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Listener Email on Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

In:
06 Apr 2016

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

Episode 140 is available for downloading where I will be reading more of your questions this week all about Royal Caribbean.

Matt is diving into the email bag this week to answer your emails all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise, including booking shows, what to do in Roatan, Liberty of the Seas changes and a whole lot more.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 140. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSSStitcher 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!

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast Episode - Listener Emails

In:
06 Apr 2016

Listen to the Show

It’s time, once again, to dive into our virtual bag of emails and answer your questions, comments and thoughts on this week’s episode.

We will touch on a number of aspects of taking a Royal Caribbean cruise and it is my hope that this episode helps everyone with having a better Royal Caribbean cruise.

Share with me your thoughts, questions and comments via...

On this episode:
Running time:

Royal Caribbean offering multi-day port tours to give guests more in-depth experiences

In:
06 Apr 2016

Royal Caribbean is offering guests the option of exploring select ports of call mid-voyage with new Multi-Day Adventures program.

Guests debark their Royal Caribbean ship mid-voyage, where they take part in a fully guided tour that includes hotel accomodations, meals, airfare (where applicable) and transportation, before rejoining the ship at another port.

Royal Caribbean is offering Multi-Day Adventures in destinations such as

These Multi-Day Adventure tours offer the opportunity to venture beyond the coast and explore the "heart" of each destination - from the Holy Land’s sacred spaces and the ‘lost’ Mayan ruins of Tikal, to visiting the site of the first Olympic games in Ilia, or admiring New Zealand’s magnificent Milford Sound.

To avoid cancelation penalties, Multi-Day Adventures must be canceled 30 days prior to sailing.

Program requires a minimum number of participants to operate at the advertised price. Should this minimum not be met, Royal Caribbean reserves the right to offer the program to those already booked at an adjusted price for a private excursion, or cancel the departure completely.

Liberty of the Seas pool deck photo update

In:
05 Apr 2016

We love to share photo updates from around Royal Caribbean's fleet, and today we have a great look at the pool and sports decks from Liberty of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean Blog reader Steve Ritter is back from Liberty of the Seas and shared these photos of the new kids pool area and the miniature golf course.

Both areas were added during Liberty of the Seas recent January 2016 refurbishment.

99 days of Harmony: Royal Caribbean Creates the Ultimate Abyss on Harmony of the Seas

In:
05 Apr 2016

At 10 stories high, Harmony of the Seas' Ultimate Abyss is not only the tallest slide at sea but also an amazing engineering feat. Get an inside look into the construction process with the manufacturing team as well as the world’s only thrill engineer. Hear what makes Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate Abyss such an epic adventure.

Royal Caribbean extends Ovation of the Seas' maiden season and announces return in 2017/2018

In:
04 Apr 2016

Royal Caribbean announced today that the brand new Ovation of the Seas will extend her maiden Australian and confirmed she will return for the 2017/18 summer season.

During Ovation of the Seas' first season down under, the ship will now offer four extra cruises during this forthcoming summer 2016/17 season.

In addition, it was confirmed that Ovation of the Seas will return for a second season in summer 2017/18 due to, "the extraordinary demand for the ship from Australians."

Final deployment details for the additional sailings and 2017/2018 season will be released later in April.  Royal Caribbean Australia is offering a newsletter to get more information when they do become available.

“The level of interest for Ovation of the Seas has exceeded all of our expectations; we’re currently over 90 per cent sold for next summer’s sailings,” said Adam Armstrong, managing director, Royal Caribbean Australasia.  “She is a true game-changer and such was the high demand for the ship that we’ve been able to secure four extra cruises from Sydney, which will extend the season into late February 2017.

“This extension of her maiden season – plus her subsequent return in summer 2017/18 – reaffirms Australia’s position as one of the most significant cruising markets in the world and Royal Caribbean’s position as Sydney’s leading cruise line,” Armstrong continued.

“We are delivering Australians the most modern style of cruising from their doorstep – a style they previously had to travel overseas for.  Australia has asked for more and we will deliver; four more cruises, a return at the end of 2017, and more opportunities to experience a brand new era of cruising on Ovation of the Seas, purpose-built for the Asia Pacific market,” Armstrong concluded.

