A new week means a new photo of Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship to join the fleet.

Every week, Meyer Werft shipyard releases a new webcam photo of Odyssey of the Seas under construction.

Here is a look at this week's photo and last week's photo to give you a sense of if anything has changed.

February 15 photo 

February 8 photo

Odyssey of the Seas is outdoors so that she can receive additional features that cannot be installed while the ship was in the hall during initial construction.

The webcam photos give us a regular look at the progress being made, but webcam photos never look as good as a photo from a talented photographer with good equipment.

Björn Haß shared some new photos as well of Odyssey of the Seas, as well a look at the snow that fell around the shipyard.

Photos by Björn Haß

Odyssey of the Seas comes in at 169,000 GT and measures a length of 347.1 meters, and has a capacity of more than 5,000 passengers.

When she joins the fleet, Odyssey of the Seas will be the fifth cruise ship in the Quantum/Quantum Ultra Class to be built at Meyer Werft.

The next step for Odyssey is her conveyance down the Ems River to begin her sea trials. It has not been announced yet when that will take place.

Odyssey of the Seas will enter service with cruises from Europe in summer 2021 before heading to Port Everglades, Florida to sail the Caribbean in winter 2021.

Norwegian Cruise Line has thrown in the towel on May 2021 cruises, which may point in the direction other cruise lines will follow.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) announced on Tuesday they continued their suspension of cruises through May 31, 2021.

In a statement, NCLH said it will continue to work with government and public health authorities to take all measures necessary to protect its customers, crew and communities visited.

Prior to today's announcement, cruises had been cancelled through April 30, 2021.

Guests who are currently booked on cancelled voyages on Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises or Regent Seven Seas Cruises are asked to contact their travel advisor or the cruise line for more information.

Throughout the entire cruise industry shutdown, the major cruise lines have mirrored each other's cancellation announcements and that means Carnival and Royal Caribbean may soon follow.

Moreover, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian work together on the Healthy Sail Panel group of experts.

Will Royal Caribbean also cancel their cruises?

The short answer is no one knows yet.

Royal Caribbean currently has cruises cancelled through April 30, 2021 (excluding sailings onboard Quantum of the Seas in Singapore and Spectrum of the Seas in China).

It is important for Royal Caribbean cruisers to take notice of these cancellations as a possible sign of what may come for Royal Caribbean.

There also is not distinct pattern when Royal Caribbean may make a similar announcement or not. The only pattern thus far is when one of the "big three" cruise lines cancels more cruises, it seeems it is just a matter of time before the other two dominos fall.

We have a first look of a photo from onboard Royal Caribbean's next new Oasis Class cruise ship.

Wonder of the Seas is under construction and slated to enter service sometime in 2022.

At the aft of the ship is the iconic AquaTheater, which is an outdoor ampitheater home to some of the best stage shows on any cruise ship.

Senior Vice President of Entertainment for Royal Caribbean International, Nick Weir, shared a photo on Twitter of the still under construction AquaTheater.

Photo by Nick Weir

While the venue is still being worked on, we can easily noticeable one of the most striking new features of the space, which is the enclosure around the very back of the space.

Read more: Why are new cruise ships still being built?

Wonder of the Seas may be the fifth Oasis Class cruise ship, but Royal Caribbean is not "copying and pasting" her based on the previous vessels.

AquatTheater on Harmony of the Seas

From just the concept art, it is clear you can see structural differences to the ship when compared to existing Oasis Class ships.

Wonder of the Seas was originally slated to debut in 2021, but the global health crisis pushed those plans back and will now be delivered sometime in 2022.

Under construction in France, Wonder of the Seas had to be delayed in order to spread out spending. She is still scheduled to sail exclusively in China.

Read more: 5 plans Royal Caribbean will and won’t be able to do in 2021

The new cruise ship was floated out in September 2020, but there have been few updates regarding the ship since.

Royal Caribbean has not released itineraries for Wonder of the Seas to book, nor indicated when exactly in 2022 Wonder will start sailing yet.

