Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas to go to Australia in 2015-2016

In:
07 May 2014

Royal Caribbean will send Legend of the Seas to Brisbane, Australia for five months in 2015 through 2016.

Legend of the Seas will offer cruises throughout Southeast Asia.  She will start out in Singapore in summer season and then move to Brisbane for the winter.

Legend of the Seas will join Mariner of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas while in Australia.  

​The move is aimed at addressing the growing demand for cruises in the Australian cruise market.  This will be part of the largest deployment ever for Royal Caribbean to Australia.

Legend of the Seas 2015-2016 Southeast Asia and Australia cruises will go on sale May 21, 2014.

St. Maarten on Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

In:
07 May 2014

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

Episode 40 is available for downloading and this week we are reviewing the beautiful island of St. Maarten.

Matt loves visiting St. Maarten for the sheer beauty of the beaches and landscape this island paradise offers.  Matt also shares his favorite excursions and tips for visiting St. Maarten.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 40. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSSStitcher 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!

New Chops Grille menu to roll out to entire Royal Caribbean fleet this summer

In:
05 May 2014

Royal Caribbean will change the menu of its specialty restaurant, Chops Grille, across the entire fleet of ships by the end of August 2014.

Chops Grille new menu had debuted on Navigator of the Seas back in February. Among other changes, the new menu offers dry-rub steaks, veal chop parmesan and a slow-braised short rib of beef with bordelaise sauce.

This email was sent by Royal Caribbean to a cruiser on CruiseCritic, "We are pleased to inform you that we do in fact have a new menu for Chops Grille that is currently available onboard the Freedom of the Seas and the Navigator of the Seas. This new menu will be available fleet wide by the end of August. "

READ OUR REVIEW OF THE NEW CHOPS GRILLE MENU

The price for dining at Chops Grille will remain $35 per person.

Friday Photos (on Saturday)

In:
03 May 2014

This weeks' Friday Photos is actually being posted on Saturday.  Better late than never, right?  If you ask me, it's never too late to show off our readers favorite Royal Caribbean photos so let's get this week's batch started!

First up we have a photo from John Siegmund of the sunrise off the Florida Coast while Explorer of the Seas was sailing to Port Canaveral, Florida.  Love that color!

Ken Slusser sent us this photo of Independence of the Seas anchored in Georgetown, Grand Cayman during his March 2014 cruise.  Wish I was enjoying this view right now!

Speaking of Grand Cayman, Stacy Mogle sent this photo while on an excursion visiting Hell on a Freedom of the Seas cruise.  The little lizard started walked directly to the center and she was able to snap the pic before he ran away.  This photo looks like it ought to be in National Geographic!

Nick has this great night shot of Explorer of the Seas while on a recent trip to Bermuda taken on the sports deck.  These night shots are so much fun to enjoy.

Did I mention ealier I wanted to be somewhere?  Well, here's definitely a spot I'd love to be back, Cozumel!  Phil Catarella took this photo of Ellen returning to Brilliance of the Seas after a great day, kayaking, snorkeling, swimming and relaxing.  

Steven Brinkman sent this photo in of Navigator of the Seas, which is one of my favorite Royal Caribbean ships.  Looks like another beautiful day on Navigator of the Seas!

We want to include your photos too! Send us your best Royal Caribbean photos using this form and we will post them for all to enjoy.

Almost-live blog on Allure of the Seas - Day 6 Cozumel

In:
03 May 2014

We decided to go to the wipe out cafe this morning for omelets and waffles. The cafe wasn't that busy and was great for a quick bite.

We dropped the kids off at kids’ camp for a bit. They wanted to go play games with their groups. This gave us time to pack up for our dolphin encounter at Dolphinarus. While packing up, we got to watch the Navigator of the Seas pull in. 

After picking up the girls, we grabbed a taxi over to Dolphinarus. It seemed fairly crowded, but later we learned that extra Carnival excursion tours were there today because of missing a stop in Grand Cayman.

The excursion provided about 45 minutes in the water with the dolphins! The drinks were good along with the snacks we tried.

From there we grab a taxi to take us to downtown so we could try Matt's favorite restaurant!

We were the only tourists there. There was a steady stream of locals that came to pick up food. Thankfully we didn't have to try too much Spanish though we were ready to try.

We got salsa and guacamole for appetizers. It was various tacos around the table! Everything was so fresh and tasty! The tortillas were freshly made.

After lunch, we did a little shopping before heading back to the ship.

After cleaning up, we went down for some casual pictures that I wanted to try and get with the girls. The photographers have always been very accommodating and took their time to get some really good pictures.

After, the girls wanted to ride on the Rising Tide Bar. I took them aboard and ordered them some Shirley Temples to enjoy.

Tonight the girls were going off to Grammy for pizza and then sitters, while we went to try out the Chefs Table!

We had received our invitation to the dinner along with a 20% off coupon for the dinner. The coupon was a nice surprise though strange to get in a way since we were already saying yes to the price by making the reservation.

Everyone met in the library at 7:30. We were met with a glass of champagne and then escorted into the concierge lounge. The chefs table is upstairs. It was very nice decor with the lighting fixtures over the table made out of silverware.

One criticism of the table was that the room was open to the first floor. The first few courses took place while the lounge was very noisy. It was a little distracting from listening.

