Royal Caribbean's second cruise ship to sail from North America this summer is now available to book.

Vision of the Seas reservations are open for booking by guests on its website, as well as by calling or booking through a travel agent.

The new bookings are available to book immediately, beginning with the June 26 sailing. Sailings between June and August 2021 are open for booking.

Guests of any nationality or residency may book these sailings, but all guests 18 years or older must be fully vaccinated by the time of sailing.

The requirements to book a Vision of the Seas cruise from Bermuda are:

• For guests 18 years of age and older, proof of being fully vaccinated for COVID-19
• Proof of a negative SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test result for entry into the country where you are sailing from (age requirements vary by jurisdiction)
• Completed Royal Caribbean Health Questionnaire, available in the app 24 hours before sailing
• Typical travel documents, including passport or any visas as required by the departure country

Prices for Vision of the Seas sailings begin at $514 per person.

The sailings will visit Perfect Day at CocoCay in The Bahamas before returning to Bermuda to offer an overnight stay in Bermuda.

Just like Adventure of the Seas from The Bahamas, Vision of the Seas will sail from Bermuda as a means to get around the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ban on cruise ships.

Other ships scheduled to sail this summer include Jewel of the Seas from Cyprus, Odyssey of the Seas from Israel, and Quantum of the Seas from Singapore.

In December 2021, Grandeur of the Seas will begin cruises from Barbados.

Meanwhile, pressure continues to mount in the United States to get the CDC to lift its ban of cruise ships, or at least open a pathway for cruises to restart sailing.

A series of statements from local and state officials have come out lately in support of getting cruise ships sailing again, given the massive double standard in policy they are facing.

The cruise industry is also asking travel professionals and cruise fans to step up and tell their leaders to pressure the CDC as well.

Royal Caribbean announced its second cruise ship to restart North American cruises will be Vision of the Seas from Bermuda.

Similar to the cruise line's announcement last week that Adventure of the Seas would restart cruises from The Bahamas, Vision of the Seas will sail from outside the United States so that it can offer cruises sooner and without approval from the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Building on the cruise line's slow and calculated return to service, Vision of the Seas will begin sailing from Bermuda and offer cruises that visit Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Just like Adventure of the Seas, sailings on Vision of the Seas will require all adults above the age of 18 to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19.

The cruise line also said current health and safety measure, like others, may evolve as they are evaluated on an ongoing basis.

In addition, travelers must meet the travel requirements of Bermuda. This currently includes receiving a negative PCR test result before traveling, testing upon arrival into the country and filling out appropriate entry forms. The most up-to-date policies can be found on Bermuda’s website.

Guests under the age of 18 will need to provide a negative RT-PCR test result.

The itinerary will be:

• Bermuda
• Sea day
• Sea day
• Perfect Day at CocoCay
• Sea Day
• Bermuda
• Bermuda

Vision will begin sailings from Bermuda as soon as June 26, 2021. Vision will be offering a summer season between June through August 2021.

The new sailings open for booking on March 29.

As a result of this redeployment, previously scheduled Vision of the Seas sailings departing from San Juan, Puerto Rico are cancelled.

Those guests currently confirmed on impacted sailings departing June 6 — August 29, 2021 can choose from one of the following compensation options:

• A refund of all funds paid
• An elevated 125% Future Cruise Credit to sail with Royal Caribbean at a later date

All impacted guests and associated travel agencies will soon receive an email notification to present a more detailed version of these compensation options.

In the meantime, cruises lines continue to wrestle with the CDC for progress at a glacial pace that will hopefully allow cruise ships to begin offering test sailings.

Right now, Royal Caribbean is waiting for technical instructions from the CDC on what ships need to do in order to be ready for the simulated voyages need to prove cruises can restart safely.

Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said earlier this week that he still doesn't know when cruises will restart in the US.

"As most of you know, the order called for several phases and for the CDC to issue detailed technical rules for each phase. The first of such technical rules was scheduled to be released in December, and many of you was asked when we expect to receive them. In fact, I would answer that the pace of science has simply overcome that process."

"We don't know what the CDC is contemplating to address this very different set of circumstances. But just as they and other public health officials are doing elsewhere, we expect they will all adjust to the changes that have been and are taking place today."

"The Conditional Sail Order was a very positive step at the time, but that time has passed. We look forward to a constructive dialogue with health officials in the United States and elsewhere for the path forward under these new circumstances."

