Also getting an IT improvement is the emergency system. Passengers are assigned to different meeting stations to which they must report in the case of an emergency. Now the ship staffers manning those stations have handheld Motorola devices running Windows Embedded OS with which they can quickly scan passengers as they arrive, and know in real time if someone is missing. It's from these stations that passengers would go to their assigned lifeboats, if necessary.

Oasis of the Seas has an IT staff on board, a network operating center and two redundant data centers.

From Microsoft's perspective, Royal Caribbean has achieved in Oasis of the Seas the "intelligent system" vision of the Windows Embedded products, in which client devices are used to gather data that is then stored on the back end and analyzed for operational improvements.

"It's about providing not only the client operating system in the edge devices, but also integrating with back end systems infrastructure so that you have the security and manageability that's critical for CIOs," said Barbara Edson, general manager of marketing and business development in the Microsoft Windows Embedded group.

Royal Caribbean continues to add technology advances to its fleet. By next summer, Oasis of the Seas will feature high-speed satellite-based broadband service from O3B Networks for passengers and staffers. The quality and speed of the connection will be similar to fiber-based services in homes and offices, according to the company.