If you are among the many that miss being onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise, being stuck at home does not mean you do not have the opportunty to enjoy a little bit of cruise fun.

With no Royal Caribbean cruises since mid-March, it has been months since any of us had a chance to get onboard a ship and indulge in the kind of fun vacation we love.

While these are no substitute for the real thing, here are a few fun ways to help pass the time until cruises resume again.

Watch videos on YouTube

Take advantage of this down time to learn about cruising, explore new ships, or simply take a "mental escape" and watch a video others have posted from their Royal Caribbean cruises.

YouTube offers a plethora of videos about so many topics and experiences, and there are lots of videos dedicated to cruising and Royal Caribbean.

While you are on YouTube, be sure to visit the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel, and check out some of my favorites!

Cruise podcasts

Podcasts are a popular medium for not only learning, but enjoying great entertainment. 

There are a variety of cruise podcasts out there, and they are free to listen to, with cruise news, tips, experiences and answers to common questions.

There are a few good podcasts worth subscribing, and having on while you keep working from your designated social distancing location.

• Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast
• Cruise Radio
• Cruise Tips TV Podcast
• Always Be Booked Podcast
• Disney Cruise Line Blog Podcast
• CruiseHabit

Island tunes

Something I always associate with a cruise vacation is the music of the Caribbean islands.

Reggae, steel drum, Jimmy Buffett, and Zac Brown Band are just some of the typical tunes you can find that will instantly set the mood that you are onboard or at the beach.

Whether you delve into your own collection of music, or check out an online radio station, or even a digital music streaming service, there are some great choices out there.

Radio Margaritaville is a good place to start, along with Spotify or Pandora.

Virtual cruises

Did you know that Royal Caribbean has been offering sailings on Virtual of the Seas for weeks?

Ever since its ships stopped sailing, Royal Caribbean decided to embrace the demand by its loyal guests for a cruise fix and offer virtual sailings on Facebook.

These pretend cruises offer do-it-yourself activities at home, Facebook live video chats, trivia sessions and even sunsets to enjoy from the comfort of your home.

Virtual cruises started out as a fun excuse to talk Royal Caribbean, but has taken on a life of its own with so many cruise fans clamoring for some virtual fun wherever they can get it.

You can follow along each day on Abe Hughes' Facebook page.

Cruise cocktails at home

While there are no drink packages offered in your house, you can still whip up a few cruise cocktails at su casa.

As long as you have the proper ingredients and a blender, it is pretty easy to make a variety of popular cocktails at home. Margaritas, lava flows, or daiquiris are just some of the popular concoctions you can make in your kitchen.

Check out this list of 38 Royal Caribbean drink recipes for instructions on how to make your favorite (or discover a new one)!

Plan your next cruise

Just because there are no cruises happening right now does not mean you cannot get a head start on planning your next cruise vacation.

This may be the perfect time to figure out what your future vacation plans look like, and begin the planning process.

Now is a great time to put a deposit down for a cruise in the future, and start planning which shore excursions you want to try, read a Cruise Compass to see activities onboard, and learn everything you can about the ship.

Royal Caribbean's Virtual of the Seas, a pretend cruise experience at home, is set to begin its next sailing today and will head down under.

The fifth official sailing will head for its furthest destination with visits to Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart... and a even manage a port stop at Perfect Day at CocoCay (if you are going to pretend, may as well take advantage of it).

The first day of activities on Virtual of the Seas include a Facebook like assembly drill, iconic buildings photo share, social media sail away and more.

Once again hosting this magical sailing from home is Cruise Director Abe Hughes. You can follow along each day on Abe Hughes' Facebook page.

With everyone spending lots of extra time at home and no Royal Caribbean cruises sailing, you might be as anxious as I am for a cruise "fix" to bring back those vacation vibes.

Whether you are looking for a fun activity to try out, or something to keep the kids occupied, Royal Caribbean has provided some fun activities you can do at home.

Many of these are right out of the Adventure Ocean playbook, with mind-bending puzzles, coloring and crafts designed to educate, cultivate creativity, sharpen motor skills, and help pass the time!

Kids Coloring Book

Coloring is the ultimate kids activity, as it can be done pretty much anywhere and at anytime. Not to mention, coloring allows kids to express themselves in crayons, markers or whatever other coloring tools they have.

You can print out these fun coloring sheets and let your children's imaginations run wild.

There are designs with cruise ships, pirates, marine life and more to enjoy.

