Royal Caribbean regularly trademarks names and phrases it intends to possibly use for a new offering in the future, but they recently filed trademarks for a number of names that they have been using for years.

In paperwork filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Royal Caribbean Group filed four trademarks for things guests who have sailed on Royal Caribbean cruise ships for years would easily recognize.

The reason for a company to trademark anything is to protect them so competitors cannot steal creative ideas, names, or symbols from other businesses.

Royal Caribbean Group filed trademarks for these terms recently:

• RCTV (October 14, 2021)
• Cruise Compass (October 19, 2021)
• RCG (October 22, 2021)
• Royal Caribbean Group (October 19, 2021)
• Royal Caribbean Group logo (October 28, 2021)

RCTV is the abbreviation for Royal Caribbean's in-house television programming. Certain crew members working on RCTV manage the programming, as well as film select events onboard for broadcast onboard.

Cruise Compass is the name of Royal Caribbean's daily newspaper that lists all of the events and important information for the day onboard.

Passengers onboard can browse the Cruise Compass in the paper version or the digital version found in the cruise line app.

Read more: First time cruiser's guide to Royal Caribbean's Cruise Compass

Royal Caribbean Group is the business name of the company that owns Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and other brands.

RCG is the abbreviation of Royal Caribbean Group.

Read more: Who owns Royal Caribbean?

How important are trademarks?

When Royal Caribbean trademarks something, how important is that to cruise fans?

Historically, Royal Caribbean uses trademarks for two purposes: protect names and slogans it is using, or protect names and slogans it might use.

In many cases, trademarks can provide a glimpse of plans the line has in the future, but not every trademark is necessarily an indication of a direction the company will go.

Royal Caribbean has trademarked many different cruise ship names over the years that it never used.  Usually names get registered in a batch, and perhaps one ends up becoming the name of an actual cruise ship.

Last year, Royal Caribbean trademarked a name for its own brand of face mask, but ultimately decided not to do anything with it.

Read more: 8 things Royal Caribbean trademarked but never did anything with

In other cases, trademarks gave us a heads up on plans the line had before an announcement came, such as emuster, Chilla Thrilla beer, and venues on Wonder of the Seas.

We now know when Royal Caribbean will open up new 2023 bookings.

Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, Vicki Freed, released part of the new deployment schedule, although it is not complete.

The partial deployment schedule will cover Alaska, Europe, and 7-night Caribbean sailings.

• Week of November 29, 2021: Alaska
• Week of December 6, 2021: Europe
• Week of December 13, 2021: 7-night Caribbean

Royal Caribbean promises more release dates will be announced soon for 2023 sailings from the Northeast, Los Angeles, Short Caribbean and more.

All itineraries are subject to change without notice.

What is a deployment schedule?

The deployment schedule is the plan for when Royal Caribbean will open select sailings for sale.

There is no indication of which day, just the week the new itineraries will become available to book, but it could be on any day of the noted week.

Guests will commonly misconstrue the new cruises to come out on the exact day, rather than at some point during the week.

When the new sailings are available, it is common for the new itineraries to be entered into the booking system first, and the website second. This means in some cases cruises are bookable earlier if booked over the phone or with a travel agent, even if they do not appear on the website.

What should you do now to prepare?

If you are in the market for a cruise during one of these new deployments, you will want to keep an eye out for once cruises go on sale.

Royal Caribbean typically allows Crown and Anchor Society members a 24 hour head start on the general public, but since anyone can sign up for Crown and Anchor Society, there is no excuse for waiting.

Talk with your travel agent in the days leading up to the new deployments coming online so you can jump on specific bookings and book them.  

One of the best strategies for the lowest prices is to book a cruise as soon as it goes on sale.  Hard-to-find staterooms are also available during this period, so now is the time to lock in a studio room or a suite.

Planning on booking a cruise in 2022-2023? These stories will help:

• What is the best time to cruise to the Caribbean?
• 7 tips for a great Mediterranean cruise
• What is the best time to cruise to Alaska?
• What is the cheapest month to go on a cruise?

Royal Caribbean just extended the ability to cancel a cruise reservation at the last minute for a future cruise credit, but that may be the last time the cruise line extends this generous offer.

The Cruise with Confidence program is the name of the offer for guests who can cancel their cruise even after final payment date, up to 48 hours before a ship is scheduled to sail in exchange for a future cruise credit.

