Royal Caribbean Adds Lifeguards to its Ships

Royal Caribbean International is adding licensed lifeguards to all of its cruise ships starting this weekend. 

The lifeguards will be part of a new water safety program introduced by Royal Caribbean that includes water safety instruction and signage around the pool areas. Every ship of Royal Caribbean’s fleet will implement the new program over the next few months.

The first Royal Caribbean ship to receive lifeguards will be Oasis of the Seas this weekend and Vision of the Seas will be the last to have lifeguards in June. Obviously, this is not surprising, as several children have drowned or nearly drowned in pools aboard cruise ships of different cruise lines in recent years. The introduction of the new water safety program aboard Royal Caribbean’s ships follows incidents such as an 8-year-old boy found unresponsive in a pool aboard the Anthem of the Seas last year and a boy, 4, nearly drowned aboard Oasis of the Seas and many others.

Currently, Disney Cruise Line is the only cruise operator that has lifeguards at pools. Other lines have just warned their guests that entering the water was at their own risks.

In addition, Royal Caribbean’s safety program won’t simply involve the stationing of lifeguards at every pool, there will be water safety presentations, messages throughout the voyage, note cards left in cabins and signage throughout the vessel.

The lifeguards’ training will be provided by StarGuard Elite, a water risk prevention and training consulting company based in Florida.