Royal Caribbean has bet heavily on large-scale entertainment on most of its largest ships.
While Utopia of the Seas does not have a Broadway-style show, Icon of the Seas has an adaptation of the "Wizard of Oz" while the upcoming Star of the Seas will feature a stage version of "Back to the Future."
All of the Oasis-class ships aside from Utopia offer Broadway or Broadway-style shows with the lineup including classics like "Cats," "Grease," "Hairspray," "Mamma Mia," and "Saturday Night Fever," to "We Will Rock You," a musical using the music of Queen, which has been a long-running hit in London.
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Royal Caribbean's (RCL) Icon and Oasis-class ships also have their signature Aquatheater shows. Those are productions featuring world-class swimmers and divers performing elaborate shows that take place in a pool.
And, while the cruise line also offers a solo acoustic guitarist in its British pubs as well as a piano player in its Schooner Bars, it's very clear that Royal Caribbean has invested heavily in Broadway-style shows and other massive productions.
That may not actually be what people want, according to Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) CEO Harry Sommer.
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Image source: Royal Caribbean
Norwegian CEO questions Broadway shows
Come Cruise With Me's Travel Agent partner Dennis Post of PostCard Travel Planning attended Cruise World, an industry trade show on Nov. 8 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale. Norwegian's Sommer was one of the event's featured speakers.
"He spoke on several great topics as prepared questions were asked of him, but the most compelling was on how they adjust to customer needs," Post shared. "Two topics stood out, food and entertainment."
Sommer said that Norwegian “invests in customer service” and uses comment cards to gather what the guests want. He added that one change that the cruise line has adopted is to “eliminate what food they do not want and focus on the food they do want, spend more time on the good food."
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He also shared that, according to the passenger responses on the comment cards, "Guest don’t want to see Broadway Shows, they want shorter shows which are cheaper," he said. "I can show you the data."
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