What do you expect to get from a cruise holiday? Some great food, a nice suntan and some special memories? These are definitely all possible but recent advances on the Royal Caribbean Cruise line, which offer cruises from Southampton on a regular basis.

 A Recognisable Face

This is a new development which you might not fully appreciate if you don’t know how it works. It is facial recognition technology and it is currently used on the Oasis of the Seas vessel. When you check in to the ship you get your photo taken. This isn’t just a holiday snap though, as the picture is then used for security purposes and is linked to your cabin key.

Where are the Queues?              

Here’s a little question for you to ponder the next time you are on a Royal Caribbean ship; where are the queues of passengers waiting to get served their food? With thousands of other holidaymakers on board you would expect to bump into big lines of hungry people at least every now and then. Instead, this is cleverly avoided through the use of shape recognition cameras. These are used to let the staff see the movement of passengers around the ship and tailor the services accordingly.

3D Movies

You probably know that cruise lines offer a lot of entertainment options on then, but did you realise that you can now see the very latest 3D movies while you are at sea? If you prefer watching something in your cabin than in one of the movie theatres then you can pick from a list of selected films.

Track the Kids

Did you know that the biggest cruise ship around right now is the Allure of the Seas from the Royal Caribbean line? It measures up at well over 1,000 ft and can hold over 6,000 passengers. If the scale of the vessel makes you think twice about sailing on it then you will be pleased to see that the firm has come up with an application which lets you keep an eye on where your children are and also plan what you want to do while you are sailing.

Surfing at Sea

Have you ever fancied surfing in the middle of the ocean? The FlowRider machines onboard Royal Caribbean ships let you do just this. It is a surf simulator which gives an incredibly accurate experience and is a lot of fun. If you thought that your cruise trip would be about sitting around, eating lots of food and putting on weight then this machine could really change your mind. Maybe it will even persuade you to try out the sport for real during one of your land excursions.