Six beautiful photos of Royal Caribbean ships in Port Everglades

In:
04 Apr 2016

We love looking at beautiful Royal Caribbean photos and today we have a handful of great ones to share.

Photographer Rob Starling shared these great shots of four different Royal Caribbean ships coming and leaving Port Everglades, Florida.

Liberty of the Seas

Legend of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Independence of the Seas

All photos copyright Rob Starling.

Royal Caribbean pledges to combat wildlife trafficking

In:
04 Apr 2016

Royal Caribbean announced that it was joining 16 other companies and the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance (USWTA) in a pledge to crack down on wildlife trafficiking and educate consumers on the dangers trafficking poses to animals around the world.

Royal Caribbean is joining the cause by building awareness of wildlife crime and influencing buying behavior through the education of its 60,000 crew members and upwards of 5 million travelers annually. The cruise line also will work to identify and eliminate any indirect sale of products and souvenirs made from illegal wildlife products, through its on board shopping vendors and suppliers.

The illegal wildlife trade not only threatens the survival of many species in the wild but generates approximately $10 billion per year in illegal profits for sophisticated criminal syndicates that are masterminding the killing, transport and marketing of illegal wildlife products.

These commitments are part of a broader effort towards sustainability by Royal Caribbean.  As part of its environmental stewardship program, Save the Waves, and global partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), RCL will work towards ensuring that its ships, operations, suppliers, and vendors are not indirectly promoting illegal wildlife products, and has committed to removing high risk seafood species from their procurement.

99 days of Harmony: Where to watch Harmony of the Seas sail away

In:
03 Apr 2016

To celebrate the launch of Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas in less than 100 days, we're counting down each day with some really cool about the ship. Check out our blog each day for a brand new post all about Harmony of the Seas.

Watching Harmony of the Seas sailaway

With Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas debut, it seems like everyone wants to see this new ship.  Certainly we would all like to cruise on her, but the next best thing would be seeing her in person!

In November 2016, Harmony of the Seas will homeport from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and anyone can watch her sailaway as she begins her regularly scheduled cruises.

To watch Harmony of the Seas (and likely other cruise ships too) depart Port Everglades, take a ride in your car or taxi to John U. Lloyd Beach State Park.

Parking at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park does have a parking fee.

  • $6.00 per vehicle. Limit 2-8 people per vehicle.
  • $4.00 Single-occupant vehicle or motorcycle.
  • ​$2.00 Pedestrians, bicyclists, extra passengers, passengers in vehicle with holder of Annual Individual Entrance Pass.

After you enter the park, you will drive 2.2 miles from the gate to the parking lot for the jetty pavilion.  There, you can find a pier and beach area to watch all cruise ships sailing out of Port Everglades pass through.

Ships usually depart in the late afternoon, between 4 and 5pm and it can be a fun experience, especially if you are in town prior to your cruise leaving the next day or sometime thereafter.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Harmony!

Royal Caribbean Post Round-Up: April 3, 2016

In:
03 Apr 2016

We have reached the end of another week, and that means we have all the Royal Caribbean news from this week to share with you.

This week, Royal Caribbean announced it was raising the gratuity amount for all sailings that depart on or after May 1, 2016.

Gratuities are going up 55 cents per guest, per day and will have a daily cost of:

  • $13.50 per guest, per day for guests Junior Suite, Balcony, Ocean View, and Interior staterooms.
  • $16.50 per guest, per day for guests in Grand Suite and above staterooms.

The reasoning for increasing the daily gratuity amount is because Royal Caribbean wanted, "to better align with industry standards."

Royal Caribbean News

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 139th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we played our own April Fools joke this week.

In this episode, the hosts of the defunct CrownCast podcast host and talk about a variety of Royal Caribbean topics, including the virtues of smaller ships, favorite ports of all and more.

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.

99 Days of Harmony

To celebrate the countdown until Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas debuts, we kicked off a brand new blog series, 99 Days of Harmony, that looks at what makes this new ship so amazing.  

Each day we are posting a new blog post all about Harmony of the Seas, so here's what you might have missed this week.

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

From the Deck Chair has a look at Harmony of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean has a look at how to book a cruise.

Quartz answers the question of why the best cruise ships are in China.

Porthole Magazine spoke with Royal Caribbean COO Adam Goldstein.

TravelAge West has a first look at Harmony of the Seas.

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