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.

Michael Poole is live blogging from Brilliance of the Seas. Enjoy!

Well friends, we are back in Cozumel, Mexico again. 

We docked promptly at 8am and the Independence of the Seas was docked beside us again. 

This morning, I ordered room service to be delivered to the cabin.  The rooms have cards behind the door, and you can simply fill out what you would like, and the time block you want it delivered.   

We selected the 8:00-8:30am window and it arrived around 8:10am.  The options for room service are eggs, fruit, cereal, coffee and tea.   You can get mimosas delivered to the cabin, but these are not included in the drink package, since they came from room service. 

We enjoyed our breakfast on the balcony and both of us, how happy we were to have it.  Now the question is, can I go back to a standard inside cabin? 

Nachi Cocom

As you know from my day 4 live blog post, I was also at Nachi Cocom. 

Most of my experiences were very similar to the first time; in fact I sat in the very same seat.  The only thing different is I arrived a little later and they greeted us with a welcome glass of champagne. 

I’m a little picky when it comes to champagne, and I found this very pleasant to drink, and they also put strawberries in the glass. 

We did have a beautiful sand creation that said, Cozumel.  It was at the end of my chair and thought it was very beautiful. 

I did ask where it came from and they said a family was sitting in those seats yesterday, and their children made it.  The service this time was much faster than my first trip, but there were also about half the people here today.  I enjoyed some time in the swim up hot tub today, and loved having the bartender just had me a drink over. 

I will note there were about 20 women from a different ship at Nachi that started to get out of hand.  I thought the staff would jump in and ask them to tone it down some, but they never did.  But, this was only on our last hour of the day, and it was almost time to leave. 

We ended up leaving Nachi at 3:45pm, and back on board by 4:15 (last call at 5:00), never been within an hour before.  Once back on board, we napped for two hours. 

Evening Time

For a pre-dinner cocktail we decided to head over to the Schooner Bar, since Giovanni’s Table is right there. 

We have met a really great bartender named, Julie here and she was making better old fashions, than the R Bar.  She would also surprise Hillary every time with a new champagne cocktail. 

They have live music in here each evening, singing on the piano.  I must say, this 4-day sailing the bars are much more crowded than on the 5-day.  If you are happening to sail on the Brilliance anytime soon, stop in and see Julie. 

Dinner – Giovanni’s Table

I had made reservations online prior to my cruise for Giovanni’s Table tonight at 8:30pm.  The cost for the meal is $25 per person and that includes tips for the server. 

The restaurant called our cabin at 5:00pm to confirm our reservation, and that we are welcome to come sooner than our time, if we wanted.  We were seated by the window in a table for two. 

Our server was outstanding; I could just tell he was one of the best, so informative and knowledgeable.  We started out with some sea scallops and mozzarella.  The scallops have so many flavors in them; only problem is we wanted more! 

For the main course, I order the filet and Hillary ordered the shrimp. 

The filet was just as good as chops, maybe even better.  If you are a steak lover and want to save $10 per person in cover charges, just go to Giovanni’s Table.  

They also role a desert cart over table side and all I can say, is save room, because this is the best part. 

Dancing under the Stars

Tonight was the dancing under the stars party again, and I just could not miss that.  Ricky Mathews was the host for the party and it was a fun time. 

There were so many people out on the deck dancing, he decided to extend the party and close the nightclub for the evening. A few times Ricky brought the microphone over for me to sign a few lines of the songs.  

We stayed out on the deck until 11:30pm and then called it a night. 

Stay tuned for one more day, tomorrow we are enjoying our last sea day.  

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!

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

• We are hearing Majesty of the Seas is going to leave the fleet (again).
• Details on the next Royal Caribbean sale, that offers BOGO 50% and more.
• Royal Caribbean is going to recategorize some of its staterooms.
• Royal Caribbean is offering shore excurions featuring National Geographic Snorkeler equipment.
• Royal Caribbean is courting the guy who wanted to name a cruise ship Boaty McBoatface.
• Royal Caribbean had an April Fools joke about launching a cruise ship in space.
• Check out these fun drink floaties.

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.

• 5 things that sound like an April Fools Joke (but aren't)
• Let's Celebrate
• Royal Caribbean creates a virtual tour for Harmony of the Seas
• Main dining room

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.

Well, here we are again for another sea day on board Brilliance of the Seas.

Today, I decided to not set an alarm and just wake up naturally. I’m not going to lie; it was really nice sleeping in past 8am.

The first thing I did was to blog a little on my balcony; I sure did enjoy having this to wake up with. Sadly, my internet connection was too weak to send pictures from out here.

