Our newest podcast episode is out to help give you a quick "audio escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise!

Episode 88 is available for downloading, where Matt previews Beth's upcoming transatlantic European cruise aboard Serenade of the Seas.

Beth discusses why she chose this particular itinerary and the challenges she faced with planning a cruise that is so different than what she was used to from her North American cruises.  We will preview her pre-cruise planning, onboard plans, and what she is looking forward to.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 88. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Stitcher or on iTunes!

Take a listen and as always, let us know what you think! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!

Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas has a lot to offer, including a number of staterooms.  Today, we will look at the category L inside stateroom and take you through the cabin to give you an idea of what to expect if you book this category.

Inside staterooms on Quantum of the Seas feature what's known as a virtual balcony.  Virtual balconies are inside staterooms with an 80-inch LED screen that serve up ultra high definition views from floor to ceiling that make it look like you have a real balcony view but without the real balcony price.

On Quantum of the Seas, we reviewed stateroom 12231, which is located on Deck 12 just outside the aft elevator bank. Entry to the room is by RFID scanner, which is above the door handle.

Walking into the stateroom, it's hard to miss the focal point of the room, which is the virtual balcony.  The virtual balcony serves up views from various vantage points around the ship, depending on where the ship is.  When in port, you will get a view of the port but at sea, the view will change usually to the aft.

The bed is joined together but can be split apart if need be.  The virtual balcony can be turned on or off via a remote, although there are curtains provided if you would like to have the morning light come into your stateroom.

There is a large, flat screen television across from the bed, as well as a dresser below the television that has drawers for clothing and is also home to your mini-fridge.  Adjacent to the television and dresser is a desk with large mirror and power connectivity options.  You will also find along this wall one of the two large chairs.

On the other side of the room, there is a full-length mirror as well as your second large chair.  On both sides of the bed are bureaus and more storage options.  The safe is also located in one of the large dressers.

The bathroom features a stand up shower, sink and toilet.  Guests will find small bottles of shampoo, lotion, body wash and conditioner for use in the bathroom.  Your stateroom attendant will replenish your supply when necessary.

At 178 square feet, the category L inside stateroom offers the most room of the inside stateroom category.  It's quite comfortable for two passengers and perhaps a third passenger (preferably a child) could make the space work.  Anything more would be too tight a fit for comfort in our opinion.

For a solo cruiser or couple that wants to take advantage of the great inside stateroom pricing but wants a little more space, the Category L stateroom will be a perfect choice.

One of the stand out restaurants that are available on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas has to be Jamie's Italian.  This simple yet tasty take on Italian food by British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver brings a whole different Italian restaurant experience to Royal Caribbean.  

We're excited to share with you what Jamie's Italian offers and if you should give it a try on your cruise as well.

Atmosphere

Jamie's Italian is located in the Via section of the Royal Esplanade, close to Two70.  As you walk towards the restaurant, you will find an open air eatery that reminds you of a city sidewalk restaurant.

Once inside Jamie's Italian, you will find a restaurant that is simple in its look.  There's no traditional red and white checkerboard, Lady and the Tramp style tables either.  There's also not a hint of the formal look you may find in other Royal Caribbean specialty restaurants like Chops Grille or Portofino.

The tables and chairs are an assortment of different styles that almost look like the host called all of their friends to bring tables and chairs because the host did not have enough.  I'm not celebrity chef expert, but I do know that Jamie Oliver, the restaurant's namesake, purposefully makes his restaurants and food simple. 

After a few minutes looking around, Jamie's Italian feels like you're eating in someone's (very large) kitchen.  Tables are located all around the restaurant and the waiters are wearing simple white shirts with jeans.  There are also televisions on the walls showing Jamie Oliver cooking his food and there's an eclectic mix of popular music that we are told Jamie himself listens to.

