Royal Caribbean Blog

At one point, everyone who has taken a cruise was a first time cruiser, and we all have a few tips and tricks we knew before we stepped foot onboard.

In our brand new RoyalCaribbeanBlog video, our readers share one thing they wish they knew before taking their first cruise.

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 video!

So check out the video and then let us know: What do YOU wish you knew before you cruised?

Royal Caribbean announced they are creating a new stateroom category, the Spa Stateroom that adds in-room amenities and spa privileges.

Here is what is included with the Spa Staterooms:

• 50% off one spa treatment of your choice per stateroom
  • Spa treatments cannot be prebooked, must be booked onboard
• Priority when booking spa treatments
• Upgraded carpet & balcony cushioned balcony furniture
• Upgraded mattress and pillows
• Upgraded jetted shower head
• Upgraded toiletries
• Welcome gift of fresh fruit on embarkation day
• Refreshments delivered daily
  • Water, coffee & tea
• King-size down feather pillows
• Cozy slippers and luxurious robes
• Bluetooth speaker
• Succulents
• Tranquil artwork

These new Spa Class rooms will be double occupancy only.

Spa Staterooms will be available on all on Radiance Class ships and above as of May 2021. Bookings for the Spa Staterooms will become available beginning the week of October 28, 2019.

UPDATE: These staterooms will eventually be available on Radiance, Voyager, Freedom Oasis, and Quantum Class ships. They will be below a suite, but above a standard ocean balcony room.

Four new Spa Category rooms:

• SB -  Spa Oceanview with Large Balcony
  • Not available on China itineraries
  • On Freedom, Voyager or Radiance Class these will be known as Spacious Spa Oceanview Balcony
• S2 - Mid Ship Spa Ocean View Balcony
• S4 - Forward/Aft Spa Ocean View Balcony
• XS - Spa Gurantee Category

Royal Caribbean announced today it will transfer Grandeur of the Seas out of its fleet and will join sister brand, Pullmantur Cruises in spring 2021.

In a statement to travel agents, Royal Caribbean talked about the decision for Grandeur to leave the fleet:

"As we continue to grow the Royal Caribbean brand and develop new offerings, we will begin retiring our more seasoned ships. We know this news is bittersweet, but we’re excited that she’ll join our sister brand, Pullmantur Cruises in the spring 2021. Her story isn’t finished yet!"

Grandeur of the Seas’ final sailing with Royal Caribbean will take place on March 26th, 2021. Thereafter, she will transition to Pullmantur. Enchantment of the Seas, will return to Baltimore to replace Grandeur in spring of 2021.

At this time, there are two sailings impacted by the transition timeline. Grandeur of the Seas’ April 3rd, 2021 and April 15th, 2021 departures will be canceled and all booked guests will be re-accommodated. Impacted guests and travel partners will be contacted shortly with the details.

Grandeur's final sailing for Royal Caribbean International will be March 26th, 2021.

Royal Caribbean's Seeker Sale is offering up to $300 instant savings on top of 30% off every guest and a Kids Sail Free offer.

The Seeker Sale runs between October 16 – 20, 2019 and is valid on sailings departing on or after November 16, 2019.

Offer details: 

• 30% off cruise fare for all guests in the stateroom.
• Kids Sail Free
  • Applies to new bookings made between October 16 – 20, 2019.
  • Kids Sail Free provides free cruise fare for 3rd guests and higher who are 12 years old or younger on select 4-night or longer Alaska, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Caribbean, CaribNE, Coastal, Europe, Hawaii, and Repositioning sailings departing between November 1, 2019 — May 15, 2020 and August 31, 2020 – December 17, 2020.
  • Offer excludes 2019 Thanksgiving sailings (Sailings between November 23 – 30, 2019), Holiday sailings (Sailings between December 15, 2019 — January 3, 2020), President’s Day sailings (Sailings between February 14 — 17, 2020), Spring Break sailings (Sailings between March 14 — 23, 2020), Holy Week/Easter sailings (Sailings between April 3 — 17, 2020) and 2020 Thanksgiving sailings (Sailings between November 21 – 27, 2020). 
• Up to $300 instant savings on select sailings departing on or after November 16, 2019.
  • Savings amount is per stateroom and determined by category booked and sailing length:
    • Sailings 5 nights or less, $50 savings for Interior and Ocean View, $75 for Balconies and $150 for Suites
    • Sailings 6 nights or longer, $75 savings for Interior and Ocean View, $100 for Balconies and $300 for Suites