Breakfast onboard

This morning I decided to make my first trip into the main dining room for breakfast.

Hard to believe I’ve been on board for six days now, and this is my first trip in here. For breakfast, they had had a few tables in the center to grab some fresh fruit and granola. We started off with some morning mimosas, which were included with our Premium drink package.

I decided to order an omelet, which is made to order.

The breakfast in the dining room is a great option for those looking for an alterative option than the windjammer. The breakfast is a much slower pace, and we were dining in there for an hour.

Pool Deck

At this point in the day 10:00am, I knew our luck for finding a pool chair was most likely not going to happen. And I was correct; there were zero open pool chairs so we sat on the edge of the main pool.

After about five minutes of the wind, it was time move to the Solarium. In all my cruises I’ve never spent anytime in the Solarium and I absolutely loved it.

The water in the pool was heated salt water, which I really enjoyed. For those who are not familiar with this pool, it’s the adult only pool, so no kids here.

They also have the Park Café inside the solarium for fresh made to order salads and sandwiches. I could see me enjoying another day here again for my last sea day, I truly enjoyed this pool.

Afternoon onboard

This afternoon we were just taking things at a much slow pace and relaxing.

We decided to take our lunch to go from the Windjammer and eat on the balcony. I’m also enjoying having the balcony and just watching the ocean go by with a beer, so relaxing. Who knows, maybe I enjoy having the balcony even more than I thought I did.

We had some grilled fish, white rice, and two Guinness’. The fish tasted so fresh, some of the best I’ve had, and well the Guinness, you know that was amazing.

Dinner

Tonight, we had dinner in the main dining room, which was also my first meal in the dining room.

I had previous emailed Royal Caribbean requesting a table for two, however I was placed at a large table of eight. If I planned on eating here the next two nights, I’d request to be moved.

The service was a little slow, but our waiter said he was sorry for the delay. I order the filet of beef, which I think is the best dish served in the dining room.

I decided to pass on desert, because I think the drink calories from today was enough.

70’s Disco Party

Tonight was the 70’s disco party in the Centrum at 10:30pm.

It was already 10pm when we left dinner, so quickly changed out of formal attire and off went. The Centrum was packed, shoulder-to-shoulder. 

Cruise Director, Ricky Mathews certain surprised me again, with an amazing time. He has so much energy and really brings the guest into the dancing mode.

In all my cruises on the smaller ships, with a Centrum, I can’t recall a disco party this packed. This party last until 11:15pm, and then off to bed we went. I would recommend getting to this party around 10pm if you want a good seat.   

In honor of Harmony of the Seas' launch in less than 99 days, we are counting down each day with a new blog post all about this amazing ship.

Five Harmony of the Seas features that sound like April Fool jokes

The first of April brings with it a slew of April Fool jokes across the internet (including two from Royal Caribbean), but there are some prominent features aboard Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas that are the real deal and definitely, no foolin'.

Today, we are counting down the top five things on Harmony of the Seas that might sound like an April Fools joke but really are available onboard.

Robots serve drinks

Harmony of the Seas will feature two robot arms designed to serve guests drink at the Bionic Bar.

The single armed robot will get the ice, mints and lemon and then squeeze and shake them to make your drink. Eventually, there wont be a limit on what the drinks the robots can make. The customization is what Royal Caribbean is aiming for.

Royal Caribbean has teamed up with Makr Shakr, a company with ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to create the Bionic Bars and on the Quantum class ships, they have become very popular with guests from a pure spectacle standpoint (and they make some pretty good drinks too).

Guests walk up to tablets, where they can place orders for drinks, choosing from classic cocktails, signature drinks like Mnemonic Madness (a rum, pineapple juice and Midori concoction) or test the robot bartenders’ skills with their own creations.

Full Broadway show included

Royal Caribbean ships are known for offering some great family entertainment, and on Harmony of the Seas you can see a classic Broadway show for absolutely no additional cost.

Guests on Harmony of the Seas can enjoy the timeless tale of Grease.

The all-new, never-before-seen stage production, specially adapted by Royal Caribbean Productions, will boast a soundtrack of crowd favorites such as “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” “Born to Hand-Jive,” “Beauty School Dropout” and more.

The best part is the show is included with your cruise fare, so there is no additional cost to see this amazing show.

A park in the middle of the ship

Of all the things people expect to find on a cruise ship, a park is probably not one of them, but Harmony of the Seas features a really big one onboard!

