After months of rumors, it now appears Royal Caribbean will move Anthem of the Seas in 2020 from the New York market, and send her over to the Southampton, England.

Royal Caribbean UK and Ireland managing director Ben Bouldin confirmed the news to TravelWeekly.

"Not only that, I'm delighted to announce that the UK will see Anthem of the Seas returned to Southampton, and that will go on sale on the 20th of November. We're thrilled to have her back."

Word of a Quantum Class ship coming back to the UK first arose after Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley confirmed one of the ships in the class would sail from Southampton in 2020. Bayley did not mention which Quantum Class ship it would be, but cruise fans quickly narrowed down the choices by process of elimination to Quantum or Anthem.

If you are wondering when Anthem of the Seas sailings will go on sale, Royal Caribbean has indicated that Europe Phase I sailings will go on sale the week of November 19, and Europe Phase II will go on sale the week of December 17.  Bouldin indicated ex-UK and Europe departures in 2020 will be available to book from November 20.

It remains to be seen which ship will replace Anthem of the Seas in Bayonne, New Jersey. The nature of new ship deployment announcements is there are many moving pieces that comprise a deployment schedule.

Spectrum of the Seas is taking shape. Take a closer look at this engineering marvel as her azipods are installed at Meyer Werft Shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. Designed specifically for the Chinese market, Spectrum of the Seas will be the largest and most expensive ship in Asia when she sails from Shanghai, China starting in June 2019.

Royal Caribbean reached a new milestone with its induction into TTG Travel Awards’ Travel Hall of Fame.  After winning the “Best Cruise Operator” Award for 10 consecutive years, the cruise line was honored to be added to the Hall of Fame at the 29th Annual TTG Travel Awards 2018 ceremony in Bangkok this evening.

Angie Stephen, Managing Director, Asia Pacific of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. who accepted the award said, “This is a very proud moment for Royal Caribbean that we wish to share with all our supporters. We are not resting on our laurels however, as we continue to live up to and deliver our award-winning cruise experience and service, by bringing our best ships such as Spectrum of the Seas to the region next year for our customers and agents.”

Royal Caribbean has consistently won the “Best Cruise Operator” Award for offering the best product, services and facilities. 

Royal Caribbean is actively working to roll out new features to its smartphone app that will eventually be available across the fleet.  In the meantime, they are testing a new chat feature between guests that is available only on Allure of the Seas.

Guests simply need to download the new Royal Caribbean app from the iTunes App store or the Google Play store.  The app and its use are completely free.

Once onboard the ship and logged onto Royal Caribbean's Wi-Fi  network (no internet package required to use the app), other guests will show up as offline or online but are only online if they have the app opened and to the “chat” window. If your travel agent linked your reservation before sailing with a friend or family the will automatically show up.

To add another guest, you need to have their last name, birthday, and reservation number.  If you add someone that was not on a linked reservation by your travel agent, then they must add you as well as you adding them for privacy reasons. 

Messages will show as “Sent” and also “Delivered” to give you an idea if it was seen. To be delivered it seems like you need to have opened the Royal app.

At this time, there are no push notifications of messages at all. You have to open the Royal app and it will have a numbered badge on that chat bubble.

Thanks to Doug G. for sharing his experience with this app on Allure of the Seas!

The app is currently available on 10 Royal Caribbean ships, although the chat feature is only available on Allure of the Seas at this time.  

• Adventure of the Seas
• Allure of the Seas
• Brilliance of the Seas
• Enchantment of the Seas
• Independence of the Seas
• Majesty of the Seas
• Mariner of the Seas
• Oasis of the Seas
• Serenade of the Seas

Royal Caribbean has not shared any kind of timeline for when other ships will be added to the app, nor when a particular feature will become available for use.

The fall temperatures may be dropping, but the Royal Caribbean news from this week is as hot as ever, and we have it all summarized for you in this week's round up!

Sit back, and catch-up on all of the Royal Caribbean news and happenings form this week.

Many guests noticed a new option when booking a cruise via the Royal Caribbean website where a new monthly payment option was added.

In addition to the traditional billing method, Royal Caribbean now allows guests to make monthly payments towards a cruise via a third party service.