We were introduced to the chef and the sommelier. They explained that they would each cover the course from each of their perspectives from first explaining the preparation of the course. Then the sommelier would explain why the wine was selected.

The courses were great, but the amazing course was the two soups. So the first course was seafood and grapefruit with grapefruit notes. This acidic course effected your taste buds in such a way on purpose that the second course, the sommelier had us taste the soups then sip the wine then back to sip the soups.

The soups totally changed the taste like magic! First the consommé tasted like a vegetable soup but after the wine it transformed it to asparagus soup.

After the dessert course, even more desserts were brought out! And to top it off, we received a signed copy of the cookbook featuring recipes from the specialty restaurants. So while the price seems high for the dinner, we got 6 glasses of wines, dinner, and a cookbook for a price (not to mention the 20% off coupon) that was way less than 150 central price if you include the wine pairing.

After dinner we hurried over to see the Blue Planet show. We really enjoyed this show as well. We usually haven't gone to many of the shows in the past, but my mother in law was really looking forward to seeing the various shows

.

Glad I was able to get all the tickets with the exception of the comedy shows.

Royal Caribbean offering 50 percent off second passenger for 2015-2016 cruises

In:
01 May 2014

Royal Caribbean unveiled a new promotion today, “Buy One, Get One 50 Percent Off" on 2015-2016 cruises.

From May 1st through May 31st, 2014, residents of the United States and Canada can get 50% off the cruise fare of the second guests when booked in the same stateroom as a full-fare guest.  

The offer applies to new individual and named group bookings in all stateroom categories and sailings departing between January 1, 2015 and April 30, 2016, and excludes Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas, as well as third and additional guests. 

This new offer is combinable with Crown & Anchor discounts and benefits. 

After the the offer expires on May 31st, the offer will be removed from the booking if the guest cancels and reinstates the booking, applies a fare change, or changes the ship or sail date of the booking; certain other changes to the booking may also result in removal of the Offer. Offer applies to new individual and named group bookings only. 

Almost-live blog on Allure of the Seas - Day 5 Sea Day

In:
30 Apr 2014

Today we started our day after strolling around the top deck as well as getting some Starbucks coffee.

Then we made our way to the character breakfast. Let me just say: chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!!!! There was everything from chocolate milkshakes to chocolate pancakes, to an assortment of chocolate muffins. Everything else from the morning breakfast menu was available as well.

There is no fee for this breakfast. I am not sure if the theme changes, but this morning was Madagascar movie theme with appearances from Alex the lion, King Jillian, and Gloria. The characters would come around to each table for a photo op as well as pass out stickers. Again our head waiter found us and said hello and even offering to go get more chocolate items for the girls!

Then after the breakfast, we dropped the kids of at camp. Kids’ camp theme today was Kung Fo fighting camp with a show for mid morning at the adventure ocean stage.

We opted for some Solarium time this morning while they were at camp. Then we took the girls to Johnny rockets for lunch again. Again, the food was hot and fresh with the burgers and the onion rings.

After lunch, we went to the belly flop contest and enjoyed with front row seats!

Then we dropped the girls back off for circus theme camp for our older daughter and a nap at the nursery for our younger daughter so we could hit the spa.

The spa had a great fresh fruit smoothie bar as well as other items. It was relaxing, but my only comment was my spa service was in just an alcove off the main atrium of the spa.

We picked up the girls to get them ready for formal night! It was Lobster night! I decided to get the peach soup, mushroom tart, and the fisherman plate. The food was really good as usual. After dropping the girls off for bed, we were off to try the Rising Tide Bar. It was fun to try and the sound of the water fountain from underneath while the bar was up on deck 8 was very nice!

Next up was Viking Crown Lounge. I really like the decor in the new lounge. It had a great view of the pools below all lit up at night. The duet band was a lot of fun for 90s night, but we weren't able to stay long.

We had tickets for the headliner act: Jeff Tracta with "a journey through pop culture”. He was an impressionist about fifty years of comedy, music, and pop culture. The show was very entertaining.

Royal Caribbean chooses Agilysys InfoGenesis for point-of-sale system for Quantum-class ships

In:
30 Apr 2014

Royal Caribbean announced today that it has selected the Agilysys InfoGenesis point-of-sale system for its two newest Quantum-class cruise ships, Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas.

Agilysys is a leading provider of innovating hospitality software solutions and services.

Royal Caribbean CIO Bill Martin commented on the deal, "The InfoGenesis POS system continues to be well-suited to our needs.  It is among the most versatile point-of-sale systems on the market, combining an accessible user interface with a variety of reporting tools. With this technology in place, we are well positioned for the future, with a comprehensive POS system that will enhance guest service and give us a competitive edge."

InfoGenesis markets itself as an easy to set up and maintain system that integrates with many other applications and is designed to process transactions in the highest volume environments without any loss of performance at the point of sale.

"We have had a long relationship with Royal Caribbean and are delighted the company has once again selected the InfoGenesis POS system," said Tony Ross, vice president of sales for Agilysys. "In the highly competitive cruise market, companies must implement technology that enables them to streamline operations while creating lasting connections with guests. The InfoGenesis solution, with its scalable architecture, flexible configuration and superior integration capabilities, will enable Royal Caribbean's two newest ships to operate at peak efficiency and deliver the five-star guest experience for which the company is known."

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