Odyssey of the Seas will debut first, with a spring 2021 delivery.

Quantum of the Seas may be the only Royal Caribbean cruise ship sailing right now, but she's got a lovely story fit for Valentine's Day.

Currently, Quantum of the Seas is offering 3- and 4-night cruises with no port stops from Singapore and one crew member couple onboard helped celebrate Valentine's Day.

The ship has had over 25,000 guests across 20+ sailings since December, and working onboard is Rose (USA) and Johel (Brazil).

Rose Serim is the Cruise Program Administrator and Johel Fonseca is the Sports Supervisor on Quantum of the Seas. They shared their story how they met and continue to sail together.

We met on Ovation of the Seas in October 2017. Our first date was onboard Ovation at the specialty restaurant, Izumi.

We've since been together for almost 3.5 years and in addition to Ovation, have been on Spectrum of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas, and now Quantum of the Seas together.

Royal Caribbean added the crew are thrilled to be back onboard and are sending their love to everyone at home. 

Rose and Johel are the ones on the Flowrider surf simulator and the iFly skydiving simulator.

Royal Caribbean recently announced that Quantum of the Seas will remain in Singapore until June 2021 to continue offering cruises for three additional months between March 22, 2021 and June 21, 2021.

These 2-, 3- and 4-night Ocean Getaways  operate with a set of comprehensive health and safety measures in place, such as mandatory testing, reduced sailing capacity and strict physical distancing measures.

Happy Valentine's Day! Hope your day is filled with chocolate, flowers and a Royal Caribbean cruise! We are spreading the Royal Caribbean love with our look at all the Royal Caribbean news from this week.

It looks like Royal Caribbean will work to give all of its crew members COVID-19 vaccines.

An email was sent to crew members to inform them that Royal Caribbean expects to vaccinate its crew once sailings restart.

The cruise line does not yet know how or when the vaccine would be distributed to crew members, as it may depend on the country of residence, the timing of the next contract and whether the crew is already on board or traveling. 

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean has not yet cancelled Alaska cruises
• Royal Caribbean will continue offering cruises to nowhere from Singapore through June 2021
• Royal Caribbean releases 2022-2023 cruises sailing from Northeast US
• Grandfather of toddler who fell from a Royal Caribbean ship sentenced to probation
• 10 Ways Cruising Has Changed in the Last 30 Years
• Which Ships Did Royal Caribbean Sell?
• Why hasn't Royal Caribbean cancelled Alaska 2021 cruises yet?
• Congress members call Canada's ban of cruise ships "unacceptable"
• Why are new cruise ships still being built?
• Odyssey of the Seas construction photo update - February 8, 2021
• First Timers' Guide to Celebrity Edge
• Carnival takes down new health protocols from its website
• Cozumel floats idea of being homeport for cruise ships
• MSC introduces humanoid robot bartender

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 393rd  episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and we're talking about Royal Caribbean's Royal Promenade

In this episode, Hayley shares her cruise story celebrating her wedding anniversary in Alaska.

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.

New RCB Video: Reacting to "You Should Forget 2021 Cruises" advice

Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video — Reacting to "You Should Forget 2021 Cruises" advice — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Here are the two port projects Royal Caribbean intends to complete

The global health crisis has wreaked havoc on Royal Caribbean's plans for the next few years, but at least two projects will still continue.

Port of Galveston Port Director Rodger Rees confirmed the two projects Royal Caribbean told him will move ahead in 2021.

Despite the major setbacks financially, Royal Caribbean remains committed to the Port of Galveston cruise terminal project, as well as the Freeport, Bahamas port expansion.

New cruises were just announced for sailings out of the northeast United States.

Royal Caribbean pushed up its Northeast 2022-2023 deployments and released the new sailings for guests to book today.

Three ships - Adventure, Anthem and Voyager of the Seas - will sail from Cape Liberty and Boston.

Today's release is phase one of the northeast sailings, and a phase two is still to be announced later.

The array of new sailings include 4 to 11 night cruises to destinations in Bermuda, Perfect Day at CocoCay, and New England.

