Two70, Royal Caribbean's transformative space onboard Anthem of the Seas fuses highly advanced robotic and projected technology with live performance, creating an unparalleled entertainment experience on land or sea.
Royal Caribbean announced the details of its revamped suite program entitled, Royal Suite Class.
The Royal Suite Class will be available only on Royal Caribbean's Oasis and Quantum class ships.
The new program offers guests that stay in a suite category stateroom a number of benefits across three new tiers within the Royal Suite Class.
Indulge in our most expansive, richly appointed environments and the ultimate complement of inclusive amenities. You’ll feel like nothing less than royalty in these palatial suites.
Star Class includes the most comprehensive collection of amenities and services and the most expansive and richly appointed accommodations, such as Quantum-class’ two-deck high Royal Loft Suite, along with the Owner’s Loft Suite, Four Bedroom Family Suite, Grand Loft Suite, Sky Loft Suite and Two Bedroom AquaTheater Suite.
Suite benefits include
The Star Class also has Royal Genie Services, which include
Concierge services
Elevate your perspective with beautifully furnished spaces, a generous selection of inclusive amenities and one-touch personal service that all together feel like a breath of fresh air.
The Sky Class features a selection of inclusive amenities in beautifully furnished staterooms such as the AquaTheater Suite, Crown Loft Suite, Owner’s Suite, Royal Family Suite, Superior Grand Suite and Grand Suite.
Suite benefits include
Concierge services
Find in these spacious suites premium touches like upgraded linens and specialty in-room amenities, and enjoy exclusive dining privileges at Coastal Kitchen
The Sea Class includes premium touches in spacious suites such as the Family Connected Junior Suite, Family Junior Suite, Spa Junior Suite and Junior Suite.
Suite benefits include
Guests may begin making reservations for the new Royal Suite Class starting on September 8, 2015, with sailings beginning May 2016.
The program will be available on Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas, Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas.
The first block of Royal Caribbean's fourth Oasis class cruise ship arrived over the weekend at STX France shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France.
The block is just one part of the overall structure of the ship. It and other blocks will be put together later to form the ship. Royal Caribbean has not announced a name yet for the ship. The first steel cutting occured in February 2015.
The fourth Oasis class ship will debut in mid-2018.
All this week, we are helping first time Royal Caribbean cruisers with all aspects of the cruise vacation. Check back every day for a new post aimed at those who are new to Royal Caribbean!
You may be asking what does Royal Caribbean do that makes it different from its competitors and why should you consider a Royal Caribbean cruise over a different cruise.
Listed here are the ways Royal Caribbean seperates itself from the pack and why so many Royal Caribbean fans have come back again and again over the years.
Photo by Graham Cairns
For years, Royal Caribbean has been blazing a path of innovation on its cruise ships, especially when it comes to the really neat activities to do onboard its ships.
Royal Caribbean was the first cruise line to offer a rock climbing wall, FlowRider surf simulator, ice skating rink, Broadway shows, true high speed internet at sea and a lot more.
What many fans like about Royal Caribbean is they are continuously pushing the envelope in terms of what a cruise ship can offer. If you are looking for a cruise experience that offers more onboard activity options than you can possibly do in one week, Royal Caribbean is perfect for you.
Many of these innovations are still exclusive to Royal Caribbean and they have become staples of the Royal Caribbean cruise experience. The FlowRider, bumper cars and Promenade shopping are all Royal Caribbean signature offerings.
All of this is in addition to the great variety of onboard activities available each day of your cruise. Royal Caribbean has built a reputation for being a cruise line that offers a lot to do onboard.
They say size is not everything, but it sure does help!
Royal Caribbean's cruise ships are among the largest in the world. Its Oasis class cruise ships redefined not only how big a cruise ship can be but also what it can offer.
These ships are not just built to be big, rather, they are built to be large enough to house all the really cool adventures that await you. Looking back to our first way Royal Caribbean differentiates itself, all those innovative activities need to go somewhere and so Royal Caribbean has built its ships bigger and bigger to offer more and more to its guests.
If you are worried that the ships might be too big, don't worry. Folks that have been on these mega-cruise ships will tell you that they are truly designed with crowd control in mind and despite the ship's size, the layouts work to help spread the crowds around.
These large cruise ships go hand-in-hand with the wonderful activities available onboard to create a fun vacation experience.
