Royal Caribbean is testing a new Wi-Fi technology known as 802.11ac to optimize their Wi-Fi connectivity for the new wave in mobile data usage onboard its ships.  

Network World is reporting that Royal Caribbean is testing Meru Networks' just-released 11ac product, the AP 832.

"It’s a two-radio product, each radio capable of running in either 2.4 or 5Hz bands, supporting three spatial streams, a maximum data rate of 1.3Gbps, and the ability to run all three streams and support 80-MHz wide channels on both radios over existing 802.3af Power-over-Ethernet."

Tests of the new networking gear have been conducted at Royal Caribbean's "ship lab" in Florida, which mimics conditions on board a ship, involved four Meru AP832 access points with 11ac and 11n clients. The results of the tests found up to 782 Mbps receiving and 634Mbps sending.  That is a signifigant upgrade compared to the company’s existing 11n Wi-Fi target of 200Mbps.

“We were able to see a 40 percent improvement with the new [11ac] chipset,” says Greg Martin, IT director for Royal Caribbean.

The potential benefit of this technology for Royal Caribbean is doing away with Ethernet cabling for numerous VoIP phones, digital signage, kiosks and similar endpoints.  In addition, it will reduce the cabling needs aboard the cruise ships, which is expensive.

The next test comes in December when Royal Caribbean will use the 11ac products in a pilot program at its Oregon call center. A limited test is also planned for Navigator of the Seas in January.

Royal Caribbean plans to deploy 11ac as the standard in all new ships, and phase in 11ac upgrades to the existing fleet. The next new ship, Quantum of the Seas, likely will be the first of the company’s ships to get a stem-to-stern 11ac wireless LAN.

Adding Wi-Fi to Royal Caribbean's ships has been a boon financially, with more guests buying internet access onboard their ship and that has translated well to the company's bottom line in recent quarters.

Royal Caribbean has released a new video on how they are using virtual reality as a tool for engineers and designers to work on Quantum of the Seas throughout its construction process.

Royal Caribbean in the United Kingdom is beginning to spin up the public relations machine to prepare its fans for a big announcement on November 21, 2013.  Many are speculatiing it will be the formal announcement that Anthem of the Seas, the new Quantum-class cruise ship, will be based out of Southampton, England.

Royal Caribbean UK is teasing the event with the phrase, "A date that'll be music to your ears", which seems to play on the ship's name of Anthem.

The special event will be held in London at 4:30pm local time.

There's been speculation for months that Anthem of the Seas will be based in the UK, with a cruise port schedule site tipping many off earlier this year.  Royal Caribbean has been quiet on details for Anthem of the Seas beyond it had its first steel cutting back in August.

Anthem of the Seas will be the second Quantum-class ship behind sister ship Quantum of the Seas.  She is expected to debut in the spring of 2015.

After suffering with propulsion problems that have hampered her speed for weeks now, Royal Caribbean is considering sending Allure of the Seas for an early dry dock to fix the lingering issues.

Travel Weekly is reporting that the propulsion problems we reported on earlier are getting to the point that the cruise line thinks maintenance now is the best solution.

Travel Weekly quoted Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain saying that an early dry dock is a possibility, "We’re considering it, sure.We’re in the process of trying to assess [whether] we move up the drydock, and if it makes sense we will."

As it stands now, Allure of the Seas is scheduled for a dry dock repair in 2015.

The issue affecting Allure of the Seas is one of its propulsion pods is damaged and the ship has to travel slower.  As a result, time has been shortened at ports of call because the ship takes longer to get between any two points.

Royal Caribbean is joining the worldwide effort to provide humanitarian relief efforts to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

Royal Caribbean has taken steps to help crew members attempt to communicate with relatives inthe Philippines. Company executives also held a special meeting Monday morning with more than 200 Filipino crew members aboard Vision of the Seas, which was docked near the company’s headquarters in Miami, to let them know that more would be done, including matching contributions from employees dollar-for-dollar.

