Royal Caribbean Blog

Happy weekend! It has been a busy week of Royal Caribbean news and events, and we have a look back at everything that happened this week.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, this week was dominated by the work Royal Caribbean did to help the people of The Bahamas recover as quickly as possible.

Across many of its cruise ships, Royal Caribbean engaged in an ambitious plan to delivery tens of thousands of meals to people across Grand Bahama Island.

Cruise ships in the area made unscheduled stops in Freeport to deliver meals and supplies to aid agencies so that they could be distributed to people in need.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean began organizing the first relief efforts in Freeport just a few days after Hurricane Dorian.
• Royal Caribbean pledged $1 million in Hurricane Dorian disaster relief.
• Royal Caribbean's CEO met with Bahamian and aid agency officials in Freeport.
• Engines were delivered to the shipyard for Odyssey of the Seas.
• CocoCay island re-opened on September 7.
• Top five coolest things about Mariner of the Seas.
• A look at an 8-year-old's favorite things to do on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 318th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where Matt reflects on how a hurricane disrupted his cruise vacation plans.

Cruising in hurricane season comes with its shares of risks, but for the first time a hurricane interrupted Matt's plans and this week's episode is about sharing lessons learned.

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.

New RCB Video: How much does it cost to go on a Royal Caribbean cruise?

Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video — How much does it cost to go on a Royal Caribbean cruise? — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

Orlando Sentinel shared the story of a Bahamian Royal Caribbean worker that was reunited with her family after the hurricane.

News4Jax reported on the work Royal Caribbean is doing to sends thousands of meals, supplies to the Bahamas.

Fox 35 reported on Royal Caribbean's work to transport 261 evacuees from Freeport.

Royal Caribbean's top management met with Bahamian officials and its charity partners earlier today in Freeport, Bahamas to discuss its hurricane relief efforts.

Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Chairman and CEO and Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley arrived in Freeport as Navigator of the Seas helped distribute thousands of meals and supplies to continue the food relief effort in Grand Bahama in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian.

Volunteers from Royal Caribbean’s offices in South Florida joined the effort by boarding Navigator of the Seas this week to assist with hurricane relief. Known as “Go Team” the group is assisting unload relief supplies and evacuee efforts.

Royal Caribbean crew members unloaded relief supplies and meals for distribution at Grand Bahama as part of the company’s disaster relief operation to bring relief supplies and 20,000 daily meals to the impacted community. Meals include sandwiches, proteins with rice and fruits and snacks. Navigator of the Seas is one of many Royal Caribbean ships that will visit Freeport until they can equip a field kitchen to continue the work from there.

As part of its relief efforts in Grand Bahama, Royal Caribbean worked with Bahamian officials to transport evacuees from Freeport, Grand Bahama, to Nassau, Bahamas onboard its ships.

“We can’t make every bad memory of Dorian go away. But we can start making things better—today,” said Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

In the days since Hurricane Dorian rolled through The Bahamas and inflicted a great deal of damage to many islands, Royal Caribbean has assembled a colossal relief effort by having its ships deliver much-needed supplies.  

Royal Caribbean invited us to join them on Mariner of the Seas to get a first-hand look at the hard work their crew, volunteers and staff are doing on a near daily basis across many ships to assist Bahamians who have had their lives disrupted by the storm.

From her homeport of Port Canaveral, Mariner of the Seas sails three and four night sailings to The Bahamas, and while many cruise guests are enjoying a fantastic cruise vacation, a veritable army of volunteer crew members from all types of roles across the ship report to the main dining room to assemble 10,000 meals.

Dancers, technicians, servers, officers and more prepared sandwiches, proteins with rice and fruits and snacks so that they can be distributed in a few short hours to locals in The Bahamas who desperately need it.

These crew members took a break from their personal time to join in the effort and ensure these meals would be ready for delivery on-time.

Beginning at 10:30pm, crew members worked tirelessly to assemble the meals, while occasionally breaking out into a song, cheering a crate being filled and otherwise sharing a smile with each other.  

Fast-forward a few hours later, and at daybreak carts after carts of food was standing by to be delivered into Freeport, Bahamas.

Royal Caribbean is working with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to help distribute the food to those that need it the most.  NEMA is part of The Bahamanian disaster management effort, and essentially Royal Caribbean provides the disaster relief supplies, as well as the manpower to load it for NEMA to distribute. 

A convoy of buses, trucks, and other private vehicles arrived to pick up the supplies. In less than 12 hours, food went from storage to packaged to on a vehicle to be delivered. 

In addition to the supplies delivered, Royal Caribbean also brought aboard hundreds of evacuees so that they could be taken out of Freeport and brought to Nassau, Bahamas. Evacuees enjoyed breakfast, beverages and a movie screening during the short voyage to Nassau. 

Earlier today, Mariner of the Seas became the third ship in Royal Caribbean International's fleet to provide such aid, and there are a number of other ships prepared to do the same in the coming days and weeks.

Royal Caribbean is committing $1 million to Dorian disaster relief and matching every dollar of guest and employee donations. To make sure those donations go where they can do the most good, they are collaborating with the Bahamian government and its non-profit partner, the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), and a network of Bahamian charities and other local organizations, including the Bahamas Feeding Network.

You can donate money by visiting the PADF site.

Cruising with Royal Caribbean is a family affair, as my kids really love when we take them on a cruise vacation. On today's RoyalCaribbeanBlog video, my 8-year-old daughter shares her top five things to do on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Gabriella loves watching Teen Titans Go, dancing to her favorite music, playing with friends and, of course, going on Royal Caribbean cruises.  She has her list of the top five things kids love to do on a Royal Caribbean cruise to share in this video.