Royal Caribbean cruises are designed to be family experiences, where kids, parents, grandparents and friends can share in the vacation together.
Looking over the array of things to do onboard and onshore, you will see there are activities that can be great for certain ages and other activities that blend demographics together. A Royal Caribbean cruise is meant to be fun for all.
The Adventure Ocean program for kids and the teen-only lounges and activities will give the underage set ample opportunity to have fun on their own in a supervised and fun environment. Royal Caribbean has built these programs to appeal to each age group and they want it to be somewhere the kids want to be all day (and night).
Both Adventure Ocean and the teen program are complimentary and included in your cruise.
If you are cruising with the babies or toddlers, Royal Caribbean has been adding nurseries to many of its ships to give parents a safe and inexpensive option for child care.
Of course, there is plenty for kids and adults to do together. Evening shows, parades, dance parties, restaurants and shore excursions are just the beginning of what is available and they are great for all ages.
There are a lot of choices for a cruise vacation but what brings back many guests to Royal Caribbean cruise after cruise is the tremendous value of a Royal Caribbean cruise.
Royal Caribbean prices its cruises competitively and it offers a great balance between what you pay for the cruise and what you get out of the cruise. In fact, Royal Caribbean prides itself on offering cruise vacations that are not only affordable, but very comparable to a land based vacation elsewhere.
Prices for a Royal Caribbean cruise vary from sailing to sailing and region to region, but generally speaking, Royal Caribbean sells its cruises on the notion guests are going to get a lot of value back from their time onboard.
Thanks to Stacy Taylor for providing this Cruise Compass.
Another week has come to an end and we've gone through and hand-picked some fun articles for you to take a look at in case you missed any of it.
The rumor mill was busy this week and the biggest news is that Liberty of the Seas will be adding three new water slides, including the first Boomerago at Sea.
Liberty of the Seas will undergo a multi-million dollar renovation in January 2016 and part of that refurbishment will add water slides.
While Royal Caribbean has announced water slides for Harmony of the Seas and Majesty of the Seas already, Liberty of the Seas will be the first ship with the Boomerango raft ride, where guests will "plummet down a steep drop, then shoot up a nearly vertical wall, high into the air, for a moment of weightlessness".
This week Matt is reviewing his just completed cruise on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas!
In this podcast episode, Matt talks about his cruise experience on Freedom of the Seas, including what he liked, things that were new, restaurant reviews, descriptions of two weddings and lot 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.
In The Loop Travel shared how John gained 25 pounds on a cruise.
Cruise Law News posted about a passenger was medevaced off Grandeur of the Seas.
The Orange County Register talked about how Quantum of the Seas is riding the technology wave.
Royal Caribbean released a digital copy of its Harmony of the Seas brochure, which previews some of the new and exciting features on its soon-to-be-built third Oasis class ship.
Harmony of the Seas will debut with a European cruise season June through October 2016 and then follow it up with year-round Caribbean 7-Night Eastern & Western sailings starting November 2016 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
You can read the entire brochure here, but here are the highlights.
One of the big hits on the Quantum class ships was Wonderland, and on Harmony of the Seas it will be available too but it will be the first two-story Wonderland Imaginative Cuisine.
Other specialty restaurants on Harmony of the Seas will include Chops Grille, Vintages Wine Bar, 150 Central Park, Sabor Taqueria & Tequila Bar, Izumi Hibachi & Sushi.
Royal Caribbean had announced earlier this summer it was revamping its suite class offerings and on Harmony of the Seas, guests in suites can expect a new kind of suite service.
The new Royal Suite Class will offer
UPDATE: You can read all about the new Royal Suite Class details.
Royal Caribbean has reimagined its pool and sports zones with some new offerings and classic favorites returning.
Royal Caribbean has adding the Perfect Storm water slides, a new H2O Zone, and the Ultimate Abyss 10-story drop.
Royal Caribbean guests can expect to find onboard Harmony of the Seas a lot of entertainment. Some of the highlights include.
Royal Caribbean will roll out its best tech on Harmony of the Seas, with new features first developed for the Quantum class ships.
Guests will have access to high speed Voom internet, that gives guests high speed internet access just like at home for $15 per day, per device.
Royal Caribbean's brand new RFID bracelets, WOW Bands, will also be available, so guests can leave their SeaPass in their stateroom and have an easy and wearable way to enter your stateroom and make purchases.
