Royal Caribbean Blog

Royal Caribbean released a new statement on the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and announced a third Spectrum of the Seas sailing cancellation.

In addition to the two cancelled sailings previously announced, the cruise line has cancelled an additional sailing of Spectrum of the Seas through February 8th.

"As has been widely reported, China has moved aggressively to contain the spread of the virus.  As a result of these measures, and after consultation with national and local health authorities, the company has cancelled three sailings through Feb 8th, on the high yielding Spectrum of the Seas, currently its only ship homeported in China."

Royal Caribbean only has Spectrum of the Seas based in China during the winter sailing season, with two additional ships are scheduled to join in May and July 2020, respectively.  For all of 2020, China represents about 6% of the company's capacity.

The company estimates that this (which included the Chinese new year's cruises) will impact 2020 financial results by approximately $0.10 per share.  If the travel restrictions in China continue until the end of February, the company estimates that this would further impact its results by an additional $0.10 per share.

The company also commented on the long-term impact of the virus on the cruise business:

"There are still too many variables and uncertainties regarding this outbreak to calculate the overall impact on the business.  For example, we expect an erosion of consumer confidence in China could have an additional impact on load factor and rate in the region until the market normalizes.  If these travel restrictions continue for an extended period of time, they could have a material impact on the overall financial performance of the company."

Royal Caribbean International’s first barbecue restaurant, Portside BBQ, debuts on the newly amplified Oasis of the Seas with an authentic, meat-packed menu inspired by the best-in-class barbecue across the United States. Offering a variety of options, from smoked marbled brisket, pulled pork and turkey legs, to beef ribs and burnt ends, the casual eatery on the pool deck ties it all together with classic sides – think mac and cheese, homestyle cornbread, baked beans and coleslaw – and down-home desserts like the Banana Dream and a brownie-cookie mashup known as the Brookie.

With so many cruise tips and advice out there, which ones are the best of the best to trust and use?

Our readers recently shared their number one, favorite cruise tip that they always use, and we're sharing them all in our brand new video!

And if you love this video, there’s plenty more for you to enjoy over on our Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel!

By the way, have you subscribed yet? Be sure to subscribe to our channel and never miss a single video!

So check out the video and then let us know: What is one cruise tip that you always use when cruising?

Multiple media outlets are reporting Royal Caribbean has canceled at least the next two Spectrum of the Seas sailings out of concern over the spread of Coronavirus.

The Spectrum of the Seas sailings from Shanghai scheduled for January 27 and January 31 have been canceled.

So far, we've canceled two sailings, Spectrum that was set to sail today and the sailing that was set to sail on 1/31/20.

— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) January 27, 2020

A cruise line spokesperson said: "In light of the latest developments with the coronavirus outbreak in China, we are suspending the January 27 and January 31 sailings of Spectrum of the Seas, currently our only ship homeported in China. We are working with our guests to provide full refunds for the cancellation. The health and safety of our guests and crew is our primary concern, and we continue to work with the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and government health authorities to monitor the situation."

Royal Caribbean is also assuring its guests it is taking other proactive steps to ensure guest safety, such as special sanitizing of high traffic areas, adding additional medical staff onboard, and providing consultations with medical experts.

Hi there. At this time, that sailing will continue as planned. We continue to closely monitor any developments related to the coronavirus and new government-mandated travel bans. We'll notify impacted travel partners and guests immediately if any changes are made. -Yami

— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) January 27, 2020

As of January 27, 81 people have been killed from the virus, along with another 3,000 infected. Forty-four cases have been confirmed outside of China. 

Guests sailing on a Royal Caribbean ship in the last couple weeks have reported non-alcoholic frozen drinks have been added to the Diamond member happy hour drink menu.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader John Durland first reported the change and readers Eileen & John Triplett shared a photo of the new drink menu.

Diamond Drink menu from Mariner of the Seas, January 2020

Diamond drink menu from Independence of the Seas January 2019

The updated menu adds juices and virgin frozen beverages to the menu, along with new wines added to the Wine By The Glass menu and Heineken 0.0.

Each evening, Royal Caribbean offers complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in its Diamond lounges for Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle members. In addition, Diamond members and above receive three complimentary drink vouchers to use at bars and lounges around the ship during the same time.

Royal Caribbean has expanded its new app to include support for Rhapsody of the Seas.

Rhapsody now appears in the list of supported ships that can be found from within the app.