Central Park is one seven neighborhoods on Harmony of the Seas, and it is an immense area in the middle of the ship that offers a lush park for guests to enjoy with tropical plants, trees and walkways.

At its heart, Central Park is a public area on the ship that offers restaurants, shopping, galleries and of course lots of nature. It is the perfect quiet place onboard to "get away" and just relax as the world goes by.

A giant 10-story slide off the back of the ship

On the back of Harmony of the Seas is something brand new to Royal Caribbean: a slide more than 150 feet above sea level that sends guests down 10 decks at 9 miles per hour!

The Ultimate Abyss is a brand new thrill for guests and it launches from a glass platform on the Sports Deck, and descends 10 decks down to the Boardwalk.

Spontaneous audio effects within each tunnel create a multi-sensory thrill for daring guests willing to test their mettle while traversing 216 feet through the one-of-a-kind slide duo.

Ultimate Abyss will be the tallest slide at sea and also an epic adventure.

Internet as fast as your home

Imagining using the internet on Harmony of the Seas just like you would at home definitely sounds like an April Fools joke, but it is definitely true.

Voom is Royal Caribbean's revolutionary high speed internet service that lets guests share their adventure in real time through Facebook and Instagram, post videos on YouTube, tweet about shore excursions, and have face-to-face conversations via Skype and FaceTime. Plus, you can even stream movies, games and apps via your personal accounts with Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and more.

How is it possible? Voom utilizes a new kind of satellite internet technology that targets each ship specifically, rather than trying to cover a wide expanse of the ocean.

Welcome to this week's edition of Friday Photos, where we share our readers' Royal Caribbean photos with all of you.  

To me, this weekly feature is an opportunity to enjoy a quick "mental escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise vacation.  Let's get started with this week's batch!

Our first photo this week is of sunset, as seen from Anthem of the Seas by Jorge C Toache Alcázar.  Beautiful!

Shawn Crossley provides us with a divers view of the Oasis of the Seas.  Great angle and even better show!

Here is a view of the Opera House, Sydney, Australia from the balcony of cabin 9076 on Radiance of the Seas.  This must have been quite a sight to enjoy for Alison.

Here is a photo of Justin York's wife at Chankannab in Cozumel, Mexico, during their March 2015 sailing.  Looks like paradise, to me!

It pains me to not have a photo from Labadee, so here is one of Grandeur of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas docked in Labadee, by Ken Slusser.  Ken indicated that surprisingly, it didn't seem overly crowded.

Let's go back down under with this photo by Murray, of Voyager of the Seas Sailing out of Sydney Harbour. Love the composition of this photo.

Our last photo this week is from Zoltán Marton, who sent us this photo of Serenade of the Seas that was taken by his brother while in Saguenay, Canada.

Thank you to everyone who sent in their photos this week. Have a great weekend and be sure to send us your photos so we can post them next week by using this form.

April Fools is in full swing, as Royal Caribbean UK "announced" today that it is building a spaceship called "Orbiter of the Galaxy."

The spaceship will offer space cruises by 2030 and even offer high speed Voom internet while in orbit.

More images of our next big adventure emerge. Details here: https://t.co/PwZ23Wi3w2 #OrbiteroftheGalaxies pic.twitter.com/CILMdzupmR

— Royal Caribbean UK (@MyRoyalUK) April 1, 2016

Royal Caribbean went on to say that construction of Orbiter of the Galaxies is well under way. Cruisers can expect all the usual features, with a space-age twist.

This "news" adds to the April Fools festivities, with Royal Caribbean earlier announcing it will team up with a man who tried to name another ship, "Boaty McBoatface" to name a new Royal Caribbean ship.

Royal Caribbean has "invited" James Hand, the man who recently entered a contest in the UK to name a ship Boaty McBoatface, to "help" Royal Caribbean name its next cruise ship.

Coincidently posted on April 1, Royal Caribbean  knows that James Hand has forever altered the business of naming ships, and perhaps could make a career out of it. Therefore, Royal Caribbean is thrilled to extend James Hand an offer to bring his talents on deck, and help Royal Caribbean develop the name for a future ship.

With five ships debuting in the next three years, Hand’s clever copywriting skills will surely be put to good use.

"The people of the United Kingdom know the name of a great ship when they see it," said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. "Like the rest of the world, we fell in love with the name Boaty McBoatface when we heard it, and we knew immediately that Royal Caribbean could use James Hand’s talent to name our next ship."

As the first step, Royal Caribbean is inviting James Hand to sail on its newest and biggest ship, Harmony of the Seas, when she launches in Southampton, UK this May. Hand will meet with the cruise line’s very own ship naming experts to discuss potential names for a forthcoming ship.