Sitting down, you will find the restaurant feels very different than most other specialty restaurants.  If not for Wonderland, Jamie's Italian would certainly be the most unconventional specialty restaurant I've ever dined at on a Royal Caribbean ship.

Eats

The food at Jamie's Italian is quite obviously Italian but like the decor, it's not just spaghetti, pizza and other traditional fare.  

One of the neat things Jamie's Italian does is it makes all of its pasta by hand, each day.  When our waiter told us that, I immediately reconsidered what I was going to order because hand-made pasta makes a big difference compared to the boxed stuff.

When you walk into the restaurant, you will likely see many other tables enjoying food served off of a giant wooden plank and there's a good reason for it.  Citing the famous cliche, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, we also ordered the plank.  There are two to choose from: cured meats and seasonal vegetables.

Regardless of which plank you order, the waiter will ask you how many people will be enjoying the plank.  We told him two people and we wanted the cured meats plank.  Soon thereafter, he came out with a generous sampling of meats and cheeses.  There's fennel salami, pistachio mortadella, prosciutto & schiacciata picante.  If antipasti is your thing, this will be heaven for you.

I also sampled the arincini margherita, which are tomato & mozzarella risotto rice balls with arrabbiata sauce & Parmesan.  Of all the appetizers I sampled, this was my favorite.  I loved the texture and the sauce it was served on top of had a bit of kick to it.  

My table mates really liked the mushroom flatbread, which was definitely not pizza.  A mixture of fresh mushrooms and sprinkled cheese on top of a thin breading made for a great choice.  We realized about now that the appetizers alone were really, really good.

The crispy squid was exactly as the name implies.  My friend was the squid fan and reported it was quite good and definitely not chewy.

Perhaps the only disappointment of the meal was the Tuscan bean & single estate Italian olive oil bruschetta.  Ordinarilly, I love bruschetta but this was quite different than any bruschetta I've ever had.  It was cheesy (and not in a good way) and after one bite each, we all went back to our favorites.

A quick side note, I noticed on other tables in the restaurant there were View Finders and asked our waiter why we did not get one.  He informed me it was for children to see what the food they are going to order looks like.  I kindly requested I too get a chance to see our food in faux 3D, 1980's glory and I recommend asking for one too just for the fun of it!

Moving onto the entrees, once I figured out what aubergine meant (it's another name for eggplant), I ordered the aubergine parmigana. It's essentially a stack of baked eggplant slices in a warm pool of tomato sauce topped with cheese.  

Eggplant parmigana is an Italian food classic and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Was it better than the eggplant parm from Giovanni's Table? I'm not ready to go that far.

It is worth noting the freshly baked twisted garlic bread is really, really good and I recommend ordering an entire order of these just for your table to enjoy (or hoard them for yourself while giggling how good they are).

Earlier I had honed in on the fact their pasta was hand-made, so I ordered the penne pomodoro.  To most people, this is penne in a red sauce but again, the fresh pasta makes even a simple dish like this stand out.

The baked lasagna was a real treat as well, with the blend of fresh pasta (notice a trend yet?), mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and beef and pork.

I'm no connoisseur of lamb but the lamb chops were also quite good.

By now, we had been through a food war but our waiter insisted we try the desert.  Who am I to argue with a man in jeans?

There's a number of intriguing selections on the dessert menu but the one that caught my eye was the epic homemade brownie.  I mean, who can resist that kind of a title?

I can report that there is no case of false advertising here.  The epic homemade brownie was terrific.  What makes it epic?  There's a freshly baked warm fudgy brownie with vanilla ice cream and caramelized amartetti popcorn on top.  Yup, epic.

Overall

We had eaten at Jamie's Italian towards the end of my cruise and all throughout the voyage, other passengers had always mentioned how good Jamie's Italian was whenever the topic of dinners came up and now I know why.

Jamie's Italian offers a great selection of Italian food that differentiates itself from most other food available on Quantum of the Seas. It's an interesting "reboot" of what we think about when it comes to Italian food.