And if you love this video, we have lots of other great cruise videos to watch on our Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel!

By the way, have you subscribed yet? Be sure to subscribe to our channel and never miss a single episode!

Do you have kids? What is your kids favorite things to do on a Royal Caribbean cruise? Share their top picks in the comments!

In the days since Hurricane Dorian devastated The Bahamas, Royal Caribbean has mobilized its cruise ships to begin bringing much needed supplies to affected areas.

Yesterday, Empress of the Seas became the first to activate the company’s disaster relief operation to bring relief supplies and 20,000 daily meals to the Freeport, Bahamas community.

Crewmembers prepared sandwiches, proteins with rice and fruits and snacks for the company’s first distribution at noon today. Over the next few days additional ships from its fleet — Symphony of the Seas, Celebrity Equinox, Mariner of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas — will repeat the process.

Guests sailing on Navigator of the Seas were informed their ship would spend Sunday morning in Grand Bahamas Island to assist with disaster relief, followed by its regularly scheduled visit to Nassau. In addition, Navigator of the Seas will bring aboard evacuees like, children, elderly, or those that need immediate medical attention, that will be transported to Nassau hospitals via tenders.

Thanks to Skyler for providing this letter

Mariner of the Seas will also perform similar relief efforts on Saturday, when she spends her morning in Grand Bahamas Island to assist with disaster relief.

Thanks to Amy for providing this letter

Along with Empress, the company is deploying container ships with much needed supplies including 47,000 bottles of water, 362 generators, 250 tarps, 25,000 square feet of plywood, 55,400 diapers and 7,500 pounds of pet food.

Royal Caribbean is committing $1 million to Dorian disaster relief and matchingevery dollar of guest and employee donations. To make sure those donations go where they can do the most good, they are collaborating with the Bahamian government and its non-profit partner, the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), and a network of Bahamian charities and other local organizations, including the Bahamas Feeding Network.

“We can’t make every bad memory of Dorian go away. But we can start making things better—today,” said Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Are you curious how much a Royal Caribbean cruise vacation will cost? In this RoyalCaribbeanBlog video, we share how much it actually costs to go on a cruise.

There are quite a few considerations when it comes to calculating the total cost of a Royal Caribbean cruise vacation, from cruise fare to gratuities to drinks to shore excursions and more. Our video will help break down the major costs of a Royal Caribbean cruise so you can budget for it properly!

And if you love this video, we have lots of other great cruise videos to watch on our Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel!

By the way, have you subscribed yet? Be sure to subscribe to our channel and never miss a single episode!

Royal Caribbean will reopen Perfect Day at CocoCay after its survey teams inspected the private island in The Bahamas on Wednesday.

Travel Weekly reports Royal Caribbean President and CEO Michael Bayley said, "a preliminary team landed on the island late on Sept. 3 and that three teams with different specialties were there on Sept. 4. He said they estimated the winds from Hurricane Dorian reached the Category 2 or 3 levels of 96 to 129 miles an hour."

Damage to CocoCay was most significant on the north side of the island, near the dock that was recently added.  Hurricane Dorian's counter-clockwise winds had a tendency to steer the greatest amount of debris, while the south side of the island was relatively spared.

Up, Up and Away helium balloon will remain temporarily closed for an undisclosed amount of time. Bayley said the decision was taken to deflate the balloon, even though its ground rigging is built to hold it secure in winds of up to Category 2 strength.

Navigator of the Seas will be the first ship to resume calls to Perfect Day at CocoCay, when she arrives there on Saturday.

Shipbuilder Meyer Werft released photos of engines being delivered for Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship that is currently under construction.

The engine module was delivered to Papenburg, Germany last night for installation on Odyssey of the Seas. The engine module consists of four systems with a total power of 67,200 KW.

Set to debut in fall 2020, Odyssey of the Seas will sail from the United States. Additional details on Odyssey will be revealed later this year.

Royal Caribbean announced hours after Hurricane Dorian devastated The Bahamas it would pledge $1 million in aid to the island, and the cruise line is already making good on that promise with the first batch of supplies loaded onto Empress of the Seas.

Guests sailing on Empress of the Seas were informed their ship would deliver much needed food, water, equipment and supplies to the people on Grand Bahama Island. Empress of the Seas was loaded with 10,000 meals, 10,000 bottles of water, as well as medical supplies, generators and other necessities.  The ship will dock off the coast of Grand Bahama Island to make the delivery, before resuming its cruise itinerary.

Thanks to Brad Garfinkel & Skip Bebout for providing this photo

Letters to guests were delivered to their stateroom to explain the extra stop.

We’re with you Bahamas. In the wake of Dorian, we’re mobilizing our fleet to help those who need it. In partnership with the Bahamian government & The Bahamas Feeding Network tomorrow we’ll deliver +43k water bottles, 10k meals, generators, supplies & we’re just getting started. pic.twitter.com/inTc7RDAJn

— Royal Caribbean (@RoyalCaribbean) September 5, 2019

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

Episode 318 is available for downloading, where Matt talks about his recent experience having a cruise impacted by a hurricane.

Matt's cruise on Mariner of the Seas was interrupted by Hurricane Dorian, and this week, Matt shares the lessons learned in the days leading up to, and since, his planned cruise and what anyone cruising during hurricane season needs to know.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 318. 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!