"If James accepts our offer, who knows, perhaps he could name all our future ships,” added Bayley. “James Hand, Chief Naming Officer, Royal Caribbean International. It has a nice ring to it."

Our blog writer, Michael Poole, is live blogging from Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas!

Well friends, my fifth and final day is already here. These days sure go by fast. 

The good news is this is just my final day for the first cruise, because I’m staying on board for the next sailing too! 

Today was a sea day, and I decided to do it a little different and stay inside today.  If it was my last day, I’d defiantly be poolside, but I thought my sunburn could use a break.  

Morning on board

Like always, I woke up and grabbed my large coffee at Starbucks, but this time an hour later, at 8am. 

I decided to keep sleeping this morning, since I knew I was in no rush for any early activates. 

I went outside to explore the outside decks and tried to enjoy my sea day in a different way, than just the pool deck. 

I also explored the gift shop to search for these new floating pool cup holders that Matt blogged about the other day, and indeed there they were. 

I collect the ship models and the blue coffee mugs, but I already have both from when I was on her two years ago, so didn’t buy anything. 

After going through a few shops, I decided it was time for my first beer, and I wanted to explore the Schooner Bar. 

The atmosphere in here is really fun, the bartenders are so happy, and well the views they speak for themselves. 

I enjoyed a few goose islands while playing Royal Caribbean Trivia.   I felt like I shouldn’t be playing, almost like I had an advantage over other players. 

The two questions I got wrong were the total number of passengers the Independence of the Seas can hold (it’s 4,370) and the number of current ships in the fleet.  But to be fair, I got that question correct, since they said number of current ships, but they were counting the two new ships, plus Empress. 

Lunch on Sea Day

I was so excited for my lunch today and was actually texting Matt about how I couldn’t wait to eat Giovanni's Table’s lasagna.  Well, serves me right, because they were closed for lunch today. 

I didn’t understand why, because the Cruise Compass said they were open at noon.  Well, that was out so off to the Windjammer I went. 

I walked in the Windjammer and they had a beautiful cake when you walked in saying "thank you" for cruising on the Brilliance. 

I looked around at the food, and nothing really looked good to me, since my mind was set on Lasagna.  They were serving, hot dogs, pizza, burgers, ribs, pasta’s but nothing looked good to me. 

So I was now off to Park Café, third time is the charm right?  I knew the roast beef sandwich and salad would hit the spot.

Theater Tour

On day one I received a card in my cabin inviting me to a back stage tour of the main theater.   The tour was today at 1:30pm, and we were to meet on the portside entrance on deck 5 of the Pacifica Theatre. 

Well it was 1:35 and no one was around to let us into the tour.  After a few calls to guest services and the Loyalty Ambassador’s desk, they showed up a little before 1:40pm. 

Once we got started we received a great tour of the stage and all the elements on the stage.    After, we explored the back room area with all the props were stored. 

Our tour guide was the stage manager and he went over all the items that were set-up for this evenings show.  He also talked about some of the items backstage for different shows they use the longer sailings. 

The tour lasted around 20-30 minutes and I thought it was very unique experience and I’m happy I decided to attend. 

Evening on Board

Tonight, I enjoyed some live music in the Centrum; the assistant cruise director actually sang three songs.  This was her first time signing on a cruise ship and it was quite entertaining.  I heard a guest asking someone after she sang, if she was being serious about it being her first time, she was that good.  After she finished the ship band came on to play some songs.  I really enjoyed myself down in the Centrum this evening, just relaxing and reflecting on the cruise. 

Once the music was over, I decided to go visit vintages wine bar.  This bar is on deck 6 facing the Centrum.  This bar is by far the most beautiful bar on board and the décor is perfect for a win bar.  They have a round bar, so that you can sit on either side, but honestly every seat was open in the evenings.  They have a new rose champagne they are pushing for $31 glass, and I was able to try a sample.  

The service is really great here, and they are very knowledge about the wines. 

Well tonight was sad for all the passengers, the last night of their cruise.  Everyone had their bags outside their cabins so they could take them ashore in the morning. 

This is the departure process if you don’t want to carry the bags off yourself in the morning.  Personally, I like the express option where you carry them off yourself, but I understand with children that’s not possible. 

Well friends, that wraps up my cruise! Thank you for following along with me for the past five days.  But you are in luck, because my trip is not over yet!  I’m headed back out on a four-day cruise tomorrow, back to Cozumel, Mexico I go!