Royal Caribbean has signed a $50 million contract with ABB to provide extensive maintenance to its cruise ships.  

The new deal will last 15 years and will cover two Oasis-class cruise ships as well as four ships for sister company Celebrity Cruises.  The goal of the deal for Royal Caribbean is to increase cost efficiency and predictability of maintenance costs. 

The contract also includes an option to extend the agreement to additional existing vessels, vessels that are currently under construction and future newbuilds. 

The contract provides Royal Caribbean with a range of services that optimize the life cycle of the vessels: scheduled dry docking services, Azipod propulsion unit modernizations and condition based maintenance services, which contributes to better predictability of maintenance  costs. 

To celebrate the launch of Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas in less than 100 days, we're counting down each day with some really cool about the ship.  Check out our blog each day for a brand new post all about Quantum of the Seas.

FlowRider

A signature Royal Caribbean onboard activity will be making its way to its newest cruise ship, Quantum of the Seas.

Quantum of the Seas will feature the 40-foot-long FlowRider surf simulator on the aft of the cruise ship.  The FlowRider has been part of every new Royal Caribbean ship for quite a while now.

In fact, the FlowRider first debuted on Royal Caribbean back on the Freedom-class of ships and it's been added to the Oasis-class and is even being retro-fitted onto select Voyager-class ships too.

READ YESTERDAY'S POST ABOUT VISTARAMA

The FlowRider allows guests to try their hand at stand up surfing in a controlled environment.  You can also opt to just do some boogie boarding if standing up just isn't in the cards.

There will also be stadium seating available to enjoy watching others (talented or not) give it their best effort on the FlowRider.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Quantum!

We're counting down the days until Quantum of the Seas debuts later this year with our 99 days of Quantum blog series. Each day we will post something about Quantum of the Seas to share with all of you!

Vistarama

Inside Two70, you'll find of the premiere shows Royal Caribbean is bringing to Quantum of the Seas, Vistarama.

Vistarama takes over Two70 and offers a floor-to-ceiling view of pretty much any scene, real or imagined.  This 12K resolution show (that's 12 times high definition!) is projected against Two70's windows and will amaze with stunning views.

READ YESTERDAY'S POST ABOUT GENEVIEVE GORDER

Using 18 projectors, Vistarama can create an ambient surface that is over 100 feet wide and over 20 feet tall. Vistarama promises to be a show that will overwhelm your senses.

The power of the projections is really at the heart of this show and they will transform Two70 before your eyes.  

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Quantum!

Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas debuts in less than 100 days so we're counting down all the great things about Quantum of the Seas. Each day we will post something about Quantum of the Seas to share with you.

Genevieve Gorder

Royal Caribbean went to interior design expert Genevieve Gorder to be the first Quantum Experience Advisor to help establish what the inside of Quantum of the Seas will look like and to make sure it was impressive.

What you see when you walk onboard Quantum of the Seas is important because in order for Quantum of the Seas to give passengers that "WOW" factor, the ship needs to say "WOW".

READ YESTERDAY'S POST ABOUT QUICK BOARDING

Genevieve has worked hand-in-hand with Royal Caribbean's design team, influencing the décor and furnishings aboard the ship with her unique style.

Royal Caribbean has set out to make Quantum of the Seas to be incredibly impressive and Genevieve's attention to detail for the ship's textiles, patterns and colors is among the most important functions of her position.

Genevieve's addition to the design team augments Royal Caribbean's established design structure with an outside voice that can help give a breath of fresh air to the process.

For Genevieve, her approach is to focus on the accessories, textiles and accessories that will help make the look of the ship really "pop".

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Quantum!

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.

Let's start with a photo from John Siegmund of twilight on deck of Majesty of the Seas from July 2014. Great shot!

Next is a photo by Jennifer Gardner of the city of Brugges last October while on the Independence of the Seas.

Here's a photo of Oasis of the Seas by Gia Fahey and it looks like a great view of the ship's aft.  

Love seeing this photo by Damion Walker of the CocoCay sign as the tender pulls in.  Nothing but relaxation in paradise ahead!

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

Royal Caribbean is teaming up with an alliance of other organizations to create the South Pacific Destination Alliance (SPDA) that is aimed at protecting the South Pacific's natural and cultural assets while enhancing livelihoods and ensuring its tourism destinations are nice places to live, work, and visit.

