Last week, Royal Caribbean International’s (RCI) Utopia of the Seas celebrated her maiden voyage with plenty of cocktails, partying and high-energy entertainment from celebrities such as godmother and singer/songwriter Meghan Trainor and hip-hop legend, Rev Run.
But there’s more to the Oasis-class ship than just her plethora of dining experiences and on-board activities, like her giant dry slide, zipline and rock climbing wall.
During the ship’s shakedown cruise last week, several of RCI’s execs shared the work that the cruise line is doing behind-the-scenes in terms of its sustainability and community efforts through its platform, SEA the Future.
Helen O’Connell, RCI’s AVP of Community Engagement, discussed with media some of the projects that are currently underway, such as its partnership with the Bahamas Maritime Cadet Corp, an afterschool program for students in grades 10 through 12 that exposes them to the maritime industry.
“We also fund scholarships for graduates of the Caribbean Maritime University, giving them an opportunity to finish a higher degree, then come onto our ships for sea time,” she said.
“That is really important to us. We love to really focus on education,” said O’Connell.
In addition, RCI supports local entrepreneurs in the Bahamas and other destinations that they sail. For example, in the Bahamas, the cruise line funds a program with the Small Business Development Corp, offering small microgrants and loans to entrepreneurs, whether it’s to help kickstart businesses, become a vendor of RCI’s or launch a tour or experience.
“We’ve had tour operators from jet ski operators to a hot sauce product that we’ve brought into our supply chain. There are a variety of small businesses that we’ve funded through different partners in the Bahamas with entrepreneurship programs,” she said.
Meanwhile, Nick Rose, VP, Head of ESG, discussed Utopia’s sustainability efforts.
“This ship, in its design phase, and how it operates today, was designed to be 30% more efficient than what is required by law to be today,” he declared.
Utopia is a dual fuel engine, so she can burn both as a gas ship as well as a liquid oil ship. She’s also fitted with shore power, explained Rose.
“A lot of people may not know that we go to over 1,000 ports in any given year. Only 31 of them have shore power…last month Miami just announced that they have shore power. There are many more ports coming on in Europe,” he said.
“There’s a regulation in Europe that’s demanding ports to provide it, so it’s not just about us having the ability to use it, but it’s also about the ports being able to actually provide it for us.”
Rose also talked about the engine’s ability to convert energy through a fuel cell system, unlike traditional engines.
“Obviously, water is dear to our hearts. We make all of our water. We bring salt water on and we use two different forms to actually convert it over to potable water. Then once the water is used and consumed, we treat it on the way out, using tertiary treatment systems that are better than most land based systems today,” he said.
“Our chairman, Richard Graham made a commitment in 2004 that every ship would have an advanced base of our purification system on it, which, at the time, didn’t exist, but he made the commitment, so we built it, and every ship from here forward has continued to have that system – or a better system – as we have refined the system over and over.”
