The newest and biggest cruise ship in the world has arrived in the U.S. to begin offering cruises from her new home.

Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Sunday night.

With less than two weeks until her first sailing, Wonder of the Seas will debut with cruises from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in March and April.

Port Everglades welcomed the massive new cruise ship as she pulled into port on Sunday.

The new ship arrived in the evening, with her first sailings beginning March 4, 2022.

Wonder of the Seas measures 1,188 feet and has a gross tonnage of 236,857.  At double occupancy, she can handle 5,734 passengers along with 2,300 crew members.

Royal Caribbean released new photos of the ship, taken from the air to show off the splendor of this new ship.

Entertainment on Wonder of the Seas

Royal Caribbean revealed which shows passengers can look forward to seeing on Wonder of the Seas.

Three premier production shows have been announced, with a fourth show to debut later this year.

While Wonder of the Seas does not have a Broadway show like other Oasis Class ships, she does have a number of original performances.

Here's a look at each of the shows announced for Wonder of the Seas.

inTENse

Set in the Aquatheater, inTENse features an all-female cast performing aerial and diving acrobatics.

In this new show, expect diving, slacklining feats, tumbling, aerial acrobatics and more, punctuated by inspiring lighting and sound.

365: The Seasons on Ice

The ice skating show in Studio B will tell the story of the earth’s changing seasons.

"Performers will embody the flow of time as their characters and their every move are accentuated by innovative projection mapping, colorful lighting and images, and sound, which transform the venue from one season to the next."

Voices: An Intimate Performance on a Grand Scale

In the Royal Theater, you will find a new type of show for Royal Caribbean that focuses on the power of live performances.

The Royal Theater’s bespoke show, featuring a wondrous medley of music, singing and dancing, will underscore the unifying power of performance art.

Effectors II: Crash ‘n’ Burn

Coming later in 2022, Royal Caribbean will deliver the sequel to its super hero inspired musical, Effectors II: Crash ‘n’ Burn.

Effectors first debuted on Spectrum of the Seas & Odyssey of the Seas, and is about a group of superheroes with awesome abilities based entirely on creativity. 

Royal Caribbean says the latest installment of The Effectors is, "bigger and bolder, featuring trailblazing applications of autonomous technology pioneered by Royal Caribbean."

Live music

In addition to the production shows, Wonder of the Seas will offer a variety of live music around the ship.

• Live country music at The Mason Jar Southern Restaurant & Bar
• Live Caribbean music and DJs poolside at The Lime & Coconut
• Music Hall offers live performances every night with a tribute band, jazz ensemble, or Royal Caribbean house band.
• The Stowaway Piano roving pianoplayer plays their own twist on classic tunes wherever the piano can roll.
• Boleros features a six-piece band playing salsa, cumbia, merengue, samba and more.
• The English pub, Cask & Clipper, serves acoustic performances every night.
• Piano performers in the signature Schooner Bar.

Ready to sail in 2022

Her inaugural sailing will take place on March 4, 2022 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  She will sail to the Caribbean from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale between March and April 2022. The 7-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries include visits to Perfect Day at CocoCay and Nassau, The Bahamas; Roatan, Honduras; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Starting in May, Wonder heads to Europe to offer 7-night Western Mediterranean cruises will visit ports such as Naples and Florence, Italy; Palma de Mallorca, Spain; and Provence, France.

After her summer season, Wonder returns to Florida to offer year-round sailings in November 2022, when she sails from Port Canaveral. Destinations range from Perfect Day at CocoCay and Philipsburg, St. Maarten, to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; and Cozumel, Mexico.

The last day of our cruise visits Nassau, Bahamas.

We did not have any plans to do anything onshore for this visit, although I left the possibility open to maybe walk off for a beer later.

Since we had no plans, we slept in a bit and woke up to a cloudy and windy day.  Independence docked earlier in the morning, and I noticed we were docked at what I believe is one of the new piers they built.

We were further down into Nassau Harbor, with Celebrity Apex docked behind us.

