Royal Caribbean released new information about summer 2019 European cruises.
The newly released sailings include:
These new sailings are also being shown as available for booking via Royal Caribbean's web site.
Royal Caribbean previously announced European sailings for summer 2019 on these ships as well.
A lot of people going on a Royal Caribbean cruise find the idea of getting a drink package quite attractive, primarily due to the convenience and potential value offered by the drink package. However, a drink package is not an option for everyone, and there are some great alternatives to getting a drink package that will not break your budget while still allowing you to enjoy your favorite drinks onboard.
Don't get us wrong, a Royal Caribbean drink package works for a lot of people who really enjoy the options it provides. But we also hear from a number of readers who like to enjoy a few drinks, but fear a drink package will not be financially viable for them. As a result, we came up with some strategies to enable those people to enjoy drinks onboard without feeling like they are overpaying for drinks.
If you are considering if a Royal Caribbean drink package is worth it, or are looking for other options, here are some good strategies we have used on past cruises.
Within a few minutes of visiting any port your cruise ship goes to, inevitably you will start seeing advertisements for inexpensive alcoholic drinks. Many ports of calls drink prices are far cheaper than what you may find onboard your ship, and that means you can take advantage of the lower prices on shore.
Finding bars or vendors selling inexpensive beers, cocktails and more is not usually difficult. Drinking on shore is quite popular, and so, bars and restaurants are usually abound with great drink specials.
Obviously drinking on shore does not help with enjoying a drink onboard your Royal Caribbean cruise, but on itineraries that are port intensive it can be a great stategy for offsetting the need to drink onboard in the first place.
In this "age of the drink package", it is often lost in discussions that Royal Caribbean runs a lot of drink specials onboard throughout the cruise. Even before drink packages became a popular choice, drink specials were an option offered for years.
The key to finding a drink special is to spend a little time seeking them out. Drink specials are most often advertised via two means: a sign on a bar, and/or an ad in the Cruise Compass. Some drink specials are for certain times, while others are offered for part of the cruise. The key is to seek them out and take advantage of the drink specials to ensure out of pocket costs are low(er).
One of the oldest, and yet most well-known drink special, is the drink of the day. This is a cocktail picked out daily that is reduced in price, usually about 25% or so off the normal price. The drink of the day is a great choice for saving on drinking costs, and something offered throughout the day at all bars.
Have you heard about something where you can pre-purchase 10 drinks for a set price? Usually the price is somewhere between $75-85 and you can share the drink card with anyone you want. That means a $12 cocktail would cost you really about $7.50-$8.50 each with the drink card.
Sounds perfect, right? Well, the drink card is not available on all ships or sailings. It is something Royal Caribbean can offer, but there is no way to know if it will, nor can it be pre-purchased. It is a sort of gamble that you need to hope for to become available on your sailing.
If the drink card is available, it usually becomes available around half way through your sailing, so on a 7-night cruise, it might show up on day 3 or 4.
Again, there is no means of which to know if a drink card will be available on your cruise with any kind of certainty.
This tip only applies to guests that are at least Diamond level in Royal Caribbean's customer loyalty program, the Crown and Anchor Society.
Diamond members and above are entitled to complimentary drinks each evening of the cruise. Primarily, you get unlimited drinks for a few hours in the Diamond Lounge, although Royal Caribbean does allow Diamond members to get an additional 3 drinks per evening at any bar or lounge during the same time period.
The drinks available to Diamond members is somewhat limited, but you cannot beat the price. Usually there is a three hour block of time for Diamond drinks, taking advantage of this perk means not having to pay out of pocket for drinks in the hours leading up to dinner.
If you happen to be a suite guest, you are entitled to take advantage of complimentary drinks in the Concierge Lounge. Similar to the Diamond Lounge, this is an exclusive area for suite guests, where you can enjoy a variety of complimentary drinks.
Just like the Diamond Lounge, the complimentary drinks are available for a few hours each evening.
Keep in mind you are free to take drinks out of the Concierge Lounge and venture out around the ship (same with the Diamond Lounge).
Did you know that Royal Caribbean allows guests to bring up to two bottles of wine per stateroom on their Royal Caribbean cruise?
Each bottle of wine may be up to 750ml in size and should be brought on in the luggage you carry onto the ship. Do not put the wine in the luggage you hand over to the porters on embarkation day.
Wine lovers will be able to bring a couple of bottles of their favorite wine on their cruise at a savings compared to purchasing the wine onboard. Moreover, bringing your own wine means you will save money on your total bar tab during your cruise.
My favorite aspect of bringing your own wine is if you do not finish the bottle of wine, Royal Caribbean can store the wine for you and deliver it another restaurant at that time.
It is important to be aware that Royal Caribbean will charge you a corkage fee for personal wines opened at any restaurant or lounge onboard. Even with the corkage fee, you will still save a significant amount of money compared to purchasing a bottle of wine onboard.
Symphony of the Seas is days away from completion; here's an inside look at her final phase of construction. The world's largest and most innovative cruise ship is coming to life with a combination of new first-at-sea experiences and signature Royal Caribbean favorites that will excite and inspire guests of all ages. From the Ultimate Abyss -- the tallest slide at sea, to new dining concepts and original aerial, ice and aqua entertainment, the whole family is in for a cruise vacation experience unlike any other.
Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas wrapped up her second set of sea trials, meaning she is one step closer to being ready to enter service.
