Happy Sunday! We’d like to wish all the dads out there a very Happy Father’s Day! We hope you get to have a relaxing and fun-filled day with your family!

Now it’s time to sit back, relax, and catch up on all the latest Royal Caribbean news!

It might be June, but it is never too early to talk about Christmas, and Royal Caribbean announced its plans for holiday events on its ships.

Throughout December, Royal Caribbean’s Deck the Holidays will offer new events that will be celebrated on Royal Caribbean's ships.

Royal Caribbean ships will offer a number of events on many ships, including snow days on deck, tree lighting, caroling, letters to santa and a whole lot more.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean announced Ovation of the Seas will homeport in Singapore in 2017.
• Royal Caribbean added new Empress of the Seas sailings through August 2016.
• All Royal Caribbean ships will offer takeout sushi by July 1st.
• Ten ways to save money on your next Royal Caribbean cruise.
• What you need to know about the slides on Harmony of the Seas.
• Our complete guide to Labadee.
• Here is why you should use a travel agent when booking a Royal Caribbean cruise.
• Read our review of dinner at Giovanni's Table on Navigator of the Seas.
• We spotted an Asian breakfast buffet option on Explorer of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 150th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we talk with someone who just cruised on the newly refurbished, Liberty of the Seas.

In this episode, our friend Rob just returned from a Liberty of the Seas cruise and shared his experience onboard and talked about the changes to 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

Royal Caribbean UK has an interview with Izumi's head chef, Travis Kamiyama.

Travel Pulse has 7 off-the-beaten-path Harmony of the Seas tips.

Makr Shakr has a 360 degree video tour of Bionic Bar on Harmony of the Seas.

Fuss free flavors has a review of their Harmony of the Seas cruise.

Royal Caribbean has a look at how easy it is to plan a wedding on a Royal Caribbean ship.

Nestled in the corner of deck 11 on Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas, Giovanni's Table is open for lunch and dinner.  When I have dined at Giovanni's Table in the past, I have tended to go for lunch, but this time I am trying out dinner.

Giovanni's Table has become the de-facto Italian restaurant across Royal Caribbean's fleet over the last few years.  I have always liked Giovanni's Table's simple, yet tasty menu that offers classic Italian dishes.  There is something to be said about having a plate of pasta in a delicious red sauce with warm bread to dip in olive oil.  

I was admittedly a little crushed when Portofino was replaced by Giovanni's Table.  But time heals all pain, as does a good lasagna!

We have dined at Giovanni's Table across a few different Royal Caribbean ships over the years, but wanted to try dinner this time, mostly because the dinner menu is slightly different than the lunch menu.

Atmosphere

You will find Giovanni's Table on deck 11, adjacent to the Windjammer entrance and opposite Chops Grille.  As you walk into the Windjammer area, the entrance to Giovanni's Table is on the left side.

There is a very small waiting area near the podium, along side a Vespa that is on display.

Giovanni's Table inherited its dining room from Portofino, and it is a rectangular room that opens up into a circular end room.  The layout resembles a lollipop, if you were viewing the restaurant from above.

The walls and ceiling are made up of a dark wood, while the carpeting and furnishings are a blend of blues, yellows and whites. One of the nice things about the transition from Portofino to Giovanni's Table is the feel of the restaurant definitely feels less formal and a bit more personal to me.  Maybe it is the Prosecco talking.

There are windows all along one side of the restaurant, and if you dine there early enough in the evening, you will have a lovely view of the ocean.  Once the sun goes down, the glare from the lights in the restaurant prevent being able to see outside.

Eats

As I mentioned earlier, the dinner menu at Giovanni's Table is slightly different from the lunch menu.  Most notably, the lunch menu has lasagna, while the dinner menu does not.  Both menus offer a steak, but many guests have reported back to me that the steak at dinner is significantly better.

The dinner menu features a number of familiar Italian classics, like anitpasti, eggplant marmigiana, ravioli, ossobuco and more. For those not into carb-loading, there are a few meat and fish entrees as well.

Each meal at Giovanni's Table begins with a serving of warm bread, plus olive oil for dipping. 

Warm bread and olive oil is always a win with me, and I love that they put a little bit of vinegar in the oil.  

For starters, we picked a few options. Some were favorites and others new to try.

The eggplant parm is a favorite of mine, despite the fact I really cannot find any breading.  

It is more of a baked eggplant in sauce and cheese. That is fine with me, but this is not the kind of eggplant parm you might get on a sandwich at your local deli.

We also tried for the first time the warm mozzarella and prosciutto bake.

It comes in a crispy ciabatta and served with mixed greens and Dijon mustard drizzle.  This is essentially fried cheese with prosciutto and tasted great.

I rounded out my appetizers with the vegetarian lentil and root vegetables soup.

I know what you are thinking, and yes, it is really hard to resist any dish that offers lentils and root vegetables.  Honestly, it was not that bad.  Perhaps not my favorite soup of all time, but I enjoyed it and I think it was kind of, sort of healthy.

Moving onto our main courses, we had to try the 8-ounce grilled beef tenderloin.  Everyone always said it was great, so who are we to argue?

This steak definitely is a superior cut of meat when compared to its lunch companion.  What I noticed was the terrific flavor, as well as size of the cut. I understand now why folks rave about the dinner steak.

I also wanted to try something new and ordered the grilled lamb chops.

My fear with lamp chops is there will be a mere handful of bites of actual meat to get off the bone, and resulting in a not very filling meal.  I am pleased to inform everyone these are no scrawny lamb chops and the meat was as plentiful as it was tasty.  Delicious flavor and certainly enough meat on the bone to keep me happy.