Nearly everything we offered was very good.  In fact, I think of all the restaurants onboard Quantum of the Seas, Jamie's Italian had the best ratio of hits to misses, in terms of good food to bad food picks.  

I was lucky to have dined with a group of friends because the food here is perfect for sharing and it gives everyone a chance to sample a little of everything.  

Like most Royal Caribbean restaurants, I found the portion sizes to be on the small size, which makes ordering multiple entrees (and appetizers earlier) an easier decision.

Today is our last day on board Oasis of The Seas and this week flown by!  This morning I told my girlfriend we would try some of the things she had wanted to do. But first we are starting the day with a lite breakfast at Johnny Rockets on the Boardwalk. 

For breakfast they don’t have a cover charge so this is a little secret for a less crowded option, note this is only available on Oasis Class ships. 

The breakfast options are eggs, omelets, hash browns, toast, ect.  The food here is not outstanding, but was very fast for a sit-down breakfast, I think we were here for a total of 25 minutes.  

Zip Line

Right after breakfast we headed up to the top deck to try out the Zip Line.  This is located on the aft of the ship crossing the boardwalk deck.  I often wonder if people think this cost money, because there was never really a long line. 

We showed up around 9:30AM and there were only 2-3 people in line.  First, they scan your sea pass card, and I forgot to sign our waivers online.  No worries, they just have you esign on their tablet.  Next, they help you gear up with the equipment and you are off! There are no real instructions other than “try to stop yourself” on the other side. 

My girlfriend had no luck with this and her line just hit the stopper at the end, I laughed!  My only advice for you, is don’t look down. I wished we had gone at different times, so I could have had pictures of us, but we enjoyed the moment together and it was a lot of fun. 

Rock Climbing Wall

Now that we had Zip Line out of the way we headed back down to the boardwalk deck to climb rock wall.  I must admit in all my cruises I’ve never tried the rock wall.  Of course I wait until now when I’m older with a few extra pounds to climb. 

Pretty much same check-in process as zip line, they scan card, had me esign.  They do require you to wear their shoes to climb the wall, so be sure to wear socks.  When it’s your turn they just put you where the last person was, my luck I ended up on the expert course.  I only made it a quarter of the way up and dropped off, wow was that much harder than it looked. 

My girlfriend had better luck than me and made it to the first bell.  By the time we were leaving at 10:30 the line was 20+ deep, so get an early start if you are doing these actives on the last day. 

Pool Deck

Since I didn’t get a chance to get to the pool deck early, I was unsuccessful finding a chair anywhere.  I didn’t look on the top deck, because the wind was unbearable.  I

just place my belonging on the side and jumped in the pool.  I found a great bartender who was bringing me drinks while I was in the pool, now that’s what I call service!  The weather was perfect and I stayed out here until it was time to get ready for dinner. 

Sabor Dinner

Okay if you are keep count, this was my third time eating here.  My love for their guacamole is real. 

We wanted to end our cruise on a fun casual note, so we thought this was the perfect option.   Not much more to say, since I’ve talked about my dining experience here twice already now, but great food once again.  Only thing I could say, my brother asked for a regular tomato and they were out. Not a big deal, since it was the last night of the cruise.   Again we had margaritas, which are included in the drink package, other wise they are $12 + 18%.

Evening Activates

After dinner we explored the ship and just taking a few more moments in of the cruise.  We just kept hoping all around the ship bars, actually a few we had never stepped foot into all cruise. 

When we were at the Champagne bar the Cats Cast was there having cocktails.  We actually ran into them all week out and about, they get full privileges throughout the ship.  So if you are looking to work on board that’s the way to go!  Around 11pm I called it a night and headed back to the room, I had a long drive the next morning and wanted to get some sleep. 

Disembarkation

My disembarkation number was 70, and they start with 1 on Oasis Class.  I forgot to tell my stateroom attendant I wanted the express option at 6:30AM, when you carry everything off.  Honestly, it doesn’t matter, if you want to leave at that hour just get your bags and walk off. 

