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Three of Royal Caribbean's Oasis Class cruise ships will play a game of musical chairs for sailings scheduled in 2022 and 2023.
The changes include some cancellations and redeployments, partially due to Royal Caribbean's announcement earlier today that Wonder of the Seas will sail from Port Canaveral in November 2022 to April 2023.
The changes apply to previously scheduled sailings on Symphony, Harmony, & Wonder of the Seas.
Here is a breakdown of the changes:
Before today's announcement, Royal Caribbean had Wonder of the Seas sailing from China.
Impacted sailings are between October 29th, 2022 – January 17th, 2023.
The Wonder of the Seas 10/29/22 – 1/17/23: China sailings are cancelled, since Wonder has been redeployed to Port Canaveral.
Non-China guests are provided option of 125% FCC or 100% Refund.
Wonder of the Seas will replace Harmony of the Seas in Port Canaveral, affecting Harmony of the Seas sailings between November 6th, 2022 – April 23rd, 2023.
The November 6, 2022 sailing is cancelled. Guests booked on this sailing will be provided option to rebook on a select sailing or 100% refund.
Harmony of the Seas sailings between November 13, 2022 – April 23rd, 2023 have been transferred to Wonder of the Seas.
Guests will be auto transferred from Harmony to Wonder in like for like accommodations with price protection.
Guests booked in suites on Harmony will be contacted directly. Downgraded suites will have all Suite Class amenities protected, along with $300 onboard credit per stateroom.
Royal Caribbean also modified the itinerary of 7 sailings:
Instead of sailing from Port Canaveral, Harmony will be redeployed to Fort Lauderdale between 11/12/22 – 3/4/23 to offer new 6- and 8-night itineraries.
Harmony of the Seas then moves to Miami for cruises between 3/11/23 – 4/22/23 to replace Symphony of the Seas.
Symphony of the Seas will have her deployment altered, but not replaced, for sailings between March 4th, 2023 – April 29th, 2023.
The March 4, 2023 sailing has been shortened from 7-Night to 5-Night. Guests will be provided $100 OBC to stay on sailing. They also have the option to stay on 5-night cruise, rebook a select sailing, or 100% refund.
Symphony of the Seas sailings between 3/11/23 - 4/29/23 have been transferred to Harmony of the Seas.
Guests will be auto transferred from Symphony to Harmony in like for like accommodations with price protection.
Royal Caribbean has provided new deployment fliers to reflect these changes.
Royal Caribbean updated its deployment schedule and the Europe 2023 cruises have been delayed for the second time.
Originally, Europe Summer 2023 was set to open the week of December 6, 2021, but they delayed it until the week of December 13. It will now be released on the week of January 3, 2022.
The world's largest cruise ship will call Port Canaveral and the Central Florida area home next winter.
Royal Caribbean announced the soon-to-be-launched Wonder of the Seas will be based in Port Canaveral between November 2022 and April 2023.
From Port Canaveral, Wonder of the Seas will offer sailings to the Eastern Caribbean, including stops at Perfect Day at CocoCay.
The cruise line says the new sailings open later today.
Wonder of the Seas was already scheduled to spend summer 2022 in Europe, and at the conclusion of her season there, she will transition to Port Canaveral to begin her winter season from Florida.
Wonder of the Seas is finalizing the construction process before she debuts in March 2022 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The inaugural sailing of Wonder of the Seas is scheduled for March 2022. Wonder will spend a few months in South Florida before heading to Europe in May 2022.
Wonder of the Seas is the fifth Oasis Class cruise ship and will take away of world's largest cruise ship from Symphony of the Seas when she debuts.
Wonder is 236,857 gross tons, measures 1,188 feet in length, and has a maximum passenger capacity of 6,988 passengers, in addition to 2,300 crew.
In fact, Wonder has 100 cabins more than Symphony of the Seas.
Another difference between Wonder of the Seas and other Oasis Class ships is the addition of an eighth neighborhood to offer a private suite area onboard the ship. It will feature an exclusive deck with its own pool, bar and plenty of sun loungers, as well as nooks for lounging.
Read more: Wonder of the Seas tour
Planning a cruise? Here's some helpful articles:
Royal Caribbean won't let you embark the ship at a different port of call or leave the ship earlier during your cruise.
The policy on the cruise line's downline embarkation has changed, according to an update sent to travel agents via email.
Up until now, passengers were able to request to embark or disembark at a port of call other than the scheduled embarkation/disembarkation port.
"Down lining" was on a request basis only, subject to consideration and approval by Royal Caribbean. While they used to allow down lining, they also discouraged it due to implications resulting from unscheduled itinerary changes and weather/sea conditions, which would have resulted in missing a guest's port of embarkation/debarkation.
Royal Caribbean will no longer allow cruise passengers to pre-plan early debark or late embarkation for any of our ships.