After getting breakfast, we went up to the sports deck. Originally I was going to take the kids to do the SkyPad again, but it wasn't open until 1pm. 

Instead, we saw the pickleball court was set up and took the kids to try it out.

Pickleball is essentially tennis with a whiffle ball and hard racquets. It was a lot of fun, although the wind made the game very difficult to keep the ball in play.  My lower back did not agree with it either, but I still enjoyed it.

A friend signed up for the ping pong tournament they held aboard the ship, and about a half dozen people participated. He came in second place at the end of the competition.

Lunch brought us back to Playmakers.

Unfortunately, they seemed to be a bit short staffed and our waiter told us the kitchen is a bit overwhelmed.  We told him to bring out whatever he had, when he had it.

The meal took longer than I planned, but Playmakers is usually slow to begin with.

After lunch the kids wanted to try the family scavenger hunt.  They had 15 minutes to answer a bunch of questions and take photos of various things around the ship.

They didn't win, but they liked being able to run around the ship for a few minutes and play.

We had planned to go see Grease, but opted instead to take a break and let everyone relax. Sometimes a lot of vacation fun needs a reset to keep everyone even-keeled.

Dinner tonight brought us to Chops Grille.

After dinner, we played a bit in the casino and then had some drinks at Playmakers to round out our evening.

Overall, it was a fun weekend on Independence and it gave us exactly what we wanted: a weekend getaway to CocoCay.

Thanks for following this live blog. Our next live blog is in less than two weeks when I check out the brand new Wonder of the Seas!

Stray observations

For the departure options after the cruise is over, there are segmented self-assist times.

I had never seen this before, but essentially instead of a luggage tag number, people who want to walk off the ship on their own have assigned times.

I suspect this is because on a 3-night cruise there will be a lot of people looking to do self-assist and they want to prevent a mass of humanity trying to get off the ship at the same time.

I found a tribute to travel writer John Honeywell, better known as Captain Greybeard, on the sunning deck above the Sky Bar.

Hope you are having a great weekend.  Here is all of this week's Royal Caribbean cruise news.

The big cruise news this week was Royal Caribbean's announcement it will begin requiring at least 95% of the ship be fully vaccinated and make face masks optional onboard.

Royal Caribbean confirmed it has opted into the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) voluntary Covid-19 reporting program.

As a result of opting into the, "highly vaccinated program", at least 95% of passengers and 95% of crew will be fully vaccinated on Royal Caribbean ships.

Royal Caribbean News

• CDC lowers warning level for Covid-19 on cruise ships
• Royal Caribbean relaxes crew member shore leave and quarantine rules
• Royal Caribbean updates: Mariner cancellations, Icon of the Seas, & more
• Study: Cruise ships had 8,000 percent lower rate of Covid-19 hospitalizations compared to land
• Matt is live blogging from Independence of the Seas this weekend
• Royal Caribbean brings back double points promotion for Australians
• What is the best time of year to see wildlife in Alaska?
• How to meet people on a cruise ship
• What's the best cruise ship cabin for my family?
• Books for Black History Month to read on your next cruise
• A Royal Caribbean Love Story: A couple finds love after meeting on cruise ship

New RCB Video: 22 Tips for Royal Caribbean cruise in 2022

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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 — 22 Tips for Royal Caribbean cruise in 2022 — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 442nd episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available featuring a review of Matt's Brilliance of the Seas cruise.

In this episode, Matt reviews his 4-night Western Caribbean sailing on Brilliance of the Seas.

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.

Guide to pre-cruise Covid test

Before you cruise, you'll need a negative Covid-19 test result and the rules and requirements can be a little confusing.

To simplify things, we've written a complete guide to testing policies and requirements as of February 2022.

With this article, you should have an easy understanding of how to get a test done before you sail.

Harmony of the Seas vs. Anthem of the Seas

Trying to decide between Harmony of the Seas or Anthem of the Seas?

The Quantum and Oasis Class ships are among the biggest in the world and come with seemingly endless dining venues, entertainment choices, and activities.

