During an earnings call with investors, Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley confirmed that every ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet will have Voom high speed internet onboard.

Bayley made the announcement following an investor question surrounding Voom and its profitability.

Earlier this month, Voom options began appearing via Royal Caribbean's Cruise Planner site for ships that had not previously offered Voom.

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 internet is Royal Caribbean's exclusive high speed internet that allows guests to stream music and movies, upload pictures, video chat with family and friends using FaceTime or Skype, check their email, lookup their stock prices, surf the web and stay connected with work via VPN.

When the calendar turns to Friday, that means it is time to share our readers favorite Royal Caribbean photos!  Each week, we ask our readers to send us their best photos and we will share them on the blog.

Our first photo this week comes to us from Adam Powers of a marvelous sunrise, taken on Independence of the Seas. Beautiful!

Earl McGrath sent us this photo of the kids splash area around 2am on Allure of the Seas.  Love the pool deck at night!

Janeen sent us this photo of Majesty of the Seas in Cocoa Cay December 2015. Looks like another perfect day in paradise.

Belinda Maxwell shared with us this photo on Independence of the Seas, which was a celebration of her 50th birthday. Birthdays on Royal Caribbean are the best birthdays!

Here is a great shot of Liberty of the Seas by Brogan Lawrence.  Love going to the helipad!

Shannon also has a photo from Liberty of the Seas, this one at Labadee and this is one of my favorite views.  Can't get enough Labadee!

Lastly, we have a great shot of Venice from Splendour of the Seas, taken by Dave Rimington during sail away.  What a view!

Thank you to everyone that submitted photos! We would love to showcase your photos too, so use this form to send us your favorite Royal Caribbean photos!

Royal Caribbean has today opened bookings for four new cruises for the upcoming 2016/17 summer season on Ovation of the Seas.

The new sailings are in January and February 2017, and were added by Royal Caribbean, "to the unprecedented demand" for the new-build cruise ship.

vation of the Seas will offer two short cruises as part of her season extension, including a five-night Tasmania taster cruise priced from $959 per person, departing from Sydney on 23 January 2017, as well as a three-night weekend sampler cruise from $599 per person, departing 17 February 2017.

Additionally she will sail two mid-length cruises; an eight-night voyage to Tasmania and South Australia departing 9 February 2017 from $1,599 per person, and a 12-night sailing to New Zealand and the South Pacific, including calls to Auckland, Tauranga, Bay of Islands, Noumea in New Caledonia and Mystery Island in Vanuatu, departing 28 January 2017 and priced from $2,319 per person.

Ovation of the Seas will then commence her 14-night repositioning cruise from Sydney to Singapore on 20 February 2017, calling at Brisbane, Darwin and Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang) in Malaysia, priced from just $1,889 per person.

Royal Caribbean is starting to have guests sign waivers prior to purchasing one of its unlimited alcohol packages on at least one Royal Caribbean ship.

Royal Caribbean Blog reader Rich Triplett spotted this new waiver specifically for guests who wish to purchase an unlimited drink package on Independence of the Seas.

The waiver reinforces the rules of the drink package, and focuses on a few key aspects of the package rules

• Your package is for your own personal use only
• One drink at a time
• Safety (as it pertains to being over-served)
• Drinks excluded from the drink package
• Room service and mini bar not included

Guests must sign at the bottom of the form during the purchasing process.

It is not clear if this waiver is being made available to guests on other Royal Caribbean ships yet, but it may be a sign of things to come.

As we get closer to Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas launch, we are counting down until the ship's debut with new blog posts about an aspect of the cruise.

Away We Go!

Entertainment on Royal Caribbean ships comes in many forms, including entertainment specifically for kids and their families.

Harmony of the Seas will feature a brand new show in the Adventure Ocean Theater called, Away We Go!, a black light puppet show created by Tony award-nominated actors and imaginative producers John Tartaglia by and Michael Shawn Lewis of Gable Grove Productions.

Away We Go! is aimed at 3- to 11-year olds and follows up Tartaglia's previous creation for Royal Caribbean, ImaginOcean. The show was originally performed on Oasis of the Seas and actually ended up being shown on land as well. It was also shown on Allure of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas.

The show utilizes blacklight sets and lighting as well as puppets with fabrics that work well with blacklight, giving the illusion that the puppets are floating against the black background. As such, the show is marketed as the first "glow-in-the-dark" musical.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Harmony!

Royal Caribbean celebrated with senior Vanuatu government representatives the completion of Mystery Island’s brand new tender pier yesterday with a maiden visit from Explorer of the Seas.

The $2.5 million pier was paid for by Royal CAribbean and replaced an older, smaller pier, which was frequently damaged during cyclones.  This new pier ensures that Mystery Island can continue to receive cruise tourists year-round. The bigger pier also allows the island to handle increasingly larger cruise ships as the local industry evolves.

This follows the earlier upgrade of the cruise berth in the capital Port Vila, where Royal Caribbean supported the addition of four new bollards capable of berthing its Voyager Class ships.

The pier was officially opened by Acting Prime Minister, The Honourable Joe Natuman from the Vanuatu government at a ceremony attended by the Captain and senior executive team of Explorer of the Seas.

