Welcome to the Royal Caribbean Blog podcast, a weekly look into the world of Royal Caribbean cruising.

I'm your host Matt Hodgeberg, and this is episode number 65.

Royal Caribbean has been a market leader in how its implemented technology aboard its cruise ships,

and with Quantum of the Seas already being nicknamed the technology ship,

I wanted to actually look back at Royal Caribbean's history of tech innovation,

and who better than Royal Caribbean's history of tech innovation and who better

than Royal Caribbean's chief information officer Bill Martin to join us for it. Bill has been

working at Royal Caribbean for over 30 years and has had his hand in the direction of the company's

tech initiatives and shares with us an insightful look into the tech behind Royal Caribbean. Here we go.

I felt for a long time that Royal Caribbean has been a market leader in many aspects of the cruise vacation, including technology.

Tech has become a big part of our everyday lives, and, you know, Royal Caribbean's commitment to technology has been second to none in recent years.

The man who's been driving Royal Caribbean's tech direction for 30 years is Royal Caribbean

CIO Bill Martin, and it's my honor to welcome Bill to the Royal Caribbean blog podcast.

Welcome aboard, Bill.

Thanks for letting me join.

Absolutely.

I love talking tech, and, you know, with all this stuff coming with Quantum of the Seas,

which is arguably one of the most tech heavy ships ever, it got me thinking, Bill, and I want to, you know, Royal Caribbean's just been doing this for so long. It's not just this ship. It's not like you guys had ships with no tech before. You've been really, I feel, driving it. And when it comes to the use of new and emerging technologies on Royal Caribbean ships, I really feel like there's a celebrated history

that goes back a number of years. Where do you think the inspiration to innovate came from?

Well, I think it came from our founder, a man by the name of Ed Stefan, and then our chairman,

who's the current chairman, he's been here for over 25 years, and that's Richard Fane.

He loves building ships.

...