Adult Coloring Book

While coloring is a favorite pastime of kids, adults should not be left out of of the experience either.

Royal Caribbean's adult coloring book features some intense designs that will require fine skill to stay within the lines.

You can print out Royal Caribbean's adult coloring sheets or try some of ours!

Activity Placemats

A traditional way to keep kids busy at a restaurant is an activity placemat the includes tic-tac-toe, mazes, and more. Now you can serve up some restaurant fun with that PB&J for lunch.

These printable activity placemats are straight out of Royal Caribbean's main dining room, and feature a few different designs from across the world.  Not only are they fun, it may mean a quieter meal experience for everyone!

Digital Backgrounds

How about adding a taste of Royal Caribbean to your office computer or phone?

Perhaps its time to swap out that photo of your kids from a few years ago for a background that has a fun cruise vibe (at least until you can get a new photo of the kiddos).

These digital backgrounds are available for desktop computers, as well as iPhones (and I am sure will work on Androids as well) in a few different sizes.

Learn how to make towel animals

One of my favorite things about cruising is returning to my stateroom at night and seeing what towel animal creation my stateroom attendants may left as a surprise.

The artistry of folding bath towels into animals and other creations has become a favorite tradition of cruising, and now you can learn to make them at home!

There are easy to follow towel folding instructions for dogs, monkeys, swans, frogs and elephants wearing sunglasses.

Royal Riddles

Want to see who is the Royal Caribbean guru in your house? Test your family's knowledge with these Royal Riddles.

These 13 fill-in-the-blank questions will pit your Royal Caribbean know how against everyone else, to determine who is the most up-to-date with what our favorite cruise line has to offer.

Just in case you are stumped, there is an answer sheet provided too.

Printable postcards

While we cannot visit Perfect Day at CocoCay, the next best thing is to send a postcard as if we were visiting.

These printable Perfect Day at CocoCay postcards are something the kids can drop off at grandma's house, or give to friends.  Challenge them to come up with what fun activities they would want to be doing and then write about it on the card!

Royal Caribbean's next virtual cruise experience begins today with the next "sailing" of Virtual of the Seas.

Kicking off on Facebook, this week's sailing will head to the pink sand beaches of Bermuda, and is hosted by Cruise Director Abe Hughes.

The concept of a virtual cruise is every day, Mr. Hughes posts on Facebook various activities, photos and even a Cruise Compass for helping to pass the time while many of us are stuck at home.

The activity started out as a fun excuse to talk Royal Caribbean, but has taken on a life of its own with so many cruise fans clamoring for some virtual fun wherever they can get it.

You can follow along each day on Abe Hughes' Facebook page.

While there are no Royal Caribbean cruises sailing, the cruise line's ships are still staffed by some exceptionally talented and dedicated crew. While many crew members have been reptatriated back home, essential crew remains onboard to keep the ship working.

Since there are no guests onboard, some crew have taken to the popular social media app TikTok to engage in some really fun videos.

Let's start off with some great videos by Jayden Prelc, who is a performer on Rhapsody of the Seas.

@jaydenprelc

Choose your Royal Caribbean character ##fyp ##chooseyourcharacter

♬ original sound - houseofbrooklyn

@jaydenprelc

Late to the party but, happy quarantine from the Rhapsody of the Seas ##iamroyal ##fyp ##foryoupage ##cruiseship ##distancedance ##blindinglights

♬ Blinding Lights - The Weeknd

@jaydenprelc

CRUISE SHIP CABIN CONFINEMENT - no room to do anything ##fyp ##foryou ##foryoupage ##trending ##australia ##cruiseship ##cruiseshipcrewmember ##quarantine

♬ Opening: I Hope I Get It - A Chorus Line Ensemble (2006)

Next up is a video by Airam, and it is of the NextCruise staff dancing on the Royal Promenade on Harmony of the Seas.

@airam_ef21

##iamroyal @lloydgonzagaarante

♬ original sound - Señorita_Airam

Ernesto brought back some Shaggy classic tunes for this video.

@estongjr

MTV naman hirit bago matulog ##foryou ##wasntme ##goodvibes ##fightcovid19 ##isolation ##iamroyal ##tiktokers ##seamantiktok

♬ original sound - devinfox22

Arturo decided to try out the "eyes only" challenge.

