Royal Caribbean announced that it was joining 16 other companies and the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance (USWTA) in a pledge to crack down on wildlife trafficiking and educate consumers on the dangers trafficking poses to animals around the world.

Royal Caribbean is joining the cause by building awareness of wildlife crime and influencing buying behavior through the education of its 60,000 crew members and upwards of 5 million travelers annually. The cruise line also will work to identify and eliminate any indirect sale of products and souvenirs made from illegal wildlife products, through its on board shopping vendors and suppliers.

The illegal wildlife trade not only threatens the survival of many species in the wild but generates approximately $10 billion per year in illegal profits for sophisticated criminal syndicates that are masterminding the killing, transport and marketing of illegal wildlife products.

These commitments are part of a broader effort towards sustainability by Royal Caribbean.  As part of its environmental stewardship program, Save the Waves, and global partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), RCL will work towards ensuring that its ships, operations, suppliers, and vendors are not indirectly promoting illegal wildlife products, and has committed to removing high risk seafood species from their procurement.

To celebrate the launch of Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas in less than 100 days, we're counting down each day with some really cool about the ship. Check out our blog each day for a brand new post all about Harmony of the Seas.

Watching Harmony of the Seas sailaway

With Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas debut, it seems like everyone wants to see this new ship.  Certainly we would all like to cruise on her, but the next best thing would be seeing her in person!

In November 2016, Harmony of the Seas will homeport from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and anyone can watch her sailaway as she begins her regularly scheduled cruises.

To watch Harmony of the Seas (and likely other cruise ships too) depart Port Everglades, take a ride in your car or taxi to John U. Lloyd Beach State Park.

Parking at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park does have a parking fee.

• $6.00 per vehicle. Limit 2-8 people per vehicle.
• $4.00 Single-occupant vehicle or motorcycle.
• ​$2.00 Pedestrians, bicyclists, extra passengers, passengers in vehicle with holder of Annual Individual Entrance Pass.

After you enter the park, you will drive 2.2 miles from the gate to the parking lot for the jetty pavilion.  There, you can find a pier and beach area to watch all cruise ships sailing out of Port Everglades pass through.

Ships usually depart in the late afternoon, between 4 and 5pm and it can be a fun experience, especially if you are in town prior to your cruise leaving the next day or sometime thereafter.

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

We have reached the end of another week, and that means we have all the Royal Caribbean news from this week to share with you.

This week, Royal Caribbean announced it was raising the gratuity amount for all sailings that depart on or after May 1, 2016.

Gratuities are going up 55 cents per guest, per day and will have a daily cost of:

• $13.50 per guest, per day for guests Junior Suite, Balcony, Ocean View, and Interior staterooms.
• $16.50 per guest, per day for guests in Grand Suite and above staterooms.

The reasoning for increasing the daily gratuity amount is because Royal Caribbean wanted, "to better align with industry standards."

Royal Caribbean News

• We are hearing Majesty of the Seas is going to leave the fleet (again).
• Details on the next Royal Caribbean sale, that offers BOGO 50% and more.
• Royal Caribbean is going to recategorize some of its staterooms.
• Royal Caribbean is offering shore excurions featuring National Geographic Snorkeler equipment.
• Royal Caribbean is courting the guy who wanted to name a cruise ship Boaty McBoatface.
• Royal Caribbean had an April Fools joke about launching a cruise ship in space.
• Check out these fun drink floaties.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 139th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we played our own April Fools joke this week.

In this episode, the hosts of the defunct CrownCast podcast host and talk about a variety of Royal Caribbean topics, including the virtues of smaller ships, favorite ports of all and more.

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.

99 Days of Harmony

To celebrate the countdown until Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas debuts, we kicked off a brand new blog series, 99 Days of Harmony, that looks at what makes this new ship so amazing.  

Each day we are posting a new blog post all about Harmony of the Seas, so here's what you might have missed this week.

• 5 things that sound like an April Fools Joke (but aren't)
• Let's Celebrate
• Royal Caribbean creates a virtual tour for Harmony of the Seas
• Main dining room

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

From the Deck Chair has a look at Harmony of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean has a look at how to book a cruise.

Quartz answers the question of why the best cruise ships are in China.

Porthole Magazine spoke with Royal Caribbean COO Adam Goldstein.

TravelAge West has a first look at Harmony of the Seas.

In honor of Harmony of the Seas' launch in less than 99 days, we are counting down each day with a new blog post all about this amazing ship.

Five Harmony of the Seas features that sound like April Fool jokes

The first of April brings with it a slew of April Fool jokes across the internet (including two from Royal Caribbean), but there are some prominent features aboard Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas that are the real deal and definitely, no foolin'.

