Splendour of the Seas to offer iPads in all staterooms

By touching the screen, passengers will be able to access the daily Cruise Compass and their personal daily itineraries including shore excursions. They also will be able to monitor their shipboard account, order room service, view restaurant menus, access the Internet and watch movies.

The iPads will be available beginning in mid-February on Splendour of the Seas before being extended to all Vision-class ships when each undergoes revitalization in the next two years.

The iPads, which will feature English and Portuguese when they debut on Splendour of the Seas, will offer passengers the opportunity to access all of their information not only from their staterooms, but through the pervasive Wi-Fi also being installed throughout the ship.

In addition to the iPads, Splendour of the Seas will emerge from its drydock on Friday with new stateroom amenities such as flat-screen televisions, new bathrooms and completely remodeled interiors including new linens and furniture.

The ship will have 124 additional balconies, and the digital wayfinding technology that debuted on the Oasis-class ships.

Splendour also will debut new dining options including the Asian Izumi restaurant, Chops Grille, the Boardwalk Dog House hotdog counter and a new à la carte menu in the Viking Crown Lounge. Additional new Royal Caribbean signature spaces are the Royal Babies and Tots Nursery, a Diamond lounge, a Concierge Lounge, a Britto Gallery with works by Brazilian pop artist Romero Britto, the new R-Bar and a reinvented Centrum experience.

On Friday the ship is scheduled to depart Lisbon on a trans-Atlantic sailing to Brazil and its seasonal homeport, Santos.