Royal Caribbean Blog

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

Episode 267 is available for downloading featuring a review of a podcast listener's recent Canada & New England cruise on Adventure of the Seas.

Podcast listener James joins Matt this week to talk about his recent cruise on Adventure of the Seas.  James shares his experiences onboard Adventure, as well as what he did on shore.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 267. 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!

Select Royal Caribbean ships will now allow guests to make pre-cruise purchases on shore excursions, specialty restaurants, beverage packages and more just one day prior to their sailing.

Pre-cruise purchases can be made via Royal Caribbean's Cruise Planner site. Here is the list of ships and which sailing the new policy is effective:

• Allure of the Seas: 9/16/18
• Anthem of the Seas: 9/15/18
• Harmony of the Seas: 9/15/18
• Oasis of the Seas: 9/16/18
• Grandeur of the Seas: 9/13/18
• Adventure of the Seas: 9/17/18
• Brilliance of the Seas: 9/17/18
• Liberty of the Seas: Effective Immediately

Prior to this change, pre-cruise purchases were cut off a few days prior to the sailing.

Spectrum of the Seas is another step closer to completion. The ship’s two large megablocks were merged and fastened together at Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg Germany – the latest milestone in her unique building process. Spectrum is scheduled for delivery in 2019.

Royal Caribbean announced that due to Hurricane Florence's forecasted track, Grandeur of the Seas will wait out the storm in Port Canaveral, Florida until it is safe to return to Baltimore.

Grandeur of the Seas is currently in the Bahamas and sailing on a previously modified itinerary to avoid the path of Florence.  Royal Caribbean issued an update for the September 8th sailing today, "The ship will have a full day in Nassau, Bahamas on Tuesday, September 11th, and will then set sail to Port Canaveral, Florida where she will be in port on Wednesday, September 12th and Thursday, September 13th. We expect Grandeur to arrive in Baltimore no later than Sunday, September 16th."

As a result, the scheduled September 13th Grandeur of the Seas sailing is being finalized pending the return of the ship to Baltimore, "The departure date and time, as well as the itinerary, are currently being finalized. We do not expect the departure date to be later than Sunday, September 16th."

My brother just texted me. They are now staying in Nassau until tomorrow night then headed to canaveral for a couple days. Won’t be back in Baltimore until Sat evening instead of Thurs morning. I’m kind of jealous. #grandeuroftheseas

— Joe Tolley (@joetolley) September 10, 2018

Another update by Royal Caribbean on the status of the Grandeur of the Seas upcoming sailing is scheduled for 7pm EDT on September 11th.

Royal Caribbean has trademarked three new ship names that could be the names of new cruise ships in the future.

The cruise line registered Eon of the Seas, Gallant of the Seas and Phenom of the Seas via the United States Patent and Trademark Office last week.

It is worth noting that Royal Caribbean has registered other cruise ship names that it never ended up using for actual ships. Joy of the Seas and Apex of the Seas were registered back in 2017 and have yet to be used.

Royal Caribbean currently has four unnamed ships on order, in addition to Spectrum of the Seas.

Tip of the hat to Lloyd Marchand for alerting us to this news.

Thank you for joining us for this a look at all the Royal Caribbean news from this week. We had plenty to share, so let us jump right in!

Have you been struggling to decide between My Time Dining and Traditional?  Royal Caribbean offers two dinner options in the Main Dining Room and this week we broke down the pros and cons of both.

Each dinner option offers guests a style of dining and time of evening to match an individual cruiser's preference.  If you are wondering if traditional dining or My Time Dining is a better choice for you, then we have a comprehensive look at what each choice offers.

Royal Caribbean News

• Grandeur of the Seas had her itinerary changed to avoid the path of Hurricane Florence.
• Royal Caribbean signed a joint venture to expand a cruise terminal in Malaysia.
• Royal Caribbean expanded its new smartphone app to work on Independence of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas.
• Here is a photo report of the progress being made at Royal Caribbean's new terminal in PortMiami.
• What you need to know about the Tampa cruise port.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 266th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we share a podcast listener's review of Freedom of the Seas.

