Royal Caribbean Blog

Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on January 26, 2016 at 10am to discuss its fourth quarter 2016 financial results.

The call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations web site,www.rclinvestor.com. To listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. There is no passcode or meeting number. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

The arrival of Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas to Australia is being met with plenty of excitement and attention from an Australian public that is fully embracing having a brand new cruise ship to themselves.  While not everyone reading this post might be in Australia to take advantage of this momentous occasion, we all can enjoy some beautiful photos of Ovation of the Seas down under.

Royal Caribbean took some wonderful shots of Ovation of the Seas in Sydney harbor, and we just had to share them with all of you.

Ovation of the Seas' arrival into Sydney marks her first summer season of Australia and New Zealand itineraries. She is the newest and largest ship in the region accommodating 4,180 guests at double occupancy and 1,500 international crew members.

Today we are in Nassau, Bahamas from 8am – 5pm. My plan today was to just relax and take it easy in Nassau.

I started my morning with some breakfast in the main dining room at 9:30am. They have most of the same options as the Windjammer, but without waiting in lines at the buffet. I enjoy the main dining room because I’m able to sit with my same dining room waiters. I ordered an omelet with ham and cheese and a side of bacon.

Something about eating bacon on a Royal Caribbean cruise that’s so good. The service in the dining room was outstanding, the headwaiter even came over to ask how my service was been going this cruise, very impressive. 

Around 11am I decided to get off the ship and head over to my favorite pub.

I could likely not put the name and many of you would know where, but it’s Pirate Republic Pub.

I had a few flights and met some first-time cruisers beside me. I love talking to people who are on their first cruise to get their feedback on how it’s going.

If you ever venture off to this pub, order the coconut porter it is one of their signature beers.

After I left the pub around 1pm I did not want to head back to the ship, but also did not want to venture off too far.

Well you know the sayings, you learn from your mistakes? Well today, I was reminded how much I dislike Senor Frogs. I went into the bar for 1 beer; the cost was $8 for their local sands beer that’s $1.50 at the sidewalk shops. So I was already wishing I’d stayed down at Pirates or headed back to the ship. I stayed around a half hour and got out of there. They were doing the games, blowing the whistle, just not my scene anymore. 

Back on board I headed up to the windjammer for my afternoon lunch. I had some corn mix that I love and some chicken and fish. The lunch did not look so great, but I actually thought this was one of my best lunches so far.

The quality of the food has started to greatly improve over the last few months. 

Evening on board 

Tonight I watched us sail out of Nassau, so I could take my lighthouse photos, which never get old.

The seas were so calm it almost looked like glass or something in the horizon. I was happy with the pictures I was able to get and headed inside for the evening. As usual, went to the Diamond section of the Viking lounge and it was empty; in fact I was the only one there! Let’s just say I had great service since it was just me. 

At 7:30 they had the welcome back party for their Crown and Anchor members.

Some are curious on the number of passengers on board in each tier, so I wrote them down: Gold 454, Platinum 107, Emerald 59, Diamond 71, Diamond Plus 43, and Pinnacle 4. They also mentioned the Crown and Anchor membership has over 6 million members and 1.5 million sailed within the last 18 months. 

Dinner tonight was in the main dining room. I had met some friends on board and invited them to sit with me tonight, so it was a table for 4. I ordered the French onion soup, scallops, and duck. It was all very good the meat on the bone just fell off with my fork.

For dessert I went with the classic ice cream, almost said nothing but who can pass up ice cream?

Our dinner was a little over 2 hours, but we were all in great conversation that it did not feel long. One thing I’ve noticed with the dining room staff is if you want it to speed up/slow down, just tell them.

After dinner I went straight to bed, no pass go to any areas of the ship straight to my cabin.

Tomorrow is my last day on the leg 2 of 3 and it’s a sea day!

This morning I woke up at 6am; no idea why, I am on vacation but I figured since I’m up I should go watch the sunrise. I am happy I did because it was so beautiful and I took some great pictures. 

