Royal Caribbean Blog

Each week we summarize all of this week's Royal Caribbean news in one post, just in case you missed any of it. Lots of things happen in your life during the week, so this is your opportunity to catch up on everything Royal Caribbean.

The big news this week came from the rumor mill, with some compelling indications of what Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship will named.

First, a blog post from the FlowRider company specifically referred to Oasis IV as Symphony of the Seas.  Then a few days later, a construction photo shows the same name being prepared on the ship's hull.

Royal Caribbean has made no official announcement regarding what its fourth Oasis class ship will be named, but many believe she will be named Symphony of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean News

• Here is how to get a discount on a Royal Caribbean drink package.
• Five things to love about Navigator of the Seas.
• All this week, we have been LIVE blogging from Majesty of the Seas.
• New photos of Ovation of the Seas in Sydney are quite beautiful.
• Want to do something besides sit at the beach in Labadee? Here are six ideas for fun activities.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 181st  episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, which provides an overview of what Labadee offers.

Royal Caribbean's private destination of Labadee is a highlight for any cruise, and on this episode, Matt looks at what there is to do in Labadee, what to expect on shore, and tips for a fun day.

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

Penn State University has a look at two Royal Caribbean crew members who graduated from Penn State.

Cruise Dudes Podcast interviewed a listener who recently sailed on Allure of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean shares how its cruise ships save energy.

Everyone loves a good beach day, but sometimes you want to branch out and, to borrow a phrase from a past Royal Caribbean marketing campaign, get out there. Royal Caribbean's private destination of Labadee is well-known for its amazing beaches and serenity, but for those that want a little more active fun, here are some suggestions for what to do on your next visit there.

Ride the longest zip line over water

As soon as you step foot onto Labadee, you will likely notice the zip line cables extending down from the top of a nearby mountain, which seems to draw many guests who want to experience it for themselves.

The Dragon's Breath zip line takes you 500 feet above the beach as you reach speeds of 40-50 miles per hour. The zip line is 2,600 feet long and begins atop lookout mountain, and will take you above the ocean and land.

Arawak Aqua Park

If your idea of a good time is jumping, falling and canon-balling into the ocean off giant inflatable objects, then Arawak Aqua Park is perfect for you.  While there is plenty of time spent in the water, unlike a day at the beach, this aqua park is all about expending a ton of energy in this fun marine playground.

Floating trampolines, pyramids and water slides await you as you jump, climb and splash to your heart's content. It is fun for kids and adults who want to keep cool while having a lot of fun while enjoying picture-perfect views of the turquoise sea around you.

Parasail

To get a full appreciation of Labadee's natural beauty, one needs to go about 400 feet in the air on an exciting parasailing adventure.

Going up in a parasail provides one of the best views of Labadee, your Royal Caribbean ship, and the surrounding area. Guests take a scenic journey to the parasailing area, where they fly in tandem high above Labadee.  Without a doubt, you will not find another view like this one.

Jet Ski

Anytime I think of jet skiing in Labadee, I am reminding of this classic Royal Caribbean television commercial.

Regardless of your nostalgia, a jet ski ride is the perfect way for anyone that wants to take a high-speed adventure through the waters of Labadee.  This is great for anyone that wants to indulge their sense of adventure and enjoy Labadee's natural beauty with the wind in their hair.

Deep sea fishing

Did you know you can go fishing while in Labadee? Royal Caribbean provides a 3-hour fishing voyage off the coast of Labadee, where your Captain takes you in search of saltwater fish to catch.

Guests embark on a 25.5 foot boat for an opportunity to try to find and reel in various large fish, such as marlin, tuna, wahoo and mahi mahi. 

Alpine Coaster

Located 680 feet up on Santa Maria’s lookout mountain, you will find the Dragon's Tail roller coaster, which is an alpine coaster.  You may have seen these sort of rides at some ski resorts during the summer months. 

Essentially it is a single car vehicle that races down a track at 30 miles per hour and features 360-degree turns as well as dips, waves and curves, you can catch glimpses of the ocean.

Groundhog Day may be a few weeks away, but it has come early on Majesty of the Seas. We are back in Florida for another turnaround day for my third and final cruise.

I got up early to pack up my cabin and received a phone call from guest services that my on board account needed to be paid. On my pervious cruises I have always had my credit card roll over to the next cruise. However, on this ship you must go down and provide the card each time. Not a big deal, because he said I could come right up to the desk and settle the account. 

