Royal Caribbean Blog

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.

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

Episode 181 is available for downloading, which provides an overview of Royal Caribbean's private destination of Labadee.

There is so much to see and do in Labadee, and Matt has a guide to what to expect when visiting Labadee and a look at the various popular options and activities onshore.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 181. 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!

It looks like the name of Royal Caribbean's fourth Oasis class cruise ship may have been leaked by a partner company that works with the cruise line.

FlowRider touted the work it is doing with its largest client, Royal Caribbean, and repeatedly referred to the fourth Oasis class ship as Symphony of the Seas.

The blog post mentions the new ship in reference to the the fact it will have a FlowRider onboard, "But what does all of this have to do with music? Well, Symphony of the Seas®, that’s what. This is what RCCL will call their fourth OASIS Class cruise ship and it’s due to be commissioned later this year! Translation: we are super busy building #17 and 18 on the beautiful Ms. Symphony. With even more in the pipeline, can we ask for a better advertisement for repeat business? For customer AND consumer satisfaction? And if it is “good to great” enough for RCCL, shouldn’t it be for you?"

Royal Caribbean has not officially announced the name of its fourth Oasis class ship yet.

Oasis 4 is under construction in STX France and will join Royal Caribbean's fleet in spring 2018.

Credit for spotting this news goes to Harmony of the Seas Facebook group first.

Did you know Royal Caribbean offers discounts on its very popular unlimited alcohol drink package?

Too many people buy a drink package on their ship and pay full price having missed out on the chance to save a lot of money.

In order to get a discount, you just need to do a little bit of work before your cruise to snag a lower price. The good news is anyone can get a lower price for a drink package with very little effort!

Many folks want to know how to get a drink package discount, so here's how to pay less.

Pre-cruise

Generally speaking, Royal Caribbean offers discounts on its drink packages that are pre-purchased via the Cruise Planner site before the cruise begins. 

The exact discount will vary, although it is common to see a 20% discount off the daily rate. No matter what discount you see online, it will be cheaper if you buy it before your cruise compared to waiting to book it onboard.

Royal Caribbean has been known to run even more lucrative discounts from time to time. The intriguing aspect to that discount is the daily price for a drink package seems to vary from ship to ship, and sailing to sailing.  If you have more than one cruise booked on different ships, you may find different sale prices.

To find the discounted rates, log into the My Cruises section of the Royal Caribbean web site, and navigate to the Cruise Planner section for the sailing you are interested in.

Once logged in, navigate to the Beverage section and look for advertised rates. You will likely see something similar to this: 

If you are comfortable with the price, you can purchase it for as many (or as few) guests as you like.  Keep in mind that you will be charged in full for the drink package at the time of purchase.

It is also worth noting beverage package purchases made online can be canceled and full refunded at any time, up until about 3 days before your sail date.

You can buy a drink package up until 48 hours before your sailing.

Ignore the percentage off

Here's a secret about the pre-cruise sale you see for your drink package: the percentage off is meaningless.

Instead of comparing how much off the drink package is today versus another day, look for the bottom line price.

Essentially, you'll want to do a mock booking in the Cruise Planner to get the total price to determine if the actual price.  Royal Caribbean advertises percentage off the onboard price, but we will never know the onboard price until you're actually onboard.

Book now to protect yourself

A common mistake is for someone to wait to book their drink package to see if the price will go lower.

The reason waiting to book a drink package until closer to your sail date is a mistake is because the price could go up, and then you would end you paying more than you originally saw it listed for online.

Instead, you should book the drink package at whatever price you see it for online before your cruise.  Remember, you can always cancel it if you change your mind later, up to 48 hours before your cruise begins.

If later the price goes down, you can cancel and rebook the drink package and take advantage of the lower price.

By booking the drink package now, you lock in the price and protect yourself against a price increase while still being able to take advantage of a price drop.

What is the cheapest price for a Royal Caribbean drink package?

If you're new to cruising, how do you know if you're getting a good deal or not?

Before we get into pricing, it's important to note that what someone else paid for their drink package has no bearing on how much you should expect to pay. Drink package prices vary from ship to ship, and sailing to sailing.

Unlike a retail store where you could price match what someone else paid, there is no such mechanism on cruises.

Remember, no matter what the price you see online, it will be cheaper than onboard the ship if you were to wait!

These days, a per-day drink package cost of below $65 is about as cheap as it gets for the deluxe beverage package.

Rarely do we see prices go below that threshold, and it is extremely rare to see the deluxe beverage package priced below $60 per person, per day.

Realistically, you can expect to pay between $65 - $90 per person, per day for the unlimited alcohol package.

The Royal Refreshment package will cost between $22.99 - $29.99 per person, per day.

The soda package should range between $8.99 - $10.99 per person, per day.

If you aren't seeing prices as low as what's listed here, there really isn't anything you can do to change that.  Keep checking back for price drops, as there's usually a sale every 4-6 weeks.

Onboard

Getting a drink package onboard is only an option if you are higher up in Royal Caribbean's customer loyalty program.

Royal Caribbean includes drink package discounts onboard the ship to its Crown and Anchor Society members who are Diamond, Diamond Plus or Pinnacle level.

We have seen discounts offered at 20% off for Diamond, 30% off for Diamond Plus, and 40% off for Pinnacle.  As with all onboard discounts available to Crown and Anchor Society members, it is up to you to ask the crew member for the discount to be applied at the time of purchase.

If you are not a Diamond or above member in Crown and Anchor Society, there are no discounts available for drink packages.  

Unfortunately, you cannot combine your Crown and Anchor discount with the price you see online.  You have to choose between one or the other.

If you are brand new to Royal Caribbean, there is no discount onboard and the price will be sold to you at the prevailing rates. In this scenario, you want to pre-purchase it online before your cruise.

Regardless of which method you use to take money off the cost of your drink package, one of these strategies will save you a good amount of money on your next Royal Caribbean vacation. Enjoy!

From Asia to the Caribbean, in the summer or in the winter, guests on Royal Caribbean's Quantum class ships can luxuriate by the pool no matter the weather. The smart ships fully retractable roof can open or close to suit all climates.