 At 8:30am I decided to head over to Coco Cay. They actually start the tender process at 8am and usually invite all guests down around 9am. If you are looking to avoid lines, I would suggest getting down there early. I was doing a Periscope and could not believe how the Voom Internet held from the ship until we pulled up to Coco Cay. 

The weather was perfect today and I was able to walk around and take some great photos. I walked the whole island and really enjoyed the island so empty that early in the morning.

The cabanas facing the ships are different from when I had one in July, so those are also new from the storm.

I also explored down to the beach beds are which is past the floating bar.

The beach beds are the furthest point down the south side of the island. If you were looking for a quite day, these would be perfect. The whole area is all brand new and very nice looking beach beds and beach cabanas. 

For lunch I went over to the VIP party, they had fruit and my favorite shrimp. I met a lady cruising solo for the whole year, so we talked quite a bit. I grabbed my favorite island drink Coco Loco! 

I spent most of my afternoon down at the floating bar.

This was added last year and now a little closer now it used to be. Before you would have to swim out, but now it’s not in such a deep area. The bar holds up to 35 people and you must be 21 to enter.

At 4pm I decided to head back over to the ship to nap before dinner. 

Evening on board 

Tonight was the flag ceremony in the centrum in between the two dinners, so all guest could join. If you have never seen it before, they honor the countries of the crew members. They also have some doing a dance from their culture back home.

For dinner tonight, I was invited to the Captain’s Table. The meal was outstanding, and again I had the filet. I felt so lucky to be apart of such an amazing meal.

 After dinner I enjoyed the ship a little and called it a night. The sun in Coco Cay was getting to me.

Our newest podcast episode is out to help give you a quick "audio escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise!

Episode 181 is available for downloading, which provides an overview of Royal Caribbean's private destination of Labadee.

There is so much to see and do in Labadee, and Matt has a guide to what to expect when visiting Labadee and a look at the various popular options and activities onshore.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 181. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Stitcher or on iTunes!

Take a listen and as always, let us know what you think! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!

It looks like the name of Royal Caribbean's fourth Oasis class cruise ship may have been leaked by a partner company that works with the cruise line.

FlowRider touted the work it is doing with its largest client, Royal Caribbean, and repeatedly referred to the fourth Oasis class ship as Symphony of the Seas.

The blog post mentions the new ship in reference to the the fact it will have a FlowRider onboard, "But what does all of this have to do with music? Well, Symphony of the Seas®, that’s what. This is what RCCL will call their fourth OASIS Class cruise ship and it’s due to be commissioned later this year! Translation: we are super busy building #17 and 18 on the beautiful Ms. Symphony. With even more in the pipeline, can we ask for a better advertisement for repeat business? For customer AND consumer satisfaction? And if it is “good to great” enough for RCCL, shouldn’t it be for you?"

Royal Caribbean has not officially announced the name of its fourth Oasis class ship yet.

Oasis 4 is under construction in STX France and will join Royal Caribbean's fleet in spring 2018.

Credit for spotting this news goes to Harmony of the Seas Facebook group first.

From Asia to the Caribbean, in the summer or in the winter, guests on Royal Caribbean's Quantum class ships can luxuriate by the pool no matter the weather. The smart ships fully retractable roof can open or close to suit all climates.

Today we are docked in Port Canaveral, Florida offloading passengers and picking up new ones. I ended up waking up pretty early, so I watched us pull into the pier. If you have never done this I highly recommend it. I think it is a different way to end the cruise; it's peaceful and a nice way to end the cruise.

My friend Nick decided to do express disembarkation at 7:30am. If you want to get off the ship first, I recommend getting down to the Centrum between 7am-7: 15am.

