Revealed: the Australian cruiser behind Voyager of the Seas’ new colour

Dave Winter is a die-hard Royal Caribbean fan from Victoria. And when he heard the line was refurbishing one of his favourite ships, he thought it would be a great idea to paint the hull blue like the Quantum and Oasis-class ships.

So Mr Winter, a 29-year-old IT salesman, set about making it happen by photoshopping a blue hull onto a picture of the Voyager of the Seas and sending to the line’s most senior managers.

And to his surprise, he got an almost instant “Thank you, looks good” response from the line’s CEO, Michael Bayley. And two and a half weeks later, Voyager’s hull sported a fresh coat of blue while she is in dry dock in Singapore.

Mr Winter got the idea after cruising with his mum and sister for the first time on Ovation of the Seas last year. The nine-day cruise to the Pacific Islands was all it took to get him hooked.

He is booked for a cruise on Voyager in January.

“I love Royal Caribbean and think they have some of the greatest ships. I really like the look of their current fleet and thought their older fleet would look good with the blue hulls like their modern ones. I really felt passionate that it would look good blue so I photoshopped a picture of voyager with a blue hull and emailed it to Royal Caribbean’s senior management,” says Mr Winter.

Mr Winter says, “I wasn’t expecting a response to be honest, I thought it would have ended up in the spam folder.”

One week later, he received an email from Aurora Yera–Rodriguez, Director of Guest Services, confirming that the company was going ahead with his suggestion.

“Every Monday morning, our CEO, Michael Bayley, has a leadership meeting with many of the key players of our brand, including all of his direct reports. This week, your idea was one of our topics of discussion. And, we are happy to report that we have decided to implement your wonderful suggestion! Pretty cool, right? You did that!” Ms Yera–Rodriguez wrote in the email.

“Thank you for taking the time to share your recommendation! I really think that being able to visualise it with your rendering convinced us. She sure does look pretty in blue!”

“Also, Mr. Bayley wanted me to personally tell you to not be surprised if you see an $80,000 charge on your SeaPass account during your January cruise. This is, of course, for all the paint that will be needed to move forward on this project you’ve added to our list! (LOL – he’s a funny guy.)”

Mr Winter says he felt extremely excited when he heard it was going ahead.

“Knowing that Michael and the leadership at RCI agreed on my vision was amazing. Also knowing that I was about to be part of Royal Caribbean in a small way is just the best feeling. So cool actually seeing your idea being turned into a reality on a ship worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” he says.

Mr Winter will be able to see Voyager’s striking new look in person as he goes on board for another nine-day cruise to Pacific Islands in January next year. He will be sailing with his mum and sister as he has yet to convince his wife that cruises are not boring. His young children however, do not need extra convincing after watching Youtube videos of what’s on board with dad.

“I was already a loyal Royal Caribbean cruiser, I’m passionate about them and honestly couldn’t imagine cruising with anyone but Royal,” says Mr Winter.

Voyager of the Seas will arriving in Sydney on November 30, 2019 for her homeport after her $144 million refurbishment. She features new facilities for family fun, waterslides, spa and wellness and a their new mobile app. On November 16, she embarks on a 14-day repositioning cruise to Sydney and will sail 3 to 11-day itineraries around Queensland, the South Pacific and Tasmania. Read our exclusive sneak peak of the Voyager while she is in her dry dock in Singapore.