Following several other cruise companies that have already taken a step towards introducing more technology on board to make life easier and safer, Royal Caribbean has now introduced its wearable.
The new technological advancement comes in the form of a partnership with Tracesafe Inc., a company that is one of the global leaders in location-aware Internet of Things platforms.
Royal Caribbean Introduces The Tracelet
The sleek new wearables that guests will soon be able to wear onboard all the Royal Caribbean cruise ships have been developed to quickly identify close contacts and have already been in use onboard Quantum of the Seas sailing from Singapore.
On these cruises, the company has even made the use mandatory. It eliminates the cruise line from searching for close contacts; instead, a quick look in a computer system will give it all it needs to know. The cruise line will also be able to follow guest movement in real-time, which will help with measures such as social distancing and mask-wearing in busy areas.
Royal Caribbean states the following about the Tracelet: The Tracelet is a comfortable, water-resistant, hypoallergenic wearable worn by all guests and crew during the cruise. The Tracelet helps us with contact tracing in the unlikely event of an onboard health concern. Therefore, everyone onboard regardless of age, needs to wear it. Should you be unable to wear it on your wrist, we will find another way for you to wear it. Any guest who chooses not to wear the Tracelet will be unable to sail.
The announcement this week came from the producer of the technology, Tracesafe. In creating the bracelets, TraceSafe adapted technology employed in hospitals for contact tracing and other services. The ‘intelligent wearables,’ as TraceSafe calls them, will assist in contact tracing while enhancing passenger and crew experiences.
โWeโre proud to be the number one choice in enterprise IoT wearables for cruise lines,โ said Wayne Lloyd, TraceSafe CEO. โThis partnership with Royal Caribbean highlights our ability to deliver uncompromising IoT solutions on a massive scale.โ
Guests and crew members will wear the new bracelets on board. Once the guests disembark, the chip is sanitized, the units refurbished, and it can be used again. Thus creating a more sustainable method than disposable or one-time-use items.
Are Wearables the Future for the Cruise Industry?
Royal Caribbean has long been ahead of the game when it comes to employing technology onboard its ships. However, it seems that the cruise line is somewhat behind with the way it uses the Bracelet.
Like Princess Cruises with the Medallion, other cruise lines are already offering keyless door opening, touchless payments, and many more hands-free options. However, that Royal Caribbean is not offering it now does not mean it will not in the future. In future-cruise.nridigital.com, Tracesafe CEO Wayne Lloyd explains:
“Right now, we’re laser-focused on Covid-19 because it’s very important for getting the cruise ships back up and running. Once those initial concerns have been addressed really, we’re working as technology partners on onboard these vessels seeing exactly what we can do in those additional service areas.”
This message was confirmed by Jay Schneider, Chief Product Innovation Officer (CXO) at Royal Caribbean Group.
โIt was the willingness of the TraceSafe team to develop a custom Tracelet device that met our requirements for style and design that propelled the partnership forward. We look forward to continuing this engagement with TraceSafe as we explore the many new opportunities for IoT Technology onboard our ships.”
So what can we expect from Royal Caribbean in the future? The possibilities are near endless with the Internet of Things technology onboard cruise ships. Gone are the days of struggling to send an email out. Count on using your wearable as a room key, a wireless payment option, and a point of information regarding vital medical records.
But it will also help make ships operate more efficiently. With location analytics tools, ships will be able to tell whether a guest is in the room or not, so housekeeping will not be knocking on your door; they will see when you’re away on their devices.
But it will also help locate friends and family, so no more searching throughout the ship to find someone; you can simply program it on your device. While there will be some that will see it as an invasion of privacy, the fact of the matter is that we can expect many more cruise lines moving towards the same technology in the very near future.