Royal Caribbean announced that Emma Wilby, a 27-year-old travel agent from Sunderland, U.K., is the godmother for Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Anthem of the Seas.

It's a maritime tradition for cruise ships to have a godmother and Wilby will officially christen Anthem of the Seas and perform a special song for more than 1,300 invited special guests and dignitaries at the ship’s inaugural ceremony in Southampton, U.K., on April 20, 2015. 

In addition to being a travel agent for Thomson, Ms. Wilby is a military wife and budding singer who performs in the Military Wives Choir in Kinloss, Scotland, where she is based with her husband, a Royal Engineer for the British Army. 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.

“Emma’s inaugural song will herald in a ship that will be a new anthem for the cruise industry,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International. “I am very much looking forward to Emma’s performance and launchingAnthem of the Seas with her. I know she will be simply spectacular.”

Traditionally, Godmothers have celebrity status or even royal connections, such as Royal Caribbean Godmothers Gloria Estefan, Jane Seymour, Whoopi Goldberg and Steffi Graf, to name a few.

“I still can’t believe I won,” said Ms. Wilby after being informed of her new title earlier this week. “I am really honored to have been chosen. I am hugely excited to be taking on the role of Godmother for Anthem of the Seas – it will be incredible to sing in front of all these people and a real honor to give the ship the best sendoff possible.”

Royal Caribbean Blog contributor Michael Poole is on Oasis of the Seas this week reporting all about his cruise experience.

Good morning from beautiful Jamaica! 

I didn’t have any set plans today, so we thought we would do a little shopping around the pier and then head to the beach. 

For those who have not visited Falmouth, Royal Caribbean has spent millions on this brand new pier for their ships to visit.  The pier is the nicest I’ve ever seen, but you are limited it activates if you don’t wish to go outside the closed in area. 

My girlfriend shopped around and I went to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaretville, for the classic Jamaican beer – Red Strip.  These were $6 each and included just steps away on board, so I just had two. 

After about an hour of shopping I was ready to head over to Red Strip Beach and then it happened…it started down pouring once again.   This is so frustrating, but what can you do?  We decided to go back on and enjoy some hot tub time, has anyone noticed this is becoming a trend? 

Afternoon on board Oasis of The Seas

This afternoon my girlfriend and I went down to the pub for some pints.  Since she does not have the drink package, she used her Crown & Anchor BOGO coupon on a Stella. 

The ship was mostly empty, so I guess every decided to wing it in the rain and stay in Jamaica.  After a few pints, and I might say that term a little loosely we were ready for an afternoon snack.  It’s almost funny when you are talking about all the options on board for a snack, so we went for hot dog on the boardwalk at Dog House.  This was my first time ever trying one of their hot dogs (which are free) and I must say, simply amazing! 

We actually ran into my brother and his partner and they now wanted to get off in Jamaica.  The ship was docked from 10am-7pm, so getting off at 4pm (again) left us plenty of time.  They mostly did some t-shirt shopping and about an hour later we headed back to the ship.  I thought everything was overpriced so no shirt for me, maybe in Cozumel. 

Dinner at Chops

For pre dinner drinks I went to vintages for some caymus wine (those who wish to know it’s $22 glass).  I thought it was strange how empty the bar was, but they said it was common on port days.  They had little table set up with taps for $10pp, I passed on this since we were going to Chops Grill.  

Our dinner reservations were at 8PM, and the restaurant was completely full. Our waiter said they service around 220 passengers a night, so I suppose that’s why the price went up to $39pp supply-demand. 

The quality of the meal was amazing as always, but the service was not so much. 

The waiter kept saying sorry for being so slow, but I think he was just overworked with tables.   He didn’t charge us for the sparkling water, or the difference in wine price vs package.  The unlimited package covers wine up to $12, but we were all drinking wine that was $14. I noticed they still bring you all the sauces to pick from for the steak, on the Enchantment/Liberty they just come out in the Red Wine Sauce. 

By this point we were getting close to the 3-hour mark and had a show to get to so we left right at 10pm. 

Headliner Show - Mo5iac

My brother talked me into going to the headliner tonight and boy was I glad he did.

This was a group of five guys who preformed with no instruments, which means all the sound we heard all night, came from their voices.  They would sing songs, with making it sound like they had a full band with them. 

