Royal Caribbean News Round-Up: March 3, 2024

In:
03 Mar 2024
By: 
Matt Hochberg

Welcome to March! We hope you are having a great weekend and are ready to sit back, relax and catch up with all the latest Royal Caribbean news!

There's a big change coming to the Main Dining Room.

Royal Caribbean will add a third dining time to its traditional dinner service, which offers a "middle" seating. The goal is to improve the guest experience for everyone in the dining room, and it promises to offer the most choice and flexibility to dinner yet.

A third dining time addresses the problem passengers had of traditional dining times were too early or too late, but switching to My Time Dining didn't work either.

Royal Caribbean News

New RCB Video: 11 things you should never do at a cruise ship buffet

Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video — 11 things you should never do at a cruise ship buffet — and don’t forget to subscribe to our channel.

Star of the Seas maiden voyage cancelled

Star of the Seas concept art

The planned first sailing of Star of the Seas in 2025 has been cancelled.

The August 17th, 2025 sailing has been cancelled "after a review of the work that remains to be done". As a result, the inaugural sailing will be on August 31, 2025.

Guests booked on the cancelled sailing have the choice of being moved to the new sailing, or a different ship, or get a full refund.

10 lessons learned after trying Icon of the Seas for the first time

Water Slides Boarding Day

Trying a new cruise ship means an opportunity to discover what makes the ship interesting, and inevitably, come away with a few tips and tricks.

Phil Schoen sailed on the brand new Icon of the Seas and was not only impressed, but came up with a list of 10 things he learned while on the new ship that anyone else sailing could benefit from.

From what to pack, to how to maximize the ship's entertainment, Phil shared ten important tips for those going on Icon of the Seas.

A new giant ship is switching to short cruises

Wonder of the Seas rear aerial

There are two notable surprises with Royal Caribbean's 2025-2026 deployments for the Short Caribbean and Los Angeles cruise markets

Wonder of the Seas will switch to short three- and four-night sailings out of Miami starting in August 2025.

In addition, Quantum of the Seas will sail from Los Angeles starting in October 2025. Quantum will be the largest Royal Caribbean ship ever to be based in LA.

I tried 4 ship classes since I started cruising. Here's what I like about each

Calista started cruising last year, and has already come up with what she likes about the different types of ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet.

While the cruise line’s ships all stay true to specific branding and design, each class varies a lot when it comes to layout, amenities, atmosphere, and itinerary options.

Each ship class has benefits to choosing one over the other, and Calista shared what stands out about each to her.

15 things you don't need to bring on a cruise

Walkie talkies

Of all the things you can bring on a cruise, there's a few items you can definitely leave at home.

No one wants to waste precious luggage space on things they don’t end up using during their vacation.

Whether they are prohibited or just not necessary, we wanted to share a list of things not to bother bringing on your cruise.


Matt started Royal Caribbean Blog in 2010 as a place to share his passion for all things Royal Caribbean with readers. He oversees all the writers at Royal Caribbean Blog, and writes a great deal of content on a daily basis.  He has become one of the foremost experts on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Over the years, he has reached Pinnacle Club status with Royal Caribbean's customer loyalty program.

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