Royal Caribbean drops us into an AR cruise

Guests sit in this surround-screen theatre to hear about the $900 million of investment Royal Caribbean is pumping into its ships and destinations.

They're then led on a virtual tour through the ship's locations in this open-loft space in Pier 17 by South Street Seaport in Manhattan.

We proceeded through a series of "portals," iPads in hand, and the mockups of the new destinations are revealed in AR.

As you approach a portal, you'll see a wavy effect on the iPad screen.

Each iPad is outfitted with a device so its exact location and direction can be monitored and synced with the visuals on the app.

There are 60 of these devices around the ceiling.

This program will be running for up to 150 guests at a time as they move through the space. 

This is something of a first for an AR program, from what the designer told us.

Different portals around the presentation have different themes, so you have an idea of what you're stepping into.

CNET's Scott Stein pans around with his iPad, looking at a mockup of a Royal Caribbean cruise destination.

I wonder what's through this portal? Sort of reminiscent of "Stargate," eh?

Most of the portals lead to beaches, bars, pools and oceans. Nothing too crazy.

Oh wait, I spoke too soon. Royal Caribbean is building "one of the world's biggest water parks."

No idea what the deal is with this pirate ship.

At one point in the tour, Scott got to go on a virtual balloon ride so he had a bird's-eye view of an island that Royal Caribbean is developing as a private resort.

Once attendees are onboard with their HTC Vive VR headsets in place, the staff hits this start button.

Whoa! Scott checks out the view from the virtual balloon...

Guests won't be able to see each other in this demo, so hopefully they won't bump into one another as they explore the virtual space.

After the tour concludes, attendees will be wined and dined, just as if they were on a real cruise.

In the future it seems likely that these virtual demos will be brought to the public as a way of selling vacations directly. Or, dare I say, perhaps the cruises themselves will be virtual?