There was no lines to get off the ship, I walked down to deck 5 and walked off the ship, so they must have started a little early for those lining up.   My thoughts were, this was way to easy with zerolines.  Then it happen we get to customs and they only had three people working, perhaps they didn’t get the memo we had 5,490 people on board. 

Since there were only 200 or so people in line, it didn’t take that long and we were in our car by 7AM.  My brother had a later flight and went down around 9AM to leave and the line from customs was all the way backed up to the ship and circled around the promenade deck.  He told he it took him two hours to get through that process, so the key here is leave very early or the last minute. 

Overall I was very pleased with my time on Oasis of The Seas, the food was by far the best I’ve ever had on a cruise.  The service was also outstanding everywhere we went, except the Schooner bar, they were never happy so I just stopped going there.  If you have any questions please feel free to ask and thank you to all for following along.  Now the countdown begins for my next one, 10 weeks…

Sit back and catch up on this week's Royal Caribbean news.  We've gone through and hand-picked some fun articles for you to take a look at in case you missed any of it.

Earlier this week Royal Caribbean announced who the godmother will be for Anthem of the Seas.

Emma Wilby, a 27-year-old travel agent from the United Kingdom was selected to be the new ship's godmother.  To help her prepare for inaugural day, Craig Yates, Team Captain from British choir group Only Boys Aloud will be Ms. Wilby’s vocal coach, and Royal Caribbean is treating her to a full makeover.

Wilby will perform a special song at the ship's inaugural ceremony in Southampton, UK on April 20, 2015.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean is adding a giant giraffe to Anthem of the Seas.
• We break down if Royal Caribbean's unlimited alcohol packages are worth it or not.
• Anthem of the Seas will offer a new escape room experience.
• California residents can take advantage of a bonus booking offer just for them.
• Royal Caribbean sued owners of two typo domain names.
• The new water slides on Harmony of the Seas will be manufactured by an Orlando based firm.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The eighty-seventh episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and we've got a live recording from Quantum of the Seas.

Matt is back from Quantum of the Seas and recorded a live review of Quantum of the Seas with other RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers during their cruise!

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.

Join us aboard the largest cruise ship in the world!

We're so excited to announce the next group cruise for readers and staff of RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com aboard Allure of the Seas!  This is an exclusive group where we are inviting you, our readers, to join us on a fantastic Allure of the Seas sailing on an 7-night cruise to the Western Caribbean.

This Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise is all about enjoying a fun Royal Caribbean cruise along with other fans who are big fans of Royal Caribbean.  Don't miss this opportunity to check out the amazing ship as well as be a part of exclusive events for those that book with our group!

For more details on booking the cruise, the itinerary and prices, check out the Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise page and if you have any questions, email me!

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

The Motley Fool has an interesting post about what sending Ovation of the Seas to China says about the Chinese cruise market.

Seattle Times documents how Royal Caribbean prepares Oasis of the Seas between Caribbean cruises.

Miami Herald reports Royal Caribbean board member Bernard Aronson will not stay on the Board of Directors.

Today we were in Cozumel, Mexico from 8am-7pm, so we had a full day to enjoy on shore.  

I had made prior reservations for Nachi Cocom beach resort.  When you book they require you pay $11pp online, and then the rest in cash once you arrive.  The total cost is $55pp for the day, which includes an open bar and full served lunch.  One of the reasons I like this resort so much is there is no buffet for lunch like many do and they only let 100 people spend the day here.  

Since this is not booked through Royal Caribbean you must cover the cost of transportation as well.  We had made friends with another couple traveling to Nachi for the day so they joined us for the cab ride over, costing $32 each way for six people. 
 