Once he left me it was time to pack up for me cabin change. I have sailed back-to-back sailings before and they have always provided me with a one-pager of information on the process. This sailing, I didn't get anything, so I asked the Loyalty Officer and he said to show up at his desk at 9:30am. My cabin change process was uneventful but the hallways were packed with everyone trying to depart.

My new cabin is on deck 4, standard Ocean View cabin. This cabin is a great location because it’s right beside the Centrum, #4098. I did have them put the beds together, but as you can tell there is plenty of room with them apart. I like that there is space by the window for storage, a built in shelf against the wall for more storage.

Around 10am they walked the six of us off to US Customs. I decided to leave the group and head over to grills for breakfast once we were cleared. Grills is only a 3-5 minute walk from terminal 1. The restaurant is a lot of fun because it's right beside the ship and they often have live music.

At 12:30, I headed back to the ship to enjoy the perfect weather we were having.

Once I went through security, I just headed right to the gangway since I already had my sea pass card in hand. I grabbed a 20% off Johnny Rockets coupon at their table in the centrum and off I went. I went with the same smoked house burger I got the other day. Again the restaurant was empty and the service was great.

Sailaway party was great because the weather was so perfect and everyone was out on the top decks. I didn’t go to the spa raffle today, because I wanted to enjoy the views as we sailed away. 

Evening on board 

For dinner, I had My Time Dining, which lets you eat whenever you want. However, if you do not want to wait you can request a time you will come each evening. I sat at a small table that was for two. The table was very close to the table beside me, so I ended up talking to them the whole meal.

For tonight, I just went for the main course, no starters or desert. And it’s a good thing, because look at the size of this prime rib! It was almost the same size as my plate!

They wanted to bring me desert, but I just couldn’t eat anymore. 

Tonight was the 70’s party, and I had thought it would be in the centrum, but it was actually held in the boleros lounge. The party was epic, the activity’s director Moe was the host and seeing him dressed up like that was so funny! I’ve known Moe for many years now; he used to be on Enchantment but switched over to Majesty last year. 

Well that’s a full day, and after the 70’s party it was almost midnight so off to bed I went. Tomorrow we are back in Coco Cay! This is one island I’ll never get tired of visiting.

 No matter how many times I have been to Coco Cay, I just never get tired of it. Coco Cay is Royal Caribbean’s private island, which requires a tender ride to get there.

Majesty of the Seas was ready for tenders around 8:00am, and were off the ship by 8:30am. The tender process is not as painful as many report. I think the key to avoid all the crazy lines is go early right when they start the process.

For those that have never been over to Coco Cay before they have a towel station right before you get off, so that you are able to check-out (with sea pass card) some beach towels.

They also have a full lunch set-up on the island that you can enjoy, so that you don’t have to go back to the ship for lunch. 

Once we arrived over to the island all we did was explore and check out all the new changes that are happening. Coco Cay is undergoing quite a bit of changes if you compare it to a few years ago. They have added beach cabana beds for rent and the floating bar has returned since the recent hurricane.

If you are wanting to spend a lot time at the floating bar, I would recommend renting the beach shells for $45, as they are right in front of the floating bar now.

We ended up laying in a beach cabana for around an hour, since we were over there so early. I really enjoyed them and these might be really great for families so the kids have some shade.

Lunch on the island 

We were invited to have lunch on the patio over beside the jet skis and boat area. They had some lite options, which is good since I’ve felt like all we have done is eat! I had 8 or so shrimps and that’s about it, they were so yummy.

I also enjoyed my favorite island drink, a Coco Loco. If you ever visit the island they have a signature frozen drink on the island called a Coco Loco. After some snacks we deiced to head back over to the ship and enjoy some pool deck sunshine. 

Afternoon on board 

Once we were on board I experienced my first issue with Voom internet. They were conducting some maintenance and it was offline for around an hour. I suppose they conduct these maintenance when most of the guests are off the ship. Since we are talking about Voom Internet, this is the fastest internet I’ve ever experienced on a ship. 