Why the change? As many countries continue to enforce travel restrictions, Royal Caribbean says the decision was made "in an abundance of caution for the safety and security of our guests."
Should guests who reserved flights through Royal Caribbean's Air2Sea program experience delays in air travel that result in missed cruise embarkation, downlining to a future port-of-call remains an option as long as the guest is fully vaccinated and able to show proof of required Covid-19 test results prior to boarding.
Here is the full statement by Royal Caribbean:
“Royal Caribbean will no longer allow cruise passengers to pre-plan early debark or late embarkation for any of our ships. As many countries continue to enforce travel restrictions, this decision was made in an abundance of caution for the safety and security of our guests."
"Should guests who reserved flights through our Air2Sea program experience delays in air travel that result in missed cruise embarkation, downlining to a future port-of-call remains an option as long as the guest is fully vaccinated and able to show proof of required COVID-19 test results prior to boarding.”
Joining a cruise ship after the cruise begins or leaving it before it ends sounds like an odd thing to want to do, but it happens more often than you might think.
A common reason to join the ship down line is if you miss the embarkation for some reason, or if at the end of the cruise you need or prefer to depart early for convenience.
Quite often it was used by someone who found a different port of call made it more convenient to join or depart the ship than where the cruise was scheduled to begin or end.
Over the past few weeks, Royal Caribbean has updated many policies as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some other recent actions include banning smoking in the casino, stricter mask rules, cutting off complimentary international Covid-19 tests and more.
Based on these changes, it appears the cruise line is looking to limit risk, as well as reduce the demand on crew members for certain functions.
The elimination of down lining not only cuts down on paperwork for the ship, but helps maintain the "bubble" approach to cruising in terms of limiting outside Covid-19 exposures.
Planning a cruise? Here's some helpful articles:
Getting your passport renewed just got a lot easier, thanks to a new executive order.
The passport renewal process has traditionally been a burden that required an in-person appointment and plenty of paperwork. During the pandemic, the passport renewal queue became overrun and slowed to a crawl.
But it it looks like now getting your passport renewed will be a lot easier.
President Biden directed the State Department to design and deliver a new online passport renewal experience that doesn’t require any physical documents to be mailed.
The "Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government" was signed on December 13, 2021 in an effort to save Americans time when they need to renew their passport. It also aims to reduce the effort and cost by requiring a post office visit and use checks.
"Every interaction between the Federal Government and the public, whether it involves renewing a passport or calling for a status update on a farm loan application, should be seen as an opportunity for the Government to save an individual’s time (and thus reduce “time taxes”) and to deliver the level of service that the public expects and deserves."
It is not clear when this new order will go into effect, nor when exactly the online passport renewal will become available, but it is a welcome step right in the right direction for travelers.
When the new site does launch, its goal is to offer a new online passport renewal experience that does not require any physical documents to be mailed.
In short, American citizens need a passport for cruises that embark or disembark from a foreign country. Passports are also required for sailings that begin and end in different U.S. ports.
However, U.S. Citizens on a closed loop sailing, a cruise that begins and ends in the same port in the United States, do not have to have a passport. Instead, they can travel with a government-issued photo ID and proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.
There are exceptions to Americans being able to cruise without a passport, such as if a country the ship is visiting requires a passport.
Read more: Do you need a passport for a cruise?
Whether you need one or not, it is a really good idea to get a passport.
First, going through Royal Caribbean's check-in and the customs process after the cruise is significantly easier with a passport.
Second, if you were ever stuck in a foreign country, having a passport means being able to get home very simple.
Without a passport in a foreign country, you would need to obtain a temporary passport for reentry into the United States, but it is a time-consuming process.
There's always something new and different happening with Royal Caribbean that it's hard to cover it all, but there were a few things over the last few days that I've summed up in a new post.
There are smaller updates from across the fleet that I think are kind of interesting, neat, or otherwise good to know.
If you ever have a news tip, feel free to email it to [email protected] for possible inclusion in a future update!
It appears Royal Caribbean is rolling out its own brand of water cans to replace water bottles.
For years, Royal Caribbean has offered water bottles to guests, but Joshua Greenfield shared he was on Odyssey of the Seas last week and the ship now had aluminum cans instead of water bottles.
Matthew Moss said the bartender on his ship claimed the cans were easier to recycle than water bottles.
Royal Caribbean's Terminal A in PortMiami had a festive look when Oasis of the Seas returned to dock there on Sunday.
Karen Fraser snapped up photos of Royal Caribbean's cruise terminal with Christmas red and green colors displayed around the terminal.
Photo by Katie Miller
The building is equipped with LED lighting, which allows Royal Caribbean to change the color lighting as it sees fit.
Enchantment of the Seas is getting ready to restart cruises on December 23rd, but work on the pool needs to commence first.
