Because booking a cruise can cost thousands of dollars the major cruise lines try to deliver a consistent experience. They would not want their customers to get on board and not have the trip meet their expectations..
That doesn’t mean that changes are not made. The major cruise lines try to innovate and involve their experiences to make things better. In some cases, however, adding something new means taking something away.
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When that happens, it’s a careful choice and even on new ships. It’s rare that multiple expected areas disappear. You might see a change in food offerings or an evolution of a popular space like the adult pool or the waterpark, but major changes tend to be very rare.
That does not mean that cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean and Carnival don’t remove less popular features from their ships. In some cases, changing customer needs have made certain areas irrelevant.
In other cases, there are simply better uses for the space. Any change, though, angers a certain percentage of passengers.
In many ways, it’s like Coca-Cola or Pepsi drop a soda flavor that has dimmed in popularity. Few people might like Tab or Peach Pepsi but to a small percentage of people, those are the best flavors and should be untouchable.
You may not have noticed that three once popular cruise ship areas have largely disappeared, but the people that loved those spaces certainly have.
Libraries and chapels have been left off cruise shipsÂ
Most cruise ships have traditionally had a library. The spaces were actually filled with books, or at least had a few shelves of books that people could borrow.
It was tradition to take a book and leave a book.Â
Many newer ships, however, have dropped this space. That was at least partly because during the pandemic, the idea of people leaving books became unsanitary.
Books were actually removed from libraries, which then became just sort of empty spaces. Many ships have repurposed these areas into game rooms.
And, on newer ships, libraries are generally not being offered. You can blame Covid but technology also plays a role. It’s possible to download books on your phone and other devices, which has cut the demand for print books roughly in half.
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In addition to no longer offering libraries, newer cruise ships are not being built with chapels. That was a decision made by both cruise lines out of demand.
Even though the chapel spaces had devout fans, they simply weren’t being used enough. Many ships still have passenger-led services and sometimes more formal events on major holidays.
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Royal and Carnival drop Internet cafesÂ
Until fairly recently both Carnival and Royal Caribbean offered dedicated Internet cafés on their ships. These weren’t actually cafés, as there was no coffee, but they were dedicated spaces with computer terminals that passengers could use to pay for Internet service.
Before every major cruise line adopted Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet service, onboard connectivity was not great. Many people would not travel with devices and might buy an hour or two at the café to check email and check in on what’s going on at home.
Improved onboard Internet, and the fact that pretty much everyone has a smart phone has made Internet cafés much less relevant. Even if someone does not bring a laptop or a tablet, they can still do most things on their phones.
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That made dedicating an onboard space to Internet connections, somewhat of a waste. In addition, with fewer people wanting to do things like print boarding passes, the space used for the cafés could be better used for other things.
These changes were not lightly made, but adding new dining venues, bars, and experiences like escape rooms requires space. That means that spaces that were once standard are now slowly being relegated to history.
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