Take an in-depth look at how each of these ships compares to the other.

All about Quantum Class ships

Royal Caribbean's Quantum Class cruise ships are packed with signature activities, diverse dining options, and technology integrated throughout the ships.

Here's a look at everything the Quantum Class has to offer, and how the ships within the class differ from each other.

The second day of our Independence of the Seas cruise brings us to the pièce de résistance of the sailing: a visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Our ship docked around 7:30am or so, and the ship was cleared right at 8am.

We took the kids up the Windjammer for breakfast, which was super packed since everyone else was trying to eat something before getting off the ship. It's times like this I miss having Park Cafe or Cafe @ Two70 to have an alternative venue for breakfast.

As we disembarked the ship, Harmony of the Seas pulled in to join us.

The weather was beautiful with no clouds in the sky, warm temperatures, and low humidity.

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We purchased tickets to the CocoCay water park for this visit, so we headed right to Thrill Waterpark.

The kids went up and down the slides and all over the park, while the adults mostly stayed around our chairs and the wave pool. The water was a bit chilly, but I was just enjoying being outdoors.

We had lunch at Snack Shack, which is located inside Thrill Waterpark (there's two other locations around the island).

After lunch, we decided to take a break from the slides and head to the beach. We chose Harbor Beach as something different to try.

The appeal of Harbor Beach is this cove has no waves at all.

The kids loved it because there are rocks on one side that are home to many hermit crabs, which they found great pleasure in finding.

We ran into a few friends from Harmony of the Seas during the day, which was a really nice surprise.

We eventually headed back to the ship as our time came to a close at CocoCay. I showered and then immediately took a nap after a full day of fun on the island.

Dinner tonight was in Playmakers.

Playmakers is really large, and located on deck 4 between Boleros and Casino Royale. It's an impressive space, and our waiter Cyrus took good care of us throughout the entire meal.

After dinner, we went down to Studio B to see Freeze Frame ice skating show.

The show is a journey through the music of the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Great hits to enjoy as you watched the skaters do their thing.

After the show, we had a few drinks at the pub before calling it a night.

Tomorrow we will be in Nassau, Bahamas.

Stray observations

I bought this Perfect Day at CocoCay Tervis cup!

In the back of the ice skating show set, there is a large newspaper with an article from right before the Oasis Class ships launched with a contest to name the Project Genesis ships.

I found the Stowaway piano player in front of Boleros. This is the same stowaway piano player I saw on Odyssey of the Seas last summer.

I'm back on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship this weekend, this time checking out Independence of the Seas.

Since it's President's Weekend, my kids have off from school on Monday and that's a natural fit for a weekend cruise.

We had originally booked connecting Royal Promenade rooms for this cruise, but prices came down at the last minute and my travel agent was able to upgrade us to connecting balcony rooms for just $50 extra.

Independence is sailing from Port Canaveral and offering a 3-night Nassau and Perfect Day at CocoCay itinerary.

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A week or so before the cruise, Royal Caribbean alerted us that embarkation would be pushed back an hour so that the ship could undergo additional cleaning. This is not unheard of over the last few months, although it is the first time I encountered it.

We had a 11:30am check-in time, but Royal Caribbean said for everyone to arrive one hour later than when they had booked.

We left our house and drove to Port Canaveral, which is about an hour drive door to door.

When we got to the terminal, they were letting people into the building to check-in, but they were holding passengers in the waiting area until the ship opened up boarding.

Luckily, by the time we finished checking in, boarding began.  They started with suites and pinnacles, and then went in reverse Crown and Anchor Society before opening it up to everyone.

The weather started off a little cloudy, but everything cleared up as the afternoon progressed.

Onboard the ship, we grabbed lunch at the Windjammer.

The cabins weren't open until 2pm, so we took the kids up to the sports deck for a ride on the Sky Pad.

I booked the unlimited dining package for this cruise, and it's always a good idea to book your reservations for restaurants on the first day. I was able to get the days and restaurants we wanted without much issue.

