Last week, Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas began her conveyance down the River Ems and it was the first real look the public got of this brand new cruise ship.

In the days that followed, a lot of really talented photographers were able to check her out and we wanted to show off some of their amazing work that exemplifies how beautiful this new ship is.

First up are these two beautiful night time photos of Ovation of the Seas by Björn Haß.

Here are some more great shots of Ovation of the Seas, taken by Andreas Depping.

And here are couple more from Jeroen Houtman of Ovation from a slightly different perspective.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I wonder what a 4K video is worth.  Here's a great one that was sent to us by Peter Sahara.

Royal Caribbean has already released some of its 2017-2018 itineraries, but has provided an updated deployment schedule for some of the itineraries that are still not available yet.

The updated deployment schedule is as follows

• Now open for booking
  • Caribbean, Europe and Alaska
• Week of April 4, 2016
  • Seasonal Caribbean, Northeast and Exotics
• Week of April 25, 2016
  • Dubai
• May 2016
  • Additional Caribbean
• Summer 2016
  • China

All itineraries and openings are subject to change without notice. Deployment schedules gives consumers an idea of when to expect particular cruise schedules to become available to start looking at future cruises.

We're counting down the days until Harmony of the Seas debuts later this year with our 99 days of Harmony blog series. Each day we will post something about Harmony of the Seas to share with all of you!

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas has returned to the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France after completing the first three days of sea trials.

Harmony of the Seas traveled almost 1000 nautical miles in the time span of about 60 hours.

During the trip, Harmony of the Seas had her power plant capacity tested in its basic configuration up to full power (96 MW), as well as tests for propulsion and maneuverability.  

A statement by STX France indicated the ships' performance was what they expected.

With these sea trials complete, STX will put the ship into dry dock for final cleaning of its hull before delivery. Delivery to Royal Caribbean is expected to take place on May 12.

Prior to delivery, a second set of sea trials must take place in April.

Happy Sunday! We hope you are having a wonderful weekend, and are ready to relax and catch up on all the latest Royal Caribbean news!

The big news this week was two Royal Caribbean ships left their ship yards to get one step closer to launch.

Harmony of the Seas embarked on a three-day sea trial, while Ovation of the Seas started her conveyance.

Harmony of the Seas sea trails were devoted mainly to test her electric power plant and propulsion system, as well as maneuverability.

Ovation of the Seas is making her way slowly down the River Ems, where she will reach the North Sea and begin her sea trials.

For both ships, this means they are getting very close to launch and many Royal Caribbean fans cannot wait for their debut!

Royal Caribbean News

• Radiance of the Seas skipped a scheduled stop in Bali, due to terrorism concerns.
• Royal Caribbean launched a new custom shore excursion option this week.
• Our top 10 Allure of the Seas hidden secrets.
• Royal Caribbean has begun using select crew members in its "Royal Crew Life" marketing campaign.
• Northeast United States residents have a special deal for this weekend.
• Check out this photo tour of Labadee's natural beauty.
• We spotted a new Sushi To Go option on Allure of the Seas.
• Could an Oasis class ship be based in Asia in 2018?
• Royal Caribbean was named one fo the World's Most Ethical Companies.

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.

• Three ways Harmony of the Seas will be different
• Harmony of the Seas sea trial photos
• Harmony of the Seas begins sea trials
• Wonderland in London
• 2017-2018 Harmony of the Seas itineraries
• Perfect Storm water slides

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 136th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we have an exclusive interview with the man that literally created Izumi.

In this episode, Matt sits down with Izumi Master Chef Travis Kamiyama to talk about the story behind Izumi, as well as look at the tremendous success Izumi has enjoyed in the few years it has been around.  It is an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at how Chef Travis keeps Izumi going across Royal Caribbean's fleet.

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

Cruise Hive has a list of 5 thrilling things you must do on Harmony of the Seas.

Travel Weekly has an interview with Royal Caribbean's Vicki Freed, about the changes to the cruise line's cancellation policy.

When Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas debuts, she will be the world's biggest cruise ship and offer a lot for guests to do onboard.

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas will debut in less than 99 days and to celebrate, we are counting down every day with a brand new blog post all about Harmony of the Seas.

Three ways Harmony of the Seas will be different

Today, we have three big ways Harmony of the Seas will be different from any other Royal Caribbean ship in the fleet, including her sister ships.

More efficient than its sister ships

Harmony of the Seas will be about 20% more efficient than Oasis of the Seas or Allure fo the Seas, thanks to improvements in hydrodynamics, equipment, new design for the ship and more.

Royal Caribbean considered all possibilities to find energy efficiencies in an effort the make this ship do more, with less.

They found the biggest savings came from the hydrodynamic piece, but improvesments with new kinds of propulsion units are more effective as well.

The main engines are more fuel efficient than their predecessors and Royal Caribbean changed most of the ship’s lighting to LED lighting, whcih recovers wasted heat.

The air conditioning is more efficient and SMART systems have been implemented to control the consumption of electricity.

Harmony of the Seas will be longer than other ships

We mentioned earlier that Harmony of the Seas will be the biggest cruise ship in the world, and that means she is about 33cm longer than other ships.