Royal Caribbean won the award for Best Cruise Line – Asia Pacific and Best New Ship (Spectrum of the Seas) at the Travel Weekly Asia 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards.

Angie Stephen at the award ceremony

At a ceremony held in Singapore this week, the cruise line has been a winner of Travel Weekly Asia awards since their inception in 2015.

The awards are presented to travel companies and individuals for their outstanding achievements, and recognize top travel organizations for their commitment, contributions and accomplishments.  The winners were determined by the travel trade and public through voting of 10 categories.  The categories represent the different segments of the travel industry which includes cruise, airline, resort, hotel, service residence, destination, technology, tourism experience, car rental and travel agency.

Angie Stephen, Managing Director, Asia Pacific of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. who accepted the awards said, “Our double Travel Weekly Asia awards are such a great way to start our upcoming new seasons in the region, and we thank all Travel Weekly Asia readers and our travel agents for their long-time recognition and support for Royal Caribbean.  We aim to continue delivering our award-winning cruise experience and service with our best ships Quantum of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas to all our customers and agents in Asia, as we look forward to the new decade with more growth opportunities.”

Royal Caribbean is testing out a new feature of its smartphone app that allows guests to order food from specialty restaurants via its smart phone app.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader Preston shared details of the new app feature, which provided guests the option to order food items from restaurants such as Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, Izumi sushi or Johnny Rockets. Food items that do not have a fixed price, such as Johnny Rockets, cost anywhere from $3-$7 and a large pizza from Sorrentos costs $5.

Guests can choose to have the food delivered to their stateroom, or anywhere on the ship. If stateroom is selected, the room number is pre-selected by the app based on the guest's reservation. 

Alternatively, guests can have food delivered to them by selecting what deck they are on, and then drag and dropping a pin on a map to indicate where you are located on that deck. There are some no-delivery zones, like pools, waterslide lines, theaters, and other restaurants. 

Once the food is ordered, the server locates you based on the pinpoint and delivers the food as soon as it is ready. Thanks to Mark for doing "research" for us!

Many thanks to Mark and Danna for providing screenshots and "field testing" this new feature!

Royal Caribbean announced a brand new private island destination at Perfect Day at Lelepa in Vanuatu.

The private island will be built with sustainability features designed to safeguard the island's ecosystems and will be the first carbon neutral private cruise destination in the world. Royal Caribbean's Perfect Day at Lelepa will be audited and certified by an independent, third-party expert to ensure it meets the standards for carbon neutrality. Details on the extensive and innovative techniques we will employ to achieve carbon neutrality will be released soon.

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley announced the new project was created in partnership with the community of Vanuatu, "to showcase the distinct natural ecological beauty and diverse local culture of the island nation as well as provide employment and education opportunities."

"We believe our destinations should be sustainably designed," Bayley said. "That idea goes beyond simply protecting the ecological features of Lelepa and includes showing respect for the people and traditions that make this a special place."

Perfect Day at Lelepa will have a different look and feel from Royal Caribbean's wildly popular Perfect Day at CocoCay "because our guests around the world all have different definitions for their perfect day — and all of them are right. Our designers and nature have created the ideal South Pacific experience and we expect the results will be stunning."

Royal Caribbean's website indicates the new private island will open sometime in 2022.

We hope everyone reading this is having a wonderful Sunday and enjoying some time this weekend with friends, family and some good food too.  There was a lot of Royal Caribbean news this week, and we have summarized all up into one easy-to-read blog post for your convenience!

Royal Caribbean revealed its fifth Oasis Class ship will be named Wonder of the Seas and it will sail from Shanghai, China.

