The Bionic Bar

Have you ever had a drink served by a robot? How about a pair of robots? That's the idea behind Royal Caribbean's Bionic Bar, an installation found on several ships in the line's fleet. It offers both classic and custom drinks mixed, shaken and stirred by what looks like something straight out of "The Jetsons."

When it debuted the Bionic Bar, Royal Caribbean was no stranger to groundbreaking bar concepts, having launched its Rising Tide Bar — a levitating watering hole — just a couple of years prior.

The first Bionic Bar rolled out on Quantum of the Seas in 2014, with the metal armlike bartenders going by names like "Shaken" and "Stirred." Since then, the bar has taken up residence on nine ships in the fleet.

Here's what you'll experience during a visit to the Bionic Bar.

The Bionic Bar, developed in partnership with Italian robotics company Makr Shakr, is a bar where the drinks are made by robots — robotic arms, to be exact. They extend from a back wall, where they use shakers to catch liquor dispensed from bottles that hang upside down overhead. 

Once they've collected all of the requested ingredients from an order, they shake and rotate the metal cups before dumping them, unceremoniously and often sloppily, into plastic ones.

Although many passengers have criticized the bar for taking jobs from real people, crew members still need to clean the area and replenish bottles of spirits as they run low.

The Bionic Bar is a place you'd likely visit once, just to say you did it, rather than a bar that you'd go back to again and again. It piques cruisers' interest for sure, but once the gimmick has worn off, you'll find better-made drinks — and obviously more friendly, personalized service — elsewhere on board.

There can also be a bit of a backlog at peak times, which can make for a frustrating experience.  READ MORE...