Thursday, 22  nd   October 2026 – Port Vila : Vanuatu has been featured on the cover of the Royal Caribbean Group 2025 Community Impact Report, the company’s annual account of its community work across the destinations it serves worldwide. As part of that work, Royal Caribbean is preparing to expand the educational ship tours for Vanuatu school children in the cruise season beginning in November 2026, with secondary school students to be invited for the first time alongside primary schools.

Vanuatu featured in a global report

Royal Caribbean Group is one of the largest cruise companies in the world and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. It operates close to 60 ships across its 3 brands, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea, and holds a half share in TUI Cruises. Its Community Impact Report is the annual account of the community work of all of those brands in every destination the company serves, which is the measure of what it means for Vanuatu to carry the cover.
The photograph on the cover was taken during an educational ship tour in Port Vila and shows students of St. Joseph Primary School, Second Lagoon, holding the Royal Voyagers certificates of achievement presented to them on board. Vanuatu appears both on the cover and inside the report. Copies were presented to the Vanuatu delegation at the company’s headquarters in Miami in September. For a destination of Vanuatu’s size, to be the image chosen for that cover is a milestone, and it reflects the standing of the partnership rather than any single visit.

What the school visits involve

While a ship is alongside in Port Vila, a group of students is brought on board and taken through the vessel by the crew. The children see how a ship of several thousand passengers is actually run: the galleys and food preparation, the housekeeping and hotel operations, the bridge and navigation, the engineering spaces, the entertainment and guest service areas. They meet crew members from many countries and hear how each of them came into the industry, and they finish the visit with a Royal Voyagers certificate of achievement presented to each student.
The visits also give students the experience of speaking with visitors and crew from many countries, which builds confidence and language skills that the classroom alone cannot. For the wider community, they make the cruise sector something the town has a stake in, not simply ships at anchor. The Department will work with Royal Caribbean to widen the programme in the season ahead so that it reaches schools beyond those that have taken part so far.
Royal Caribbean is among the largest cruise operators serving Vanuatu and has been a partner of the destination for many years. The groundbreaking for the Royal Beach Club Lelepa, the company’s first exclusive destination in the Southern Hemisphere and the only one of its kind in the Pacific, will be held in Vanuatu in November 2026.