Today, we are counting down the top five things on Harmony of the Seas that might sound like an April Fools joke but really are available onboard.

Robots serve drinks

Harmony of the Seas will feature two robot arms designed to serve guests drink at the Bionic Bar.

The single armed robot will get the ice, mints and lemon and then squeeze and shake them to make your drink. Eventually, there wont be a limit on what the drinks the robots can make. The customization is what Royal Caribbean is aiming for.

Royal Caribbean has teamed up with Makr Shakr, a company with ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to create the Bionic Bars and on the Quantum class ships, they have become very popular with guests from a pure spectacle standpoint (and they make some pretty good drinks too).

Guests walk up to tablets, where they can place orders for drinks, choosing from classic cocktails, signature drinks like Mnemonic Madness (a rum, pineapple juice and Midori concoction) or test the robot bartenders’ skills with their own creations.

Full Broadway show included

Royal Caribbean ships are known for offering some great family entertainment, and on Harmony of the Seas you can see a classic Broadway show for absolutely no additional cost.

Guests on Harmony of the Seas can enjoy the timeless tale of Grease.

The all-new, never-before-seen stage production, specially adapted by Royal Caribbean Productions, will boast a soundtrack of crowd favorites such as “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” “Born to Hand-Jive,” “Beauty School Dropout” and more.

The best part is the show is included with your cruise fare, so there is no additional cost to see this amazing show.

A park in the middle of the ship

Of all the things people expect to find on a cruise ship, a park is probably not one of them, but Harmony of the Seas features a really big one onboard!

Central Park is one seven neighborhoods on Harmony of the Seas, and it is an immense area in the middle of the ship that offers a lush park for guests to enjoy with tropical plants, trees and walkways.

At its heart, Central Park is a public area on the ship that offers restaurants, shopping, galleries and of course lots of nature. It is the perfect quiet place onboard to "get away" and just relax as the world goes by.

A giant 10-story slide off the back of the ship

On the back of Harmony of the Seas is something brand new to Royal Caribbean: a slide more than 150 feet above sea level that sends guests down 10 decks at 9 miles per hour!

The Ultimate Abyss is a brand new thrill for guests and it launches from a glass platform on the Sports Deck, and descends 10 decks down to the Boardwalk.

Spontaneous audio effects within each tunnel create a multi-sensory thrill for daring guests willing to test their mettle while traversing 216 feet through the one-of-a-kind slide duo.

Ultimate Abyss will be the tallest slide at sea and also an epic adventure.

Internet as fast as your home

Imagining using the internet on Harmony of the Seas just like you would at home definitely sounds like an April Fools joke, but it is definitely true.

Voom is Royal Caribbean's revolutionary high speed internet service that lets guests share their adventure in real time through Facebook and Instagram, post videos on YouTube, tweet about shore excursions, and have face-to-face conversations via Skype and FaceTime. Plus, you can even stream movies, games and apps via your personal accounts with Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and more.

How is it possible? Voom utilizes a new kind of satellite internet technology that targets each ship specifically, rather than trying to cover a wide expanse of the ocean.

Welcome to this week's edition of Friday Photos, where we share our readers' Royal Caribbean photos with all of you.  

To me, this weekly feature is an opportunity to enjoy a quick "mental escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise vacation.  Let's get started with this week's batch!

Our first photo this week is of sunset, as seen from Anthem of the Seas by Jorge C Toache Alcázar.  Beautiful!

Shawn Crossley provides us with a divers view of the Oasis of the Seas.  Great angle and even better show!

Here is a view of the Opera House, Sydney, Australia from the balcony of cabin 9076 on Radiance of the Seas.  This must have been quite a sight to enjoy for Alison.

Here is a photo of Justin York's wife at Chankannab in Cozumel, Mexico, during their March 2015 sailing.  Looks like paradise, to me!

It pains me to not have a photo from Labadee, so here is one of Grandeur of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas docked in Labadee, by Ken Slusser.  Ken indicated that surprisingly, it didn't seem overly crowded.

Let's go back down under with this photo by Murray, of Voyager of the Seas Sailing out of Sydney Harbour. Love the composition of this photo.

Our last photo this week is from Zoltán Marton, who sent us this photo of Serenade of the Seas that was taken by his brother while in Saguenay, Canada.

Thank you to everyone who sent in their photos this week. Have a great weekend and be sure to send us your photos so we can post them next week by using this form.

April Fools is in full swing, as Royal Caribbean UK "announced" today that it is building a spaceship called "Orbiter of the Galaxy."

