The Covid pandemic forced the cruise industry to rethink a lot of things. Those may have been dark days, but the misery led to some pretty amazing innovations.
Royal Caribbean, for example, put a lot of thought into crowd movement and limiting crowded spaces. That was essential for Covid mitigation but it’s also something that benefits the cruise industry when it comes to all airborne illnesses.
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That led to some impressive innovations like the cruise line’s new Destination Elevators. These elevators have passengers use a touchpad to pick which floor they are going to. It then gives them a specific elevator (by letter) to wait by.
It’s a setup that limits crowds waiting for the elevator and in the elevators themselves. In addition, it makes it easier for the cruise line to clean the touch pads compared to cleaning the button panels in a classic elevator.
Basically, the cruise line wants to limit how much contact passengers have with surfaces. Because every time someone touches a surface and it’s not cleaned before someone else does, you run the risk of spreading illness.
That’s a logic Royal Caribbean has spread to the free drink dispensers on some of its newer ships. It’s an innovative solution that limits touch in an area where it was impossible for the cruise line to keep up with the pace of cleaning needed.
The new drink dispensers do not require touch.
Image source: Daniel Kline/ComeCruiseWith.com
Royal Caribbean has new beverage technology
Royal Caribbean offers coffee, hot water, iced tea, and a selection of juice-flavored beverages in a variety of places on its ships. Those include the Windjammer Marketplace buffet, Cafe Promenade, and select other locations.
On older ships. passengers have to take their glass, place it under a spout, and either pull a lever or push a button to dispense the drink. In high-volume areas, it’s hard to imagine the cruise line manages to wipe down the button or lever between every passenger.
With the new system, a passenger places their glass or mug under the dispenser and waves their hand near the sensor. It takes a few tries to figure it out and the motion is a bit sensitive, but once you figure it out, you can dispense your beverage without touching anything.
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Royal Caribbean only offers a limited selection of self-serve free drinks. People who have a beverage package get access to a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. Those machines require a lot of button pushing, so are vulnerable to being sources of viral spread.
If a passenger wants to limit how many people have touched a surface they can stick to the new machines for free drinks and order sodas from bartenders. The Freestyle machines are wiped down often, but they are also heavily used.
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