We signed the kids up for Adventure Ocean next. On this sailing, there are 600 kids onboard and they are limiting parents to 3 hours per child for advanced reservations.

My wife took a well-deserved visit to the spa, while I took the kids to the pool deck. Independence of the Seas has a rather large Splashaway Bay, and they enjoyed the slides.

Once we got in the rooms, we dropped off our belongings and then headed downstairs to complete the muster drill.

Our next stop was up to the Sky Bar to enjoy sail away. We ended up staying in port a bit longer than expected, but it was a beautiful afternoon in terms of weather, so we enjoyed being outdoors.

As we sailed away, it was time to prepare for dinner and change.

We had dinner tonight in Izumi hibachi.

Dinner was great, and we had a really good chef who had some original material.

After dinner, we enjoyed some music at the pub.

Tomorrow, we will be visiting at Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Royal Caribbean has opted into the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) voluntary Covid-19 reporting program.

On the final day to opt into the program, Royal Caribbean announced it will join as part of the, "highly vaccinated program"

This means at least 95% of passengers and 95% of crew will be fully vaccinated on Royal Caribbean ships.

The benefit of requiring at least 95% vaccinated passengers is face masks will no longer be required indoors on Royal Caribbean ships.

The new program will go into effect beginning February 25, 2022.

Royal Caribbean will join the "highly vaccinated program", which is defined as ships with at least 95% passengers and 95% crew who are fully vaccinated, but with less than 95% of passengers and 95% of crew who are up to date with their Covid-19 vaccines.

Prior to this change, Royal Caribbean had not required 95% of its passengers to be vaccinated, unlike sister company Celebrity Cruises.

Cruise lines that choose to participate in CDC’s Covid-19 Program must advise CDC of the vaccination status classification for each participating ship. 

In addition, each ship must maintain these thresholds for each voyage.

On the CDC website, Royal Caribbean's ships appear in the listing of the Cruise Ship Status Dashboard under the category of "Highly Vaccinated".

Inside the new CDC program

 The new optional system for foreign-flagged cruise vessels operating in U.S. waters will mark ships in one of three categories, depending on the level of vaccinated passengers and crew on board:

1. Not Highly Vaccinated: ships with less than 95% passengers and 95% crew who are fully vaccinated.
2. Highly Vaccinated: ships with at least 95% passengers and 95% crew who are fully vaccinated but less than 95% of passengers and 95% of crew are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.
3. Vaccination Standard of Excellence: ships with at least 95% passengers and 95% crew who are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines.

The new CDC program is a follow-up to its Conditional Sail Order, which expired in mid-January.

By opting into the Highly Vaccinated program, Royal Caribbean ships will be expected to uphold surveillance, documentation and reporting of Covid-19 cases onboard to the CDC, as well as continue subjecting them to the agency’s color-coded system that designates which cruise ships are being monitored or investigated for high case numbers.

95% vaccinated

The move to require at least 95% vaccinated may seem like a big change until you realize Royal Caribbean was already basically at that threshold.

Thanks to high vaccination rates among adults and the addition of children between the ages of 6-12 that have recently gotten vaccinated, the average sailing was already hovering around the number.

In late December 2021, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said a typical sailing has anywhere between 95 to 98 percent fully vaccinated onboard population.

Michael Bayley speaks out

Mr. Bayley posted on Facebook an update on Royal Caribbean’s decision to opt into the new program. 

As many may know the CDC conditional sail order expired in  mid January and we continued to operate voluntarily under the program.

Recently the CDC issued the next phase of guidelines consisting of three categories each built on the same foundation of protecting health and each with specific guidelines based on vaccination and booster status. All cruise lines had until today to opt in or out of the program.

Today Royal Caribbean confirmed we will participate in the CDC's voluntary Program.

Specifically, we will operate under the program's Highly Vaccinated category beginning with sailings departing from the U.S. as of Friday, Feb. 25. Requirements include sailing with 95% of crew members fully vaccinated, which Royal Caribbean already exceeds with 100% of its crew fully vaccinated and boosted when eligible.

