign of the Seas, the very first mega-ship of the modern era. While only mid-sized by today's standards, at over 70,000 tons, Sovereign of the Seas was massive in its day, and completely dwarfed every competitor of the era. The most sensational feature -- aside from sheer size -- was the introduction of the first modern shipboard atrium, complete with glass elevators and a grand piano, reminiscent of an opulent hotel -- but, with a view no hotel could match.

Not content to wait for other lines to catch up, the even larger sister ships, Monarch of the Seas, and Majesty of the Seas, followed in quick succession, along with the smaller Nordic Empress, the first ship designed for cruises shorter than a week. Royal Caribbean also bought Admiral Cruises, a company specializing in short cruises, and turned their nearly-new Stardancer into Royal Caribbean's Viking Serenade after a massive refit. (To date, Viking Serenade, which left the fleet in 2002, remains the only ship to fly the Royal Caribbean flag that wasn't built for the company.)

By the early 1990's Royal Caribbean moved on to another challenge: designing ships for use outside their traditional cruising grounds in the Caribbean. While they'd sent some of their oldest, smallest ships farther afield to destinations like Alaska and Europe -- Royal Caribbean hadn't built a ship specially designed for worldwide cruising. This changed in 1995 with the introduction of Legend of the Seas, a spectacular new ship that brought Royal Caribbean into a whole new era. Smaller than the Sovereign-class ships, Legend, was by far the most luxurious ship Royal Caribbean had ever built, with bigger cabins, more space per passenger and a wider variety of public areas and open decks. The popular shipboard mini-golf course was introduced, as was Royal Caribbean's now-signature adults-only indoor/outdoor pool area, the Solarium, one of the most impressive shipboard spaces that had been built to date. Legend was closely followed by its sister, Splendour of the Seas, and then by two pairs of slightly larger near-sisters; Grandeur and Enchantment of the Seas, and Rhapsody and Vision of the Seas.

At the same time, between 1995 and 1999, the company disposed of the four original ships, and replaced them with the new Vision-class ships designed specifically for worldwide itineraries.

Having established itself outside the Caribbean, it was now time for Royal Caribbean to turn back to developing its core market. In the mid 1990's, as the Vision-class ships entered service to rave reviews, the company began planning a new ship that would redefine the cruise industry as much, if not more than Sovereign of the Seas had in the previous decade. Code-named "Project Eagle," the ship began sailing in 1999 as Voyager of the Seas-- and completely blew away every mega-ship that had come before. With features like an ice rink, rock wall, and indoor promenade, Voyager of the Seas was the most innovative ship design in decades, the first ship that genuinely felt more like a resort than a ship. Four ships would follow, and the Voyager-class became the defining mega-ship design of the early 21st century.

Meanwhile, four Radiance-class ships were built in the early 2000's as a follow-up to the Vision-class vessels of the 1990's. Similarly designed for worldwide cruising, they are larger, with more balconies, dining choices, public areas, and greater luxury all around.

The company's two most recent projects have been a updating of existing older ships, and the new Freedom-class design. The company has begun huge refits of Monarch of the Seas, Empress of the Seas (formerly Nordic Empress), Sovereign of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas (including a "stretch" of Enchantment), and Majesty of the Seas as well. But, the big news recently has been Freedom of the Seas, an enlarged, enhanced version of the Voyager-class design that introduces new features like a water park to the array of Voyager-class amenities. Freedom of the Seas also narrowly reclaimed the title of "largest passenger ship" for Royal Caribbean, surpassing the Queen Mary 2 in tonnage (but not length or width). The Freedom-class also includes Freedom's sister ship, Liberty of the Seas, as well as Independence of the Seas, debuting in 2008. More refits of older Vision-class ships are also likely in the near future.

But, the biggest thing on the horizon for Royal Caribbean -- quite literally -- is the ship code named Project Genesis, set to enter service in 2009. At over 50 percent larger than Freedom of the Seas, Genesis will once again mean that a Royal Caribbean ship is the biggest in the world. (Only a few supertankers exceed the size of Genesis or a Freedom-class ship.)

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