The program was introduced at the start of the global pandemic so passengers could feel assured they could change their mind closer to sail date.

Speaking to travel agents during a webinar, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, Vicki Freed said she does not think the Cruise with Confidence program will get extended again.

"This is a program that's been going on for some time. I do believe this is probably going to be the last extension of it," Ms. Freed told travel agents.

The reason for Cruise with Confidence likely not getting extended again? Ms. Freed said bookings are stronger now, "We are seeing such active bookings right now that I'm not sure we need to continue it much longer."

Royal Caribbean did extend Cruise with Confidence to include allow passengers to cancel up to 48 hours before you sail and get a future cruise credit valid to book by April 30, 2022 and sail by December 31, 2022, or one year from the original sailing date, whichever is later.

Cruises must be booked on or before December 17, 2021 to qualify for Cruise with Confidence.

Without Cruise with Confidence, guests would incur a penalty for canceling a sailing after the final payment date, which is typically 90 days before a sailing begins. Cruise with Confidence provides a great deal more flexibility to change minds with no penalty.

Also part of the Cruise with Confidence program is the Best Price Guarantee, which allows guests to reprice their sailing up to 48-hours prior to the sail date if the price drops.

Anyone who has booked a cruise already, or will do so before December 17, will have the Cruise with Confidence program included with their reservation.

If having this flexibility is important to you, be sure to book a new sailing, or change a ship or sail date before December 17th to qualify for Cruise with Confidence.

Protocols

Ms. Freed also talked about onboard protocols as Royal Caribbean begins to get back to full capacity again.

Last week, Royal Caribbean Group executives told Wall Street by the end of the year, the company plans to get its ships back to normal capacity again.

"I just want to give you a little bit of the updates on protocols," Ms. Freed said during Wednesday's webinar. "We're going to start phasing all of this out because as we are getting back to service with our entire fleet.  We're always looking at what the CDC is saying and the public health standards."

Ms. Freed's comments echo what Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley told investors last week.

"Some of the protocols that we have in place will naturally fall away as the pandemic moves further and further in the rearview mirror."

"I think as we move into '22, hopefully what we'll see is is the protocols become easier and less cumbersome for our customers."

The Royal Caribbean app is getting updates all the time, and some cruisers have noticed a change to the option to upload a photo of your Covid-19 vaccine card.

In September 2021, Royal Caribbean added a new way for passengers to upload a photo of their vaccine card directly into the app to speed up the check-in process in the cruise terminal.

The ability to upload a photo is not yet possible for every ship, but it is being offered on more ships once available.

When the feature was added in September, the app would immediately move your status to green to indicate you are done, but now cruise fans are noticing it changes to a gray hourglass status instead to indicate your card is being validated.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader David Beers reached out to Royal Caribbean to get an idea of what this change means exactly, especially as it relates to checking in for a cruise.

Jheanell Pagon from Royal Caribbean's Executive Office indicated the vaccination submission status has been updated so that the cruise line can manually check the validity of the card being uploaded.

"After reviewing your correspondence with our Port Operations team, they advised they recently deployed a new feature in the Guest Check-in App to include a Vaccination Submission Status. So now, the status We are validating your card is the normal new status you’ll see once you enter your vaccine record during Online Check-in."

"Once submitted, it then takes us 24 to 48 hours to approve since we are manually checking the validity of each card."

Guests will still need to bring their vaccine card with them, but taking the photo at home will allow the embarkation process to move just a little bit faster since the terminal staff will not have to take time to take photos of everyone's card.

Royal Caribbean's app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

Happy Halloween! I don't have any bad Halloween themed puns to include here, just the latest Royal Caribbean news to catch up on before you hit up the neighborhood for candy this evening. 

The cruise industry got mostly good news this week when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it temporarily extended the Conditional Sailing Order.

The CDC announced a temporary extension of the rules and requirements for cruise ships through January 15, 2022.

