When it comes to new Royal Caribbean ships, it seems like there are never enough new photos and today, we have a few new shots to share.
Virginie Minot posted these Harmony of the Seas photos online and the ship is definitely looking the part of the world's largest cruise ship!
Enjoy!
We're counting down to the 99 days until Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, launches with a brand new blog post every day. Be sure to check back for something new everyday here.
The Chef's Table has become a coveted experience on Royal Caribbean ships. It's an intimate dinner with just you and a few other guests in an exclusive enclave to savor a five-course, gourmet menu specially prepared and presented by the Chef de Cuisine.
Located inside a special part of Chops Grille, the Chef's Table offers just 14 spots for a culinary adventure.
If you like gourmet food and good wine to accompany it, Chef's Table is for you. The idea behind the Chef's Table is to give guests an unique five-course dinner with wine pairings.
Every course pairs with wine chosen to enhance your enjoyment of the dish.
It's meant to be educational as well, as with each course the Chef de Cuisine specially prepares and presents each course, while explaining its cooking techniques, ingredients and flavors.
With each course, a sommelier pairs every course with wine chosen to enhance your enjoyment of the dish.
Chef's Table is a premier dining experience on Harmony of the Seas and it's also going to be the priciest but if fine dining is what you desire, this is the place for you.
Chef's Table is a specialty restaurant and has a cover charge to dine there. There is a formal dress code and it will be open for dinner.
Every Friday, we invite our readers to share with us their favorite Royal Caribbean cruise photos, so that we can share them right here on the blog.
We have a great batch of photos to showcase this week. Enjoy!
Keisha Ramtahal sent us this photo of Allure of the Seas in St. Thomas. Check out the size of the ship's name, relative to the cars!
Jill sent us this photo from her son's first cruise, which was on Anthem of the Seas to the Bahamas. Look at that water color, smiling faces and beautiful ships!
Here is a shot of Liberty of the Seas by Brogan Lawrence, while the ship was in Ajaccio, Corsica.
Next, is a photo by Shannon of the best taxi driver in St. Maarten, Leo Brown! This photo was taken while on their Independence of the Seas cruise.
Here is a photo of somewhere I wish I was right about now... Chops Grille on Splendour of the Seas. Dave Rimington sent us this photo and I would gladly have lunch there anyday!
G.Spindler sent this photo from Oasis of the Seas on a 2014 trans-Atlantic voyager, where they ran into fog. Very eery!
Our last photo this week is from Missey Bartels, from her Vision of the Seas cruise. This was taken on a Snuba excursion in Grand Cayman. Looking great!
Thank you to everyone for their fabulous photos!
Would you like your Royal Caribbean photo shown here? Send us your best photos and we will include it in an upcoming Friday Photos!
Royal Caribbean will hold a conference call on April 29, 2016 at 10:00am to discuss its first quarter 2016 financial results.
The call will be available on-line at the company's investor relations website, 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.
Royal Caribbean has quietly revamped its Voom high speed internet option from one plan into different tiers of internet service.
Two new internet options are now available for guests to book that provide onboard internet options, depending on their needs.
This appears to be the Voom "light" offering, that provides internet service for basic web browsing, email and social media but without support for video streaming.
"Share Photos & Surf the Web. Enjoy high-speed internet to browse the web, check email and share every unforgettable moment of your vacation in real time with VOOM, the fastest Internet at sea."
Cost (based on Cruise Planner prices and 30% off pre-cruise discount)
Voom Surf + Stream is essentially the Voom internet offering guests have experienced up until now, with full support for all internet activities.
"Unlimited WiFi & Streaming. Enjoy unlimited high-speed internet and stream all your favorite movies, shows and music while at sea. Share every unforgettable moment of your vacation in real time. And stay connected with video chat, texting and email – with VOOM, the fastest Internet at sea."
Cost (based on Cruise Planner prices and 30% off pre-cruise discount)
Which Voom package will you buy? Tell us in the comments!
Royal Caribbean will continue offering cruises from Baltimore, Maryland for another four years.
The Baltimore Business Journal reports that Royal Caribbean signed a new deal with the Maryland Port Administration that will extend its year-round departures out of South Locust Point until June 2020.
Grandeur of the Seas is currently offering year-round cruises from Baltimore to the Bahamas, Bermuda and Canada.
Grandeur of the Seas has been offering cruises from Baltimore since May 2013, when she replaced Enchantment of the Seas.
In celebration of the Harmony of the Seas' European debut, and in anticipation of her U.S. arrival in November, Royal Caribbean is kicking off a multi-faceted consumer promotion, “Ticket to Adventure.”