Under construction in Saint-Nazaire, France, Wonder of the Seas will be the next ship in Royal Caribbean's lineup of innovative ships.  She will debut in 2021 as the world's largest cruise ship and the first of the renowned Oasis Class to sail the Asia Pacific.

More information on Wonder’s itineraries and brand-new adventures will be announced soon. 

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean held its first late night visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay.
• Quantum of the Seas will get laser tag and an escape room in its upcoming refurbishment.
• Royal Caribbean is creating its own branded beer for Perfect Day at CocoCay.
• Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver visited his restaurant on Navigator of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

Helping friends take a Royal Caribbean cruise is always a great pleasue, and on this week's podcast, Sheri and her family just went on Harmony of the Seas for their first Oasis Class experience.

Sheri shares what her first Royal Caribbean cruise in quite a few years was like on this week’s episode. 

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: Why you NEVER want to buy a drink package on a Royal Caribbean ship

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 — Why you NEVER want to buy a drink package on a Royal Caribbean ship — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

Cruise Tips TV shared a video if the Thrill Waterpark Cabana is worth it.

Eyewitness News reported that Royal Caribbean crew, staff and volunteers have served almost 600,000 meals for the people of Grand Bahama.

HospitalityNet wrote about how Royal Caribbean pricing tactics are utilizing AI.

Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas will undergo a multi-million dollar month-long renovation later in October in preperation for her new Southeast Asian season out from Singapore from this November.

The ship will enter dry dock upon arrival in Singapore to give Quantum a new look and feel, as well new features such as the laser tag game and escape room that can be enjoyed by guests of all ages. 

Every five years, Royal Caribbean ships undergo routine maintenance work.  Quantum is ending her four-year plus deployment in China and she will next undergo renovation to prepare for her new Southeast Asian season out from Singapore from this November.

This week, Quantum of the Seas visited Keelung Port, as she is making her way from Tianjin to Singapore over a 12-night one-way journey which also includes Fukuoka, Hong Kong, Hue/Danang and Ho Chi Minh City as ports-of-call. 

Quantum of the Seas will first offer 34 Southeast Asian cruises over six months from November 2019 to April 2020.  The ship will then return for a longer season in October 2020, with a total of 40 sailings over seven months till April 2021– the cruise line’s longest ever deployment in the region for a Quantum Class ship.

Her itineraries include 4-night cruises to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang) and Penang or Phuket, 5-night cruises to Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Penang and Phuket and a 7-night cruise to Bangkok (Laem Chabang) (with an overnight) and Ho Chi Minh City.  This will also be the ship’s first time in the region for festive cruises of Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year.

"The potential of the Taiwan cruise market is tremendous, being the second largest in Asia.  There is stronger awareness here for our international style of cruising and our world’s most innovative ships thanks to our trade partners’ efforts in the recent years.  Now with our best and newest in the region namely Quantum of the Seas, we are confident of attracting even more Taiwanese to cruise with Royal Caribbean," said Josh Wen.

Friday is here and that means it is time to share our readers' favorite Royal Caribbean photos! Each week, we invite our readers to send us photos from their past Royal Caribbean cruises to be showcased on the blog.

With the weekend nearly upon us, here is this week's batch of fabulous photos!

We begin with a photo by Martin of Symphony of the Seas, as seen from Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Next, we have a photo of the Parade of Flags on Brilliance of the Seas. Photo by Bill Barber.

Lynne Anderson took this photo of the 80's pool party on Rhapsody of the Seas.

Misty Meredith snapped this photo of Harmony of the Seas docked at Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Here is a shot of Grandeur of the Seas in Bermuda, taken by Dave Horn.

Ken Janson grabbed this photo of Radiance of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas docked near each other in Skagway, Alaska.

Our last photo this week is by Ernest Enchia, and it is of the Ultimate Abyss at night on Symphony of the Seas.

Thank you to everyone for their great photos, and we invite everyone reading to send in their photos too.  Use this form to submit your photos to be included in an upcoming Friday Photos post!