Royal Caribbean said its efforts to help the people of the Philippines would raise $1 million. 

Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain commented on the effort, "Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the storm. More than 12,800 of our employees call the Philippines home. We want to do everything we can to help them, their families, and their neighbors heal from this terrible tragedy."

Royal Caribbean cares a lot about the plight of the storm victims, especially considering Filipinos make up the largest nationality represented across Royal Caribbean's cruise line.

The cruise company will collaborate with its local manning agency, Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Inc. (PTC), to assess the storm’s impact on crew members and their families. The companies have deployed an emergency team to the hardest-hit areas in the Philippines, and will establish a central communications point where employees currently on Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises, CDF Croisieres de France, and TUI Cruises ships, can ask for assistance in reaching their family members, and where employees who are not currently on ship assignments can check in.

Photo by hortonheardawho

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.

If you've ever been to the Caribbean island of Barbados, you know how beautiful a destination it is so this week we reviewed a Barbados group tour excursion.

The Tyrone Griffith tour offers 3 to 4 hours of guided tour in an air conditioned bus, with stops at some of the most scenic places on the island.  In addition, there's beer, water and run punch included for the price.  We have a full review of this excursion and if it's worth the money.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean announced three new offers on 2014 cruises.
• Allure of the Seas seems to be affected by propulsion issues.
• San Juan, Puerto Rico is going to expand its cruise pier to make room for Quantum of the Seas.
• Royal Caribbean's Chairman told travel agents the company depends on them at a recent conference.
• Quantum of the Seas godmother Kristin Chenoweth will be on Royal Caribbean's Thanksgiving Parade float.
• Voyager of the Seas returned to Australia this week.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The fourteenth episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is available and we're talking about when to book a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Specifically, we dive into the debate of if you should book your cruise well in advance or wait to the last minute.  We will compare the benefits and disadvantages to both and help you decide which choice makes the most sense.

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

Wells Fargo favors Royal Caribbean as best poised to offset Caribbean pricing pressures.

Babble has an interesting look at Royal Caribbean's medical center and what happens when you get sick.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain spoke at the keynote speech of the CruiseWorld convention and had a very direct message to travel agents that sell Royal Caribbean cruises,  "our fortunes depend on your support."

TravelWeekly reports that Fain's speech was about the role travel agents play in guiding people looking to book a cruise. Fain noted, "the vast bulk of cruising is still purchased through the travel agency community."

To illustrate his point, Fain used an analogy of shopping for a dress with his youngest daughter and how someone knowledgable in the product can make a difference in sales.

"I know what dresses are; everybody knows what vacations are. But people need to be guided."

Exploring the beautiful island of Barbados is no easy task so on a recent cruise to the island on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas we wanted a tour to see the highlights of what the island offers. For this reason, we tried Tyrone Griffith tour.

Description

Tyrone Griffith is a man that runs a small bus tour of the island of Barbados.  He's one of those guys that has generated a small following on the internet thanks to a number of favorable reviews from recent cruisers.  Essentially, it's the 21st century equivalent of word-of-mouth advertising.

We were suggested the tour by someone in our Cruise Critic mix n mingle group (a collection of Cruise Critic members on the same cruise that all decided to meet up) and the premise of the island tour is a 3-4 tour of Barbados.  

The tour originally cost $35 per person but due to our group size (about a dozen people), the price was reduced to $25 per adult (kids were free!).  The tour includes opportunities to see or stop at 

• Kensington Oval (cricket stadium)
• Mount Gay Rum Distillery
• Holetown (site of the first settlers)
• Oldest church on the island
• Cherry Tree Hill
• Morgan Lewis Windmill
• Bathsheba
• St. John's Parish Church
• Gun Hill Signal Church
• Optional beach stop at Carlisle Bay

Like all group tours I've ever done, the tour offers roundtrip bus service to and from the cruise port.  The buses are enclosed, air conditioned vehicles and offer beer, water and rum punch at no additional cost.