It’s hard to describe the show, but was without a doubt the best show I’ve seen on any cruise.  The crowd was on their feet multiple times cheering them on and clapping.  If you ever get a chance to see this group on board, believe me don’t miss it. 

The show ended close to midnight and that’s where I called it a day.  

Puzzle Break has announced it is partnering with Royal Caribbean to offer a new shipboard escape room experience aboard Anthem of the Seas called, "Escape from the Future".

Puzzle Break specializes in live interactive escape-the-room games and currently offers similar experiences in Seattle and San Francisco.

Puzzle Break is thrilled to announce we are partnering with @RoyalCaribbean on a shipboard escape room experience "Escape from the Future!"

— Puzzle Break (@PuzzleBreak) March 31, 2015

No further details are available yet. Royal Caribbean has not officially announced the partnership yet either.

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

Episode 87 is available for downloading where Matt and other Royal Caribbean Blog readers discuss their recent cruise aboard Quantum of the Seas.

While onboard Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, Matt invited other blog readers to join him to share their thoughts on their cruise aboard Quantum of the Seas. 

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 87. 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 Blog contributor Michael Poole is on Oasis of the Seas this week.

I haven’t been to Labadee since 2012 and I was really excited to go back and explore. 

We docked at 8:00am and had the whole island to ourselves, well all 8,490 of us. 

We had originally tried to get a cabana, but we were unable to reserve one.  Now our plans were wide open and we took a shuttle over to Columbus Cove.  This didn’t take very long and I actually enjoyed the ride over taking everything in. 

Once you get to Columbus Cove you walk past some shopping, but we didn’t bring any cash with us so didn’t bother stopping. 

By now it was 11AM and they were starting to serve lunch, so we went straight to buffet.  This is the standard island lunch; serving ribs, jerk chicken, and burgers.  I thought the lunch was fine and nothing to get excited about, but I will say go early!  I saw the line an hour later and it was long, plus all the tables were full. 

Afternoon in Labadee

Well there was very little sun out but that was fine because we were sipping on a labadoozie. 

This is the signature island drink and it’s included in the ship drink package.  However, if you don’t have the drink package the cost is $14 for the drink, but you do get to keep the cup. 

By this point in the afternoon 3:00 – it’s starts pouring and I mean down pouring.  I laughed to my brother and said, “Just one more reason I like Coco Cay better.” 

We had a great time but we haven’t seen sun so far this the cruise.  We rushed back to the ship, well everyone did the same so the lines were long to re-board. 

Once we got back on board we headed to the pool deck to relax in the hot tub.  Well there was only one thing left to do… Nap! 

Dinner at Sabor

Tonight we headed back to Sabor for dinner at 8pm and it was packed! 

I didn’t take my camera again since I posted pictures of our lunch from yesterday and ate the same food.  I will note the service was a little slow tonight, but we didn’t mind since we had Patron Grand Margaritas flowing. 

My girlfriend does not have the drink package and the waiter just put her drinks on my card with my package.  I didn’t ask him to do this and was fully prepared to pay for hers, so extra tip for him. 

Evening Actives

After dinner we headed over to dazzles and the entire Cat’s cast was singing 80’s tunes.  This was the moment it hit me, you don’t get this kind of entertainment on the smaller ships.   If you haven’t listen to me on the podcast, I am a big fan of the smaller ships, but I’m really enjoying myselfd on Lady O. 

Headed off to explore in Falmouth, Jamaica and the sun is FINALLY out!   I’ll share my day with you tomorrow.  

On Quantum of the Seas, custom sounds, unique instruments and elaborate costumes are showcased in Sonic Odyssey. Watch as the Royal Theater transforms into the perfect stage for a musical experience unlike any other.

Royal Caribbean has filed a lawsuit against the owners of two web sites that have domain names that are typos of royalcaribbean.com.

The two sites, RoyalCaribean.com and RoyalCarribean.com, are lead generation sites that are meant to look like Royal Caribbean's official site.

The lawsuit claims these mis-spelled domain names aim, "to misdirect potential customers away from Royal Caribbean's website.  The Defendant Domain Names thereby wrongfully profit from the goodwill and reputation of Royal Caribbean and its distinctive Royal Caribbean mark."

It appears both domains are owned by the same person and the lawsuit claims the owner lives in India.

