Royal Caribbean Star of the Seas Florals, From Brief to Sailing in 41 Days
Royal Caribbean’s Special Events team sent us a list of 31 floral pieces for the new Star of the Seas on June 26, 2025, and the ship’s first preview sailing left on August 6, 41 days later. We designed the pieces in our Miami studio, shipped them to Puerto Rico, installed them on board, and later took them down at Port Canaveral. A customs hold and two items we left off the paperwork slowed the return, and everything was back in our hands by September 9.
| Client | Royal Caribbean International, Special Events |
| Ship | Star of the Seas, new Icon class ship |
| Service | Onboard floral design, installation and teardown |
| Dates | Brief June 26, 2025, first sailing August 6, teardown August 23 to 27, last items recovered September 9 |
| Where | Designed in Miami, shipped to Ponce, Puerto Rico, taken down at Port Canaveral, Florida |
The brief
The ship needed florals for its public spaces before its preview sailings. The list we received on June 26 named each spot: one showstopper for the Royal Promenade, the Windjammer entrance, two standing pieces at the elevators on Deck 5 and two on Deck 6, two Crown and Anchor pieces, two orchids for the spa, entrance pieces for seven restaurants (Chops Grille, Giovanni’s, Izumi, Hooked, Lincoln Supper Club, Coastal Kitchen and Pier 7) and one for the terminal. On June 30 the team added ten pieces for Next Cruise and Guest Relations, a flower wall and a “Star of the Seas” sign. Six standing columns followed on July 17.
What made it hard
- The ship was not in Miami. Everything had to leave our studio weeks ahead, packed on pallets and in boxes, and travel by container to Ponce, Puerto Rico, arriving August 4.
- Life at sea. The client chose preserved roses and high-end silk flowers for most pieces so they would hold up for weeks on board, with fresh tropicals worked in.
- Customs and port rules. Every item going on or off the ship has to be declared on the cruise line’s goods authorization form, and port areas need a federal TWIC credential.
- Public health standards. Anything placed in a restaurant has to be easy to clean under the ship’s USPH sanitation rules.
What we did
- Designed for the space, not the catalog. Jessica Nuñez, our co-founder and lead designer, built each piece to its spot on the list, from the Promenade showstopper to the spa orchids.
- Chose materials for weeks at sea. The declared materials included 725 preserved roses, 300 silk hydrangeas, 60 silk phalaenopsis orchids, 150 dendrobium and cymbidium orchids, 48 anthuriums, 48 proteas, 24 birds of paradise, 24 gingers, 200 monstera leaves and 100 palm leaves.
- Shipped early and in pieces. Pallets went to the cruise line’s Weston warehouse on July 16 and 17, and a member of our team flew to San Juan on August 4 for the installation. A few urgent boxes went ahead by FedEx.
- Delivered a second order at the same time. Under a separate purchase order, we delivered 60 silk arrangements in glass vases for Chops Grille at Port Canaveral on August 9.
- Took it down and brought it home. Nelson Ramirez, our co-founder who runs operations and holds a TWIC card, led the pickup at Port Canaveral on August 27, leaving Miami at 4 AM to be at the ship by 7 AM.
Results
| From brief to first sailing | 41 days, June 26 to August 6, 2025 |
| Pieces on the original brief | 31, plus 6 standing columns added in July |
| Separate order for Chops Grille | 60 silk arrangements, delivered August 9 |
| Customs hold on the return | About 2 days, August 25 to 27 |
| Items left off the paperwork, recovered | 13 days after the teardown, on September 9 |
Royal Caribbean kept working with us through the same weeks. On September 22 we installed two 10 by 8 foot tropical arches, table centerpieces and an 8 foot acrylic “UTOPIA” sign for the President’s Cruise on Utopia of the Seas at Port Canaveral.
What did not go to plan
- A customs hold. On August 25 the cruise line’s supply chain team told us the description on our goods form had triggered a hold by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for an agriculture inspection. The flowers were inspected and released on August 27, the same day as our pickup.
- Two items missing from the form, our mistake. The photo box and the rug were not on the list we declared, so they could not come off the ship on August 27. They sailed another round, went through customs as a separate entry and we collected them in Weston on September 9.
- Samples that did not pass. Silk samples we sent for The Grove restaurant were turned down because they would be too hard to clean under the ship’s USPH standards.
How we measured
Every date and quantity on this page comes from our own records of the job: the Special Events brief of June 26, 2025, the goods authorization forms of August 20, the Chops Grille purchase order and delivery, the customs correspondence of August 25 to 27 and the September 9 pickup confirmation. We do not publish prices or the client’s internal details.
About this case study
This page was written from our records. It includes no client quote, and Royal Caribbean has not reviewed it. The work finished on September 9, 2025, and the page was last reviewed on September 28, 2026.
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