“Tourism is incredibly important to our economy and the wellbeing of our people. We are committed to working with Royal Caribbean to ensure we can continue to bring Australian, New Zealand and international guests to our beautiful country into the future,” Mr Natuman concluded.

Adam Armstrong, managing director for Royal Caribbean in Australia & New Zealand, said the investments in Mystery Island and Port Vila are the first of several potential infrastructure projects in the South Pacific islands, where the cruise line is investing significantly to ensure the region continues to benefit from cruise tourism as the size of ships increase, and therefore the number of passengers grows.

“Cruises to the South Pacific are the most popular itineraries for Australian travellers – and Vanuatu is one of the highest rated destinations for our guests. Being able to guarantee calls to destinations like Mystery Island and Port Vila with our larger ships is vital to cruise tourism to Vanuatu and is an important economic driver for our island nation neighbour. Our investment here solidifies Royal Caribbean’s long-term commitment to cruising in the South Pacific,” Armstrong said.

Cruise tourism injected $34 million into Vanuatu in 2013 and brought an estimated further $18 million dollars in indirect economic benefits, according to the Assessment of the Economic Impact of Cruise Tourism in Vanuatu.  Each cruise ship arriving in Vanuatu brings an estimated $257,000 worth of direct benefits to a range of businesses and organisations – or around $125 in passenger spend per person.

During the 2015/16 summer season alone, which concluded this week, Royal Caribbean made almost 50 calls to ports in Vanuatu and brought more than 120,000 tourists to the country.

There's less than 99 days until Royal Caribbean's brand new Harmony of the Seas debuts and we're counting down each day with a brand new blog post all about this amazing ship. Check into the blog every day for something new to read about Harmony of the Seas.

Harmony of the Seas' cruise director

The heart of any Royal Caribbean cruise is the cruise director, who is the force behind all the onboard activities you find on your cruise. On Harmony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean has selected two cruise directors to get the party started on Harmony of the Seas.

Ken Rush will be Harmony of the Seas' cruise director until the ship reaches Barcelona on June 5.

Ken Rush has been working at Royal Caribbean for over 30 years and has been Cruise Director on a number of new Royal Caribbean ships, including Allure of the Seas and Quantum of the Seas.

As cruise director, Rush said he will head all entertainment for guests onboard. In doing so, Rush said he will manage a team of dancers, musicians, youth and activities staff.

From June 5 through October 23, 2016, Bobby Brown will take over the cruise director role while the ship is operating in Europe.

Bobby joined Royal Caribbean in 1995 and has worked on a number of ships, including Majesty of the Seas, Rhapsody of the Seas, Vision of the Seas, and Brilliance of the Seas.

When Harmony of the Seas makes her way to the United States, Ken Rush will return on October 23 to take the ship to Florida.  He is expected to remain the cruise director on Harmony of the Seas through at least New Years 2017.

Here is a great interview with Ken Rush from a few years ago, that talks about Ken's role as Cruise Director.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Harmony!

Royal Caribbean offers a lot of activities, events and shows for guests to do onboard their ships, including a themed event that takes us back to the days of the Great Gatsby.

The Prohibition Party is offered on Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class cruise ships and is a themed dance event that has a cover charge for guest to experience it.

While on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, we were able to see what the Prohibition Party is all about and experience it for ourselves.

We reserved the Prohibition Party prior to our cruise and it is usually held late at night, with a start time of 10:00pm.

The premise of the Prohibition Party is you are going to a 1920's-style speakeasy, where the Eighteenth Amendment is in full effect, and guests are there to sing, dance and drink "tea".

Guests will receive in their stateroom an invitation for the special event and a place to meet.  Once there, they are instructed to give the person at the side door the secret password and are then allowed admission.

The event occurs on Jazz on Four and encourages all guests to dress up for the event with clothing fitting of the 1920's.  A vast majority of guests elect to dress up and it is highly recommended you do so as well.

Your $35 per guest admission charge includes entertainment, food and of course, drink.  There are plenty of alcoholic beverages provided throughout the event in the form of various cocktails.  Most of the drinks we had were fruit based drinks.

There is a loose storyline as part of the event, but it is mostly about guests enjoying some drinks and getting onto the dance floor to dance to some great live jazz music.

One interesting part of the event is when all guests are handed play money and betting cards to bet on a horse race.  Guests fill out their betting cards and then a recorded radio broadcast plays to reveal the winner.  Pretty neat!

Overall, the Prohibition Party is a fun excuse to get dressed up, enjoy ample cocktails with live jazz music. Guests looking for something different in their evening entertainment are sure to enjoy this fun choice.

What we liked: Lots to drink for the money, different event from anything else offered, great live music.

What we did not like: It starts fairly late, limited food choices.

Cost: $35 per guest

Hey everyone! Episode 143 of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available for your listening pleasure.

This week, we're sharing the details about our cruise on Navigator of the Seas to the Eastern Caribbean that begins this weekend.  Let's look at why we picked this cruise, the cool things to do on Navigator of the Seas and our plans for each port of call.  

Be sure to also check out our pre-cruise summary of what our plans are for the cruise and for how you can read our live blog each day from the cruise.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 143. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS 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!