The new app is being actively developed, which means not all features area available on the app yet.  Moreover, the cruise line is slowly rolling out support for more ships.

The app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

Hope you had a great week (maybe one week closer to your next Royal Caribbean cruise?) and you had a chance to keep up with what's new with Royal Caribbean this week. But if not, here's a roundup of this week's news.

Royal Caribbean put a new set of Jewel of the Seas sailings from Galveston on sale.

The new sailings were added as Jewel of the Seas will go to Galveston in December 2020 to temporarily takeover for Liberty of the Seas while Liberty undergoes her Amplification in January.

Jewel of the Seas arrives early with new itinerary options from Galveston, including two transatlantic options, two sailings to Colon, Panama, plus two new sailings to Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Nassau, and Key West.

Royal Caribbean News

• A man jumped to his death from Oasis of the Seas.
• Spotted: Royal Caribbean ship scheduled to sail from Los Angeles in 2021.
• Do cruise prices drop?
• How to add custom events to the Cruise Planner.
• What I wish I'd known before I went on Harmony of the Seas.
• What is the best location on a cruise?
• There is still time to take advantage of a pre-cruise purchase sale.
• How to make towel animals just like on a Royal Caribbean ship.
• What should I expect on my first Royal Caribbean cruise?

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 338th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and we take an in-depth review of Brilliance of the Seas.

Matt and Billy review their 4-night Western Caribbean sailing on Brilliance of the Seas, with the focus on Billy's first Radiance Class experience.

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.

New RCB Video: Why you don't need to buy Royal Caribbean's The Key

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 — Why you don't need to buy The Key — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Royal Caribbean Around The Internet

The Points Guy previewed the 8 most exciting new cruise ships of 2020.

Cruise Habit shares a look at Coronavirus and what to be aware of right now.

Cruise.Blog reported on the latest with the lawsuit related to the grandfather that dropped a toddler to her death.

Welcome to our weekly showcase of great Royal Caribbean photos that our readers have shared with us.  Let's dive into this week's batch of photos!

Let's kick start this week's edition with a photo by John of Symphony and Empress berthed together in St. Thomas.

Jorge shared this photo of the Solarium on Anthem of the Seas.

Michael Kho snapped this photo of Allure of the Seas at sunrise.

This is a great look from the top of Dragon's Breath zipline at Labadee by Travis Alexander.

John Trivedi took this selfie from North Star on Ovation of the Seas.

I love the colors in this sunset photo from Aruba while visiting on Explorer of the Seas. Photo by Terri Floyd.

Our final photo this week is by Spiralqueen, and it is of the sunset as seen from the pier at Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Thank you to everyone for their photos this week! You can use this form to share your favorite Royal Caribbean photos with all of us.

Readers living on the West Coast of the United States should probably sit down before reading this post, but the Port of Los Angeles cruise schedule lists regular sailings for Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas in 2021.

Beginning in June 2021, Voyager of the Seas is listed as offering regular 3- and 4-night sailings. Regular sailings extend through December 31, 2021. The Port of Los Angeles schedule does not have the 2022 schedule online yet.

Royal Caribbean has not made any announcement about returning to Los Angeles, but in the past port schedules have been good indicators of what Royal Caribbean intends to do.

Royal Caribbean's website currently has no sailings available to book on Voyager of the Seas past April 2021.

The return of Royal Caribbean to offer regular sailings from Los Angeles, or anywhere in California, has been highly anticipated for many years.

Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas left Los Angeles back in 2011 due to violence in Mexico as well as to find bigger profits.

Royal Caribbean's Cruise Planner site is where you can purchase shore excursions, reserve a drink package or book a spa appointment. It is your one-stop-shop for organizing your upcoming Royal Caribbean cruise, and we have fun tip to make planning your activities a little bit easier.

The Cruise Planner offers guests a lesser-known option to add a Personalized Activity, which essentially is a placeholder for any event, activity or meetup you want to put on the schedule for you and your family.

Here is how to add your own Personalized Activity to the calendar for reference later:

1. Log onto the Cruise Planner site.

2. Access your cruise reservation and click My Calendar.

3. Click Add Activity button at the top right corner.

4. Select Personalized Activity from the dropdown menu, and then select which day you want to assign the activity.

5. You can add an event title, description and define the start and end time of the event.

This tool can be helpful plan special events, meet ups and other family activities.

Thanks to RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader spiralqueen for alerting us to this feature!