Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas was delayed returning to her homeport of Tampa, Florida today due to heavy fog.

Brilliance of the Seas was due to arrive at the Port of Tampa this morning but the ship ran into thick fog in the Gulf of Mexico, making the return to Tampa Bay unsafe.

Brilliance of the Seas is about four hours away from Tampa and surrounded by fog.

As a result of the fog, Royal Caribbean has pushed back the next cruise's embarkation by one day to tomorrow.

A Royal Caribbean issued a statement “Because of the current Coast Guard advisory, and the uncertainly of when Brilliance of the Seas will arrive to Tampa, we have decided to delay boarding for your cruise until tomorrow."

The fog not only caused a delay in the returning passengers getting off the ship but also delayed the subsequent cruise for passengers eager to begin their cruise vacation.

As a gesture of goodwill, and to thank guests for their understanding, Royal Caribbean will provide each stateroom with an onboard credit. Additional details regarding the onboard credit will be provided to guests tomorrow.

UPDATE: The February 23rd sailing has been cancelled.

After weeks of speculation, Royal Caribbean announced it will name its third Oasis-class ship Harmony of the Seas.

Drum roll please...Royal Caribbean's newest ship to be named #HarmonyoftheSeas. More details to follow soon!

— Royal Caribbean PR (@RoyalCaribPR) February 23, 2015

Rumors of the ship's name had been circulating around the internet for a while now but Royal Caribbean chose to hold back the ship's official name until now.

UPDATE: Thanks to an intrepid blog reader, we have a better look at the rendering for Harmony of the Seas, which reveals multiple water slides, which would be a first for the Oasis-class and a fairly unique addition to any Royal Caribbean ship.

Photo posted by Tomáš Malíšek

Despite the fact we now know the name, little else is known about Harmony of the Seas.  Harmony has been in the shadow of Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas but guests can expect more information to start coming out more frequently in the months leading up to her debut.

Harmony of the Seas is under construction at the STX shipyard in St. Nazaire, France and is scheduled to debut in April 2016.

Hope you had a great week (maybe one week closer to your next Royal Caribbean cruise?) and you had a chance to keep up with what's new with Royal Caribbean this week. But if not, here's a roundup of this week's news.

The big news this week was all about Anthem of the Seas' float out that took place yesterday.

After a few days delay due to poor weather, Anthem of the Seas finally made her way out of the Meyer Werft shipyard dry dock and is now one step closer to launching.

Anthem of the Seas will conduct a few last-minute changes while in the shipyard harbor before her conveyance on the River Ems in March.

Royal Caribbean News

• Speaking of Anthem of the Seas, her godmother will be a (singing) travel agent.
• Dates have emerged for Royal Caribbean's 2016-2017 deployment schedule.
• Royal Caribbean announced new shows that guests will enjoy onboard Anthem of the Seas.
• Royal Caribbean named a new Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations.
• Our tips for what you need to know before taking a solo Royal Caribbean cruise.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The eighty-first episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and we've got an exclusive interview with an Anthem of the Seas' designer.

In this episode, Matt welcomes back to the podcast 5+Design designer Tim Magill to discuss the public spaces he and his team have worked on, on Anthem of the Seas.

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

In The Loop Travel shared seven things you'll enjoy on Quantum of the Seas.

Cruise Hangout shared a video by the brains behind Two70's shows on Quantum of the Seas.

Facebook group Anthem of the Seas is the perfect spot for tons of Anthem of the Seas information.

My San Antonio calls Quantum of the Seas "a billion dollar beauty".

Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Anthem of the Seas, succesfully was floated out of Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany yesterday despite numerous weather related delays.

The float out was originally scheduled for 1:00pm local time but had to be pushed back several times.  Eventually the ship left the building dock and was towed at a slow pace to the shipyard harbor. 

While in the harbor, Anthem of the Seas will receive some last changes and tests.

The next major milestone for Anthem of the Seas will be her conveyance on the River Ems to the North Sea for sea trials.  She will then make her way to Southampton, England to begin offering cruises.

After the 2015 cruise season in Southampton, Anthem of the Seas will head to Cape Liberty, New Jersey in November 2015 to offer cruises to the Bahamas and Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean's eagerly awaited deployment opening schedule appears to be available for its world wide cruise itineraries.