Royal Caribbean is seeking the two domains be transferred to Royal Caribbean's ownership and any other damages the court deems appropriate.

Aquatic Design & Engineering will be the creative designer for the water slides on Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas.

In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Aquatic Design & Engineering President Josh Martin commented on the firm's task in creating the slides, "These are the first real water slides on a Royal Caribbean ship. The goal was to make this a part of the ship's design, to really blend it with the style of the ship."

Martin also revealed Aquatic Design & Engineering had done concept work for Royal Caribbean before but Royal Caribbean had never opted to go with the ship slides.

ADE has designed water features for theme parks and resorts including Disney, and fountains around the world including for the sprawling presidential palace in Abu Dhabi.

I had placed the room service breakfast card out for 7:30AM delivery and it arrived ontime.  I requesting orange juice to surprise my girlfriend with mimosas on our balcony, but we got apple juice – well it’s the thought that counts right?

By now it was getting close the 8AM and I wanted to head up to the pool deck because I know how the pool gets on the first sea day, well any sea day really.  And sure enough we were already beat by all the chair hogs.  We found a seat, just not front row center, cruise life problems.  

Checking Out Pool Towels

Royal Caribbean recently changed the process for getting pool towels, where you no longer have to scan your sea pass card to check out a towel.  Well I guess they forgot about Lady O, because guess what - I had to provide my seapass card and check out a pool towel.  I’m not sure if they are bringing to program back or they just forgot to change it on Oasis.  This is really annoying because you have to stand in a line to return the towels, or to simply get fresh towels. 

I’m currently writing this from the Beach Pool with my feet in the water, and the sun’s starting to come up.  Today should be a great day, I look forward to sharing my day with you on the next post!  

Well I’m sad to report we never saw the sun today, just clouds and high wind.  This did make me a little sad, but a cloudy day at sea is better than a sunny day at work.  Around 11:30AM we decided to head to the boardwalk and eat lunch at Sabor. 

This was my very first time dining at this restaurant, and based on all the reviews my expectation were pretty high.  Well they lived up to what I was expecting and surpassed a bit. 

We started out with some Margaritas, which are included in the unlimited alcohol package.  Followed by some guacamole, which is made table side, I do recall its $4, and worth every penny.  For lunch they had beef/chicken tacos and I had a chicken Quesadilla.

Cats

Since the weather was not up to par today we headed to our reservations at Cats at 2pm.  This is the first full length Broadway show at sea and they have intermission halfway through.  My thoughts on Cats are the performance was outstanding, actually the best I’ve ever seen.  The story line is very slow, and I saw people walking out quite often. 

I must report about an hour in I actually left myself, I think during the 80’s this was an amazing show but times have just changed.  I would recommend seeing Cats it just wasn’t for me. 

Afternoon Time On Board   

Well now what should we do, it’s the afternoon and we are hanging out on board?  Well I wanted to take my girlfriend on the rising tide bar since I’ve talked about it so much.  This is a moving bar that takes you between deck 5 and deck 8; once we got to Central Park we grabbed a snack at Park Café.  They have a great salad bar with so many toppings, you could latterly eat here every day its so great. 

Formal Night

Tonight was formal night and the Captain’s reception on the Royal Promenade.   If you recall from last week’s podcast this is one of my favorite traditions and just makes me so happy.  Everyone is all dressed up and free champagne is offered for everyone.  The captain came out and introduced his team and does a quick intro about the ship. 

One interesting fact is our sailing; March 28th holds a record for the most people ever on a cruise ship.  Our total with crew and passengers is 8,490 people on board.  The captain said this has never been done before between the Allure and Oasis, so very cool! 

Dinner

Tonight we headed to the main dining room and we were on deck 3, which is the American Icon Grill.  I’m going to be honest I tried to talk my group into something else, but off to the dining room we went. 

Dinner was at 8:30pm and surprisingly not that bad.  I had the lobster bisque soup, well okay I’ll be honest I had two lobster bisque soups to start.  Followed by the filet of beef and it was amazing! 

I couldn’t believe the quality of the beef for the main dining room.  The service was a little slow, but the waiter said many times, if you want me to speed up tell me.    

Overall was a great day after all.  The weather is something you can’t control so I don’t let that control my vacation.  You just have to find something else to do and on the Oasis that is not hard.