Mexico is on Central time zone, so they don’t officially open until 9am local time.  We left the ship at 9AM ship time (eastern zone) and arrived around 20 minutes later. They don’t mind you coming in early as they are there setting up for the day, just won’t serve you yet.  This was my third time here and I’ve never seen it so busy (maybe 100+ people), we did have two carnival ships, the Serenade of The Seas, and well 8490 people on the Oasis. 
 
Lunch was at 10:30AM, (for us it was already 11:30am) and that means lunchtime!  They have a full menu of tacos, nachos, and the typical Mexican food. The food is very fresh and authentic Mexican.  

I must recommend one thing; the fresh guacamole is a must here.   After which we enjoyed the day in the ocean and pool.  Around 4pm we headed back to the ship, and the cost of the taxi was once again $32 for six. 

 
Dinner at Giovanni’s Table
 
I don’t have any pre-dinner actives to share with you because we all napped until dinnertime.  But that’s okay tonight was Giovanni’s Table! I’ve been talking about eating here all week and it was finally here.  The last time I ate here I was cruising solo and I don’t think you get the full effect of family dining cruising solo.  Giovanni’s Table is a family dining style experience.  We made reservations online at 8pm for $25pp and not surprised it was packed just like Chops.  Royal must be doing really well with their specialty dining on board, because they always looked packed.

Okay back to the good stuff, FOOD!   The waiter suggested we just pick an entree each and he would take care of all the starters.  My brother is a little picky eater so he asked the waiter what he was going to bring out and made a few changes.  I had scallops, which came out on seashells, amazing! Also had seafood tomato soup, I love hot soup with dinner.  Dinner we all order the filet, but our server heard us talking about how badly we wanted to try the lasagna…so he bought a plate of that also.  This dish is usually just served at lunch, but I’m telling you this dish was the best I’ve ever tasted.  I’ve read about how good it was but never dreamed of the quality being this good; going forward I’ll be dining here for lunch.  The steak was also great, my brother loved it more than chops, but I didn’t agree.  I’d say it was a great steak, but not the same as chops for mean, perhaps it was the wine sauce I missed. 
 
Desert they bring over a cart of options, and I picked the tiramisu.  I’m going to give this the second best desert at sea, because nothing surpasses the apple pie at Johnny Rockets.  The Tiramisu was flavorful and a great way to finish the meal.  The service was also much faster than Chop’s Grill so we enjoyed not sitting there for hours. 
 
I’m sad to report, after that full dinner at Giovanni’s Table I skipped the Quest.  I know you must be thinking, what?  I was so tired from the sun and that large meal I just wanted a great nights rest for our last sea day.  

I woke up early, well early for me on vacation, at 7:30AM and quickly changed for the pool deck.  I'm pleased to the sun finally came out!

I was so excited, but sad to see all the beach chairs were all taken again.  I was thinking, what time to these people come out here? After seeing chairs with towels in them for an hour I asked the pool attendant to remove their belongings, which he did.

Moving into the early afternoon the pool deck was packed and everyone was having such a fun time.  

Lunch at Johnny Rockets

For lunch today we all went to the boardwalk for some burgers and fries.  The cover charge here is $5.95pp and everything is included.

I always get the smokehouse burger and lots of fries and onion rings.  One of the waiters recognized me from the last time I was on board, so that's always fun catching up.   Now I'm going to share one of my secrets about cruising with Royal, the apple pie desert at Johnny Rockets is the best you will find period.  I discovered this many years ago, and always make sure I grab a piece or two.  

Afternoon on board

After lunch I went back to the pool deck for a few more hours of sunshine. 

The band had made an appearance playing the typical poolside Caribbean jams.  I do like on the other class ships, the band is right beside the pool.  

On Oasis class there are 4 large pools on the top deck and the band is in the middle of them.  They have the H2O Zone for the children, the sports pool for pool games, the main pool, and the beach pool. 

The beach pool is my favorite pool, because they have tables and umbrellas.  