Harmony of the Seas is also a little bit wider and has a bigger gross tonnage.  Essentially, Harmony of the Seas is bulked up all around.

Harmony of the Seas staterooms will be bigger

Guests will find the staterooms on Harmony of the Seas larger than previous Royal Caribbean staterooms, especially from deck six and above.

Royal Caribbean has made those staterooms on deck six and higher longer, which is part of the reason why the ship is a bit wider than the others in its class.

Learning from Quantum class ships that already have some of the most efficiently-designed cabins, designers on Harmony were able to gain a few inches here and there.

Guests will find there’s a great amount of floor space and they’re versatile in every conceivable way. They have great balcony spaces attached, that means guests can maximize the available space for each of the staterooms. 

Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas began her conveyance down the River Ems yesterday and Royal Caribbean has a brand new infographic to show everyone just how impressive a feat this is.

This graphic helps explain what you need to know about the conveyance process and everything that goes into it.

The conveyance is a unique process for ships built at Meyer Werft as the shipyard is situated inland along the banks of the River Ems and the ship must make the trip from Papenburg down the river backwards to get to the North Sea. The journey will be completed in 12 hours.

At 346 meters long (1,138 feet long) and 41 meters wide (136 feet wide), this 167,800 gross ton ship is one of the largest ever to go through conveyance. Thousands of revelers from the surrounding local villages typically line the 26 mile route along the river bank to watch and celebrate the ship’s journey.

Ovation of the Seas will be officially launched in April 2016, when she departs Southampton, England for Tianjin, China on a 52-day Global Odyssey. She will begin her first homeport sailing season in China from Tianjin on June 24, 2016. Ovation of the Seas, together with Quantum of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Legend of the Seas, will make up the largest fleet of any cruise line sailing in China.

Residents of select states in the northeastern United States can get some extra onboard spending money for cruises booked this weekend only.

Royal Caribbean is offering bonus onboard credit for residents of select states:

• Interior & Oceanview staterooms: $25 onboard credit
• Balcony and suites: $50 onboard credit

Residents of

• New York
• New Jersey
• Massachusetts
• Connecticut
• Pennsylvania
• New Hampshire
• Maine
• Rhode Island
• Vermont
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Washington, D.C.
• Virginia

Cruise must be booked Mar 11-15, 2016 and applies to all sailings on or after April 11, 2016, excluding China departures.

Additionally for select sailings on Anthem of the Seas, offer includes special resident rates based on availability.

Resident Rates are combinable with OBC Offer, Crown & Anchor discounts, NextCruise offers, and Shareholders benefits. OBC Offer is combinable with Resident Rates, 30% Savings, New Deployment Upgrade and restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military) and NextCruise Offers.

OBC Offer is not combinable with Explore More Shore Excursion Credit, Crown & Anchor discounts. All Offers are not combinable with any other offer or promotion, including, but not limited to, Standard Group, Interline, Travel Agent, Travel Agent Friends and Family, Weekly Sales Events, Net Rates.

Happy Friday and welcome to the beginning of what I hope is another wonderful weekend for everyone.  To kick off our Friday, we like to showcase Royal Caribbean photos that our readers have sent in so that we can all enjoy some great looking photos of our favorite floating spots!

You can send us your best Royal Caribbean photos so we can share those too!

We will begin things with a shot of the FlowRider in Sydney, while Explorer of the Seas was docked there. Shawn Crossley sent in this photo and wonders if this is one of the best backdrops in the world?

Jenna sent us this photo as her Allure of the Seas cruise was pulling away from Nassau. The view of the edge of the island and the sparkling water was beautiful!

Here is a photo by Jan-Arild Knutsen of Captain Marek Slaby on Vision of the Seas on his "way" to the pool to join the officers team in a Waterpolo game against passengers. Game on!

Sticking with people in the air, here is a photo by Courtney going down the zipline on Labadee! I can tell you from personal experience, this is such a thrill!

Here is a little serenity, with Susan Widdowson's photo of a calm ocean while on the second week of their cruise.  Looks perfect out there!

Next up is a shot of Quantum of the Seas arriving in San Juan, Puerto Rico by Ken Slusser.  It is always fun seeing another Royal Caribbean ship pull into port.

We will round things out with a shot of Buenos Aires sailaway on Rhapsody of the Seas by Dave Rimington.  I love sailaways that allow views like this!

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!

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas is preparing for her first set sea trials, which will take place over the course of three days.

Harmony of the Seas will carry out her sea trials on Thursday, March 10th.  She will return to port on Sunday, March 13, 2016.

STX France indicated this first sea trial is devoted mainly to test her electric power plant and propulsion system, as well as maneuverability tests.

There are 500 people onboard Harmony of the Seas: crew members, STX test teams, suppliers and Royal Caribbean's customer monitoring team.

Delivery of Harmony of the Seas to Royal Caribbean is scheduled for May 12, with departure to Southampton, UK around May 15.

The next set of sea trials is scheduled to be held before the end of April.

Watch as Chopped Open Your Basket challenges the culinary masters onboard Anthem of the Seas. Royal Caribbean chefs vie for the top spot by creating unique dishes with Caribbean flair from their baskets of mystery ingredients.