Gladys Cruzen shared a letter given to guests on a test cruise to inform them of unplanned maintenance is needed in the adults-only Solarium, in addition to ongoing work on the pool deck.
Enchantment of the Seas will restart sailings from Baltimore when she returns to service.
Good news, we are all one week closer to our next Royal Caribbean cruise! In case you missed any of the Royal Caribbean fun from this week, here is our weekly round up!
Royal Caribbean gave everyone more time to take advantage of its flexible cancellation policy when it extended the Cruise with Confidence program again.
Cruise with Confidence was extended another month, as long as the sailing was booked by January 31, 2022.
This means you can cancel a sailing up to 48 hours before the cruise begins in exchange for a future cruise credit toward any cruise that sets sail through December 31, 2022, or one year from the original sailing date, whichever is later.
The 433rd episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, featuring a review of Pete's Adventure of the Seas cruise.
Peter went on Adventure of the Seas for a Thanksgiving cruise and shared his experience 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.
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 — What they aren't telling you about going on a cruise right now — and don’t forget to subscribe here.
All the cruise ships are built outside the United States, which may lead you to wonder why these massive ships are built elsewhere.
Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and all the other major cruise lines have their new ships built in shipyard primarily in Europe.
As you may have guessed, the primary reason why cruise ships are not built in the United States comes down to cost. In short, it costs too much to build a cruise ship in the United States for a few reasons.
Royal Caribbean serves its guests thousands of meals and snacks across every ship on a daily basis, including a few items that may make you raise an eyebrow when you see it.
Liquid mushroom truffle risotto
Because Royal Caribbean serves an international clientele, there are going to be things on the menu that are not what you are used to. Expanding your palate is one thing that makes going on a cruise fun, but every so often there is a dish that is so different you can't help but think, "that is weird."
I try to be as open minded as possible when I go to any restaurant, but I've run across a few foods on Royal Caribbean that are just too much out of my comfort zone to give a try. I'm certain there are plenty of people who love these foods, but it seems like those foods are at best an acquired taste.
Whether you want to be an adventurous eater, or just want to gawk at what else there is, here is my list of five weird foods served on Royal Caribbean cruise ships.
I love the new menu at Giovanni's Italian Kitchen, but the Truffle & Eggs pizza is something I thought about a lot and could never get myself to try.
This pizza has a fried egg on it, which evidently is a very common thing in Europe.
Linken D'Souza, Royal Caribbean's Global Vice President Culinary, Dining & Beverage, told me when Giovanni's launched about the decision to include a fried egg on pizza, "We've gone back to recipes traditionally seen in Europe. So, for example, it's very rare for you to see a fried egg on a pizza."
"That's actually very common in Europe. There's actually restaurants and every pizza they serve will do a fried egg on it."
I know they say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," but I think I'll stick to one of the other eight other amazing pizza options on the new Giovanni's menu.
This article could have been almost entirely made up of foods from Wonderland specialty restaurant, but I decided to pick just one that stood out as the weirdest, which is the tomato water appetizer.
Let me start off by saying I love tomatoes, but the tomato water serving is just strange in its taste, serving, and texture.
Essentially, each guest is given a test tube of the tomato water to drink as a shot. Tip your head back, close your eyes and look out stomach, because here it comes.
Besides the presentation being odd, not even an ardent tomato lover like myself really wants nothing but straight tomato essence.
While a staple of Royal Caribbean's main dining room menu, the first time anyone sees escargot on the menu is almost certain to evoke an "eww" after hearing what it is.
Escargot is baked snails, and it is indeed a delicacy.
The menu describes the escargots bourguignonne as, "tender snails drenched in melted garlic-herb butter."
This is one weird dish that I've grown to enjoy, mostly because it's more garlic and butter than anything else. But I also try not to think too much about what I'm about to eat when I eat it.
Something I only saw for the first time a month ago was variations of gravlax in the Windjammer on Odyssey of the Seas.
Gravlax or graved salmon is a Nordic dish consisting of salmon that is cured using a mix of salt and sugar, and either dill or sprucetwigs placed on top, and may occasionally be cold-smoked afterwards.
While I've seen plenty of smoked salmon in my day, the beetroot and dill gravlax made me stop and stare.
Nick Vitani posted photos in the Royal Caribbean Dining Facebook group of the gravlax that was served on Navigator of the Seas and it elicited quite a few comments.
We have many readers here from the United Kingdom, and while I appreciate all of your support, there are some weird British food in the Windjammer I have always shaken my head at as I walk by for years.
Royal Caribbean will offer traditional British foods in the Windjammer, such as bangers and mash or Yorkshire pudding. You see these foods on European itineraries, but they also show up on North American sailings as well.
I am the first to admit it's only weird because I'm not British (and even as an American, grits are equally weird), but I have yet to find the motivation to try "English Bacon" or "English Bangers".