The Royal IQ smart phone app will be available for guests to let you book shore excursions, reserve entertainment or manage dining reservations.
Guests can book virtual balcony staterooms to have an inside stateroom price but with a balcony view.
Thank you Katina Bradley for finding this brochure.
New renders have appeared that show the H2O Zone onboard Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas.
The renderings show the water play area that is sure to be frequented by plenty of kids onboard.
Based on these renderings, there appears to be at least two kids water slides in addition to the play area comprised of fountains, sprayers and buckets.
Last month Royal Caribbean announced Harmony of the Seas would also have three water slides and a giant 10-story slide.
Harmony of the Seas is being worked at STX France shipyard. She is the third Oasis-class cruise ship.
Tip of the hat to Matthew Brand for finding and posting these renderings.
Does the H2O Zone on Harmony of the Seas look like fun? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Royal Caribbean offers a variety of impressive specialty restaurants that serve up some of the best food available at sea and there are some ways to save money on the total cost to eat at these hot spots.
Whether you want to indulge in steak, sushi or Mexican, Royal Caribbean has added a number of specialty restaurants to its ships with cover charges per person that start at $25 and go up from there.
With these tips, you can cut down that cost and have more money to spend elsewhere on your cruise vacation!
On most Royal Caribbean ships, the day you board you will find specials if you eat at many of the specialty restaurants that evening.
Most guests do not consider a specialty restaurant for the first night. It is not clear why exactly, but specialty restaurants seem to enter guests' radar as the cruise progresses.
Look at your Cruise Compass or go to any of these restaurants and look for discounts available if you dine that day. Usually, there is a 20% discount if you dine at one of the restaurants that evening.
Royal Caribbean wants to encourage its guests to eat at more than just one specialty restaurant so they will reward you if you happen to go to at least three.
Using Cruise Planner on Royal Caribbean's website, you can save up to 30% onboard credit when you make three or more reservations at any specialty restaurants.
You will get the onboard credit on day one of your cruise and that's more money to spend onboard!
If you know you will dine at three (or more) specialty restaurants, pre-book them online to take advantage of the savings.
If you really love eating at the specialty restaurants and you just cannot get enough, consider the dining package.
We have seen the dining package offered on a few Royal Caribbean ships (Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Jewel of the Seas to name a few) where for $20 per day, guests can dine at any of the specialty restaurants every day of the cruise.
The dining package is not available on every Royal Caribbean ship, but if it is available on your sailing, it can be a great way to save money provided you want to dine at a specialty restaurant each night.
Which specialty restaurant discount have you used before? Tell us in the comments!
We love social media because it makes communicating with folks so much simpler and Royal Caribbean has embraced it too.
Royal Caribbean has a presence on many social media platforms, including Facebook, Tumblr and Google + (their MySpace account is oddly missing), but we feel their Twitter account is the most entertaining.
Royal Caribbean uses Twitter mostly to share news, help guests with getting more information and otherwise sharing amazing images and video. But occasionally, they will slip in some entertaining tweets that we love because it shows they have a sense of humor and try to make us laugh.
Without further adieu, here are our favorite @RoyalCaribbean tweets that we could dig up. Enjoy!
@OMFGitsjillie OMG We're so excited to see you, Jillie.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) August 4, 2015@MrPaulSegal Turtle works. A very cool turtle.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) August 3, 2015@wagesofwins @getDeestweets Can it be in the name of fun AND science?
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) August 3, 2015@tiff_ann We're Tiff ready.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) August 3, 2015@InternetKidsO2L We miss you too.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) July 31, 2015@tvandermoere We could never bore you.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) July 28, 2015@jamieharrington We can be into health foods, but we're more into champagne
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) June 24, 2015@PICOchu_ Best decision ever.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) July 10, 2015@ExpertCruiser The early bird gets the (Turkish) worm. How is Istanbul?
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) July 2, 2015@impossible_gurl You can think of it as an extended slumber party.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) July 21, 2015@xkatie26x Well, thats rude. See you again soon?
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) June 24, 2015We also discovered that Royal Caribbean likes to quote popular songs.
@lindzhawk Reunited and it feels so good :)
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) July 5, 2015— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) August 5, 2015@theRCLblog @IGGYAZALEA First things first, we're the realest.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) July 16, 2015@KristenDaukas The best is yet to come.
— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) June 19, 2015