Royal Caribbean docked the two largest cruise ships in the world at CocoCay in the Bahamas on the same day. The Icon of the Seas and the Star of the Seas met up for the first time amid an ongoing reputation nightmare.
Meanwhile, content creators on social media continue to push how great it is in an effort to soften some of the blow on behalf of the entire floating leisure travel industry.
As cool as it is to see these massive cruise ships in action, they present a few legitimate concerns in terms of safety and well-being. All of the positive press is bought and paid for.
The Star of the Seas met up with the Icon of the Seas!
The ‘Star of the Seas’ stretches more than 1,100 feet with 20 decks stacked on top of each other at 250,800 gross tonnage. It can fit approximately 7,600 guests in 2,805 total rooms with 2,350 members of the crew at maximum capacity.
The world’s largest cruise ship features eight unique “neighborhoods,” like Thrill Island and Central Park, each with its own atmosphere and attractions. Those attractions include a zipline, aquatheater, over 40 dining and drink venues, and the largest waterpark at sea.
The waterpark includes six record-breaking slides:
- Pressure Drop: A standard free-fall slide
- Frightening Bolt: The tallest slide at sea (~46-foot drop)
- Storm Surge and Hurricane Hunter: The first raft slides at sea
- Storm Chasers: Twin mat-racing slides
Star of the Seas recently embarked on her first-ever voyage. She is hard to miss!
Not too long after the maiden voyage got underway, Star of the Seas met up with the Icon of the Seas. They are technically the same size, but the former is slightly bigger because of the water slides.
To see them parked next to each other is pretty remarkable.
However, the timing of this meet-up could not be much worse.
Cruise ship interest continues to decline.
It is not a great time for the cruise industry in terms of reputation. Positive P.R. is hard to come by.
Cruises are being blamed for over-tourism at large ports so many popular destinations are restricting or banning large ships all together. Crime and sexual assaults are surging on cruises, which darkens vacation vibes. Cost is rising while perks (like daily room cleaning) are declining which makes travelers feel like they are getting less for more — because they are.
And then there are the safety incidents.
The Poop Cruise documentary certainly did not help to promote the cruise industry in a positive light. The fear of getting stuck in the middle of the ocean is very real.
To make matters worse, Norovirus outbreaks onboard the ship are causing passengers to suffer from gastrointestinal disease at an alarming rate. This comes just a few years after the COVID-19 pandemic.
If that was not bad enough, a passenger on the Icon of the Seas recently suffered serious injuries when a glass pane broke on the slide and caused him to fall out of the slide onto the deck. There are parts of the slide that extend out over the water so it could’ve been much worse but it was certainly not ideal.
Royal Caribbean is scrambling for positive promotion.
All of these incidents are reason not to vacation on a cruise ship. Interest continues to decline.
Royal Caribbean sees the direct impact of social media on its industry and decided to combat the negative press by inviting a large number of content creators to partake in the maiden voyage on the Star of the Seas. Every single passenger on the inaugural trip has a sizable following on Instagram, TikTok and/or YouTube.
They all said something good about the ship and its activities because it is a free trip.
All of the videos are positive reviews.
Don’t believe everything you see on the internet. All of the hype surrounding the Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas is quite literally paid for!
The post Royal Caribbean Bought Influencers To Promote The World’s Largest Cruise Ship Amid Industry Crisis appeared first on BroBible.
Royal Caribbean Bought Influencers To Promote The World’s Largest Cruise Ship Amid Industry Crisis
Pinoy Human Rights
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