At 9am I decided to go move my belongings from one cabin to the next. This time I was going from deck 4, back up to deck 9-ocean view cabin. I didn’t take pictures, but it looks just like the cabin I day from day one blog post. At 9:30 they have all us back-to-back cruisers to meet down by guest services to receive our new SeaPass cards.

This time there were 23 guests staying on board for the next cruise. After going through customs, with a completed form, off to Grills I went. I had this bacon, egg, cheese bagel to the day and I just had to get another one.

I had some friends join me today that are local, few crew friends I’ve made, and even one guest on board. So I had quite a few friends for lunch today, and we stayed until 2pm. It was weird not getting on board until the afternoon hours. 

There were no lines in the new beautiful Terminal 1. This terminal is one of the best designs I’ve seen at any port. There are no escalators just ramp-style hallways that you can easily role down your luggage.

Once on board we quickly went to Johnny Rockets for lunch, are you getting the theme here just food, food, and more food! On the first day they offer 20% off, so it comes up to $5.64 and that includes all you can eat plus a soft drink. I did not really want anything but when on a cruise… I got a single patty burger and at around half. Now my friend Nick, he can’t say the same. He ordered two burgers and stacked them on top of each other. Let’s just say he at every single bite. 

Muster drill was right after our lunch, so at this point I felt like we were going quite a bit. But muster drill today was kind of fun because we had so many dolphins out in the water. They just kept signing back and forth beside the ship, so everyone was taking pictures.

Directly after muster drill we headed to the spa raffle, but sadly no free spa for me – maybe one day I will win. This is a raffle for 5 spa treatments for free, and they pitch many sales during the cruise.

I would say it’s not the most entertaining sail away, but someone has to win. 

Evening onboard 

Tonight we decided to see the comedy show in the main theater. Surprisingly the theater was packed, almost every seat was taken. We went to the 7:30pm show and let out at 8:20pm. It was a nice way to spend some time before dinner and some really good laughs. The comedy was for families and most of the jokes were at first time cruisers and their experience day 1 on board. The comedian was recommending that we all come back to his adult late-night comedy, however we didn’t make it. 

Dinner was in the main dining room, and I had the same waiters from this past week. So that was fun that they knew me and excited to have me back at their table. I ordered the Prime Rib, this is by far my favorite meal the whole cruise in the dining room.

Followed by carrot cake and maybe some ice cream too! 

Well that recaps my full day for turnaround. What an action packed day from start to finish. I went straight to bed after dinner, so that I was well rested for my day in Nassau, Bahamas tomorrow.

There appears to be photographic proof of what Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship will be named.

A photo was shared by Royal Caribbean fan and avid ship construction fan, Lloyd Marchand from the STX France shipyard that shows a piece of Royal Caribbean's fourth Oasis class cruise ship with the outline for what will be the ship's name.

Photo shared by Lloyd Marchand

The letters begin to spell out the rumored name, Symphony of the Seas.  Earlier this week, a partner company accidently posted Symphony of the Seas as the name of the new ship on its blog.

Royal Caribbean has not formally announced the name of this ship yet, although we do know it will debut in Spring 2018.

These days are just flying by, but today is my seventh day on board Majesty of the Seas and it is a sea day. Sea days are always my favorite because you can sleep in and nap every few hours. 

This morning I woke up and had breakfast in the main dining room again. It is funny, usually I just grab a quick bite in the Windjammer on my past cruises, but the service is so great I just keep going back. They have a table setup in the center of the dining room where you can grab fresh fruits while you are waiting for your meal.

I went with the ham and cheese omelet, my waiter said, “same thing again?”

After breakfast I just walked the ship to explore areas perhaps I haven’t seen and walk off some of that big breakfast I just ate. I noticed they had the drink of the day starboard madras for $8 + 18% - not a bad price if you don’t have the drink package. 

In the Centrum they had their final day big sale items. Most of the items were on sale for $10 and buy 4 get 1 free.

I tend to try and avoid these type of activities, but for blog purposes I explored the area and took some photos. I noticed this sales last all day and even another set-up of these items up on the pool deck. 

Afternoon on board 

This afternoon I relaxed on the pool deck and surprisingly it wasn’t that hard to grab a pool chair, event at noon. I enjoyed the poolside live music for awhile until the men’s belly flop contest.

This was a fun contest with 6-8 men jumping in the pool belly first. I wanted to actually join the contest today, but let’s just say I got cold feet! 

