Royal Caribbean is turning 50 years old
Royal Caribbean turns the big 50 next year.
To celebrate, the cruise ship company based in Miami is throwing a “50 Years Bold Birthday Cruise” which will be aboard its new Symphony of the Seas — the largest cruise ship in the world — on Nov. 2. 2019.
The seven-night Caribbean cruise, which will depart from PortMiami, will include special events and surprise performers that haven’t been announced yet. The cruise will also visit the cruise line’s private island called “Perfect Day at CocoCay,” according to a spokeswoman.
Here is a by-the-numbers look back at the history of Royal Caribbean based on news archives and the cruise line’s website:
1969
This was the year the company was launched by three Norwegian shipping companies. Arne Wilhelmsen and Edwin Stephan launched the company with the idea to offer affluent men and women who lived in Florida cruises to the Caribbean, according to USA Today.
1970
The company’s first ship was the Song of Norway, built in 1970. The ship had a capacity of 700 passengers and weighed 18 tons, according to USA Today. The ship serviced Royal Caribbean until 1996 when the company retired it and sold it to Airtours, according to Maritmatters.com. The ship eventually ended up in a scrap yard.
6
Number of brands under the Royal Caribbean name. The company includes Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea, TUI Cruises, Pullmantur Cruceros and Azamara Club Cruises. The company announced that it’s ending its joint venture with SkySea Cruise Line this year.
25
Royal Caribbean has 25 ships classified in size and amenities by class from Quantum to Empress class. The largest is the Symphony of the Seas which measures 1,188-feet long and 215.5 feet wide. Built in the TX France shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, the ship can carry 6,680 passengers. The company has five more ships on order.
77,000
Combined, Royal Caribbean’s fleet of ships can hold 77,000 passengers.
1
The Harmony of the Seas ship was the backdrop for The Hallmark Channel’s “Love at Sea,” a romantic movie that aired last summer.
The film followed a rookie cruise director and an event planner on the ship as it sailed through through the Caribbean, from the Bahamas to St. Kitts. It was the first Hallmark movie to be filmed aboard a cruise ship.
The movie featured Hialeah native Melissa Carcache as the event planner’s best friend. Royal Caribbean ships have been featured on the cable travel series “Dream Cruises.”
2
The company has two private islands, CocoCay in the Bahamas and Labadee off Haiti.
40,000
That’s the number of employees the cruise company has, and they hail from 68 different countries.
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