The pool deck ended up being very busy as the afternoon went on. Everyone was watching the football games in the water. The Majesty of the Seashas a new pool deck TV that was installed during her last dry dock. The quality of the TV looked very clear just like watching HD at home, so they are using an upgraded TV now compared to other ships. 

Evening on board 

Tonight we started our evening in the Crown and Anchor Diamond event like every evening.

I went early so I could watch the sunset from the Viking lounge. This ship is the only ship in the fleet that has wide-open 360-degree views that’s open for all. We talked with a lot of new friends about their day and experience on board since it was the last night of the cruise.

At 7:30pm we decided to see our first show on board called Boogie Wonderland. This is the longest running show in the fleet and was outstanding. It was the singers and dancers last performance of the ship, as a new crew boards tomorrow. They even had the CD get up there and dance with them as a farewell. 

Tonight in the dining room it was Italian night, so you know what that means… Lasagna! We asked them to use a red sauce on the lasagna vs their standard white sauce and it made it taste that much better. We also ordered chicken marsala and this was a first for me.

The chicken was very tender and gravy on top really brought the flavor out. I think I’m still stuff as I write this, no breakfast for me tomorrow. 

 After our dinner we said our goodbyes to the staff and I let them know I was staying on board the next sailing too. 

Random Thoughts on Majesty of the Seas

• Ship is in great condition: new carpet everywhere, new chairs in schooner bar, and doesn’t have that “older” feeling like Monarch did when I was on her.
• Voom Internet works great, no issues at all, stayed connected throughout the day.
• Crew: They really make this ship, everyone always smiling and always looking happy.
• Entertainment was great; my only wish is there was a venue to listen enjoy the centrum music in the evenings. 

 This wraps up my first 3-day cruise, but we still have 2 more to go. My next cruise leg is the 4 days sailing going back to Nassau and Coco Cay!

Welcome to this week's round-up of all the Royal Caribbean news and happenings.  Hope you are staying warm and are ready to cozy up to some great Royal Caribbean fun.

Royal Caribbean highlighted what is new and notable for 2017, including new several new itineraries.

While there is no new cruise ship joining the fleet this year, Royal Caribbean fans will be delighted to see changes to offerings in many different markets.

Chief among the changes for 2017 are cruises to Cuba (finally!). Empress of the Seas will provide vacationers with the opportunity to discover the timeless sights, sounds and culture of this island nation. The newly revitalized Empress of the Seas will make history for the cruise line with its first visit to Cuba during a 5-night sailing departing Miami on April 19, 2017.

In addition, Royal Caribbean will operate the three largest cruise ships in the world out of the state of Florida.

Royal Caribbean News

• Guests can support the World Wildlife Fund while on their Royal Caribbean cruise.
• Royal Caribbean announced their top travel partners of 2016.
• We spotted a new drink menu design.
• 10 ways to save money on your 2017 Royal Caribbean vacation.
• Michael Poole is LIVE blogging from Majesty of the Seas this week (and next week too).
• How to eat healthy while on a Royal Caribbean cruise.
• 6 cool things for kids to do on your Royal Caribbean cruise.
• Our photo tour of the Grand Suite on Oasis of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 180th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we take an in-depth look at going on a Royal Caribbean cruise with young children.

Bringing toddlers and babies on a Royal Caribbean cruise is something many families choose to do, but there can be some unique challenges associated with traveling with kids of that age.  This week, Matt and Christy discuss their strategies and share tips for parents looking to cruise with the very young.

Please feel free to subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and head over to rate and review the podcast on iTunes if you can! We’d appreciate it.

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

Porthole Magazine has a full review of Harmony of the Seas in this month's edition.

Everything Zany shared a helpful list of cruise ship terms that you should know.

Cruise Critic shared their list of favorite drinks on Harmony of the Seas.

Chris Cruises shares an ode to sunsets at sea.

Eat Sleep Cruise has a list of the best hotels near Port Everglades.