Royal Caribbean has a new sale on pre-cruise purchases, including drink packages, shore excursions, wifi and more.
The Countdown to the Holidays sale runs between December 10 - 16 2021 and is valid on sailings from December 14, 2021 to December 31, 2022. It includes all ships, except Spectrum of the Seas and charter sailings.
Here is what is included during the sale:
BEVERAGE: Up to 40% off
SHORE EXCURSIONS: Up to 25% off
INTERNET: Up to 50% off
DINING: Up to 55% off
ACTIVITIES: Up to 20% off
Gifts & Gear: Up to 55% Off
PHOTO PACKAGES: Up to 70% off
Spa: Up to 30% Off
In general, cruise planner sales have the potential to save money, but exact savings differ from sailing to sailing.
Royal Caribbean does not apply a flat discount across its sailings, but many items are cheaper to buy online before the cruise than once onboard.
To check if your sailing has this new offer available, log into the Cruise Planner on Royal Caribbean's web site look for any available offers. Keep in mind that not all sailings may see the sale applicable, nor are all offers significantly cheaper than previously posted.
If you spot a better discount on something you already pre-purchased, you should be able to cancel the purchase and then re-purchase the same item under this promotion.
More helpful information
As we approach the start of a new year, there is not only a lot of optimism surrounding a full year of cruises once again, but also some big changes and additions.
Royal Caribbean is always planning years in advance, and 2022 is shaping up to be a cruise season full of intriguing choices for a vacation.
A new ship, the return of other ships, new deployments and much more await cruisers in the new year.
I picked out five of the most intriguing changes or additions that someone going on a cruise in 2022 will want to be aware of before booking a new cruise.
First and foremost, in 2022 we will see every single Royal Caribbean cruise ship return to service.
When 2022 begins, four Royal Caribbean ships will still be out of service: Vision, Voyager, Radiance and Rhapsody of the Seas. But there are plans for each of these to start back up again.
In addition to ships returning to service, we should also see capacity get back to pre-pandemic numbers.
Royal Caribbean executives outlined their plan to have full capacity likely around summer 2022.
Royal Caribbean Group Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty told investors in October 2021, "We are kind of preparing our business to maximize our revenues and profitability in this very kind of lucrative peak summer season."
Royal Caribbean will send four ships to Alaska in 2022, which should finally see the region get four ships there, including two Quantum Class ships.
Ovation, Quantum, Radiance and Serenade of the Seas will sail to America's last frontier in 2022 and offer 7-night cruise vacations departing from Seattle; Seward, Alaska; and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Not only will there be many ships there, but Royal Caribbean is also introducing new itineraries that tout four ports of call and others that showcase twice the glaciers
When you have a new cruise ship launching, that's big news.
Wonder of the Seas is scheduled to begin sailing in March 2022 from Fort Lauderdale for a brief Caribbean season before heading to Europe for the summer.
Wonder will become the world's biggest cruise ship when she debuts with a March 4, 2022 sailing. Port calls will include Cozumel; St. Maarten; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, among others.
In summer, Wonder moves to Barcelona, Spain, to offer seven-night Mediterranean cruises, calling on ports like Capri and Palma de Mallorca.
Wonder of the Seas will be similar to other Oasis Class ships by featuring distinct neighborhoods, albeit with one change. This ship will have a brand-new Suite Neighborhood, bringing the number of onboard neighborhoods from seven to eight.
The Suite Neighborhood offers Royal Suite Class cruisers access to a private restaurant, lounge and sun deck with a plunge pool and dedicated bar.
The ship will also offer a reimagined pool area; Wonder Playscape, an interactive, top-deck family play area; and The Vue, a cantilevered bar that offers panoramic sea views.
If you want to cruise somewhere different, there are always new itineraries to consider when booking a cruise.
Rhapsody of the Seas will begin sailing from Bridgetown, Barbados in November 2022 and offer port intensive Southern Caribbean cruises.
There are a number of 5-, 7-, 8-, and 14-night cruises to choose from, visiting destinations such as Trinidad, Grenada, Guadeloupe and more.
On the on 14-night sailings, Rhapsody is offering overnights in ports like Aruba and Cartagena.
Also new in 2022 will be cruises to Bermuda from Florida.
Mariner of the Seas will introduce sailings from Florida to Bermuda, which is something that has not been offered in any recent memory.
These 8-night cruises will include two days in Kings Wharf, before heading to Nassau for a late night stay and then a full day at Perfect Day at CocoCay.
A new expansion to Perfect Day at CocoCay is tentatively scheduled bring an adults-only area to the private island in 2022.
The plan is for this expansion to open in "late 2022", although nothing more specific has been divulged.
Hideaway Beach will be complimentary, and located on the western end of the island adjacent to Thrill Waterpark.
Which Royal Caribbean change are you most excited about for 2022? Tell us in the comments!