After canceling all stops in Turkey for the last two years, Royal Caribbean appears to be ready to once again offer sailings to Turkey in 2019.

Travel Market Report is reporting Royal Caribbean has made the decision to begin offering cruises that visit Turkey in late 2019.

After consulting with its safety and security program director, Royal Caribbean has deemed it safe to offer two sailings to Turkey.  Neither sailing is on sale yet.

The sailings will be two 12-day itineraries leaving on October 30 and November 12 out of Rome. Both will be on Royal’s Jewel of the Seas and both will feature stops in Ephesus and in Israel.

Royal Caribbean canceled all cruise stops in Turkey in 2017 and 2018 due to instability and "unpredictability" in the country that followed the attempted coup of 2016.

Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales, trade services, and support, says Royal Caribbean is aiming to make Turkey a regular port of call in 2020.

Royal Caribbean has updated its policy on guests bringing drones onto a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean states guests may bring drones on their cruise to be used on land only, and outside the port area.  Drones may not be operated onboard the ship at any time, nor on Royal Caribbean’s private destinations: CocoCay, Bahamas or Labadee, Haiti.

Previously, Royal Caribbean's policy was to store the drone for guests and then allow guests to take the drones off the ship while in port.

Royal Caribbean does warn guests that if they use a drone in port, they assume full responsibility for its safe operation.

"Guests assume full responsibility for understanding all local authority rules related to drone usage and for obtaining any required permissions for drone operations. Different countries may have different rules. Any liability, including environmental damage from drone usage is the guest's responsibility. Royal Caribbean assumes no liability for guest drones that may be confiscated by local authorities for violating local laws or for any accident or injury resulting from a guest drone flight."

Thanks to Fred Block for the heads up on this change!

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

Episode 246 is available for downloading, where Cruise Life Rick joins us to talk about his experience on an inaugural Symphony of the Seas sailing.

Symphony of the Seas is Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, and Rick got a chance to cruise on one of her first sailings. Rick shares with us his thoughts on this new ship and what he liked the best.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 246. 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!

Are you ready for a virtual escape to a Royal Caribbean cruise? Every Friday we share our readers' favorite Royal Caribbean cruise photos in a showcase of why we love going on Royal Caribbean.

Kinny Lee took this long exposure photo of the Carousel at night on Allure of the Seas.

Tony Oleszczuk took this photo from his aft cabin on Vision of the Seas, as the ship passed the entrance into St. John's Newfoundland harbor.

Here is a carved up watermelon on Freedom of the Seas, taken by Bill Barber.

Here is a shot of Anthem of the Seas docked off the coast of CocoCay, taken by Anoop while onboard the tender.

This photo taken of Anthem of the Seas from the top of Cadiallac mountain in Bar Harbor, Maine by Jill Snyder.

Jesse Mickelson shared with us this photo of Anthem of the Seas in Barbados.

We wrap up this week's photos with a look at Anthem of the Seas, as seen from North Star.  Photo taken by Matthew Hull.

Thank you to everyone who's photos were featured this week, and if you want to share your best Royal Caribbean cruise photos, you can send them in via this form. Have a great weekend!

Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas arrived in Naples, Italy, for the first time and there's a great timelapse video of the world's largest cruise ship.  

Royal Caribbean is inviting select guests to try out a new way to board the ship that aims to improve the embarkation process.

Royal Caribbean Blog reader, Steve, shared with us an email sent with the invitation to try the expedited check-in for an upcoming sailing on Allure of the Seas.

Guests simply need to download the new Royal Caribbean smart phone app and then check-in on the mobile app prior to the cruise.

Once the mobile check-in is complete, guests might see an Expedited Arrival choice on their mobile boarding pass, which means they have been selected to participate in our boarding trial.

Upon arrival at the cruise terminal, there will be an Expedited Arrival lane for these guests, who may present their mobile boarding pass. 

Since this is a test, the exact process may change.  This may be a precursor to the "frictionless" check-in Royal Caribbean announced late last year. 

Royal Caribbean has posted a new photo of the construction of its first Quantum Ultra class cruise ship, Spectrum of the Seas.

Designed specifically for the Chinese market, Spectrum is scheduled for delivery in 2019.

This photo was taken at the Meyer Werft ship yard in Papenburg, Germany. Photo is copyright Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean announced Quantum of the Seas will call Singapore home for six months in 2019-2020.

Prior to her arrival in Singapore, Quantum of the Seas will be revitalised in a multi-million dollar project that will see the ship refreshed and upgraded.

Her itineraries include 4-night cruises to Penang or Phuket, 5-night cruises to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Penang and Phuket, a 7-night cruise to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Penang and Phuket (with an overnight) and a 7-night cruise to Bangkok (Laem Chabang) (with an overnight) and Ho Chi Minh City..

Over her 34 sailings during the six months from November 2019 to April 2020, Quantum of the Seas is expected to add some 150,000 guests to the Singapore cruising scene.

President and CEO of Royal Caribbean International, Mr. Michael Bayley, said that the commitment to bring in bigger and better ships like Quantum of the Seas demonstrates Royal Caribbean’s confidence in the region to continue experiencing record-breaking growth.

“The Asian cruise market has seen tremendous growth over the last few years, and Singapore has been leading growth as one of the most significant cruise destinations and cruise source markets in the region,” said Mr. Bayley.

He added, “In response to the strong demand from Singapore and the region, we have decided to bring in longer cruises for Quantum of the Seas’return. The season will feature cruises starting from four nights and the first ever 7-night round trip cruises on a Quantum Class ship here. With this ground-breaking itinerary design for the Asian cruise market, our guests will get the opportunity to enjoy a more comprehensive Quantum Class experience and take in more of what this amazing ship has to offer.”

They say April showers brings May flowers, but Sundays bring you a round-up of all of this week's Royal Caribbean news!

The Royal Caribbean news everyone was focused on this week was Symphony of the Seas, with a new accolade to add to her list: she is the most Instagrammable cruise ship in the world.

Royal Caribbean has appointed Russ Francis as the company’s first ‘Instagrammer-in-Chief’ as Symphony takes her first guests on their holidays in the Mediterranean from Barcelona, Spain. His new role will be to help inspire guests to do the ship justice through their Instagram content and establish Symphony of the Seas as the world’s most Instagrammable ship.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean tweaked its cruise cancellation policy.
• Royal Caribbean announced the 2019/2020 Australia deployment.
• Radiance of the Seas had a sailing cancelled to fix a problem with her propulsion.
• Here's a new video that looks at the coolest things to do on Symphony of the Seas.
• Here is a first look at Seasonal Caribbean & Northeast sailings for 2019/2020.
• Royal Caribbean released a hyperlapse video tour of Symphony of the Seas.
• Check out a photo tour of an Owners Suite stateroom on Rhapsody of the Seas.
• Our full review of Iberostar Cozumel all-inclusive day pass.
• Here is a timelapse video of Symphony of the Seas sailing away from Barcelona.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 244th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, featuring a comparison of Royal Caribbean to Disney Cruise Line.

A long time Disney Cruise Line veteran tried Royal Caribbean for the first time, and on this week's episode, we take an in-depth discussion of the differences between the two lines, and how the two lines are similar and vary at the same time.

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

USA Today shared five things to love about Symphony of the Seas.

Business Insider has a look at how Royal Caribbean has gotten travelers to spend more money on its cruises.

Wired has a look at the inside story of how Symphony of the Seas was built.