We're about 24 hours away from Royal Caribbean's big event in New York City to reveal more details about its newest cruise ship, Quantum of the Seas.  The special event will take place on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 10am eastern time, when Royal Caribbean will pull back the curtain a little more to share more about its latest cruise ship.

Quantum of the Seas is under construction in Germany at the Meyer Werft shipyard and there's lots of speculation as to what this ship will include.  Some experts are expecting two to three cruise ship enhancements that are not just new to Royal Caribbean, but to the cruise industry as well.  Some ideas of what these innovations could be include various multi-functional day-to-night public spaces, as well as state-of-the art environmental technologies.

We will provide live coverage of the event as well as any live video feeds that may be available.

The Navantia ship yard in Cadiz, Spain signed an agreement last year to make upgrades to Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas but a labor strike at the port could put those plans in jeopardy.

Royal Caribbean is scheduled to send Brilliance of the Seas on April 24 to the port, with the intentions of making improvements to the ship as well as perform maintenance.  The date for the work coincides with the new threat of a labor strike in the metal sector and a call for demonstrations in Cadiz shipyards.

The strike could be avoided if labor can get the industry to sign a collective agreement between April 17-19 but unions have already threatened to extend the protests.  Spokesmen for metal workers are in favor of going for an indefinite strike if no agreement prior.

The possibility of these labor issues clashes with Royal Caribbean's needs.  The contract stipulates the shipyard has half a month to repair the cruise ship.  Setbacks with labor could lead Royal Caribbean to cancel the contract, as was done in March when labor issues arose and forced the MS Grand Holiday to move the work to the French shipyard in Marseilles because of the uncertainty of the labor situation in Cadiz.

The port expect the strike to not happen again, especially since Royal Caribbean has a history of sending its ships to the port for work over the years.  Starting in 2009, Voyager of the Seas was refurbished there as well as Splenodur of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean has taken its highest ever pre-booking registrations from its customers who are excited to try Oasis of the Seas cruise ship in Europe.

Royal Caribbean will offer a limited number of sailings aboard Oasis in fall 2014, when the largest ship in Europe will sail the Mediterranean as well as stop in Southampton, England.

Royal Caribbean reports its reservation teams have had to work overtime as well as hire part-time employees to handle all of the cruise bookings since the ship's European bookings went on sale to Crown and Anchor Society members this week.

Employees from other departments across the business have even been pulled in to answer phones and take bookings, said Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean Associate VP and general manager UK and Ireland Jo Rzymowska spoke about the demand, "The thousands and thousands of pre-registrations to be one of the first to book Oasis of the Seas' European cruises are simply mind-blowing and the ship really is living up to its incredible reputation as being a game changer for the industry."

"We have increased the size of the team and have contingency team members ready across the whole business to handle the peak in calls we are expecting when the ship opens for general sale on Thursday at midday."

Royal Caribbean is looking to attract families by offering discounts on passengers staying in a cabin as the third or fourth person in the cabin.

For new U.S. and Canadian bookings made from April 10 through May 10, 2013 aboard select Royal Caribbean ships, the reduced third- and fourth-guest fares offer vacationers up to 50 percent savings for sailings departing on Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2013.

Reduced third- and fourth-guest fares start at $99 per guest for three-night Bahamas cruises and $199 per guest on four- to seven-night Bahamas, Bermuda, Caribbean and Europe cruises.

Those interested in booking this sale, contact your travel agent or go to Royal Caribbean's web site at www.RoyalCaribbean.com/April34Guest.

Royal Caribbean has unveiled their 2014 Northern Europe cruises that will sail out of Hamburg, Germany aboard Legend of the Seas.  

Legend of the Seas' 2014 Scandinavia and Baltic cruises from Hamburg will open for sale on April 11, 2013 with the 2014 Europe Cruisetours available for booking immediately.

Legend of the Seas is coming off its recent refurbishment where much of the ship was revitalized as part of the fleet-wide refurbishment that is ongoing.  