The SPDA announcement was made this past weekend at the 3rd International United Nations Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Apia, Samoa.

Royal Caribbean is joining the South Pacific Tourism Organization (SPTO), and global non-profit implementation partner Sustainable Travel International in creating the SPDA.

The SPDA is modeled after the Sustainable Destinations Alliance for the Americas, a groundbreaking alliance of public and private entities launched earlier this year to focus on destination sustainability in the Caribbean and adjacent Latin American countries.

The group's next step is to work to include more than 10 destinations between now and 2017.

We're counting down the days until Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship debuts, Quantum of the Seas, with our 99 days of Quantum countdown.  Each day we will post something about this amazing new ship.

Quick boarding

One of the announcements Royal Caribbean made during its technology reveal event was guests would be able to board the ship "from the sidewalk to the ship" in 10 minutes. 

As any veteran cruiser will tell you, the embarkation process usually takes a lot of time.  Usually it can be anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes or more depending on a number of factors.  

READ YESTERDAY'S POST ABOUT DYNAMIC DINING

With Quantum of the Seas, Royal Caribbean promises to make it a whole lot quicker.  Guests can fill out all the important legal information at home and even take their own "selfie" photo to be used with their SeaPass card.

You will still be able to check-in the "old fashioned way" at the cruise terminal too but those that take advantage of the new system will get onboard a whole lot quicker.

I love to get to my Royal Caribbean cruise early and get as much time onboard as I can on embarkation day. After all, the faster you get onboard, the faster your vacation really begins and this is the perfect solution.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Quantum!

We're counting down to the 99 days until Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Quantum of the Seas, launches with a brand new blog post every day. Be sure to check back for something new everyday here.

Dynamic Dining

When Royal Caribbean announced Quantum of the Seas would completely change how dinner was served onboard, it caused quite a stir among Royal Caribbean fans.  This innovative new approach to dining is set to revolutionize cruise guests dinner experience.

The basics of Dynamic Dining are simple: no more main dining room, no set times to eat and no formal nights.  Instead, we get five complimentary restaurants along with a slew of specialty restaurants to choose from.

Each night, you pick the restaurant and the time to eat dinner.  Dynamic Dining gives the cruise guest more flexibility, options and choice when it comes to dinner with a lot less formality.

READ YESTERDAY'S POST ABOUT CHIC

Restaurants like American Icon Grill, Chic and Silk offer different choices and you can repeat favorite restaurants or keep trying out new ones. The assortment of specialty restaurants is also impressive with Wonderland, Jamie's Italian, Michael's Genuine Pub and more.  In total, there will be 18 restaurants to choose from!

While formal night was removed, you can still get the formal night experience in one of the restaurnts, The Grande, where it's formal night every night. Once again, Royal Caribbean wants to make guest choice the most important factor here.

There's no question Dynamic Dining is a big step for Royal Caribbean and for long time Royal Caribbean fans, it's something completely different.  The key will be in Dynamic Dining's execution and how well it works for guests. 

To help make picking restaurants easier, Royal Caribbean has developed an app that allows guestss to pick when and where they want to eat and alerting them when the restaurant or reservation time conflicts with something else on their agenda and suggesting alternatives.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Quantum!

In an interview with TTG Digital, Royal Cribbean UK and Ireland managing director Stuart Leven said Royal Caribbean used social media to benefit from a rival cruise line's television show.

Princess Cruises was the star of a ITV documentary called, The Cruise Ship, and during its airiings, Royal Caribbean engaged in an intense social media strategy to target people watching the show.

Leven said Royal Caribbean hired a media agency for the four-weeks that the documentary aired to respond to every hashtag about the documentary. 

Leven told TTG Digital, “During that four-week period we had 411,000 social interactions.  We have seen notable bookings generated as a result of this activity.” 

Leven did not disclose how many bookings resulted from the efforts.

Our latest Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast has been released! Check out Episode 57 of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast right now.

This week's topic

Matt loves visiting Old San Juan Puerto Rico because of the history, sight seeing and food that this new world city offers.  

In this episode, Matt explores what there is to do in San Juan, where to stay if you're cruising out of the port and recommendations for beaches, activities and more.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 57. 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!