After a few hours in the pool I went inside for my first drink of the day in the Schooner Bar.

The average beer price is $6.95 + 18%.

I spent around $50 the whole cruise on drinks, so I’m starting to question my value of the drink package. I did try to purchase the drink package for just today since it’s the last day and was told they don’t offer it. That’s probably the best, because I’m starting to experience drink fatigue from my free drinks in the evening. If you are diamond member they give you 3 drinks per night, and you can request more than 1 (beers not open) and enjoy them at a later time. 

Evening 

I went straight up to the Diamond lounge at 5pm so I could watch the sunset inside. I am so glad I did, because the views were simply amazing.

I was chatting with some other people in the lounge for a while and they just could not believe I am staying on board for the next cruise.

This evening they had the headliner event in the theater. Since, I haven’t gone to a show since the last cruise I decided to go check it out. The gentleman was singing a lot of Latin songs and was doing a great job at it. However, this just was not my style of entertainment, so I left after about a half hour.

The headliner always changes from cruise to cruise, so I would not worry about this if you are coming on board the Majesty of the Seas. 

Dinner was back in the main dining room and it was Matt’s favorite lasagna night! The quality of meat, sauce, cheese has greatly improved because this lasagna was outstanding! It reminded me of my favorite lasagna from Giovanni’s Table, so I am officially a fan. 

Tonight was the Quest at 11pm, and since I was in no rush to get up tomorrow I wanted to go. I talked to some friends around me and no one had ever been to the show before, so I tried to give them a crash course. I will not go into details of the game in case you haven’t been before, but this is a must do if you are on a Royal Caribbean cruise. My team got first place, I think I’m a streak of last 7 cruises getting first place in the game. 

After the game I went straight to the cabin it was almost midnight and I was ready for some sleep for my 3rd cruise. See you tomorrow for turnaround day.

We have reached Friday, and that means it is time to sit back, and enjoy a batch of lovely Royal Caribbean photos that our readers sent in.  Essentially, this is our weekly Royal Caribbean binging on photos that provide a "virtual escape" back to a cruise ship.

We begin this week's photos with this one by Chris Reardon of a gingerbread village display outside the Windjammer on Allure of the Seas.

D J Epstein took this photo of Grandeur of the Seas, as seen from the tender he rode in Grand Cayman.

Check out this photo by Allen Shaffer of Serenade of the Seas waiting for passengers to return in Akureyri, Iceland. 

Eric Hoefman has a gingerbread village photo of his own, with this one from Anthem of the Seas. That is a lot of gingerbread!

Next is a photo of the Boardwalk on Harmony of the Seas. Ken took this photo, and it looks like another busy day of fun in a very popular neighborhood.

Here is Navigator of the Seas in Cozumel, as seen by Scott Shaffer. One of my favorite ships in one of my favorite ports!

We wrap up this week's Friday Photos with this sunset photo by Greg Moore while onboard Voyager of the Seas.  It was taken near Fiji, while Greg was celebrating his 20th wedding anniversary.  Perfect!

Thank you to everyone who shared photos with us this week, and if you want to have your photos showcased, be sure to send us your best Royal Caribbean photos to be used in an upcoming Friday Photos post.  Have a great weekend!

Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on January 26, 2016 at 10am to discuss its fourth quarter 2016 financial results.

The call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations web site,www.rclinvestor.com. To listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. There is no passcode or meeting number. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

The arrival of Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas to Australia is being met with plenty of excitement and attention from an Australian public that is fully embracing having a brand new cruise ship to themselves.  While not everyone reading this post might be in Australia to take advantage of this momentous occasion, we all can enjoy some beautiful photos of Ovation of the Seas down under.

Royal Caribbean took some wonderful shots of Ovation of the Seas in Sydney harbor, and we just had to share them with all of you.

Ovation of the Seas' arrival into Sydney marks her first summer season of Australia and New Zealand itineraries. She is the newest and largest ship in the region accommodating 4,180 guests at double occupancy and 1,500 international crew members.

Today we are in Nassau, Bahamas from 8am – 5pm. My plan today was to just relax and take it easy in Nassau.

I started my morning with some breakfast in the main dining room at 9:30am. They have most of the same options as the Windjammer, but without waiting in lines at the buffet. I enjoy the main dining room because I’m able to sit with my same dining room waiters. I ordered an omelet with ham and cheese and a side of bacon.

