Happy July 4th to all of our American readers! Whether you are celebrating today or not, it's Friday and that means it's the weekend and it's time to share Royal Caribbean photos our readers sent in!

Our first photo this week is from John Siegmund and it's of the entrance to the Viking Crown Lounge on Vision of the Seas. A great place to spend some time and enjoy the view!

Next is a photo of the "secret balcony" on Oasis of the Seas by Michael Poole.  Not a bad view at all!

Mike Cook sent us this photo of the Royal Promenade during a late departure on Independence of the Seas.  Mike had the the ship to himself!

François St-Onge sent us this photo from Liberty of the Seas in Port of Livorno, Italy as a Pullmantur ship departs.  Amazing colors!

Here we have the Texas Tenors performing on Navigator of the Seas during its June 8th sailing that Stewart Thompson was on.  That's some mighty fine singing, partner.

Lastly, Les Lockyer sent us this photo of the Solarium on Voyager of the Seas during an Australia cruise to New Zealand.  I love the pools at night!

That will wrap things up for this week's batch of photos but we want your Royal Caribbean photos too!  Use this form to send us your Royal Caribbean photos and we will feature them in an upcoming edition of this blog series!

Tropical Storm Arthur forced Royal Caribbean to cancel stops at its private island of CocoCay yesteday and today.

Majesty of the Seas will spend its day at sea instead of at CocoCay.

Enchantment of the Seas cancelled its arrival at CocoCay yesterday and stayed in Nassau overnight instead.

Grandeur of the Seas skipped its stop at CocoCay and instead took a sea day on its way back to Baltimore.

Royal Caribbean has begun its week long Independence Day sale that extends its usual two-day Going Going Gone sale to seven days.

The sale runs through July 6, 2014 and offers up to 20% off select Royal Caribbean cruises.

All cruises on sale can be found on Royal Caribbean's web site.

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

Episode 48 is available for downloading where we take a look the best quiet places onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise to get away from the crowd.

Matt shares spots all over Royal Caribbean's fleet of cruise ships to find a little peace and quiet if you're looking to get away from the crowds, or just get some time alone to read, relax and enjoy your time at sea.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 48. 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 has pulled marketing funding for television ads in lieu of sponsoring two new series from teen-centric YouTube network AwesomenessTV.

For its part, AwesomenessTV has produced two shows for Royal Caribbean, the first of which will premiere on July 6.

"YoMuscleBoi's Royal Caribbean Adventure" follows AwesomenessTV star YoMuscleBoii as he cruises around the Caribbean, doing things like riding a Royal Caribbean ship's surf simulator and trying his hand at the world's longest zip line over water.

The second series is a scripted show called "Shipping Julia." Premiering August 3, the six-episode series will tell a Romeo and Juliet-style love story set during a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Royal Caribbean senior vice president of marketing, Carol Schuster, confirmed the company did re-arrange some of the funds, "We did take money from our TV budget to do this."  There's no word on how much but Schuster did characterize it as a "sizable investment."

So why did Royal Caribbean invest in a teen-centric YouTube channel?  Teenagers influence their parents, Ms. Schuster said. "Teens are our sweet spot from a guest perspective," she said. "They really get the most out of our ships."

AwesomenessTV's network of YouTube channels attracted 7.98 million U.S. desktop unique viewers in May, according to ComScore.

AwesomenessTV had another edge in getting Royal Caribbean's attention. DreamWorks Animation bought the company for $33.5 million last May with earn-outs that could add another $95 million to the deal.

The weekend is here and that means it's time to share your Royal Caribbean photos!  Each week we invite our readers to share their favorite Royal Caribbean photos with all of us, so here we go!

First up is a photo of the sunset in St. Thomas by Kyle from DC.  Gorgeous!

Ken Slusser sent us this photo of the officers on Independence of the Seas playing pool volleyball against the passengers.  I've never seen this happen but I wish it would happen more often!

Next is a photo from May of Radiance of the Seas taken from a whale watching excursion boat in Icy Strait Point, Alaska.  Alaska always produces such great photos.

Woodrow Herron sent in this photo of their "Make a Wish" auction for Chef's Table lunch that was personally served by Executive Chef Lorenzo Dearie.  What an experience!  

Here's a photo by Donal Kavanagh from Adventure of the Seas.  Donal writes, "I just really liked the reflections in the windows of the Viking Crown lounge when looking up from the main pool deck.".  I'm pretty sure everything looks great when you're on the pool deck on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Mike Cook sent us this photo of Independence of the Seas deep into the heart of the fjords at Skjolden around midnight.  I like the shadows created by the fjords against the sky.

Liberty of the Seas while passing by Nice, France.  François St-Onge sent in this photo and it's a cool sight when a cruise ship like this is passing by like this!

 think this was a great collection of photos this week and of course we want to see your photos too!  Use this form to send us your best Royal Caribbean photos and we will feature them in an upcoming blog post!

Royal Caribbean has confirmed to Travel Weekly it is working on a new subsidary called "TourTrek" that will create land based tours around the world.

Royal Caribbean named John Weis to head up the new operation.  Weis was formerly the vice president of global tour operations.

TourTrek is still in formation but it plans on offering tours in 90 countries.

Royal Caribbean promises further details about TourTrek in the coming months.

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

Episode 47 is available for downloading where we take a look at the daily newsletter Royal Caribbean provides, the Cruise Compass.

Matt describes what the Cruise Compass contains, how to look through it and how to best utilize it to plan your day aboard your Royal Caribbean cruise.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 47. 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!

If someone you know is going on a Royal Caribbean cruise, it can be a fun surprise to buy them a gift that will be delivered to them in the stateroom during their cruise.  Royal Caribbean offers a means of purchasing a wide variety of gifts for someone going on an upcoming cruise.

In fact, you can buy it for yourself for your cruise or someone you're cruising with.

What you need

In order to purchase a gift for someone cruising on Royal Caribbean, all you need is

• Ship they are sailing on
• Sail date
• Reservation number

Royal Caribbean will not provide reservation information to anyone other than a guest listed in the reservation (for security purposes).  However, if you do not know the reservation number, you can call Royal Caribean at 1-800-722-5443 and they can look up the information to place the order without divulging it to you.

What you can buy

Royal Caribbean offers quite a bit to choose from their Gifts & Gears program

• Celebrations: Cakes, decorations and packages.
• Culinary Collection: Varity of tasty culinary favorites from chocolate covered strawberries to wine and cheese baskets.
• Scrumptious Treats: Great treats to enjoy during the cruise.
• Floral Expressions: Beautiful flowers delivered to the stateroom for all occasions.
• Romance Packages: Packages to make a cruise with the special someone even more special.
• Wine Cellar: Collection of wines (750ml bottles) for guests to enjoy in their stateroom to relax or get ready for dinner and a show.

When can you order

For cruises to leave on a weekend, orders must be placed by 7:00pm EST the Friday before sailing.

However, you can still place an order past that time but there till be a $10 late order fee.

Gifts can generally be ordered up until the second day of sailing, with the exception of floral arrangements.

How to order

There are two ways to order gifts for someone sailing on a Royal Caribbean cruise

Online

You can order gifts through Royal Caribbean's website at http://www.royalcaribbean.com/giftcatalog/home.do.

As stated earlier, you will need to know all the reservation details in order to order this for someone.

Phone

You may also contact the Gifts & Gear Department at 1-800-722-5443 and an agent can assist you. This is the best option if you do not know all the information.