@artidarti

Eyes Only! ##challenge ##trending ##iamroyal ##tiktokatsea ##maskon ##lifeatsea ##eyesonly ##greeneyes

♬ original sound - hushupchild

Have you found a funny TikTok video from a crew member? Share a link in the comments!

If you are anything like me, you look for any opportunity to sneak in a little cruise fun into your life, so here is how to get your phone in on the fun!

These pictures should fit most phone lock screens, and allow you to easily drop them in so the next time your alarm, phone call or text message comes across, there will be a little Royal Caribbean included with it.

All of these photos were taken by Royal Caribbean.

You can save any of these photos here, or download a copy of all the photos with this link.

How to change the wallpaper on your iPhone Lock screen

1. Launch Settings from the Home screen.
2. Tap Wallpaper.
3. Tap Choose a New Wallpaper.
4. Tap on the location of the new wallpaper you want to choose, and then tap on the image you want to use
5. Adjust photo scale and size to your liking.
6. Tap Set.
7. Tap Set Lock Screen if you only want to change the Lock screen wallpaper, Set Home Screen if you only want to change your Home screen wallpaper or choose Set Both to change the Home screen wallpaper as well.

How to change the wallpaper on an Android

1. Open your Android's Gallery app. You'll find it on the home screen or in the app drawer. 
2. Tap the picture you want to use.
3. Tap the More icon 
   1. It's at the top-right corner of the screen. You may have to tap the screen once to bring up this button.
4. Tap Set as wallpaper.
   1. This may be called Set lock screen, Set picture as, or Use as on different models.
5. Tap Lock Screen.
6. Adjust photo scale and size to your liking.
7. Tap Save or Done.
   1. This may be called Set or Set as Wallpaper on some models. 

With there being no actual Royal Caribbean cruises to go on currently, Royal Caribbean is inviting cruisers to have a virtual portrait of them taken from its private islands.

Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor posted on its Facebook page the opportunity for anyone to post an at-home selfie, and have the digital team at Royal Caribbean create a picture of them enjoying a day there.

You can choose between Perfect Day at Cococay or Labadee, Haiti, and this is totally free.

All you have to do is share a photo of yourself in the comments on the post, and the staff will transform you into a digital photo shortly thereafter.

Everyone's favorite stay-at-home cruise fun continues today with a brand new virtual vacation getaway.

Royal Caribbean announced the next Virtual of the Seas sailing depart today, with a 7-night internet itinerary to enjoy, hosted by Cruise Director Abe Hughes.

The next sailing will pretend to visit Perfect Day at CocoCay twice, Labadee and more.

The idea behind a virtual cruise is every day, Mr. Hughes posts on Facebook various activities, photos and even a Cruise Compass for helping to pass the time while many of us are stuck at home.

The activity started out as a fun excuse to talk Royal Caribbean, but has taken on a life of its own with so many cruise fans clamoring for some virtual fun wherever they can get it.

You can follow along each day on Abe Hughes' Facebook page.

With no actual cruises sailing, former Royal Caribbean Cruise Director Abe Hughes has been hosting a virtual cruise aboard the "Virtual of the Seas", and its fifth voyage is scheduled to begin on April 19, 2020.

The next sailing will pretend to visit St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. John, St. Lucia and St. Maarten.

The idea behind a virtual cruise is every day, Mr. Hughes posts on Facebook various activities, photos and even a Cruise Compass for helping to pass the time while many of us are stuck at home.

The activity started out as a fun excuse to talk Royal Caribbean, but has taken on a life of its own with so many cruise fans clamoring for some virtual fun wherever they can get it.

You can follow along each day on Abe Hughes' Facebook page.

With Royal Caribbean (and all cruise lines) not offering sailings currently, cruisers have been looking for some fun escapades to help pass the time and the latest trend is cruise bingo cards.

We have seen virtual cruises, coloring sheets, and now we have a home version of bingo to play.

Part of the appeal of social media is sharing with others your experiences, and we have seen a few bingo cards pop up around Facebook, where you can check off your cruise "achievements".

Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President of Sales and Trade Support & Service Vicki Freed shared one such card on her Facebook page that focused on how many ports you have visited.

Our friends (and sponsor) MEI Travel came up with their own cruise bingo card, which includes a few references to this site!

The Facebook group NYC Rocks came up with Travel Bingo: Royal Caribbean edition.

We spotted this Perfect Day at CocoCay bingo card on Facebook.

These are fun diversions that help us all take a mental escape from this world of no cruises.