The immersive and interactive sweepstakes encourages consumers to virtually discover and explore Harmony’s thrilling features and seven neighborhoods, and enter for their chance to win more than $300,000 worth of prizes that range from a grand prize, seven-night Caribbean cruise for four, to 200 invitation-only getaways, more than 175 GoPro HERO4 cameras, over $40,000 in gift cards, and more.
Starting April 21 through November 5, 2016, consumers can simply register for the promotion at RoyalCaribbean.com/TicketToAdventure, and then the adventure begins!
Every two weeks, one of Harmony’s seven signature neighborhoods will be unlocked on the site and open the door to interactive content and fun facts, such as the height of The Ultimate Abyss, the tallest slide at sea, to the number of plants in Central Park – the largest living park at sea – and the variety of cocktails the robot bartenders at Bionic Bar can sling.
Bonus instant win games are hidden within each neighborhood and extra sweepstakes entries will be awarded to those that share Ticket to Adventure with their friends via email or social media.
There will also be other ways to enter the contest, as Royal Caribbean will infuse a little adventure into some unexpected places and pop culture events, as well as partner with well-known personalities.
Actor and singer Carlos PenaVega will give fans the chance to join him onboard Harmony of the Seas during exclusive, invitation-only preview events in Southampton, England. Hot off his starring role as Kenickie in FOX’s GREASE LIVE, PenaVega will hang out with his winning fans as he leads a number of Grease-inspired special activities and attends opening night of Royal Caribbean’s original production of Broadway’s hit musical Grease. Fans can enter for the chance to win by visiting the sweepstakes site between now and May 1 and entering code GREASE.
In addition, Royal Caribbean will deploy a series of code words that can be uncovered on RoyalCaribbean.com, through Royal Caribbean emails and exclusive Crown & Anchor Society newsletters for loyal guests, as well as through participating travel agents, or by following Royal Caribbean on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Consumers that find a code can enter it at RoyalCaribbean.com/TicketToAdventure to be entered into the grand prize drawing and also to unlock chances for instant win prizes.
Royal Caribbean opened the 2017-2018 Australian summer season for sale, including Ovation of the Seas sailings.
To celebrate, Royal Caribbean is offering launch savings of up to $1,300 per person off the standard cruise fare when booked before May 31, 2016.
Ovation of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas will offer 66 sailings ranging from two to 23 nights during the 2017/18 season. From September 2017 through to April 2018 the four megaliners will call at 46 ports across Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Asia and North America with departures from Sydney, Fremantle, Auckland, Singapore, Honolulu and Seattle.
Highlights of the season include family-fun sister ships Voyager of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas sailing predominantly South Pacific itineraries, while Ovation of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas will cruise Australia and New Zealand. The 2017/18 season will see more overnights such as Adelaide for Explorer of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas, new destinations such as Wollongong, and more open-jaw itineraries like Radiance of the Seas’ sailings between Sydney and Auckland.
Royal Caribbean announced today it has cancelled seven more Empress of the Seas sailings on April 25, 30, May 5, 9, 14, 19 and 23.
This is the second time Royal Caribbean has cancelled scheduled sailings on Empress of the Seas, following the cancellation of the first six Empress of the Seas sailings in March 2016.
Royal Caribbean provided this explanation as to why these additional sailings are being cancelled, "Modernizing Empress of the Seas for her return to the Royal Caribbean International fleet began in late February. As work has progressed, we learned that more significant infrastructure and physical improvements across the ship's multiple galleys and provisioning areas were needed to meet our high standards."
"We decided that instead of simply repairing the five galleys, we would completely rebuild them, starting from scratch with entirely new infrastructure and all new equipment, at a cost of $10 million."
"We sincerely apologize to our guests and travel partners for the inconvenience, and hope they understand that more time was needed to ensure Empress of the Seas meets the standards for quality our guests expect from Royal Caribbean."
Guests originally booked on the March 30, April 4, April 7, April 11, April 16 and April 21 sailings and rebooked on one of the newly cancelled sailings will receive a full refund and a future cruise credit of 100%.
Guests scheduled to sail within 14 days of departure on the cancelled April 25 or April 30 sailing, who do not rebook, will receive a full refund and a future cruise credit of 50% of the fare paid.
All other guests scheduled to sail on the May 5th - May 23rd sail dates will be provided an onboard credit if they rebook to another Royal Caribbean sailing.
This week's podcast episode is ready to go, as we present episode 142 of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast for your downloading pleasure.
This week, Matt provides an overview of the Oasis-class cruise cruise ships and what anyone going on one of these amazing ships should know before stepping foot onboard.
There's also lots of reader emails to share this week about everything Royal Caribbean.
Here’s the podcast page for Episode 142. 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!