As of 2023, data has been collected across more than 100,000 nautical miles sailed by four of the company’s vessels, Allure of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas, Celebrity Flora and Celebrity Equinox, throughout the Caribbean, Galapagos, North Atlantic and Mediterranean. 

Royal Group announced on Thursday (8 June) a four-year extension of its partnership with OceanScope, an open-source data programme helping scientists monitor changes of key ocean and atmospheric ecosystems and drive conservation policy.

Launched in 2002 and run in collaboration with the University of Miami, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, OceanScope uses oceanographic and meteorological technology onboard Royal Group ships to track a number of important environmental areas.

Among its areas of study, the scheme looks at structure of currents, sea surface temperature, carbon dioxide concentrations and water salt content, allowing scientists to monitor changes over seasons, years and decades. 

The project helped confirm ocean acidification, a reduction in PH over an extended period of time caused primarily by an uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, was occurring in the Caribbean, harmful to calcifying organisms, such as oysters, clams, sea urchins, corals, and plankton.

Royal Caribbean Group said it intends to share the projects research to its more than eight million guests in an effort to increase awareness and understanding of marine conservation.

Jason Liberty, president and chief executive of Royal Caribbean Group, said: "We’re dedicated to sustaining our planet and delivering the best vacations, responsibly – and our decades-long support of this unique initiative is testament to that. We can’t wait to see how OceanScope, and our scientific collaborators progress our understanding of ocean health and conservation.”