Royal Caribbean executive vice president of Global Sales and Marketing, Lisa Bauer, commented on the news, "“There is no better way for families and adventurous vacationers to experience Europe than with Royal Caribbean. Whether it’s aboard our world’s most innovative and award-winning ships or on one of our fascinating cruisetours, vacationers will be WOW’ed by a Europe vacation that can only be found with Royal Caribbean. Most of our ships have been recently revitalized and offer guests our newest exciting entertainment and the most contemporary onboard amenities, which together make for a most unforgettable Europe vacation.”

For the 2014 Hamburg sailings, Legend of the Seas will reposition from Stockholm to Hamburg on July 27, 2014, sailing an intriguing 14-night itinerary throughout the Baltic Sea that features a three-day call at St. Petersburg, Russia; a maiden call for the cruise line at Fredericia, Denmark; and a return to Klaipeda, Lithuania –last called in 2008. Throughout Aug. 2014, Legend of the Seas will sail every Sunday on a seven-night, roundtrip itinerary from Hamburg, calling at Oslo, Stavanger, Geiranger and Ǻlesund, before departing on Sept. 7 for a 16-night trans-Atlantic sailing to Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, N.J. Alternatively, vacationers also can embark in Oslo for the seven-night, roundtrip Norway itinerary, or for the ship’s trans-Atlantic crossing. 

Royal Caribbean executives are going to meet with the Australian transport minister this week to discuss a list of improvements to Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal that the company would like to see happen.

Starting July 1, a new $20 per passenger fee will come into effect and Royal Caribbean wants the new revenue to be used to upgrade the cruise facilities.

The new fee is expected to generate $10 million in the first year.

Royal Caribbean regional vice president Gavin Smith commented, "We are asking for a relationship between that fee and infrastructural improvement. We are maintaining our dialogue with the minister about OPT. We are looking for a responsible investment that helps defray our costs.”

Smith said he was "very hopeful" of a favorable outcome to the negotiations.

Royal Caribbean has a list of improvements to the cruise terminal they would like to see, including additional seating in the upper level of the terminal, an expanded shelter for baggage handling (Royal Caribbean currently has a canopy at its own expense), a restroom block to replace existing temporary facilities, upgraded escalators and better air conditioning.

Johnny Rockets has become famous for its simple menu of burgers, fries and milk shakes combined with a 1950s décor and for many years now, Royal Caribbean has offered passengers the chance to experience Johnny Rockets at sea aboard a few of their cruise ships.  Today we review this specialty restaurant and look at what is available for you to enjoy.

Johnny Rockets is featured on Freedom class ships, Voyager class ships, Oasis class ships and Majesty of the Seas.

Atmosphere

If you've never been to a Johnny Rockets before, on land or sea, it's a '50s style diner that features a lot of chrome, white and red.  It's simple enough and its staple is serving up "all-American favorites" like burgers, milk shakes and fries.  The Royal Caribbean experience is pretty similar to what you find on land, with perhaps a smaller venue but largely it's hard to find differences between the two.

Johnny Rockets offers three seating options, indoor booth, outdoor booth and indoor bar stools.  By far the indoor booths are the most popular because of the climate control but since most Royal Caribbean cruises that feature Johnny Rockets serve warm-weather ports, sitting outside is usually a viable option. 

As you walk in, you will find the restaurant playing music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s with nickel operated jukeboxes at each booth (although none of them were functional on our cruise).  There's old fashioned straw dispensers on the table and every so often the entire staff of the restaurant breaks into a dance number to entertain the guests.

Eats

The Johnny Rockets menu is pretty straight forward in terms of what is offered.  Burgers are what the restaurant is known for, but there's melts, salads, hot dogs and a sandwich or two to round things out.  Their milkshakes are also famous for being quite good.

To start with, everyone is served french fries and onion rings.  They are on the menu but my guess is they are so popular that Royal Caribbean decided to just serve them to everyone in the way other restaurants serve bread as you are seated.  The fries and onion rings are fine but you can tell they were frozen and have been microwaved.  As a matter of personal taste, I did not care for the onion rings because there was more breading than actual onion, never mind that they are probably the same quality onion rings I can buy in my supermarket's frozen food section.