The new sailings from the Northeast departing from May 2022 to April 2023 are now open for sale.

Adventure of the Seas will transition from Galveston to Cape Liberty in Bayonne, New Jersey and sail a combination of itineraries to Bermuda, the Caribbean and Canada. Cruises to Bermuda will include overnight stays in Bermuda.  New for summer 2022 are Adventure’s 9-night Eastern Caribbean sailings that will visit St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, Bermuda and Royal Caribbean’s private destination, Labadee, in Haiti. The ship will also offer 4- and 9-night cruises heading up the east coast to visit Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; Boston; Portland and Bar Harbor, Maine.

Anthem of the Seas will resume sailings from Cape Liberty when she returns from Southampton, England in October 2022. Anthem will also sail 11-night southern Caribbean sailings to destinations such as SanJuan, Puerto Rico; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; St. John’s, Antigua; Castries, St. Lucia; and Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis.

Voyager of the Seas will cruise for the first time from Boston, where she will offer 7-night cruises to Canada that will visit Saint John, Halifax, as well as Bar Harbor and Portland. Voyager will also sail to San Juan on a 7-night cruise with stops in the Dominican
Republic and St. Thomas and Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Voyager will arrive to the U.S. to start her season in Boston following a 14-night Arctic Crossing from Copenhagen, Denmark, which will bring guests to the wild landscapes of Iceland and Greenland along the way.

View all of the sailings here:

• Anthem of the Seas
• Adventure of the Seas
• Voyager of the Seas

This is the second 2022 deployment released as part of the winter release of new deployments, with China & Hawaii sailings released a few weeks ago. 

Over the next few weeks, Royal Caribbean will release additional sailings to fill out the rest of the 2022-2023 schedule.

Keep in mind that the deployment schedule is subject to change.

Planning on booking a 2022 cruise? These stories will help:

• 5 things to look for before you book a cruise
• What is the cheapest month to go on a cruise?
• Should I take a short or a long cruise?
• Why you shouldn't book the cheapest cruise you can find

When Royal Caribbean introduced the Bionic Bar with its one-armed robot bartenders 7 years ago, it turned heads. 

Now, there's a new bartender in town.

MSC Cruises announced today the first humanoid bartender will be found aboard its MSC Virtuosa cruise ship.

Known as "Rob", the bartender will be part of the MSC Starliner One bar experience, which is themed to a futuristic spaceship.

Rob can mix and serve cocktails (with or without booze) and personalize drinks as well. He can even talk to guests in 8 languages (English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese). His LED face can convey a variety of emotions.

This humanoid robotic bartender moves his arms, body and head in a highly natural way, all collaborating to give the impression that a real bartender is preparing the cocktail - a very unique engineering feature. Different facial expressions and a voice have been designed to give Rob a human-like personality.

Parallels between Rob and Royal Caribbean's Bionic Bar started almost as soon as MSC made the announcement.

Beginning on Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean introduced the first robotic bartenders in 2014.

The Bionic Bartenders are not humanoid. Instead, they are a robot arm that can make drinks based on orders placed by guests via tablets.

The Bionic Bar concept has spread to a number of cruise ships in the fleet since the debut, including other Oasis and Quantum class cruise ships.

Ordering drinks

Guests will place orders for drinks in specifically designed vertical digital cockpits. 

Guests can monitor the status of their drink while Rob makes it through digital monitors within the area and a ticker-tape-style LED strip above the robotic island.

The cosmic cocktails are served in custom-designed futuristic souvenir glasses.

Between making drinks, Rob can interact with guests and change his facial expressions or even dance.  He is capable of telling jokes, riddles and space trivia.

The MSC Starship Club

In addition to Rob, the bar has 3D holograms, an immersive digital art wall and a 12-seater infinity digital interactive table, giving guests the possibility to explore space with their own personalized galactic tour.

MSC said they have spent almost six years developing the space, and worked hard to push the boundaries of engineering.