An internal Royal Caribbean document points to when Royal Caribbean will post the deployments for regions around the world.

• Week of March 9
  • Summer/Fall Caribbean
  • Northeast and Canada
• Week of March 16
  • Europe and Alaska
• Week of March 30
  • Winter Caribbean and Northeast
• Week of April 13
  • Exotics and Australia
• Future Deployment
  • China

These dates may be subject to change.  Royal Caribbean has strongly hinted the deployment schedule would be coming out in March and this information supports it.

Deployment schedules gives consumers an idea of when to expect particular cruise schedules to become available to start looking at future cruises.

Royal Caribbean announced today it has named Mark Tamis as its new senior vice president, Hotel Operations.

Tamis will oversee Royal Caribbean's hotel services, food, beverage, entertainment and private destinations, and will report directly to Royal Caribbean CEO and President Michael Bayley.

"Mark has extensive knowledge and a proven track record of success in the hospitality industry and I look forward to welcoming him to the Royal family," said Bayley. "In his role, Mark will lead the dedicated men and women who work every day to deliver the best vacation adventures to our guests from around the world. And I am confident that he can help us take our award-winning experience to even greater heights."

Tamis comes to Royal Caribbean after serving as senior vice president, Guest Operations with Carnival Cruise Lines.

Tamis is also active in various civic and community service organizations including Big Brothers Big Sisters and Special Olympics, and founded www.dadsforgiving.org, an organization that encourages fathers to volunteer with their children to benefit their communities.

Friday is here and before you start your weekend, let's take a look at some fun Royal Caribbean photos that our readers sent in to be showcased.  Just like you, we love looking at Royal Caribbean photos to get a "quick fix" when it comes to the "I'm not on a cruise" blues.

First up this week is a photo of Liberty of the Seas in Labadee by John Siegmund.  I would love to trade these single digit temperatures I'm experiencing for a little Labadee time!

Next let's move to another part of the Caribbean with a photo of Freedom of the Seas in St. Thomas by Ken Slusser. Ken notes, "The Captain performed a really cool maneuver to spin the ship and back into the last remaining spot on the pier. I later asked him about the reason for parking that way and he replied that he likes to point to the open sea where possible in case they need to get out of port in a hurry."

Here's a fun photo by Victor Sacal from Two70 with the ROBOSCREENS deployed.  What a fun venue!

Check out this great photo by Sean McLellan of Freedom of the Seas in St. Thomas in the evening.  I love the colors and contrast!

Here's a great sunset photo by Spencer Goad from Freedom of the Seas.  What a beautiful shot of the sunset!

We wrap things up with this photo by Blake Baldwin from Liberty of the Seas at night.  There's nothing better than a nice evening stroll on the pool deck on Royal Caribbean's ships.

Do you have fun Royal Caribbean photos to share?  Send us your favorite photos and we will feature them on an upcoming blog post!

Ship builder Meyer Werft has moved up its time table for floating out Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Anthem of the Seas.

Meyer Werft issued a press release stating Anthem of the Seas will now leave the covered building dock on Friday, February 20, 2015 at 3:00pm local time.

Royal Caribbean had announced last week that Anthem of the Seas would be floated out on February 21.  Float out dates are commonly subject to change for a variety of reasons.

Royal Caribbean's latest cruise promotion is to offer guests the option of buy one, get one passenger 50% off or free beverage package for two.  You may be wondering which offer will save you more money in the long run and we're about to find out.

Our test critiera was to pick a couple of random cruises in the future to price out how BOGO Wild affects the price.  We decided to pick cruises in June 2015, since they were far enough out to be a realistic choice for someone pricing out cruises about the time this blog post came out.

