Royal Caribbean quietly fixes 3 big passenger pain points

Nobody likes standing in line or waiting for customer service. People generally also don't enjoy sitting around, not entirely sure when doors will open.

Lines on most vacations are a reality. Checking into a hotel room often takes time and picking up a rental car can be a miserable experience. Taking a cruise, however, has quite a few passenger pain points that take time away from your vacation.

Related: Royal Caribbean makes a passenger-friendly technology change

That's something Royal Caribbean (RCL) has been actively thinking about and working to improve. Specifically, the cruise line wants to streamline 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 number of changes designed to enable passengers to solve problems without having to wait in line. 

Improving the passenger experience is a key focus for the cruise line, according to Royal Caribbean Chief Product Innovation Officer Jay Schneider.

"We spent a lot of time researching with guests what their day-one experience is. And what we've learned in that journey is that there is a lot of heavy lifting that the Royal Promenade today takes that we wish it didn't," he said, according to a report from Royal Caribbean Blog. 

"They want to start their vacation. They don't want to go find a Voom desk."

Icon of the Seas brings onboard improvements

While Icon of the Seas has been celebrated for its elevator system that sends passengers to their floors of choice with limited stops, that's not the only innovation on board. Royal Caribbean has used the ship to launch a number of changes that will be easier to roll out fleetwide.

One change includes a pretty major improvement to its app, which will enable passengers to talk to guest services without waiting in line at the desk. That process starts with an artificial intelligence virtual assistant that can answer simple questions.

Passengers can also opt to speak to a human, Royal Caribbean Blog reported.

Royal Caribbean has also improved its departure process by letting passengers use the app to select how they plan to leave the ship. On disembarkation day they can also track when it's their time to leave, something that was previously available only on state-room and other ship televisions.

Royal Caribbean makes boarding faster (for some)

Passengers who have sailed on Icon of the Seas may have also noticed a slight, but important, tweak 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 were given access to an Express Boarding lane. Passengers who did all those things thus don't have to wait in line behind passengers who need to complete one or more steps before boarding. 

That's a small but welcome change for anyone who has been stuck in line behind someone who has a large group with multiple steps to complete.

All 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 hard to update elevators on other ships (although it's certainly possible), but app-based changes are relatively easy to implement across the fleet.

Royal Caribbean has generally taken the approach of trying any major onboard changes on a single ship before expanding it to others. The cruise line followed this process for its new dinner menus and it has also been testing allowing people with dining packages to book their meals before they board.

The cruise line has not specified a timetable for rolling out these changes on any other ships.