The spaceship will offer space cruises by 2030 and even offer high speed Voom internet while in orbit.

More images of our next big adventure emerge. Details here: https://t.co/PwZ23Wi3w2 #OrbiteroftheGalaxies pic.twitter.com/CILMdzupmR

— Royal Caribbean UK (@MyRoyalUK) April 1, 2016

Royal Caribbean went on to say that construction of Orbiter of the Galaxies is well under way. Cruisers can expect all the usual features, with a space-age twist.

This "news" adds to the April Fools festivities, with Royal Caribbean earlier announcing it will team up with a man who tried to name another ship, "Boaty McBoatface" to name a new Royal Caribbean ship.

Royal Caribbean has "invited" James Hand, the man who recently entered a contest in the UK to name a ship Boaty McBoatface, to "help" Royal Caribbean name its next cruise ship.

Coincidently posted on April 1, Royal Caribbean  knows that James Hand has forever altered the business of naming ships, and perhaps could make a career out of it. Therefore, Royal Caribbean is thrilled to extend James Hand an offer to bring his talents on deck, and help Royal Caribbean develop the name for a future ship.

With five ships debuting in the next three years, Hand’s clever copywriting skills will surely be put to good use.

"The people of the United Kingdom know the name of a great ship when they see it," said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. "Like the rest of the world, we fell in love with the name Boaty McBoatface when we heard it, and we knew immediately that Royal Caribbean could use James Hand’s talent to name our next ship."

As the first step, Royal Caribbean is inviting James Hand to sail on its newest and biggest ship, Harmony of the Seas, when she launches in Southampton, UK this May. Hand will meet with the cruise line’s very own ship naming experts to discuss potential names for a forthcoming ship.

"If James accepts our offer, who knows, perhaps he could name all our future ships,” added Bayley. “James Hand, Chief Naming Officer, Royal Caribbean International. It has a nice ring to it."

Each day is bringing us closer to the launch of Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas and we are celebrating with a new blog post every day, all about this amazing new ship!

Let's Celebrate

Royal Caribbean has been known to throw some really fun parties on its cruise ships, but on Harmony of the Seas, there is one party designed to be the party!

"Let's Celebrate" is described as, "the ultimate celebration of celebrations" and is essentially a parade on the Royal Promenade all about partying as an excuse to celebrate something.

What does that mean, exactly? Royal Caribbean promises it's a little of Halloween, Birthdays, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Fourth of July, and New Year’s Eve all in one wild and crazy parade that you will never forget.

Essentially, it is every celebration of the year crammed into one event and is a parade designed specifically for Harmony of the Seas.

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

Royal Caribbean is offering guests the chance to explore coral reefs, shipwrecks and underwater volcanoes with the top-quality gear of National Geographic Snorkeler.

Seventeen new Royal Caribbean shore excursions will offer these National Geographic Snorkeler tours. These tours can be reserved before you sail on Cruise Planner, the online booking tool, or onboard the ship.

National Geographic touts their equipment as, "high-quality, performance dive snorkeling equipment."

In addition, guests can purchase their own National Geographic Snorkel set onboard a Royal Caribbean ship.  Guests that book a tour featuring National Geographic Snorkeler equipment will enjoy 10% off the gear at the Dive Shop and at the Shore Excursions Desk.

Here are some examples of the National Geographic Snorkeler excursions

• CocoCay Snorkeling Explorer Featuring National Geographic Snorkeler
• Rainbow Reef Snorkel Featuring National Geographic Snorkeler
• Pinel Island Eco Escape Featuring National Geographic Snorkeler
• Buck Island Sail & Snorkel Featuring National Geographic Snorkeler
• Barrier Reef Snorkel and Island Getaway Featuring National Geographic Snorkeler
• Snorkel Park featuring National Geographic Snorkeler

It appears Royal Caribbean will transfer Majesty of the Seas out of the fleet in 2018 to a combined Pullmantur/CDF Croisieres de France fleet in 2018.

Cruise Critic is reporting the change, in which Majesty of the Seas will leave Royal Caribbean's fleet following an earlier announcement in November 2014 that the ship would leave the fleet, but Royal Caribbean decided to cancel those plans.

Until Majesty of the Seas departs the fleet, she will continue offering cruises as scheduled.

Majesty of the Seas is the last of the Sovereign-class cruise ships in the fleet and has a drydock scheduled for May 2016.  The changes coming to Majesty of the Seas in this refurbishment have been scaled back, but the ship will still be getting work done this spring.

Former Royal Caribbean vessel and sister ship, Monarch of the Seas, was also transfered to Pullmantur back in 2013.