First test: Couple sailing on Freedom of the Seas

Itinerary: 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise departing on June 14

BOGO Price (including taxes, fees and port expenses)

Inside stateroom (Category M): $2115.80 ($635 savings)

Ocean View (Category H): $2688.80 ($826 savings)

Balcony (Category D2): $4207 ($1,333 savings)

Free premium drink package price (including taxes, fees and port expenses)

Value of 2 premium alcohol packages for 7 nights:  $809.48

Inside stateroom (Category M): $2750.80 ($809.48 savings)

Ocean View (Category H): $3514.80 ($809.48 savings)

Balcony (Category D2): $5540 ($809.48 savings)

Second test: Family of 4 sailing on Allure of the Seas

Itinerary: 7-night Western Mediterranean cruise departing on June 14

BOGO Price (including taxes, fees and port expenses)

Inside stateroom (Category K): $6086.00 ($1160 savings)

Balcony (Category D1): $7816.00 ($1,604 savings)

Free premium drink package price (including taxes, fees and port expenses)

Value of 2 premium alcohol packages for 7 nights:  $809.48

Inside stateroom (Category K): $6086.00 ($809.48 savings)

Balcony (Category D1): $9420.00 ($809.48 savings)

Third test: Couple sailing on Enchantment of the Seas

Itinerary: 4-night Bahamas cruise departing on June 15

BOGO Price (including taxes, fees and port expenses)

Inside stateroom (Category M): $1194.16 ($345 savings)

Ocean View (Category H): $1494.16 ($445 savings)

Balcony (Category D1): $2248 ($750 savings)

Free premium drink package price (including taxes, fees and port expenses)

Value of 2 premium alcohol packages for 7 nights:  $462.56

Inside stateroom (Category M): $1539.16 ($462.56 savings)

Ocean View (Category H): $1939.16 ($462.56 savings)

Balcony (Category D1): $2998 ($462.56 savings)

Fourth test: Couple sailing on Oasis of the Seas

Itinerary: 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise departing on June 13

BOGO Price (including taxes, fees and port expenses)

Inside stateroom (Category M): $2874.96 ($885 savings)

Ocean View (Category G): $3084.96 ($955 savings)

Balcony (Category D6): $3729.96 ($1,170 savings)

Free premium drink package price (including taxes, fees and port expenses)

Value of 2 premium alcohol packages for 7 nights:  $809.48

Inside stateroom (Category M): $3759.96 ($809.48 savings)

Ocean View (Category G): $4039.96 ($809.48 savings)

Balcony (Category D6): $4899.96 ($809.48 savings)

Conclusion

The results show that the less expensive the cruise, the better savings you will find with the unlimited alcohol package.  Conversely, the more expensive the cruise, the better the BOGO savings.

Of course, the savings you get with the complimentary unlimited alcohol package assumes you would be purchasing the unlimited alcohol package anyway.  Also, the free unlimited alcohol package savings come when you total the entire cost of the cruise, whereas BOGO reduces the up-front cost of the cruise.  Depending on how much you drink, the savings with the unlimited alcohol package could be greater than what's noted here in the grand scheme of things.

Across our four tests, the BOGO savings were mostly the better deal, especially if you are interested in a stateroom category of oceanview or above.  

For most people, the BOGO deal may still be the better deal but it will come down to where your priorities are.

It's a time honored tradition to name a godmother for new cruise ships and for Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas the godmother will be a travel agent.

Royal Caribbean as created a new campaign called, "A Godmother Like No Other. Could It Be You?" and has launched a contest to find the ship's godmother in April.

Royal Caribbean is looking for a godmother who isn't just a travel agent but also a travel agent that can sing.  To enter, agents must show off their singing abilities by submitting a short video clip here.

Stuart Leven, UK and Ireland managing director, said having an agent as the ship’s godmother would reflect the line’s strong ties with the trade.

He said: “This is another wow moment for our agency partners. Royal has always been a trade-friendly brand and always will be. Since I started in this business, I have spoken about the relationship with the trade that I inherited. We not only wanted to protect that, but we wanted to take it to the next level.

“Agents are hardworking, so why shouldn’t they have a little bit of fun along the way?

“We won’t be short of people applying. I have worked in travel for more than 25 years and have recently spent time on agency shop floors with staff. If agents give just a snippet of the amount of energy they give to selling our brand on their performances, we will be in for something special.”

The chosen godmother will also receive some fantastic prizes including a full makeover for the ceremony, coaching from music and fashion experts in the run-up to the inaugural celebrations and an exclusive seven-night cruise in the luxury of Anthem’s Royal Suite.

The deadline for entries is Thursday, March 12.