Royal Caribbean Amplification Schedule – Which Ships Have Been Upgraded?

The Royal Caribbean Amplification program is designed to give some of the older ships in the fleet a boost – adding new features, revamping some old ones, and generally making sure that the fleet is offering the best quality of cruise to every passenger that steps onboard.

However, the program was paused by the COVID-19 pandemic when it was still underway. Is it back, and which ships are due to be improved? Let’s find out.

Only six ships were Amplified in the program

The six Royal Caribbean ships that have undergone the Amplification program so far: 

The ships have not been given the exact same upgrades – there are some similarities within the classes, but each ship has had a bespoke renovation.

Here’s a look at the full list of Royal Caribbean ships, and whether they have been amplified or not:

This latest information comes from Royal Caribbean’s 2023 Fleet Guide which you can see below…

As it stands, the Amplification program remains paused. There has been no confirmation from Royal Caribbean on when it will resume, or even if it will resume – it may be replaced by another program altogether.

This leaves some uncertainty over some of the ships in the fleet and whether there are plans still to update them, or if the focus instead moves to new ships, including the last Oasis-class ship named Utopia of the Seas and the Icon Class.

There is a plan for Allure of the Seas to undergo a dry dock in early 2025 but it’s not clear whether she will get all of the originally planned Amped upgrades or not.

Four ships were due to be Amplified before everything was paused

The four Royal Caribbean ships scheduled to be amplified before the program was put on hold were the Adventure of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.

All four had their renovations cancelled due to the global shutdown and the inability of contractors to enter the ships to be able to work on them. And while cruising with Royal Caribbean is essentially back on track now, the program hasn’t been green-lit to resume.

That could be for any number of reasons. It might be that they are looking at different ways to upgrade the older ships. Or they may be looking at prioritising budgets on the new builds instead for now.

We do know some of the details of what the upgrades would have been.

Explorer of the Seas was due to get:

• The Perfect Storm waterslides
• Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen restaurant
• A re-imagined pool deck
• The Lime & Coconut bar
• Transformed kids and teens spaces
• Izumi restaurant
• Chops Grille American Steakhouse restaurant
• Boleros Latin lounge
• Schooners Bar
• Playmakers Sports Bar & Lounge

Allure of the Seas was due to get:

• Ultimate Abyss dry slides
• The Perfect Storm waterslides
• Revamped Adventure Ocean and teens spaces
• Expanded Splashaway Bay
• Lime & Coconut Bar
• Laser Tag: Clash in the Crystal City
• The Royal Escape Room – Apollo 18: Lunar Landing
• Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen & Wine Bar restaurant
• Portside BBQ restaurant
• El Loco Fresh restaurant
• The Sugar Beach candy store
• Bionic Bar
• Spotlight Karaoke
• Music Hall

We don’t know the full list of upgrades planned for Liberty of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas.

No plans to Amplify the older ships

The original Amped program set out to upgrade the Voyager Class, Freedom Class and the older two ships of the Oasis Class only. There have been no plans to renovate the Radiance Class and the Vision Class ships to the same extent.

These ships are smaller, and so it may be harder to find the space to add some of the upgrades being given to the larger ships of the fleet. But especially with the Vision Class, the ships are also older too.

Cruise lines do retire or sell older ships eventually, and so the lack of a plan to upgrade the oldest ships in the fleet could be indicative of a roadmap to them leaving the fleet.

Still, some of the Radiance-class ships were dry docked in 2024 for simple renovations so there’s still life in those ships yet.

No need to Amplify the newer ships

Royal Caribbean has no plans to Amplify the newer Oasis-class ships, or the Quantum or Quantum Ultra classes. The Amplification program is designed to add the features of these newer ships to the older ones.

Will they be renovated eventually? Probably, although these newer ships might end up just getting the servicing dry docks in future.

It depends on the new innovations Royal Caribbean creates for its newest ships, and then whether the cruise line decides it’s worth revisiting the fleet to retroactively add them.

For now, the more modern Oasis-class ships, along with the Quantum and Quantum Ultra classes, are too new to warrant being renovated to this same extent.

Final word

I wish I had more concrete news to share – especially if you were looking at booking cruises on any of the ships with their Amped programs postponed – but for now, it remains on the backburner for Royal Caribbean.

I’m sure decisions will be made in the next year or two at most to look back over these ships and find a way to improve them. Royal Caribbean never rests on its laurels and always looks to have the best fleet – something that can only be achieved by giving some of the older ships some TLC.

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Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.

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