With Clear-Com equipment installed on 16 other Royal Caribbean cruise ships, Royal Caribbean's technical design staff members knew they could rely on it to provide the communications system for Oasis of the Seas, the world's largest ship. As the ship plays host to a myriad of entertainment options, with seven distinctly themed neighbourhoods and performance spaces, Clear-Com's FreeSpeak digital wireless intercom system, chosen because it's a natural fit, features market-leading DECT and wireless roaming technologies that allow a user to move freely throughout a production environment without losing connection to the communications system.
"We've worked with Clear-Com intercoms since the first installation of communications equipment on Sovereign of the Seas more than 20 years ago," says Christopher Vlassopulos, Entertainment Technology & Technical Design, Royal Caribbean International & Celebrity Cruises. "We've become very confident in Clear-Com's intercom systems and the service the company provides. When the Clear-Com team came on-board for a visit, they took the time to show us new and exciting ways to use the equipment. We were incredibly impressed. Simply put, Clear-Com and its FreeSpeak intercom system just really works well for us."
FreeSpeak's ease-of-use is another major benefit for Oasis of the Seas which, like most cruise ships, relies on staff with short contracts. New staff members need to be able to use the system with little training. FreeSpeak is highly programmable, with software menus on the base station accessible via the display and push-to-enter rotary encoder, allowing new users to quickly configure the system. Additionally, all aspects of the FreeSpeak beltpacks can also be personalised to meet the operator's needs, providing an extremely customised, user-friendly experience.
Oasis of the Seas' staff uses the FreeSpeak base station and beltpacks in the ship's Opal Theater, AquaTheater, Studio B and Royal Promenade to coordinate the various entertainment offerings for guests. With eight FreeSpeak wireless beltpacks, production managers are able to communicate freely with stage staff and video technicians on the system during the production and set changes for on-board musicals and similar shows. In addition, the crew connected Clear-Com's V-Series panels to an Eclipse Median system and is using the panels throughout the ship's major entertainment spaces. It is especially finding the 'Listen Again' feature particularly useful. With 'Listen Again', the V-Series panel's digital memory can relay up to the last 10 messages or 30 seconds from an incoming call at a touch, ensuring that an assignment is never missed.
"The FreeSpeak system combines the best of both worlds, sophisticated audio clarity and wireless interference resistance, in an extremely easy-to-use package," says Karlie Miles, director of EMEA sales for Clear-Com. "We are excited that Royal Caribbean has had such a good experience with our equipment in the past that it commissioned us to provide our FreeSpeak system for its biggest ship yet. We look forward to continuing to work with Royal Caribbean in the future."
In addition to Clear-Com's FreeSpeak base station and beltpacks, Oasis of the Seas also uses the Eclipse PiCo digital matrix intercom system, the IMF-3 interface module frame and the CCI-22 digital matrix intercom interface module, providing a seamless entertainment experience for all cruise-goers on board.
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