Blaze, the late-night club on Deck 4 of Oasis of the Seas, closed permanently on Sunday.
The space outside Studio B is being turned into a larger non-smoking casino, with the Crown Lounge moving up to Deck 15 and the teen lounge there out of use while the work goes on. Anyone sailing between 10 September and 11 October is aboard a building site.
Royal Caribbean Blog, which first reported the plans, says the new casino should be open around 9 November, timed to Oasis starting short cruises from Fort Lauderdale.
Until then the only smoke-free gaming on board is the Golden Room, the old Jazz on 4 jazz club, converted in 2023.
The bar that pays for the slot machines
Oasis is not the first and will not be the last. Harmony, Symphony, Allure and Utopia have all had the same treatment, and the pattern is consistent: a lounge goes, the Crown Lounge moves, and late-night entertainment shifts to Dazzles on Deck 8.
Older ships are getting it too, and there the losses are sharper. Radiance of the Seas came out of dry dock in February without the Quill & Compass pub. Ovation of the Seas gave up its Music Hall. Freedom of the Seas lost the wine bar on its Royal Promenade.
Smoke-free gaming is a genuine improvement for anyone who has tried to play a slot machine next to a chain smoker. It is also, at roughly a room a ship, an expensive way to find out how much of your cruise fare the casino earns back.
What this looks like from Britain
Here is the part worth knowing before anyone sells you a smoke-free casino as an upgrade.
Royal’s own policy is that smoking is not permitted in the casino on any ship sailing from the United Kingdom or Australia. Local law does what the refurbishment budget is doing everywhere else.
So on Freedom of the Seas from Southampton next year, the entire casino is already smoke-free, and always was.
Fly out to join a ship and you are back on the standard policy, where the smoke-free room is a room rather than the rule.
On Legend of the Seas, back in the Mediterranean from Barcelona next summer, Royal’s largest casino at sea runs across two decks. The smoke-free floor sits on Deck 3, below the main room, with an open staircase joining the two. A separate deck, then, rather than a separate room.
The bottom line
If you sail Royal from a UK port, this programme changes nothing for you. You already have what it is building.
If you sail Royal anywhere else, it is worth checking which venue your ship has given up before you book it for the bar you remember.
The casino has always been the quiet engine of a cruise fare. It is now visible on the deck plan.