Ninety-five percent of guests must be fully vaccinated as well -- this excludes children under five years who are not eligible for the vaccine. The updated protocols will include face masks being optional for all fully vaccinated guests and expected for unvaccinated children.

All kids will be required to wear face masks during Adventure Ocean youth program activities.

We are thoughtfully working through the details regarding other changes to our health and safety protocols which we will share with our guests and travel advisors before Feb. 25. 

Cruise lines employ some of the toughest health protocols around, and that means a very unlikely chance you will get seriously sick on a ship.

Perhaps no other industry has been as hardly hit, and unfairly associated with, as the cruise lines have with Covid-19. Any sort of minor increase in Covid numbers has typically generated all sorts of negative media attention.

With the Omicron variant past peak, just how dangerous was it to go on a cruise during the pandemic?

The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) provided analysis of recent data from the CDC of Covid cases on cruise ships taken during the height of the Omicron wave.

Analysis conducted by the PBI Research Institute, an independent, research-based consultancy in the energy, transport, and maritime sectors, determined that hospitalizations on cruise ships were 80 times lower than on land in the U.S. at the height of the Omicron surge.

During a two-week period covered by the PBI Research Institute analysis—from December 30, 2021 through January 12,  2022 — only five hospitalizations occurred out of more than 416,000 passengers and crew carried.

This is equivalent to 34 per 100,000 Covid-19 positive cases.  In stark contrast, during the same period, there were 269,067 new hospitalizations in the United States (equivalent to 2,786 per 100,000 Covid-19 positive cases), which is 80 times more than the rate onboard cruise ships during the time period.

Effective protocols

If you've been on a cruise, it probably comes as no surprise to hear there were few serious cases of Covid-19 onboard.

Cruise lines employ a multi-tiered approach to their protocols, which require all crew members to be fully vaccinated, and a vast majority of passengers to be vaccinated.

The PBI study concluded, "The low levels of severe Covid-19 cases that required hospitalization on ship is most likely due to the high vaccination rates among passengers on ships."

All crew members are tested regularly, and all lines require a pre-cruise Covid test from all passengers to be taken in order to sail.

Once onboard, mask wearing was adopted by all lines during the Omicron variant (some lines are relaxing that rule now).

If there is a Covid case onboard, contact tracing is immediately conducted and testing of those people is completed.

In early February, Royal Caribbean Group reported they carried approximately 1.3 million guests since cruises restarted, and only had about 2,500 guests testing positive for Covid-19.

That represents a positivity rate of 0.19%.

Falling Covid-19 cases

While the low hospitalizations are great to hear, the falling Covid numbers on cruise ships is even better news.

This study was conducted a few weeks ago when Covid cases were higher than they had been on ships. Since then, the amount of Covid cases on ships (and society as a whole) have dropped quite a bit.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered its travel health notice for cruises from Level 4 to Level 3 this week due to falling Covid numbers onboard.

CDC spokeswoman Caitlin Shockey said in a statement the CDC lowered the warning in response to decreasing cases on ships operating in the United States.

This data matches up with statements made by Royal Caribbean executives a couple of weeks ago of what their ships were experiencing.

Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley told investors, "Certainly, we see now with with Omicron that the decrease in positivity is really significant not only in the U.S. and certain states, but also on board of our ships."

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty said cases on ships are now well below the height of the Omicron wave, "The good news is is that in the last several weeks, cases on board our ships have been declining rapidly and we now have returned to exceptionally low pre-Omicron levels."

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!

Royal Caribbean cancels Mariner of the Seas cruises in early 2023 to allow more dry dock time

Royal Caribbean informed guests with a Mariner of the Seas cruise booked in early 2023 their cruises have been cancelled.

Guests received emails today informing them that the ship will need more time for her scheduled dry dock, which impacts cruises between January and March 2023.

The specific dates cancelled are sailings between January 7, 2023 and March 27, 2023.