While the cruise industry has an additional few months of regulation, the CDC intends to transition to a voluntary program in January, giving the cruise lines a bit more flexibility.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean reports $1.4 billion loss, but expects to be profitable for the full year 2022
• Royal Caribbean releases November 2021 cruise ship health protocols for U.S. sailings
• Royal Caribbean will add adults-only area to Perfect Day at CocoCay
• Royal Caribbean extends ability to cancel cruises, shortens final payment window, and extends Covid-19 assistance program
• Bahamas will extend requirement for cruise ship passengers to be vaccinated
• New Icon Class cruise ship construction update
• Cruise industry supports CDC's temporary extension of cruise ship Covid-19 regulations
• Spotted: Royal Caribbean brings back early check-in and welcome lunch to The Key
• Explorer of the Seas began her test cruise from Puerto Rico
• Royal Caribbean talks higher capacity, protocol changes, world cruise and more
• Royal Caribbean Group announces pledge to get to net zero emissions by 2050
• Top 10 Odyssey of the Seas frequently asked questions
• Save up to 35% off pre-cruise purchases with Royal Caribbean's new sale
• How to plan your dream wedding at sea

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 2021 Alaska cruise season was a short one, but we were able to check it out before it ended.

This week's podcast episode has a review of Ovation of the Seas' final sailing to Alaska this year from someone who had never cruised to Alaska before.

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.

New RCB Video: Things people do on a cruise that I don't understand at all

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 — Things people do on a cruise that I don't understand at all — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

How to plan a Royal Caribbean cruise on any budget

Royal Caribbean cruises are affordable vacations for guests of pretty much any budget, which makes them an attractive way to vacation.

Whether you are going all out, counting every last penny, or looking for a reasonable value, there are options that should fit into any family spending plan.

Here is a look at tips and tricks for how to plan a memorable cruise vacation on a low, moderate, and high budget.

Royal Caribbean Group's third quarter earnings call on Friday with analysts was full of tidbits that provided insight into what cruise fans and Wall Street investors alike should expect in the coming months.

After releasing its quarterly financials, a trio of Royal Caribbean Group executives took questions from investment firms about the company's health. Included on the call were:

• Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain
• Royal Caribbean Group Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty
• Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley

While the call primarily dealt with discussing fiscal health and the financial outlook, some answers gave operational insight that is of interest to cruise ship guests.

Royal Caribbean prioritized ships back in service over capacity

There was a conscientious effort by Royal Caribbean to get more cruise ships back in service first, over trying to max out how full the ships were.

Anyone who went on a cruise this summer and fall definitely noticed the limited capacity onboard, which was almost always well before half full.

Mr. Fain talked about why they wanted more ships back sooner, "Like the pilot of a plane during takeoff, prioritizing speed over altitude, we have prioritized spreading the wealth."

"We have prioritized starting up more ships even with lower loads per vessel, rather than trying for higher load factors on fewer ships. We have been executing this in a financially and medically prudent manner."

He pointed out that in January 2022 the major booking season for cruise begins, and Royal Caribbean Group wants their core markets operating normally as quickly as possible. He believes with as many ships as they have ready to go in January, this will position the company well financially.

"That will put us in an excellent position to have a good wave period. Our bookings are already showing that the public has a great deal of pent up demand and is eager to travel again. We have a long period of poor bookings to make up for, but current booking trends give us a high level of confidence for 2022, especially from the summer on."

Royal Caribbean has been quietly increasing the capacity of its ships even as early as October, as evidenced by cruise passengers who reported seeing sailings with more than 50% capacity.

During the call, Mr. Bayley mentioned Freedom of the Seas sailed at 85% occupancy.

"We've brought back significantly more capacity, ships, beds and berths, than any of our competitors by a significant amount. And what that means is that operationally and logistically, we've already climbed over that mountain and we've now got a large number of our assets available for booking. And more importantly, we've now gone through and absorbed all of those expenses."

So when might Royal Caribbean truly get back to full capacity across the board?

Mr. Liberty said somewhere around summer 2022 is the plan for now, "We are kind of preparing our business to maximize our revenues and profitability in this very kind of lucrative peak summer season."

Future of protocols

One of the major obstacles to get more customers back on cruise ships are the Covid-19 protocols that are necessary right now, either as mandated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or by the cruise line.  So when will those change?

One investor asked Royal Caribbean how they were thinking about vaccine mandates across different age demographics into next year.

In replying, Mr. Bayley provided a glimpse into Royal Caribbean's relationship with the CDC, as well as when protocols could change.

"I think what's what's happened over this past several months is that we've really got a a focused, collaborative effort and we found the relationship with the CDC has been very constructive."