During this time, MSC Cruises has worked with leading experts from companies specializing in robotics and automation, interior design as well as entertainment and digital experience solutions to create a custom designed entertainment venue with a humanoid robot as the star.

The robotic island solution is completely automated and integrated with all the catering machines and tools needed for the end-to-end drink preparation and delivery. Safety glass and the 2-level safety laser barriers have been installed to avoid any mishaps.

Human bartenders will be always be on-hand to assist and prepare unique beverages too as part of the overall experience.

The MSC Starship Club also offers an extensive futuristic menu served from the human bar in addition to the cocktails served by Rob These cocktails are not included within the drinks packages.

MSC Virtuosa is the newest cruise ship for MSC Cruises anbd after completing a few three, four and five-night cruises in the Mediterranean, MSC Virtuosa will be deployed to Northern Europe in summer 2021 with a range of itineraries to the Norwegian fjords and Baltic capital cities.

It appears Royal Caribbean will be the next cruise line that will vaccinate its crew members.

An email was sent to crew members to inform them that Royal Caribbean expects to vaccinate its crew once sailings restart.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog was able to confirm that emails had been sent to various crew members to inform them that vaccines would be required for them.

"So far, several vaccines have shown to be effective at preventing both mild and severe symptoms of COVID-19, and we intend to make them a key component of our healthy return to service," the email to crew members states.

"Therefore, we expect vaccinations will be required for our crew as part of our plan for your return to working on our ships."

The cruise line does not yet know how or when the vaccine would be distributed to crew members, as it may depend on the country of residence, the timing of the next contract and whether the crew is already on board or traveling. 

Royal Caribbean's decision to vaccinate its crew members follows Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. decision to do the same.

The email did not mention at all if guests would be required to get the vaccine.

The decision was originally reported by Crew-Center after they shared the contents of the email.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reached out to the Royal Caribbean Group for confirmation that crew members will indeed be vaccinated. They shared this statement.

"We have been working in collaboration with government authorities, medical professionals and experts to continue to develop our plan to keep our guests, crew and communities we visit safe. The new COVID-19 vaccines present a new opportunity to do just that. The vaccines are a way to build protection for everyone involved and we continue to look into all options that will assist in keeping people safe. "

Whether or not guests will have to be vaccinated is a decision that Royal Caribbean will look to the Healthy Sail Panel to make.

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain shared a video update in January 2021 that a decision on that should be made "reasonably soon".

Mr. Fain's response put the decision on if requiring the vaccine is a good idea on the panel of experts so that the cruise line can make the best decision based on the panel's guidance.

"We have the experts and we'll let them guide us."

Reader opinions

RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers have already begun sharing their opinions on the crew being vaccinated on our message boards.

Twangster wrote, "No surprise really.  Personally I think they'll leave guest requirements to public health agencies but ultimately vaccines will be required."

"I can see many countries around the world establishing a vaccine requirement for international visitors.  Pick a popular ship destination.  If this vaccine requirement becomes real even for one stop of a cruise itinerary that will mean guests and crew are required to be vaccinated. "

Monctonguy thinks this is part of many changes the world will undergo, "Vaccine cards/passport will be the norm in the next couple years for flying, cruising, hotels stays concert events."

Cruise ships have not been able to sail for a year from the United States and many cruise fans think cruise lines should do more to try to fight the ban.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) implemented a ban on cruise ships in March 2020, and has yet to approve any ship to resume service.

Lawsuits, press conferences, social media call-outs and even protests have all been suggested by cruise fans who think the cruise lines are being held to a double standard by the CDC compared to other travel industries.

Cruise lines were the first industry to voluntarily shut itself down at the beginning of the global health crisis, and they are the only industry that has not had the opportunity to reopen since.

All cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, have been very leery of negative statements towards the CDC. This has left a lot of fans, travel agents, investors, and industry insiders confused why more is not being done to highlight the problem.

During a webinar with travel agents, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, Vicki Freed, answered this topic directly after one travel agent brought it up as a concern.

The question raised was why hasn't Royal Caribbean been more aggressive with the federal government.