Looking at the menu, I felt compelled to order what Johnny Rockets is best known for and opted to start with a bowl of chili and then ordered the Rocket Double burger and a strawberry milkshake.  For the purposed of the review, I wanted to get what I felt was representative of the restaurant.

First up was the milk shake and I have to say this did not disappoint.  Milk shakes are the one item on the menu that costs extra on top of the cover charge to eat here and it I'm sure the rationale behind that decision is because everyone enjoys these bad boys and would otherwise order milk shakes constantly.  My shake was quite good, with the right thick consistency that is more than just ice cream in a cup without going overboard.  Definite two thumbs up and frankly, I probably drank too much of it before my meal came out.

The chili was fairly bland, although the grated cheese and chopped onion on top helped.  In addition, the chili was luke-warm and once again I suspect this was pre-made (probably frozen) and just reheated.  I saved a little bit to add to my burger but it's not something I'd recommend.

After a long wait, my burger arrived and it looked okay but once again, I was not impressed.  It was just okay and I'm not sure I could not have come up with something similar at the Windjammer lunch buffet for less cost and probably a lot quicker.  Yes, the burger is better than your average fast-food burger but it's nothing great and about half way through I decided it was not worth finishing.  Considering this is what Johnny Rockets prides itself on, I was disappointed.  

Overall

This was my third time at a Johnny Rockets on Royal Caribbean and my experience here is similar to my past times as well.  The food here just is not that great and everything tastes like it was once frozen.  If I'm paying extra to eat here, I expect the quality to be better than what I received.  Combined with the fact there's almost always a long wait to eat here and the cover charge, I find it hard to recommend dining at Johnny Rockets.

I will say the milk shakes are quite good and if you can get a coupon in your Crown and Anchor Society ultimate value book for buy one get one free (as we did this time), it's probably worth it.

My recommendation is if you do eat at Johnny Rockets, just munch on the fries and order a milk shake and skip the rest of the menu.  The slow service and mediocre food just aren't worth it and I felt like we were better off dining at the Windjammer than here.  Given the fact that my experience this time mirrors other times dining here and more than likely there is a Johnny Rockets near your home town, you are best served to skip the one at sea and save your money for another specialty restaurant onboard.

Johnny Rockets is open between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. and we reviewed Johnny Rockets aboard Freedom of the Seas.

Have you eaten at Johnny Rockets?  Do you agree with our review? Share your thoughts in the comments!

In an interview with Royal Caribbean Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific Gavin Smith, the topic of Royal Caribbean's new Oasis-class cruise ship that is on order for a few years from now.

While Smith was not able to go into any great detail about the third Oasis class cruise ship, he did give us an idea of what to expect.

"It could be expected that the DNA of the earlier Oasis Class ships will be protected, and a host of new and innovative amenities will be added to further enhance guest experience."

Construction of the new ship will begin in September 2013 at the STX France shipyards. The third Oasis class ship is expected to be delivered to Royal Caribbean sometime in 2016.

Royal Caribbean Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, Gavin Smith, spoke in a recent interview about the prospects of Royal Caribbean sending cruise ships to India.

"The Indian cruise market is believed to have enjoyed modest growth in recent years. It is certainly on Royal Caribbean’s list of high-potential source markets, and mid- to long-term growth is anticipated. The most significant impact on this growth will be a decision by any of the major cruise lines to home port a ship in India. This will create a market; however, it will depend on the provision of adequate facilities."

Smith reiterated the single most important thing needed to grow the Indian cruise market is development of the port infrastructure in India. For that to happen, local government needs to commit to the idea of developing its ports, which in turn will send a clear signal to the cruise market that India is ready for international cruise ships.

"The establishment of a dedicated facility does not have to be expensive or an architectural marvel. It is important that it is low-cost and functional. There are many ports around the world that have erected temporary facilities to attract the industry, and at an appropriate time have constructed permanent facilities, thus, achieving responsible growth in conjunction with the cruise industry."