Evening - Formal Night

Tonight was our second formal night so we all got cleaned up for a perfect evening.  It does not take me long to get ready, so I headed to the diamond lounge for the first time. 

Since all my travel partners were not diamond I only went for one cocktail.  They had some snacks out, but I passed on them trying saving room for lobster night.

My group all met up in Vintages for some wine and taps.  They had free taps available tonight, with cheese and grapes.  The decor in this venue is absolutely beautiful, and very intimate. 

Dinner - Main Dining Room

I'm going to be honest I tried to talk my group out of the dining room tonight, but I'm glad they didn't listen.  The service was absolutely outstanding, we asked them to speed the service up so we could make the 70s party. 

My brother ordered the chops steak for $16.95 and we actually thought it was better than the other night in Chops.  My lobster was so good my waiter brought me another without even asking. 

It was nice to have some lobster again, because I sail on Enchantment a lot and they don't serve lobster on the weekend sailing. 

Evening Actives 

After dinner we rushed to the room to change clothes for the 70's Street Party on the Royal Promenade at 10PM. 

There is a lot of singing and dancing, and it was a blast.  The dancing lasted until 11:00.   Then we explored the ships in and out of venues looking for live music. Well on the Oasis that’s not very hard to find since there are so many options.  We explored the pub and Jazz on 4. 

But the best entertainment of the evening goes to the comedy show at midnight.  They had two lines once we arrived those who had reservations and those without, I don’t think anyone got in without RSVP so be sure to book ahead.  The comedy show is very intimate show since only around 100 people are in there and you get the chance to interact with the comedians. 

The jokes are very adult rated, so no kids here. 

Shortly after the show we called it a night and rested up for our day in Cozumel tomorrow!  Hope y’all are enjoying as much as I am sharing.  

If you're a resident of California, then Royal Caribbean has an extra good deal for you.

In addition to the regular BOGO50 promotion Royal Caribbean is offering to everyone, California residents can save an additional $100.

Eligbile sailings will receive

• Buy One Guest, Get Second Guest 50% off
• Buy One Premium drink package, get one 50% off (Promo code BOGOBEV)
• 50% reduced deposit
• PLUS $100 savings per stateroom (all categories)

California residents that book any 5-night or longer cruise to the Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermida or roundtrip European sailings that depart between May 15 and December 31, 2015 are eligible.  Cruises must be booked between April 1 and April 30, 2015.

Anthem of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas are excluded from this offer.

Happy Friday to everyone! When the calendar hits Friday, that means we are sharing our readers favorite Royal Caribbean cruise photos!  

Each week we invite our readers to send us their favorite Royal Caribbean photos and we showcase them all right here!

First this week we have a photo of Voyager of the Seas by Ross and Pam from Australia.  Great view!

Here's a photo by Michael Poole of the belly flop competition on Enchantment of the Seas.  This is always a really fun show to watch.

Brent sent us this photo of sunrise over the Bahamas from Enchantment of the Seas.  Love the colors that you can only get at sunrise or sunset!

Here's a photo by Michael from the deck of Independence of the Seas in Falmouth while Allure of the Seas was pulling into port.  That's an impressive sight!

We want to share your Royal Caribbean photos too! Send us your favorite, best, most awesome Royal Caribbean cruise photos by using this form and we will feature them in an upcoming Friday Photos blog post!

Royal Caribbean is installing a larger-than-life art piece on its newest cruise ship, Anthem of the Seas, that is a giant giraffe.

The giraffe is wearing a swimsuit and has an inflatable tube around its waist.

Sister cruise ship Quantum of the Seas features a giant 30-foot-tall magenta bear onboard its ship (which the crew has nicknamed Felicia) and so on Anthem of the Seas, there will be a giant giraffe instead.

These large animal art pieces are part of the ship-wide art collection that is meant to incite wonder among guests, encouraging them to admire the giraffe from afar, as well as interact with it on a more intimate, yet whimsical level.