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 we confirmed a strong rumor that had surfaced that Anthem of the Seas will offer a new dining option in addition to Dynamic Dining.

Dubbed "Dynamic Dining Classic", this new option for passengers will allow them to rotate among the complimentary restaurants each evening of their cruise while retaining the same waiters and tablemates each evening.  

This is a response to Royal Caribbean fans that prefer a more traditional dining experience and will be available for pre-booking in early March.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean began construction on the fourth Oasis-class cruise ship.
• A norovirus outbreak on Grandeur of the Seas forced the ship home a day early.
• We shared the secret behind some art on Oasis of the Seas.
• Royal Caribbean is offering free unlimited alcohol packages to UK residents.
• Royal Caribbean announced a dividend for shareholders.
• A quick tip to increase the chances you will get a stateroom upgrade on your next Royal Caribbean cruise.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The seventy-ninth episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and we've got an in-depth review of the changes Royal Caribbean has made to Freedom of the Seas.

After a 24-day dry dock refurbishment, Freedom of the Seas has new public spaces, restaurants, staterooms and more to explore and I've invited Beci Mahnken to help us learn all about what's new and different onboard this popular cruise ship.

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 Interet

Cruise Radio posted a detailed audio review of Quantum of the Seas with friend of the blog Don Bucolo.

A Great Europe Trip Planner shared a review of a recent visit to Royal Caribbean's private island of Labadee.

MEI Travel shared why you should use a travel agent when you book a cruise (or anything else).

Mouse Fan Cafe shared their experience making cupcakes on Freedom of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean's Board of Directors announced on Friday that it will offer its shareholders a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share payable on March 4, 2015, to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 18, 2015.

This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 52 week low of $49.65 and a 52 week high of $85.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $81.34 and a 200-day moving average of $69.80.

It's pretty cold out there in many places but we've got some Royal Caribbean photos our readers have sent in to warm you up.  In fact, each week we ask our readers to send us their best Royal Caribbean photos to showcase right here on the blog so be sure to send yours in too!

Let's see what we have this week.

First up this week is a photo of Mariner of the Seas in the background while Lily Lee was at Pataong Beach in Phuket, Thailand.  I love the contrast of boats in this photo!

Next we have the revitalized Voyager of the Seas from her Singapore to Sydney cruise by Ross and Pam.  That sounds like a great repositioning cruise!

Check out this action shot of the RipCord on Quantum of the Seas by John McCormack.  I can't wait to try this out for myself!

Here we have a photo by blog contributor Michael Poole of the view Enchantment of the Seas offers as she pulls into Nassau.  Looks like another beautiful day in the Bahamas!

Here's a shot of Brilliance of the Seas docked in Tampa by Don Donahue.  Tampa is an underrated port to take a Royal Caribbean cruise from and Brilliance is a wonderful ship!

Ken Slusser knows the way to my heart with this photo of sunset aboard Independence of the Seas.  Can't get enough sunset photos!

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

If you take a cruise on Oasis of the Seas, you may notice among the many pieces of art around the ship a "crew" cleaning up some graffiti that has the word "Genesis" written on the wall.  Royal Caribbean fans may recognize this piece of art as a rather large in joke to appreciate.

You'll find this display on the Royal Promenade and the word Genesis was the original project name of the Oasis-class before the Oasis name was selected.  It's common in the cruise industry to begin working on a new class of ships under a project name and then announce a formal name later on.

In the case of the Oasis-class, it was known as Project Genesis.

The art we see here is Royal Caribbean crew members covering up the word Genesis as if it were written down before the ship was built but since has to be erased since we all know the ship class is called Oasis.  It's a clever nod to the ship's history in plain sight.

Based on some updates to Royal Caribbean's web site, it looks like guests can look forward to some exciting new changes to Allure of the Seas when she goes in for her scheduled drydock refurbishment later this year.

Among the changes coming to the ship, the Broadway musical Chicago will be replaced by Mamma Mia, the Broadway musical based on the music of ABBA.    Mamma Mia is also being shown on Quantum of the Seas currently but there's speculation the show will be removed from Quantum of the Seas when she goes to Asia.

In addition, the hit Mexican restaurant Sabor Taqueria & Tequila Bar will be added to Allure of the Seas as part of her preperations for Dynamic Dining.  A similar addition was made last year to sister ship Oasis of the Seas.

These and other changes are expected when Allure of the Seas goes in to drydock in April/May 2015.  

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

Episode 79 is available for downloading which has an in-depth review of the changes Royal Caribbean has made to Freedom of the Seas.

After a 24-day dry dock refurbishment, Freedom of the Seas has new public spaces, restaurants, staterooms and more to explore and I've invited Beci Mahnken to help us learn all about what's new and different onboard this popular cruise ship.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 79. 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 fourth Oasis-class cruise ship took a major step forward today when it had its steel cutting ceremony earlier today at STX France in Saint-Nazaire, France.

The steel cutting marks the official start of construction for any cruise ship.  Royal Caribbean promises more details about this and sister third Oasis-class ship will be reveleaed in the coming months.

The unnamed Oasis-class ship will debut in mid-2018 but it's just one of a few Royal Caribbean ships under construction.  Anthem of the Seas is almost complete and will be ready for an April 2015 launch, followed by a third Oasis-class and Ovation of the Seas (Quantum-class), which will both debut in spring 2016.  

Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas returned home to Baltimore today a day early after a number of passengers became sick on the cruise.

Royal Caribbean spokesperson Cynthia Martinez said 193 guests(9.91 percent) and nine crew members(1.15 percent) experienced the illness, thought to be norovirus.

"Those affected by the short-lived illness are responding well to over-the-counter medication administered on board the ship," Martinez said.

The ship will undergo a ship-wide cleaning and disinfection after the guests disembark.  The terminal will also be sanitized.

When the ship was in Falmouth, Jamaica, two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers boarded the ship along with two epidemiologists.  They collected samples for testing and evaluated the outbreak and response activities.

Royal Caribbean confirmed our earlier report that a new dining option will be added to Dynamic Dining that will offer passengers a more traditional dining experience called Classic, where guests will rotate among the complimentary restaurants each night of their cruise with the same wait staff each evening.

Royal Caribbean issued a statement that Dynamic Dining Classic will be a new option for guests to consider in addition to the existing Dynamic Dining program and will debut first on Anthem of the Seas in April 2015.

Classic dining will offer two set dinner seating times for guests who prefer a traditional cruise dining style.

Dynamic Dining’s “Classic” option allows guests to rotate through each of the four main complimentary restaurants at an early- or a late-seating time throughout their cruise with their dining group and the same assigned waiter each evening. Dynamic Dining’s “Classic” dining option will be available for pre-booking early March.

Royal Caribbean Brand Communications Manager Harrison Liu also discussed the future of Dynamic Dining, "As we continue to gather guest feedback we will evaluate ways to continue to elevate the Dynamic Dining experience to give our guests the choices and flexibility we know they desire.  As we introduce Dynamic Dining to other ships in the fleet, further dates and details will be confirmed. "

Dynamic Dining Classic is part of an effort by Royal Caribbean to improve the Dynamic Dining Experience.  In the last few weeks on Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean has introduced new menu options at the four complimentary restaurants, increased staffing levels in the complimentary restaurants and added Devinly Decadence as a complimentary restaurant.