"While the CSO comes to a kind of a technical end on January the 15th, we will continue our ongoing collaboration with the CDC in terms of the protocols that will voluntarily operate after the CSO expires."

"They certainly, and we, want to make sure that we're operating safely and they're also well aware that some of the protocols that we have in place will naturally fall away as the pandemic moves further and further in the rearview mirror."

"I think as we move into '22, hopefully what we'll see is is the protocols become easier and less cumbersome for our customers."

World Cruise selling extremely well

Royal Caribbean announced its first world cruise to sail in 2023, and if you were wondering who would realistically book a 9 month cruise that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, the answer was clearly a lot of people.

Within the first 10 days, the cruise was only bookable by repeat cruise guests, and Mr. Bayley indicated already it is 70% booked.

"Within seven days we were 70 percent booked and the average price of a balcony room is $75000 for the balcony. The Royal Suite sold within a week at $760000, and all of these suites have booked with non-refundable deposit."

Mr. Bayley admitted they were surprised how well it sold, "Even we were taken aback by the unbelievable response of our royalty customers. The fact that within a week we were 70 percent booked on a ship that carries around 2,100 guests and is on a nine month world cruise was just remarkable, and I think that's indicative of what we're we're seeing."

Port project update

One investor asked Royal Caribbean for an update on its port projects that it had announced before the pandemic.

Mr. Bayley reiterated some of the short term projects that are still moving ahead, "We did obviously have a plan in place. Pre-pandemic, we pressed pause. We're now re-engaging on all of those plans in the immediate future."

Hideaway Beach

"We have an expansion taking place in perfect day with the addition of Hideaway Beach, which is a new experience that will open in late '22 for Perfect Day."

"The beauty of Hideaway Beach is that it is an adult only area as part of Perfect Day. It will allow us to increase our capacity by approximately 3000 people a day in late 22, which is, you know, obviously going to help improve our overall profitability and drive more more revenue, both both ticket and on board."

Nassau Beach Club

"We're close to finalizing the design and construction plans and the approvals for Beach Club in Nassau, which were we're hoping to start work on that very soon."

Galveston terminal

"We've got a Galveston terminal that's opening in '22 and that will accommodate our Oasis class ships and then future Icon. And of course, that gives us remarkable access into the Texas, Oklahoma and that whole region as a market for drive into."

Anyone with a Royal Caribbean cruise booked for early 2022 will now have more flexibility in changing plans, as well as when they have to pay it.

Royal Caribbean informed travel agents on Friday of a number of changes related to guest-facing programs, many of which have been well-received by guests.

Here is a breakdown of the major changes just announced.

More time to cancel cruise for a credit

The Cruise with Confidence program has been extended yet again.

The Cruise with Confidence program  will expand to reservations confirmed on or before December 17, 2021 and sailing through April 30, 2022.

This program allows guests to cancel a cruise up to 48 hours before their sail date with no penalty in exchange for a 100% Future Cruise Credit.

Cruise with Confidence was introduced at the beginning of the cruise industry shutdown in 2020, and was designed to give guests peace of mind that they can change their plans after final payment date.

Ordinarily, guests would incur a penalty for canceling a sailing beyond the final payment date, which is typically 90 days before a sailing commences. Cruise with Confidence provides a great deal more flexibility to change minds with no penalty.

Included with this extension is the Best Price Guarantee, which allows guests to reprice their sailing up to 48-hours prior to the sail date if the price drops.

Credits accrued from the Cruise with Confidence program must be redeemed by April 30, 2022 on sailings departing on or before December 31, 2022, or 1-year from the original sail date, whichever is later.

Final payment window pushed back

The final payment due date on sailings departing through March 31, 2022 will now have until 30 days prior to sailing to submit full payment. 

The change was made to give guests more flexibility in deciding if they want to cruise without forcing a cancellation earlier.

Royal Caribbean said they will not inform guests directly of this change, so that travel agents can do so if they choose.

"Rest assured, no action is needed on your part, and no cancellations will occur until the new final payment date."

Ordinarily, final payment date for a cruise is 90 days before sailing. 

COVID-19 Assistance program extended

One more extension is for Royal Caribbean's COVID-19 Assistance program, which covers passengers if anyone tests positive within 14 days of the cruise, or while onboard.