Royal Caribbean announced two upcoming sailings in June in order to assist with repatriating crew member efforts.

Vision of the Seas’ June 13th, 2020 and Anthem of the Seas’ June 20th, 2020 sailings are the two cancelled sailings that were announced today.

Royal Caribbean is using these ships to ferry crew members home due to local travel restrictions.

Unfortunately, local travel restrictions and commercial flights have made it extremely challenging to get our crew safely home. We’ve been working with our partners at Cruise Lines International Association and the CDC for months to get our crew safely home, and sailing to their home country is the best option.

As a result of the cancellation, Royal Caribbean is providing these guests with the option of a 125% Future Cruise Credit or a 100% refund.

Future Cruise Credits issued on these sailings should be received by Friday, June 5th, 2020.

The Vision of the Seas June 13th sailing was scheduled to be a 12-Night Mediterranean Greek Isles cruise from Barcelona.

The Anthem of the Seas June 20th sailing was scheduled to be an 8 Night Spain & Portugal Cruise from Southampton.

Royal Caribbean's plans to get crew members home was reported in the last 24 hours.

The crux of the matter that prevented crew from getting home sooner was evidently the CDC's rules for disembarking crew that included provisions such as requiring crew go home via chartered or private transportation.

In the letter from Royal Caribbean International CEO Michael Bayley to crew, it explains the legal entanglement that is created by sending crew home now, "The CDC will only allow us to disembark crew members if company executives, myself included, are willing to attest — subject to criminal penalties including imprisonment — that we will not use any public transportation and that each crew member will comply with certain conditions after disembarking the ships. We are happy to do all the things they requested, but the criminal penalties gave us [and our lawyers] pause."

While Bayley said he hopes the threat of criminal prosecution will be removed, he said, “we have decided that the importance of getting you home is so great that we will sign these documents as they are written today to help get you off the ships.”

Thanks to Katina Bradley for alerting us to this announcement.

Royal Caribbean has released a "soft update" to its new smart phone app that allows guests sailing on Vision of the Seas to start using the app.

The new version does not list Vision as a supported ship in the app store, but opening the app shows both ships on the list.  

The new app is being actively developed, which means not all features area available on the app yet.  Moreover, the cruise line is slowly rolling out support for more ships.

The app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

Royal Caribbean informed travel partners that four of its cruise ships will be redeployed in 2018-2019.

In an unusual occurrence, Royal Caribbean is changing the deployment of ships that have already been announced.  Much of the change is merely swapping one cruise ship for another, but there are some cancellations included as well.

Majesty of the Seas will move to Tampa for sailings between 6/22/18 - 4/29/19.

The following Majesty of the Seas sailings are being cancelled: 5/7/18 - 6/18/18.

Guests on these canceled sailings will have their ship changed to Enchantment of the Seas.

Empress of the Seas sailings for 5/9/18 - 3/30/19 will be changed to Majesty of the Seas.

In addition to the change in ship, the 6/25/18, 8/6/18, 9/3/18, 9/17/18, and 10/1/18 sailings' itineraries will be modified.

Enchantment of the Seas will move to Port Canaveral, Florida for sailings between: 5/4/18 - 4/15/19

Guests on these sailings will be moved to Vision of the Seas, a ship in the same class.

The following Enchantment of the Seas sailings are being cancelled: 6/23/18 - 3/13/19 & 4/19/19.

Vision of the Seas is being moved to Galveston. 

The following Vision of the Seas sailings are being cancelled: 3/9/19 - 4/13/19.

New sailings will be open and ready to book on November 21st, 2017.

Royal Caribbean announced today a number of new sailing options to the Caribbean from New Orleans, Galveston and Miami.

After a three-year hiatus, Royal Caribbean will return to offering cruises from New Orleans, Louisiana with Vision of the Seas in the winter of 2018-2019. Beginning on December 15, 2018, Vision of the Seas will offer 7-night itineraries to the Bahamas and Yucatan Peninsula.  

Before making her way to New Orleans, Vision of the Seas will offer two 16-night sailings through the Panama Canal from Miami to Los Angeles, California. This will be the first time in three years that Royal Caribbean has offered a cruise through the Panama Canal.