Ms. Freed's response was, "When you're working with the government, it has to be a partnership and it's not one sided. We can't push them to make a sale. It is has to be jointly agreed upon."

"We have to tread with them very carefully and we want to work with them as a good partner. So we don't we we don't have answers yet because we're waiting for answers."

The topic of if the CDC is holding up cruise lines has been brought up a number of times over the last year.

Just last month, one Wall Street analyst asked repeatedly Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald if the CDC was delaying test cruises beginning. Mr. Arnold tip-toed around the answer.

Analyst: "So it sounds like you're waiting specifically for the CDC to issue some specific guidance around the test cruise timing."

Donald: "To answer your question about specific timing on test cruise, yes, we would be waiting."

At a meeting in September 2020, Miami-Dade officials called out the CDC for being slow to get cruises to restart.

"While other industries have been allowed to reopen in phases, the cruise industry remains totally shut down," said Vice Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa at the meeting. "In April, the CDC gave the cruise industry seven days to come up with a lay-up plan, and the cruise industry worked tirelessly and gave them the plan in seven days. The CDC took 14 weeks to somewhat respond to the plan that was presented."

"The problem is that's not fair, that the CDC is not paying attention and communicating with the cruise industry on the plans that they are created so they can tell them this is right, this needs more work, so they can be prepared."

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain spoke a bit about the CDC in a video update he released in November, saying he was determined to work with the agency to get cruises back up and running.

"We are determined to work with the CDC to implement, adjust and clarify all those requirements so that we can meet the goal of safe and healthy sailing."

"It won't be easy and it won't be quick, but it will be thorough and it will be effective."

It has been almost a week since Canada banned cruise ships for one year, so why hasn't Royal Caribbean cancelled those sailings yet?

Many cruise fans have been asking this question, and the answer appears cruise lines are still exploring alternative options to allow these cruises to go.

Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, Vicki Freed, addressed this concern with travel agents during an online webinar.

She said she had a conversation with Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley about the topic, and he indicated they are looking for other ways to get around the ban.

"We don't have information and we don't have answers yet. But we're looking at maybe there's an opportunity for an exemption, maybe there's not."

"We are committed to sharing our plan with you once we've evaluated all options for the impacted itineraries to Alaska and also those departing from the northeast. So more details to come."

The exemption that Ms. Freed referred to is the idea that the Passenger Vessel Service Act (PVSA) of 1886 could be temporarily waived for cruise ships in 2021.

Sometimes erroneously called the Jones Act, the PVSA requires foreign flagged cruise ships to make a stop in a foreign country when operating closed-loop cruises from the United States.

In addition to cruise line's efforts to get a waiver, two U.S. Senators and one Congressman announced they are "exploring all potential avenues, including changing existing laws."

Moreover, Canada did leave open the possibility of rescinding the ban if the global health crisis improves before the ban is set to expire.

Royal Caribbean could be holding off canceling Alaska cruises because of optimism related to the distribution of vaccines in the United States and Canada. By summer, the situation could be vastly different than today, which could open the door for a limited cruise season.

In the meantime, Royal Caribbean has already pulled down the 2021 Alaska and New England sailings from their website.

While the 2021 cruises are not yet cancelled, you can no longer book the sailings either via the cruise line website.

There are still a few months before Royal Caribbean's cruise season in Alaska would begin, and the fallout of Canada's ban is starting to get attention.  So there is still a lot of runway left for cruise lines to determine if there are any options left for them to salvage the Alaska cruise season in 2021.

What should you do if you have a 2021 cruise booked?

At this point, if you have a 2021 cruise to Alaska or New England booked, my advice is to hold onto it.

It is far more lucrative to have Royal Caribbean cancel the cruise than for you to cancel it on your own. By waiting for Royal Caribbean to cancel, you will get the option for a full cash refund, 125% onboard credit, or even Lift and Shift.

If you cancel on your own, you are subject to the standard refund policies.  For those with non-refundable cruise deposits, this means a penalty for canceling the cruise.