Something about eating bacon on a Royal Caribbean cruise that’s so good. The service in the dining room was outstanding, the headwaiter even came over to ask how my service was been going this cruise, very impressive. 

Around 11am I decided to get off the ship and head over to my favorite pub.

I could likely not put the name and many of you would know where, but it’s Pirate Republic Pub.

I had a few flights and met some first-time cruisers beside me. I love talking to people who are on their first cruise to get their feedback on how it’s going.

If you ever venture off to this pub, order the coconut porter it is one of their signature beers.

After I left the pub around 1pm I did not want to head back to the ship, but also did not want to venture off too far.

Well you know the sayings, you learn from your mistakes? Well today, I was reminded how much I dislike Senor Frogs. I went into the bar for 1 beer; the cost was $8 for their local sands beer that’s $1.50 at the sidewalk shops. So I was already wishing I’d stayed down at Pirates or headed back to the ship. I stayed around a half hour and got out of there. They were doing the games, blowing the whistle, just not my scene anymore. 

Back on board I headed up to the windjammer for my afternoon lunch. I had some corn mix that I love and some chicken and fish. The lunch did not look so great, but I actually thought this was one of my best lunches so far.

The quality of the food has started to greatly improve over the last few months. 

Evening on board 

Tonight I watched us sail out of Nassau, so I could take my lighthouse photos, which never get old.

The seas were so calm it almost looked like glass or something in the horizon. I was happy with the pictures I was able to get and headed inside for the evening. As usual, went to the Diamond section of the Viking lounge and it was empty; in fact I was the only one there! Let’s just say I had great service since it was just me. 

At 7:30 they had the welcome back party for their Crown and Anchor members.

Some are curious on the number of passengers on board in each tier, so I wrote them down: Gold 454, Platinum 107, Emerald 59, Diamond 71, Diamond Plus 43, and Pinnacle 4. They also mentioned the Crown and Anchor membership has over 6 million members and 1.5 million sailed within the last 18 months. 

Dinner tonight was in the main dining room. I had met some friends on board and invited them to sit with me tonight, so it was a table for 4. I ordered the French onion soup, scallops, and duck. It was all very good the meat on the bone just fell off with my fork.

For dessert I went with the classic ice cream, almost said nothing but who can pass up ice cream?

Our dinner was a little over 2 hours, but we were all in great conversation that it did not feel long. One thing I’ve noticed with the dining room staff is if you want it to speed up/slow down, just tell them.

After dinner I went straight to bed, no pass go to any areas of the ship straight to my cabin.

Tomorrow is my last day on the leg 2 of 3 and it’s a sea day!

This morning I woke up at 6am; no idea why, I am on vacation but I figured since I’m up I should go watch the sunrise. I am happy I did because it was so beautiful and I took some great pictures. 

 At 8:30am I decided to head over to Coco Cay. They actually start the tender process at 8am and usually invite all guests down around 9am. If you are looking to avoid lines, I would suggest getting down there early. I was doing a Periscope and could not believe how the Voom Internet held from the ship until we pulled up to Coco Cay. 

The weather was perfect today and I was able to walk around and take some great photos. I walked the whole island and really enjoyed the island so empty that early in the morning.

The cabanas facing the ships are different from when I had one in July, so those are also new from the storm.

I also explored down to the beach beds are which is past the floating bar.

The beach beds are the furthest point down the south side of the island. If you were looking for a quite day, these would be perfect. The whole area is all brand new and very nice looking beach beds and beach cabanas. 

For lunch I went over to the VIP party, they had fruit and my favorite shrimp. I met a lady cruising solo for the whole year, so we talked quite a bit. I grabbed my favorite island drink Coco Loco! 

I spent most of my afternoon down at the floating bar.

This was added last year and now a little closer now it used to be. Before you would have to swim out, but now it’s not in such a deep area. The bar holds up to 35 people and you must be 21 to enter.

At 4pm I decided to head back over to the ship to nap before dinner. 

Evening on board 

Tonight was the flag ceremony in the centrum in between the two dinners, so all guest could join. If you have never seen it before, they honor the countries of the crew members. They also have some doing a dance from their culture back home.

For dinner tonight, I was invited to the Captain’s Table. The meal was outstanding, and again I had the filet. I felt so lucky to be apart of such an amazing meal.

 After dinner I enjoyed the ship a little and called it a night. The sun in Coco Cay was getting to me.