The montly payment option is financed through a third-party service known as UpLift, in which a first payment is due at booking and subsequent payments taken each month thereafter.  An annual percentage rate (APR) is also tacked onto the total cost for the financing service.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean posted 2019 drink package prices.
• Mariner of the Seas will be the first ship to call on Terminal A in PortMiami.
• Spectrum of the Seas had her two azipods delivered.
• Our next live blog kicks off this week on Adventure of the Seas.
• Our top five Mariner of the Seas must-do tips.
• Royal Caribbean is partnering with the GRAMMY Museum to offer students chance to perform at Symphony of the Seas naming ceremony.
• A new video that looks at the entertainment line up on Symphony of the Seas.
• Another video was shared about how Royal Caribbean is using wind power to offset its carbon footprint.
• Our full review of the Holiday Inn Club Vacations Cape Canaveral Beach Resort near Port Canaveral.
• New photos of the Terminal A construction progress in PortMiami.
• Royal Caribbean has scheduled its third quarter earnings call with investors.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

Packing for a Royal Caribbean cruise presents is own challenges, including deciding what to carry on the ship versus have delivered to your stateroom later.

In this week's Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast, Matt lists what he thinks are the most important items to carry-on the ship.

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

PR Week shared the news of Royal Caribbean UK & Ireland hiring a new head of PR & Social.

Eyewitness News reports 500 Royal Caribbean jobs are open to Bahamians.

Cruise Critic shared tips for sailing on a China based cruise ship.

Yahoo! posted the results of CN Traveler reader voting for best cruise lines in 2018.

USA Today listed 30 cruise ship attractions that will "blow your mind".

Cruise Habit recorded a podcast all about specialty dining on cruise ships.

Royal Caribbean has begun notifying guests sailing on upcoming Mariner of the Seas sailings that their cruise will make use of the brand new cruise terminal the cruise has built in PortMiami.

Terminal A is a brand new, state-of-the-art cruise terminal and the October 26, 2018 Mariner of the Seas sailing will make use of the port when she returns to Miami. The cruise will begin from Terminal G, but return to Terminal A.

Thanks to Nancy Ritter for sharing this screenshot.

The terminal will feature stunning architecture, a new boarding experience, and an impressive gold propellor that is 15,000 lbs. and 56 ft. tall. Terminal A was designed to accommodate the passengers of two of the world’s largest ships, the new Symphony of the Seas and her sister, Allure of the Seas. 

Guests sailing on other Mariner of the Seas sailings received emails informing them that they too will be cruising to and from the new terminal.

Thanks to Frank for providing this email

A grand opening ceremony is scheduled for November 2nd, 2018 that will formally open the the new terminal to the public.

Every Friday, we show off the Royal Caribbean photos that our readers have sent us in a special blog post.  Each week, we invite our readers to send us their favorite Royal Caribbean photos and we post them right here.

Without further adieu, let's jump right into this week's batch of photos!

We start with this photo by Roger Salzmann of Rhapsody of the Seas in Santorini.

Check out this beautiful photo of sunrise on Harmony of the Seas, taken by Mike Sperduto.

Next is a photo of Anthem of the Seas in Labadee. Photo by Michael Kho.

Allyson Yoshida took this photo from on top of Mount Roberts Tramway in Juneau, Alaska while sailing on Radiance of the Seas.

Here is a photo of sister ships docked next to each other by Henry Greenfield.

Rob Young took this photo of Freedom of the Seas docked in St. Thomas.

David Morris took this photo of night view of Central Park while on Symphony of the Seas.

Would you like to submit your Royal Caribbean photos for a future Friday Photos post? Use this form to send them to us and we will feature them very soon!

Royal Caribbean's next new cruise ship, Spectrum of the Seas, had her primary means of propulsion delivered to the shipyard recently.

Spectrum of the Seas received her two azipods. The azipods are used to propel and safety maneuver the ship on the high seas.

Spectrum of the Seas under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. The ship is scheduled to be delivered in April 2019.

Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on October 25, 2018, at 10am to discuss its third quarter 2018 financial results.

The call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations web site, www.rclinvestor.com. To listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. There is no passcode or meeting number.

A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

Royal Caribbean has added a new option for guests booking a cruise directly with the cruise line via its website, where they can finance the cruise fare cost.

An update to the Royal Caribbean website now offers a monthly payment plan option, along side the traditional booking option.

The montly payment option is financed through a third-party service known as UpLift, in which a first payment is due at booking and subsequent payments taken each month thereafter.  An annual percentage rate (APR) is also tacked onto the total cost for the financing service.

Upon checkout, the user is given the choice to use Pay Monthly for the cruise, at which point the site will check the person's credit rating to determine the exact annual percentage rate that will be used.

UpLift advertises itself as a provider of consumer financing exclusively for the purpose of travel. It works with over 200 travel providers, such as airlines, resorts, hotels and more.

Do you think you will take advantage of this service? Share your thoughts on this option in this blog post's comments section.