Comments

Given what the tour offers and the price, it sounded like a great value.  Most tours we found to be much more expensive and renting a car or getting a private tour would have easily exceeded the $25 per person cost Tyrone Griffith's tour offered so we gave it a try.

We met our group and the tour right at 9am in the cruise terminal area.  Given this was a tour of people we had never met before, it's always a little awkward at first getting to know everyone but after an hour or so we were all joking.

After a small "paper work" issue (nothing worth reporting here), we all hopped into our van for the tour.  We took this tour in September and it was quite hot and humid.  The van was air conditioned but quite frankly, the air conditioning was weak and while it was better than no air conditioning, it was not exactly cold.  Speaking of the van, we were really packed in and crowded.  Technically the van had space for all of us but sitting in the last row, it felt very crowded and I would not describe it as comfortable.

Another issue was the beer, water and rum punch was not immediately available when the tour began.  We did eventually get what was promised, but it took an hour or so before that happened which bothered me.

As for the actual tour, we did see everything that was listed.  We did not stop at every place, with us driving by some places and stopping at others.  Frankly that's fine with me as stopping at every place would have taken far too long.  The tour driver was sure to announce things and describe them as we passed by and was able to answer the questions we had for him.

We stopped a number of places but the highlight of them was actually a golf course because hidden among the tees were a group of green monkeys that we were able to feed.  These are wild monkeys but it was something none of us had ever done before and it was a very cool experience.  Our driver brought bananas with him and give them to us to feed the monkeys, who were more than happy to take the food right out of our hands.  Amazing.

Barbados is a beautiful island and many of the other stops offered really terrific views and scenery.  By the end of the tour, it was almost like, "oh look, another beautiful view."  

At the conclusion of the tour, the driver gives everyone the option of being dropped off at a local beach or being brought back to the ship.  Beach goers will get a pre-arranged pickup time to be brought back to the ship as well.

Like all group bus tours, it's a different touring dynamic than when you tour somewhere on your own and that's something you have to be prepared for.  You move at the pace of the slowest person in your group and not all stops are going to interest everyone equally.  But if you go with a "go with the flow" mentality, it can be a good experience.

Overall, Tyrone Griffith tour was a fun experience that had some great views.  We managed to make friends with a few of the people on the ship, which was an added bonus.  It's really hard to go wrong with the price despite some of the issues the tour suffered from, including the beverages not being available immediately, the weak air conditioning and crowded bus.

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Royal Caribbean is offering guests a new sale on 2014 cruises.  From November 8 through November 29, 2013, Royal Caribbean will offer balcony staterooms for the price of ocean views and ocean-view staterooms for the price of interiors aboard a Bahamas, Bermuda, Caribbean, or Europe cruise, departing March 1 through October 31, 2014.

In addition, vacationers who take advantage of the offer also can receive a savings of $1,000 per stateroom when the book a balcony or suite-category stateroom on a seven-night or longer Europe itinerary and purchase their air travel through Royal Caribbean ChoiceAir. 

You can choose a 2014 Bahamas, Bermuda, Caribbean or European cruise to take advantage of this deal.  

Vacationers can book a balcony stateroom for the price of an ocean view aboard Adventure of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Independence of the Seas, Jewel of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, and Serenade of the Seas. Ocean-view staterooms aboard Enchantment of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas, Legend of the Seas, Majesty of the Seas, Splendour of the Seas, and Vision of the Seas will be priced the same as interior staterooms. 

The limited-time pricing for ocean-view and balcony staterooms are available worldwide. The Royal Caribbean ChoiceAir offer is available for new and individual U.S. and Canadian bookings. Guest must provide option code SNT1 at time of booking and air travel must be purchased through Royal Caribbean ChoiceAir by Dec. 15, 2013 in order to receive the $1,000 savings per stateroom. Details and more information will be available at www.RoyalCaribbean.com/Upgrade on Nov. 08, 2013.