Given we are at an Italian restaurant, we ordered a side of pasta just to say that we had pasta.  

As expected, quite tasty and hit the spot.

I also tried the risotto, which is made of Arborio rice and forest mushrooms, finished with porcini and truffle mushroom tapenade.

I do not usually order risotto, but the mushrooms sounded great and I figured this would be as good an opportunity as any to try it out.

I loved the flavor of the dish, but the consistency of risotto still does not sit well with me.  Oh well, E la vita!

For our desserts, we went with the chocolate cake and cannoli.

Dessert is an underrated aspect of the Giovanni's Table experience and the cannoli is worth saving room (and calories) for.

Overall

I always enjoy my meals at Giovanni's Table, and this visit was no different.  I enjoyed the dinner menu a bit more than I thought I would, although I did lament the omission of lasagna from the menu. I inquired if it were possible to get lasagna, but was told it was only available for lunch.

Most of the food we ate was very good, and I would not hesitate to dine here again.  

The thing with Giovanni's Table that always gives me pause to dine here is not anything about the restaurant, but relative to the other specialty options onboard, I would rather dine there. On Navigator of the Seas, Sabor Modern Mexican and Chops Grille are fantastic choices that eclipse Giovanni's Table.  This is not a knock on Giovanni's Table, just I end up gravitating towards the other choices because they are where I would prefer to eat.

Anyone considering Giovanni's Table should absolutely reserve a table for the classic Italian dishes that will hit the spot.

What are your thoughts on Giovanni's Table? Do you have a favorite dish? Share in the comments below!

For fans of Elvis Presley, there are a couple of Royal Caribbean cruises for you!

Mahwey Productions is offering themed cruises entitled, "Cruising with the King", where guests can have a "full King experience" on select Royal Caribbean ships. It is a tribute to Elvis' career, from the nostaligic 1950's to his '68 Comeback Special, Hawaii, Las Vegas and beyond.

Events include tribute performances, a Meet-and-Greet, photo ops, Q & A with the tribute artists, a gospel tribute — and more!

There are two cruises planned

• 81 years of The King - A Tribute
  • Freedom of the Seas 7-night cruise: November 5, 2016
• 13th annual memories of The King 82nd Birthday Cruise
  • Freedom of the Seas 6-night cruise: February 26, 2017

Cruising with the King entertainment fee is $99 per guest. Certain restrictions apply. When booking reference option code MZK8. 

Royal Caribbean's Izumi Head Chef Travis Kamiyama confirmed that all Royal Caribbean ships will offer a takeout version of Izumi by July 1, 2016.

Dubbed, "Izumi Express", this new offering is a takeaway service that offers packaged sushi, ready to go, at a "very discounted price."

There will be special express carts that will offer up to eight sushi rolls.

Izumi Express on Adventure of the Seas

Izumi Express on Freedom of the Seas. Photo by Travis Kamiyama.

Royal Caribbean wanted to offer guests something quick and easy to enjoy, without having to dedicate time for a sit-down meal.

Chef Kamiyama confirmed that the Izumi Express option has been rolled out to a few ships already, and it will be fleet-wide by July 1st.

We tried Izumi Express on Navigator of the Seas, and it worked out very well for being able to enjoy sushi quickly and without the sit down experience.

Royal Caribbean is offering up to $100 off each stateroom booked between June 18-22, 2016 on select Royal Caribbean cruises that can be combined with the 1,2,Free and Kids Sail Free deals.

The 100 Hour Caribbean sale is valid on all sailings departing on or after July 19, 2016 (excluding China departures).

Qualifying cruises are eligible for 

• $25 Off per stateroom for interior staterooms
• $50 Off per stateroom for oceanview staterooms
• $75 Off per stateroom for balcony staterooms
• $100 Off per stateroom for suite categories

Offers will be applied automatically at time of booking with dollars off discount applied first, followed by 1,2,Free, which is applied to final balance.

Offer is combinable with current standard/full fare rates, 1,2, Free, Free Children, Resident Bonus, restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military) and Next Cruise offers. Offer is not combinable with any other offer or promotion, including but not limited to Group Standard, Interline, Travel Agent, Travel Agent Friends and Family, Weekly Sales Events, Net Rates, Crown & Anchor Discounts, and Shareholder Benefits.

Offer open to residents of the United States and Canada.

Friday is here and that means so is the weekend and our opportunity to share Royal Caribbean photos that readers sent us!  Every week, we ask our readers to send in their favorite Royal Caribbean photos, so that we can feature them here.

Enjoy this week's photo set!

Our first photo is of Allure of the Seas in San Juan, Puerto Rico by Andre. This was taken during its stop there that our blogger, Michael Poole, was live blogging from her!

Timothy Griffin shared this photo of Oasis of the Seas in Labadee.  Looks like another day in paradise!

If you wanted more Oasis-class photos, then wish granted! Earl McGrath sent us this photo from Allure of the Seas and it is a rare daytime photo of an empty AquaTheater, rock climbing wall and Boardwalk.

I love this photo of sisters Serenade of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas, taken by Frederic in Tallinn, Estonia.

Here are two more sister ships. This time it is Explorer of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas as they pass Fort Denison in Sydney Harbor, by Andrew Logan.

Blake Baldwin sent us this photo of what he calls, "the simple life in Jamaica". Not sure which cruise this is from, but it is a great photo!

Our last photo this week is from Adrian Chan, and it is of the helipad on Independence of the Seas.  Looks like a picture-perfect day to be enjoying the view from there.

Thank you to everyone that shared these great photos.  Do you want your photo included in our weekly photo showcase?  Use this form to send us your favorite Royal Caribbean photos and we will be sure to show it off to the world!