Karen Schaler, a travel contributor for ABC News, takes a tour of Explorer of the Seas and shows you how to maximize the space in your cabin as well show off some of the fun things to do onboard Explorer.
When the Dreamworks alliance was announced last month, many Royal Caribbean fans were afraid that their favorite ships would be turned into a giant floating shrine to Shrek and his friends.
In a blog post by Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein, he confirmed that if you have no desire to experience any of the Dreamworks entertainment, you won't have to. All of it will be isolated in designated areas and like any other form of entertainment on the ship, you will need to seek it out to experience it.
On the other hand, some readers expressed concern that the DWA presence onboard Allure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas will create too much of kid-centric, theme park style environment.
For guests who are not interested in this additional offering, it will be just as possible as before on these same four ships to have a fantastic Royal Caribbean experience taking advantage of all of the entertainment, programming, culinary and destination experiences that are already so appealing.
The news is not shocking, given that Disney ships, world renown for their characters, make it very possible to cruise with them and never see their characters. The announcement by Goldstein is in response to a vocal outcry across the internet by concerned cruisers who wanted to know the limits of the Dreamworks team up.
Travel and Leisure magazine has published their list of the World 's Best Awards including the category of large-ship cruise lines. T+L readers were given a survey to fill out between December 2009 and March 2010 to rank the cruise lines. For cruise lines, readers rated them based on these categories
Here was the results:
The good news is Azmara Cruises, which is owned by Royal Caribbean, ranked fifth. The bad news is Royal Caribbean ranked ninth. If you want to spin this in a more positive light, while Royal Caribbean was ranked ninth, competitor Carnival Cruise Line did not make the top 10. In addition, the difference between ninth place and fifth place is barely a few points.
Royal Caribbean is testing out a new option on its European based ships. For $35, you can opt for a "late departure". Rather than hurry in the early morning to be off the ship, you can pay extra and stay onboard until the mid afternoon. If you opt into the program, you will be able to stay on the ship until 90 minutes prior to its next sailing. The cost is $35 for adults and $17.50 for children.
Now available on all eight Royal Caribbean ships in Europe, the program allows passengers to stay aboard the vessels through lunchtime and into the afternoon on disembarkation day instead of a traditional early-morning departure. Passengers who sign up for the program can stay on their ship until 90 minutes prior to its next sailing.
Passengers who stay onboard later will have access to all the public areas on the ship as well as select restaurants but will need to be out of their stateroom by 9am.
The Alaska Cruise Association, a group that Royal Caribbean is part of, has dropped its lawsuit against the state of Alaska over a cruise ship passenger tax. The bill passed by Alaska lawmakers this past Friday cuts the head tax from $46 to $34.50 and allows deeper offsets for ships stopping in at least one of two ports. It was signed by Governor Sean Parnell last week, and hailed as both as a way to settle the litigation and attract more ships and tourists.
In addition, cruise lines will be reimbursed an additional amount each time a ship calls in Juneau, Ketchikan or both.
The cruise association had placed at least partial blame on the tax and Alaska's regulatory climate for an expected loss of ships, and about 140,000 passengers, this season.
The tax was voted into law by Alaska residents in 2006 and was highly unpopular among the cruise lines and even argued to be illegal as it discriminates against the larger ships that carry more than 250 passengers. Experts blame much of the relocation of cruise ships away from Alaska stemming from the tax increase.
With huge new ships like Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, new technology has been the solution for Royal Caribbean to make the experience onboard for guests as easy as possible. Royal Caribbean CIO Bill Martin spoke with InformationWeek magazine about five innovations Royal Caribbean has used to make the experience better for guests.
Facial Recognition SoftwareRoyal Caribbean has more real-time data than ever before because every point of sale terminal and booking system is networked, so analysts can know what’s selling well, what services are being under-used, plus the demographics of who’s on board. Analysts onshore have started crunching that data while the cruise is sailing. Combine that with the interactive media on the ships, and Royal Caribbean has a chance to put customized offers in front of people, say for a particular type of spa treatment that has more openings than usual, to a person most likely to want such a treatment, delivered direct to their interactive TV.
Adventure of the Seas has made its debut in the Spanish port of Malaga and the city couldn't be happier. After a series of short cruises out of Barcelona earlier this spring, Adventure of the Seas has moved to Malaga, along with its 3000 passengers, becoming the largest cruise ship in the Mediterranean. Officials expect about 72,000 passengers to pass through this summer.
To commemorate the special occasion, a special ceremony was held in port that was attended by representatives of Royal Caribbean in Spain. Emmanuel Joly, the Director of Marketing and Sales of Royal Caribbean in Spain, highlighted the "commitment" of the company with Spain and the south and said "Proof of this is that we are the only shipping company that has a ship in Malaga the size of the Adventure of the Seas to sail and landed more than 3,000 passengers on each output having an important direct benefit to the region. "
Joly also highlighted the fact that the city of Malaga is a city "high prepared for tourism and interesting options that make it an interesting attraction for passengers from the cruise line" and that thanks to "Puerto de Atocha", the agreement signed between Royal Caribbean and Renfe, "is even closer to the center of Spain."
The Adventure of the Seas will be offering seven-night cruises from Malaga during the summer, with stops in Sardinia, Rome, Corsica and Palma De Mallorca.
Lisa Bauer, Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations for Royal Caribbean, posted a progress update on Allure of the Seas construction. Here are the highlights.
Allure seems to be further along at this point in time than Oasis of the Seas wasWe had several operational meetings with Captain Hernan Zini, who will be the Master on Allure, as well as the hotel start up team, lead by Raimund Gschaider. The team is very pleased with how the inspections are going, as well as the operational planning.
Royal Caribbean has launched a special July 4th sale on last minute cruises as well as cruises throughout the year. The sale runs July 2nd through July 6th on select sailings. New bookings only. Some great rates to be had if you can act quickly!
Interestingly enough, there are two Oasis of the Seas sailings on sale as well.
A river cruise expert at Travel Weekly, Michelle Baran, wrote a review of her experience on Oasis of the Seas. She had heard a lot about the newest Royal Caribbean ship and wanted to see what it was all about.
The Oasis of the Seas is a destination, it is a spectacle, it is a vacation unto itself -- but a very specific type of vacation. It's a floating, mostly inclusive (with plenty of opportunities to spend additional cash), family-friendly resort, with something for a lot of different people: people who enjoy food, active people, people who want to relax, people who want to be entertained.
Overall, Baran seemed to be impressed with the ship and a fan. Her passion are river cruises and she makes a number of comparisons between the two varieties of cruises. It's a good quick read about the different amenities offered on the ship, especially interesting to get a different perspective on the ship.
Karen Schaler, a travel contributor for ABC News, takes a tour of Explorer of the Seas and shows you how to maximize the space in your cabin as well show off some of the fun things to do onboard Explorer.