Symphony conducted her second set of sea trials, which ran between March 3 and March 4, 2018. Ouest France reports Symphony of the Seas returned to STX Franch shipyards in Saint-Nazaire after about 24 hours of being at sea and is now ready for delivery to Royal Caribbean on March 23rd.
During these sea trials, the tests aimed to finalize the performance of the ship.
Between now and the delivery date, finishing work will be done onboard the ship.
Welcome to March! We hope you are having a great weekend and are ready to sit back, relax and catch up with all the latest Royal Caribbean news!
Royal Caribbean announced this week that Jewel of the Seas will be repositioned to Miami in January 2019.
The move meant a number of sailings had to be cancelled, with guests who had booked one of those sailings receiving letters to inform them of the change and to provide rebooking options.
It appears Jewel of the Seas will sail out of PortMiami between January and April 2019.
The 239th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, all about Matt's favorite spots to enjoy sail away from while on Royal Caribbean.
In this episode, Matt counts down the places on a Royal Caribbean cruise he thinks are the best for when it is time for your cruise ship to depart a port.
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.
GTP Headlines reports Royal Caribbean has registered its cruise ships with HELMEPA.
Orlando Sentinel wrote about Symphony of the Seas debuting this month.
Loop shared 9 things to know about Symphony of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean has cancelled all shore excursions requiring a ferry ride in Mexico today, following a safety warning issued by the U.S. State Department.
Guests aboard Liberty of the Seas and Allure of the Seas recieved notices that their shore excursions scheduled to take place on Friday, March 2 in Cozumel were cancelled.
Royal Caribbean informed guests of the new State Department warning, which discouraged travel on tourist ferries in Cozumel.
The letter adds, "The U.S. State Department remains confident of the Mexican government's efforts to ensure the safety of all tourists in the country. However, in an abundance of caution we are cancelling sponsored shore excursions that involve tourist ferries. We also discourage guests from taking part in independent excursions that involve ferry travel."
Letter to guests on Allure of the Seas. Photo by Gears
Letter to guests on Liberty of the Seas. Photo by Twangster
We reached out to Royal Caribbean to get a sense if this cancellation of shore excursions involving tourist ferries will extend to other scheduled stops in Cozumel, but have not received a response.
The start to another weekend has arrived and we like to kick off our Fridays with our readers' favorite Royal Caribbean cruise photos!
Our first photo this week is by Kinny Lee of two Oasis Class ships in St. Maarten, Allure of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas.
Travis N. sent in this photo of Allure of the Seas arriving in Nassau.
Here is a shot of Vision of the Seas docked in beautiful Akureyri, Iceland, during its once-a-year transatlantic cruise from Copenhagen to New York. Photo by John McCormack.
Jarrod Quantrelle took this photo of Harmony of the Seas while the ship was docked in Costa Maya.
Take a look at this towel animal display on Explorer of the Seas, taken by Gary Brown.
Debi Speed shared this photo taken in Lisbon, Portugal while visiting aboard Navigator of the Seas.
We finish up with this photo by David Donnelly of Independence of the Seas arriving in Southampton.
Thank you to everyone for sharing photos with us this week. If you want to share your best Royal Caribbean photos, use this form to send them in!
Royal Caribbean has kicked off its 72 hour Tour & Explore Sale, with up to 25% off select shore excursions booked through the Cruise Planner.
Guests on qualifying sailings may find 15%, 20%, or 25% off onboard prices of select excursions via the Cruise Planner site.
Offer applies to select sailings departing March 13 - October 29, 2018. Keep in mind that not all sailings may see the sale applicable, nor are all offers significantly cheaper than previously posted.
Based on the countdown timer, the sale will expire at midnight on Sunday night.
To check if your sailing has this new offer available, log into the Cruise Planner on Royal Caribbean's web site and navigate to the Dining & Beverage section to see any available offers.
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.
Royal Caribbean is offering 30% off all guests and Kids Sail Free offer with the March promotion.
The 30% off every guest applies to sailings departing on or after April 1, 2018 on new bookings made between March 1 and 28, 2018.
Here are the offer details:
Offer excludes China departures. All other charges, including, but not limited to, taxes, fees and port expenses, are additional and apply to all guests. 30% off, Caribbean Bonus, Kids Sail Free and Suites Bonus are combinable with each other as well as NRDB OBC, OBC, instant savings, NextCruise offers, restricted discounts (for example, Senior, Resident, Military), Shareholder benefits and Crown and Anchor discounts. 30% off bookings made for China departures are combinable with NextCruise offers and Crown and Anchor balcony/suite discounts only. All offers are not combinable with any other offer or promotion, including, but not limited to: Standard Group, Interline, Travel Agent, Travel Agent Friends and Family, Weekly Sales Events, Net Rates.
Offer available to residents of United States and Canada.
It looks like Royal Caribbean will be re-deploying Jewel of the Seas to PortMiami, beginning in January 2019.
Royal Caribbean has begun informing guests that were booked on Jewel of the Seas via email that sailings between January and April 2019 are cancelled.
Guests who were already booked on Jewel of the Seas on one of the affected itineraries are being offered rebooking options, which include onboard credit. Guests can also opt for a full refund.
On Royal Caribbean's website, Jewel of the Seas shows sailings leaving from Miami in early 2019 to a variety of destinations in the Western and Southern Caribbean.
There is no word yet which, if any, ship will replace Jewel of the Seas in San Juan, Puerto Rico.