Royal Caribbean Enters The Metaverse With A Virtual Cruise Ship, Fit With NFTs

Royal Caribbean Group’s RCL Celebrity Cruises has entered the metaverse, with the launch of a digital cruise ship in an experience dubbed the “Wonderverse.” The company has now filed a patent to take the next step.

What Happened: On Monday, Celebrity Cruises filed a patent for downloadable virtual goods. Namely, food items, beverages, and entertainment content for use in its Wonderverse, indicating that the company is building a virtual world, similar to Meta Platforms' “Metaverse.”

Celebrity Cruises’ patent includes “access tokens” for use in its Wonderverse, and NFTs for facilitating transactions in its retail stores, which are rendered in the Wonderverse.

“We’ve revolutionized cruise ship design and now we’re revolutionizing where cruise ships are experienced,” said Celebrity Cruises’ Chief Marketing Officer Michael Scheiner.

Built in partnership with virtual event platform architects Surreal Events, Celebrity’s Wonderverse has mini-games and activities — the patent also includes editing software to modify avatars.

Why It Matters: Celebrity Cruises' Wonderverse allows travelers to “see before they sail,” exploring a hyperrealistic, digital recreation of the company’s newest ship. In addition, guests can meet and chat with the line's key leaders as digital avatars.

The experience enables people to tour four areas of the ship. Users can also find informational brand videos on a screen in the Wonderverse, like information on cruise ship destinations in 2024 and 2025.

This is the cruise line's second entry into the digital world. In June, it sold four moving art pieces as NFTs.

The NFTs, which sold out in 10 minutes, featured a sculpture of two doves that “live” on one of its cruise ships.

Price Action: Shares of Royal Caribbean are trading 4.16% lower to $51.19 on Monday afternoon, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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