In this episode, Jose talks about his Freedom of the Seas cruise to the Southern Caribbean.  Jose shared his experiences on Freedom of the Seas, as well as what he did on shore.

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

Cruise Industry News reports that Royal Caribbean is now the largest player in Canada/New England.

Cruise Habit posted a hurricane status board to keep track of storm-related itinerary changes.

Cruiseline.com wrote about 6 cruise ship innovations that sounded better on paper.

Royal Caribbean has made a slight modification to an upcoming Grandeur of the Seas sailing to keep the ship out of the path of Hurricane Florence.

Royal Caribbean Chief Meteorologist James Van Fleet issued an update today that the September 8th sailing of Grandeur of the Seas will switch to an overnight in Nassau, Bahamas itinerary to, "ensure we stay out of any potential NorthEast Quadrant, if the track of Florence unexpectedly shifts."

Update on @RoyalCaribbean #GrandeuroftheSeas sailing September 8th, 2018 our of #Baltimore. We are switching to an overnight Nassau, Bahamas itinerary to ensure we stay out of any potential NE Quadrant, if the track of #Florence unexpectedly shifts. pic.twitter.com/v2WQqe0mKW

— James Van Fleet (@JamesVanFleet) September 7, 2018

This means Grandeur of the Seas will skip a scheduled stop at Kings Wharf, Bermuda and instead sail to the Bahamas.

Florence became the first major hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic season.  Weather forecasters say it's too early to tell if the storm will make landfall somewhere on the East Coast, or if it will turn harmlessly back to sea.

We love sharing Royal Caribbean photos that our readers send in because they are so much fun to look at.  We want your photos too, so send us your best Royal Caribbean photos to share with the world.

We begin with this photo of Alyssa Morgan enjoying a bridge tour on Independence of the Seas.

Dan Kohout shared this photo of Harmony of the Seas in Barcelona, taken onboard SUNY Maritime’s own Training Ship Empire State VI. 

Here is a photo of Ovation of the Seas at night, taken by Sean.

Next, we have a photo of the sun setting over St. Thomas, as seen from Leigh's balcony on Allure of the Seas.

Travis N. took this photo of Oasis of the Seas docked in Labadee.

Jeff LeBriton captured the changing Royal Promenade sign on Freedom of the Seas.

Traveler sent in this photo of Symphony of the Seas while the ship was docked in La Speza, Italy.

If we didn't include your photo this week, then that means you need to send it in to us for use on a future Friday Photos post.  We want to see your favorite Royal Caribbean cruise photos and you can use this form to send them to us.

Royal Caribbean has begun a weekend sale on select pre-cruise purchases that can save guests up to 30% off onboard prices.

The Cruise Planner sales runs between September 7, 2018 - September 10, 2018 on select sailings from September 15, 2018 - February 28, 2019.

The offer is valid on certain shore excursions, drink packages and internet packages.

Royal Caribbean states guests can see:

• Beverage packages
  • Deluxe Beverage Package + VOOM Surf & Stream 1 Device: Discount varies by ship
  • Deluxe Beverage Package: Discount varies by ship
  • Refreshment Package: 30% off onboard prices
• Shore excursions
  • Save up to 25% on select tours on select sailings. Discount varies by ship
• Internet
  • VOOM Surf + Stream Voyage Package 1, 2, 3, 4 Device(s): Discount varies by ship
  • VOOM Surf Voyage Package 1, 2, 3, 4 Device(s): Discount varies by ship
• Dining
  • 3N Dining Package: Save 20% off. Available on select ships.

To check if your sailing has this new offer available, log into the Cruise Planner on Royal Caribbean's web site look for any available offers. Keep in mind that not all sailings may see the sale applicable, nor are all offers significantly cheaper than previously posted.

If you spot a better discount on something you already pre-purchased, you should be able to cancel the purchase and then re-purchase the same item under this promotion.

Royal Caribbean has released version 1.10.0 of its new smart phone app, which adds support to Adventure of the Seas.

The new version does not list Adventure as a supported ship in the app store, but opening the app shows both ships on the list.  Some blog readers have reported seeing Brilliance of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas supported in their apps, but we have not been able to see that on our devices.

Independence and Mariner of the Seas were recently added as well.

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.