"Mariner of the Seas will need some extra time during its scheduled dry dock next year," the email said. "We known this news is disappointing and apologize for the impact."

Guests booked on a now cancelled cruise have the choice of rebooking to Jewel of the Seas sailings during the same time period:

• Nassau, Bahamas, Falmouth, Jamaica, and Labadee, Haiti on January 14th, February 11th, or March 11th
• Costa Maya, Mexico, Roatan, Honduras, and Cozumel, Mexico on January 28th or February 25th
• Nassau, Bahamas and Perfect Day at CocoCay of February 7.

If guests choose a Jewel of the Seas sailing, they'll receive their original stateroom price protected, as well as $50 onboard credit for interior, ocean view and balcony staterooms. $100 for suites.

Royal Caribbean will also cover up to $200 in change fees for non-refundable transportation costs.

Guests also have the choice to re-book on any other cruise, or a full refund if they decide to cancel.

Mariner of the Seas was last refurbished in 2018 when she received her Royal Amplification updates.

Typically, cruise ships go in every 5 years for a dry dock. Older ships can sometimes go in more often than that.

UPDATE: The plot thickened when people booked on Independence of the Seas received a similar email that they are being moved to Mariner of the Seas.

What does it mean and how can two ships be cancelled for same timeframe? Share your ideas in the comments.

Royal Caribbean trademarks something related to Icon of the Seas

Royal Caribbean filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office that sounds like it could be related to the new Icon Class cruise ships.

Two trademarks were filed on February 10 for:

• This is not a cruise
• This is Icon

Trademark applications are notoriously vague, and simply filed to cover the category of cruise ship services.

Canada drops PCR test requirement for fully vaccinated

It just got easier for someone that is fully vaccinated to travel into Canada.

The Canadian government announced this week it fully vaccinated travelers entering Canada will not need to take a PCR test, beginning February 28.

Instead, fully vaccinated people entering the country can take an authorized rapid antigen test taken no more than one day before their flight or arrival at the land border.

Currently, travelers entering Canada must show proof of a negative molecular test taken within 72 hours of their departing flight or planned arrival at the land border. 

Australia hasn't seen a cruise ship in over two years, and Royal Caribbean is looking to ease their pain with extra loyalty points.

Royal Caribbean informed Australian residents that they would be able to take advantage of the Double Points promotion due to their government's halt of cruising.

In an email to Crown and Anchor Society guests, Royal Caribbean said any bookings made by Australian members through 31st March 2022 for sailings departing prior to 30th April 2023 will qualify for double points.

Australians don't need to do anything special to qualify for the promotion, as it will automatically apply the benefit.

Royal Caribbean said part of the reason it brought back the promotion was because many Australians were unable to go on cruises they had booked in the past, "Over the last year, we’ve received many comments and feedback on our Double Points promotion which you were unable to participate in due to the halt on domestic and international cruising for Australians."

"We also know Australians simply can’t wait to get back to enjoying the world class experiences onboard our ships."

Here is the breakdown of the points you will receive under the Double Points offer:

The Double Points promo was initially offered to everyone during the height of the pandemic in 2020-2021 as a means to spur new bookings and compel customers from cancelling cruises well into the future.

The program cut off new bookings that qualified for double points on September 30, 2021, but ever since guests have been clamoring for its return.

The reason why cruise fans loved the aura of double points is because it allowed them to move up the loyalty program tier significantly faster.

By earning more points, you can reach the higher tiers of Crown and Anchor Society faster, and there are some really lucrative benefits for reaching the Diamond and Diamond Plus tiers.

Complimentary alcoholic drinks, balcony discounts, complimentary photos, and reserved seating at shows are just some of the great freebies guests who reach the top tiers of Crown and Anchor Society can expect.

Moreover, this type of offer has rarely been seen.  Previous extra point offers were much more restrictive and have not been made available for a while.

In November 2021, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said the Double Points offer would return someday, but only "strategically".

"You'll see more of that coming, but it's not going to be a blanket open book."