Vaccinated guests and children not yet eligible to be vaccinated who are sailing on or before April 30th, 2022 will have the following COVID-19 Assistance at no extra charge.

• 100% cruise fare refund for you, and your Traveling Party, if any of you tests positive for COVID-19 within 14 days prior to the cruise or at the boarding terminal.
• Pro-rated cruise fare refund if your cruise is cut short for reasons related to COVID-19.
• If you test positive for COVID-19 during the cruise, Royal Caribbean will cover the costs of COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard, any required land-based quarantine, and travel home for you and your Traveling Party.

A new expansion at Royal Caribbean's private island in The Bahamas will cater to adults.

In September 2021, Royal Caribbean teased a new expansion coming to Perfect Day at CocoCay, Hideaway Beach.

The announcement confirmed the expansion and name, but no other details.

During an earnings call with investors on Friday, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO confirmed Hideaway Beach will be an adults-only area.

"We have an expansion taking place in perfect day with the addition of Hideaway Beach, which is a new experience that will open in late '22 for Perfect Day," Mr. Bayley said while talking about port projects on the books. "The beauty of Hideaway Beach is that it is an adult only area as part of Perfect Day."

Mr. Bayley said the new area will increase the capacity of the private island by "approximately 3000" passengers.

Mr. Bayley also added that Hideaway Beach will help improve the cruise line's overall profitability and drive more more revenue, which seems to indicate Hideaway Beach will have an extra cost.

The choice of an adults-only was part of a survey sent to some guests in late September for what sort of activities they would want see added to the island experience.

Hideaway Beach will be located on the western end of the island in a cove area that is slowly being developed.

The western end of the island is undeveloped land, as well as backstage storage and lodging, but it appears those operations can be relocated.

This will be the first expansion of CocoCay since the pandemic, and first since the Coco Beach Club was completed in early 2020.

Not only is another Royal Caribbean cruise ship restarting sailing today, but a new homeport is making a return as well.

Explorer of the Seas will conduct her test cruise on Friday from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

It appears the test cruise will run between October 29 to October 31.

Explorer of the Seas will be the first Royal Caribbean cruise ship to restart operations from San Juan since it shut down operations in March 2020 due to Covid-19.

Explorer will set sail from Puerto Rico with a seven-night itinerary, stopping in San Juan; St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI); St Croix, USVI; Phillipsburg, St. Maarten; Castries, St Lucia; Bridgetown, Barbados; Basseterre, St. Kitts; and returning to disembark back in San Juan.

This is another simulated cruises required by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) as part of its phased approach to cruise ships restarting in the United States.

Royal Caribbean has been systematically getting its cruise ships back in service by staffing them up, operating a test cruise, and then once they get approval from the CDC, beginning revenue sailings.

The purpose of a test cruise is to demonstrate to the CDC that the onboard health protocols can work, and keep crew members and passengers safe.

Explorer of the Seas is the latest Royal Caribbean cruise ship to undergo a test cruise, which have been successful on all the other ships that have conducted them.

If the test sailing goes well, Explorer of the Seas could be ready for her first scheduled voyage on November 7.

What happens on a test cruise?

A simulated voyage (also known as a test cruise) is when Royal Caribbean operates its ships without paying passengers in order to demonstrate the Covid-19 protocols onboard are effective.

Test cruises also serve a dual purpose for the cruise line, as a way to give returning crew members a chance to prepare for paying guests later.

The CDC requires ships starting back up to go through a series of steps that prove the new health protocols onboard and simulate a few scenarios to ensure the ship and crew are prepared for any Covid-19 issues that could occur.

The CDC gives cruise lines the option of completing these requirements over one or multiple sailings, but thus far, Royal Caribbean has always completed its test sailings in just a single voyage.

Some cruise lines required at least 95% of its passengers be fully vaccinated, but Royal Caribbean has not and that is because of the line's dedication to families.

Royal Caribbean has been adamant that it wants families to be able to cruise, including children who are not old enough to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

As a result, Royal Caribbean decided to take the extra time to do test cruises so that it could continue to welcome children onboard its ships.

Royal Caribbean International's senior vice president of Hotel Operations, Mark Tamis, called the decision "obvious" given how many kids sail with Royal Caribbean, along with the cruise line's dedication to remaining a family brand. "A good 20 to 25 percent of our guests are kids."