Lastly, Mariner of the Seas will call Miami, Florida home in 2018, following a transpacific cruise.  Mariner of the Seas will be the first Voyager Class ship to offer short Caribbean sailings. Before she offers cruises from her new home, Mariner of the Seas will undergo an extensive 32-day revitalization. Once back in service, Mariner of the Seas will offer 3- and 4-night itineraries from PortMiami, beginning on June 21, 2018.

Enchantment of the Seas will join Liberty of the Seas in Galveston, Texas, offering 4- and 5-night Caribbean cruises. She arrives in Galveston on June 23, 2018.  Guests currently booked on Enchantment for sailings departing Miami after June 23 will be contacted individually to transition the original booking to Mariner of the Seas.

Sailings onboard Mariner of the Seas will become available to book on May 1, 2017.  Enchantment of the Seas and Vision of the Seas sailings will be available to book as of May 5.

Royal Caribbean has added even more Vision of the Seas sailings from Galveston, Texas, with guests now able to book sailings through April 2018.

Royal Caribbean announced initial Vision of the Seas sailings for November and December 2017, but has now expanded those offerings to extend through April 2018.

Vision of the Seas will offer 4- and 5-night itineraries to destinations in the Western Caribbean, such as Costa Maya and Cozumel.

Vision of the Seas is the second Royal Caribbean ship offering cruises from Galveston, joining Liberty of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean added some new Vision of the Seas sailings in 2017, from Galveston, Texas.

The new sailings are available for booking now, and include 4- and 5-night cruises to destinations in Mexico.

Sailing dates begin on November 6, 2017 and extend through the end of December.

Royal Caribbean announced today it has changed deployment plans for which ship will be based in Cape Liberty, New Jersey, by replacing Rhapsody of the Seas with Vision of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean had announced in April that Rhapsody of the Seas would be based in the New York City area with Anthem of the Seas, but all of these previously announced Rhapsody of the Seas sailings have been canceled.

From May 20, 2017 through the end of October, Rhapsody will offer a variety of exciting 7-night round trip sailings from Venice, Italy.

At the conclusion of the Mediterranean season, Rhapsody will return to Tampa, Florida as planned and begin sailings on November 19, 2017.

On August 22, Vision of the Seas will offer a 16-night Transatlantic sailing from Copenhagen, Denmark to Cape Liberty, New Jersey with several calls in Denmark, Norway, Scotland and Iceland.

On September 7, Vision will offer a 13-night open jaw sailing from Cape Liberty, New Jersey to Quebec City, Canada.  The sailings departing from Cape Liberty on September 20, October 1, and October 11 will replace the previously planned sailings offered on Rhapsody and include calls in Boston, Massachusetts, as well as multiple ports in Maine and Nova Scotia.

Vision’s current fall Europe itineraries, including those departing from Venice, Italy from August 22, 2017 through November 17, 2017 will be canceled.

To accommodate guests booked on the affected sailings, Royal Caribbean will provide vacationers with a full refund of their cruise fare, the opportunity to re-book on another Royal Caribbean ship as well as an onboard credit to use during the newly booked sailing. In addition, vacationers who purchased airfare through Royal Caribbean will receive a full refund. Guests purchasing their own airfare will be given a refund for their airline change fee. All refund transactions will be automatically processed back to the original form of payment within four to six weeks. Commissions for travel agents will be protected for all cruises that are fully paid.

Guests requesting more information are asked to contact Royal Caribbean International’s customer service team at 1-800-256-6649 or their travel agent.

Royal Caribbean will be adding its high-speed internet service to Navigator of the Seas and Vision of the Seas at some time in May 2016.

Royal Caribbean UK confirmed via Twitter that the service, known as Voom, will be coming to both ships at sometime in May 2016.

@ZacharyCocker @RoyalCaribbean Hi Zachary, VOOM is available to Navigator in May.

— Royal Caribbean UK (@MyRoyalUK) April 25, 2016

@Mistyrobert Hi Robert, Vision will have VOOM from May onwards.

— Royal Caribbean UK (@MyRoyalUK) April 25, 2016

No word on which sailings will be the first for either ship that it will have Voom, but there is now confirmation these two ships are getting it.

Royal Caribbean rolled out new tiered internet plans last week for its Voom service and with that change, more Royal Caribbean ships are now offering the Voom service than were previously offered.

Voom has been spotted for sale on other Royal Caribbean ships that did not previously offer Voom, including Liberty of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas.