Royal Caribbean has revealed what it has in store for Australia in the 2022-2023 cruise season.

Three ships will sail down under to destinations in the South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia.

The new deployments will go on sale beginning March 25, 2021.

The new season also features more weekend 2- or 3-night “sampler” cruises than ever before, so guests can get a taste for cruise life and weekend like they mean it in 2022/23.

Three ships will call Australia home, including two Quantum Class ships.

Quantum of the Seas will arrive in in Brisbane in October 2022 and offer 24 sailings ranging from 3- to 18-nights, including two transpacific journeys, to destinations in the South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. 

Quantum has more South Pacific sailings falling across school holidays than ever before.

Ovation of the Seas will sail from Sydney and offer 20 sailings, ranging from 2- to 19-nights, to summer stops in New Zealand, Queensland, the South Pacific and Australia.

Radiance of the Seas is headed to Sydney as well, and will offer 22 sailings, including two transpacific voyages, ranging from 3- to 18-nights, to destinations such as New Zealand, Great Barrier Reef, South Pacific & Fiji, and Tasmania.

Royal Caribbean is also adding a new refundable fare option to provide guests with "added piece of mind". 

The refundable deposits are available for 2022/23 sailings, which allows guests to retrieve their deposit up to 70 days prior to sailing for most cruises.

Wondering what is the latest on where things stand with test cruises, June sailings, or Alaska cruises this year?

Many travel agents wanted to get the latest on these topics as well, and these questions were brought up during a webinar with Royal Caribbean on Wednesday.

Royal Caribbean's senior vice president of sales and trade support & service, Vicki Freed (and her team), provided the latest updates on where things stand.

Test cruises

First, the question was asked if the U.S. Center for Disease Control had provided technical guidance to the cruise lines for test cruises to start.

"Conversations are happening every week, multiple times during the week," Ms. Freed said in response to the question.

"We don't have the actual dates yet for the sample cruises... but we're getting closer."

Read more: Everything you need to know about Royal Caribbean test cruises

The question comes almost a month after Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley told investors that he was expecting to get technical instructions on what each ship needs to do in order to prepare itself for test cruises.

"We're literally expecting the technical specifications any day soon," Mr. Bayley told investors.

Will Royal Caribbean cancel June cruises?

Norwegian Cruise Line cancelled its June 2021 cruises this week, and that has prompted many to speculate if Royal Caribbean will follow suit.

Royal Caribbean Director of Revenue Strategy, Brittany Briggs, indicated nothing has changed yet, "It's a question that we get often when other cruise lines do make announcements and the best we can say is that, trust us, that we're continually evaluating the current environment.

"We're trying to do all that we can as well from our side. But currently we're only canceled through May of this year, which we've gone out with an announcement on."

Any update on Alaska cruises?

Another hot topic surrounds the fate of Alaska cruises for this year, which Royal Caribbean has placed on hold until further notice.

The entire Alaska cruise season this year is in jeopardy due to Canada's one-year ban of ships (along with the CDC's general ban of ships around the United States).

Ms. Briggs also answered this question, and told travel agents there is no change in the Alaska cruises yet.

"Currently that environment hasn't changed, we're continuously having those conversations and we are hopeful."

Earlier this month, a new bill was introduced to to alleviate the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) restrictions for cruise ships transporting passengers between the State of Washington and the State of Alaska.

Royal Caribbean says something big could be announced on Wednesday.

Travel agents received an email about a new webinar scheduled for Wednesday with "some hot off the press updates."

Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, Vicki Freed, told travel agents to attend a webinar that strongly hints at a big announcement.

"I guarantee this is a session you will not want to miss out on - I'd say this is the news we've all been waiting for!"

The invitation did not disclose what the topic or scope of the announcement could be, but the wording is very clear that it is significant.

There are plenty of possible topics this webinar could tackle, including an update on when test cruises might start, revenue sailing restart plans, new health protocols, ship deployments, and more.

UPDATE: A new email from Ms. Freed points to a new homeport for Royal Caribbean.

It is unknown if Royal Caribbean's decision to redeploy Mariner of the Seas beginning in October 2021 has anything to do with the announcement.

It has long been speculated that the first Royal Caribbean ships to restart sailings in North America are likely to be short sailings to the Bahamas, and Mariner of the Seas has offered those types of cruises.

Moreover, if there is any connection between the newly redeployed Mariner sailings and restarting cruises, Royal Caribbean can get around the problem of having to figure out a way around needing to maintain a reduced capacity without canceling certain reservations and not others. 

Stay tuned to RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com for details on anything Royal Caribbean announces.

If you have a cruise on Mariner of the Seas booked between October 2021 and April 2022, your sailing has been changed.

Royal Caribbean informed travel agents on Tuesday that it has made a change to all Mariner of the Seas sailings scheduled between October 2021 and April 2022.

Mariner of the Seas will still sail from Port Canaveral, but the departure dates and itineraries have been revised with new itineraries. Essentially, she will sail from the same port - just on different days.

As a result of the change, existing bookings have been canceled.

Guests who were booked on Mariner of the Seas have four options:

You have up to  March 29th, 2021 to decide which of these options suits you.

1. Stay onboard redployed sailing

Royal Caribbean will automatically move the guest to a similar stateroom beginning on April 1, 2021.

2. Rebook another Mariner of the Seas sailing

Guests can choose to rebook to a different sailing, based on their original booked sail date.

3. Move to any other Royal Caribbean sailing

If option 1 or 2 does not work, then they move their reservation to any other Royal Caribbean sailing without incurring a change fee.

You will still be subject to any difference in pricing for your cruise fare, taxes, fees, gratuities, and other non-cruise fare items. If you were already paid in full and your cruise fare rate decreases, Royal Caribbean will provide you with a refund if there is any difference in pricing. Expect a  refund to your original form of payment 45 days after the move is complete.

Airfare changes will be reimbursed as well for non-refundable airline charges with receipts (up to $200 USD per guest for Domestic flights or up to $400 USD per guest for International flights). Please email airline receipts and booking information to [email protected] for review and reimbursement.

4. Refund

If none of these options work, Royal Caribbean will offer a full refund of any paid portion of your cruise fare to the original form(s) of payment, including any non-refundable deposit.

Expect a refund 45 days after you submit the refund request.

If you used a Future Cruise Credit on this sailing, and request a refund instead, Royal Caribbean will refund any NEW funds paid above the certificate amount, and reinstate the original certificate.

One of the big three cruise lines just announced it will not be restarting cruises until at least July.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced on Tuesday morning it has canceled its June 2021 cruises across its three brands: Norwegian, Regent and Oceania.

The cancellations extend through June 30. 

Prior to today's announcement, NCL had cruises canceled through May.

The pattern thus far during the cruise industry shutdown has been when one of the major three cruise lines, NCL, Carnival, or Royal Caribbean, cancels cruises, the other two follow eventually.

The company said it it continues to work through its return-to-service plan to meet the requirements of the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Guests who are currently booked on canceled voyages on Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises or Regent Seven Seas Cruises are asked to contact their travel advisor or the cruise line for more information.

NCL had pulled all of its June cruises from being bookable on its website earlier this week, which has been another tell-tale sign of impending cancellations.

Royal Caribbean had only just cancelled its May cruises one week ago, and there has been no announcement yet by Royal Caribbean if June will also go.

We know that Quantum of the Seas cruises from Singapore and Odyssey of the Seas sailings from Israel will be able to sail in June, with perhaps a chance of cruises from China being able to sail.

The big question is not if there will be any Royal Caribbean cancellations in June, rather, if there will be an opportunity for one or two other ships to move towards a restart.

There is a fine line between "so what? You're on vacation!" and "That's a lot of money" when it comes to buying things on a cruise vacation.

Part of going on vacation is splurging and treating yourself to something you might not otherwise buy back at home. Jewelry, a massage, cocktails are just a few examples of ways some people like to plus-up their trip.

Just because you are on vacation does not mean you have to waste your money either, and there a few situations where you should put your SeaPass card back in your pocket.

Here are the top things you can buy on a cruise, that I think you should hold off on buying at sea and buy them when you get home.

Art auction

I know there are some readers who really love the art auctions on a cruise ship, but art auctions are a prime example of "buyer beware".

Unfortunately, these art auctions have a really poor reputation for over the top evaluations, slow shipping times, and buyer regret.

Certainly some people buy art on a ship and love their piece.  I think the key is to be aware that valuations are opinions, not facts, and you should buy art because you think it will look good in your living room; not because you think it will be part of your retirement plan.

An alternative is to look at buying art in the ports your ship will visit. Many ports have art for sale in the stores near the ship, and you can find something that captures your vacation memories for likely less than the art onboard.

Read more: 5 Costly lessons learned on a cruise (and how to avoid them!)

Electronics

Royal Caribbean sells a decent selection of cameras, action cameras, memory cards, and other fun electronics that you can use on your vacation, but don't expect any kind of competitive price for them.

In general, you are going to pay full retail prices for cameras, camcorders, and various accessories on a ship.  If you buy them at home at a retail store or online, you will find more more competitive prices.

There is nothing wrong with picking up a spare memory card if you realize you forgot one (I have done that once), but deals for these items are not common at all.

If you realize you forgot your camera or something else important, consider buying it in your embarkation port.  Your taxi can easily bring you to WalMart or Best Buy before going to the port.  Or you could look at prices in a port you are visiting.

Baby supplies

If you are going on a cruise with a toddler or infant, Royal Caribbean does stock a limited supply of diapers and formula, but this should really be for an emergency only.

Not only is their stock low, they may not have the right size of something, or the brand your child prefers.  Never mind you are going to overpay for these items.

It is a good idea to pack many more supplies than you think you will ever need to ensure you have plenty of extra.

Another alternative is to buy baby supplies in a port you are visiting.  Look for a pharmacy or super market for reasonably priced options.

Read more: Introduction to bringing toddlers on a Royal Caribbean cruise

Personal hygiene & medicine

Got a sun burn? Need more shaving cream? Have a headache? Royal Caribbean stocks what you need, but it will not cheap.

Whether you need toothpaste, aloe, Tylenol, or any other personal care product, skip buying it on the ship.

Any port you visit likely stocks these items at better prices, so try to wait to pick it up there.

If you are flying to your cruise port and do not want to deal with the airline restrictions on liquids, consider buying them in your embarkation port before you go to the cruise terminal.

Read more: How To Avoid Getting Sick on a Cruise

Drink package

Don't worry, I think a drink package can be a great value.  However, if you are buying it onboard the ship, you are wasting money.

Royal Caribbean regularly discounts its drink packages when you purchase them online, so do yourself a favor and buy them online before your cruise.

You can buy a drink package at almost any time up until a few days before your cruise.  

No matter the price of the drink package online, it will absolutely be less online than if you buy it onboard.

Read more: How to get a get a discount on a Royal Caribbean drink package

Ship internet

Just like the drink package, your wifi package will absolutely be cheaper online if you buy it before the cruise.

There is one exception to waiting to buy the ship wifi, and that is if you are Diamond or higher in Crown and Anchor Society because you are entitled to a big discount on your wifi package. On short sailings (less than 5 nights), it actually can make sense to wait to buy it onboard.

But if you are new to Royal Caribbean, or have not cruised much, you will save money by booking a wifi package online before the cruise.

Read more: Royal Caribbean WiFi: Guide to Internet at sea

No matter how many cruises you have been on, there are still a few things you are calling the wrong name.

Like so many things in spoken language, people tend to gravitate towards easier to remember terms or phrases and getting your brain to remember the proper phrase is never simple.

The classic example is when a highway or bridge is renamed, many people tend to still call it by the old name.  In other cases, it can be a simple case of not realizing the thing you are talking about is actually referred to as something else.

No one is perfect (especially me), so I wanted to share a few common terms, things, and policies that you might have been calling the wrong thing.

1. Jones Act

Let's start off with a timely mistake, and that is calling the cabotage laws that cruise ships adhere to in the United States as the Jones Act.

The rules that require foreign-flagged cruise ships to sail from the United States and stop somewhere outside of the country before returning back has become a major sticking point for cruise lines following Canada's ban of cruise ships.

Lots of people call this the Jones Act, but the Jones Act refers to cargo and cruise ships actually fall under a different law.

It is not the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920), it is the PVSA (Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886) that prohibits foreign flagged ships from doing closed-loop voyages that do not visit a foreign port.  

2. Boat

The cruising equivalent of nails on a chalkboard has to be when someone refers to a cruise ship as "a boat".

This has to do with the nautical terms that differentiate vessels between a boat and a ship.

Calling a cruise ship a boat is demeaning because there are major differences between a boat and a ship.

• A ship is much larger than a boat
• Ships are built to travel the open ocean, while boats are relegated to shore areas
• A ship can carry a boat, but a boat can’t carry a ship

3. RCCL

Another incredibly common mistake is to call Royal Caribbean International "RCCL" or "Royal Caribbean Cruise Line".

Yes, that used to be the name of the cruise line, but Royal Caribbean changed its name from "Royal Caribbean Cruise Line" after they purchased Celebrity Cruises.

The company decided to keep the two cruise line brands separate after the merger, so "Royal Caribbean Cruise Line" became "Royal Caribbean International" and a new parent company, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., was created.

Since then, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. changed its name to Royal Caribbean Group in 2020.

The bottom line is, it has been over 20 years since the cruise line we know and love was called RCCL.

4. Mustard drill

My kids are as guilty as anyone for mispronouncing this as anyone, but one is the safety drill and the other is a condiment.

I am certain there is a technical phrase in speech about when you call something by a name you think you heard it as, but the safety drill on cruise ships is the muster drill, and has nothing to do with the stuff you put on burgers.

As a new cruiser, it is easy to mistake the name after hearing someone say "muster drill", but it is definitely not mustard.

5. Cay or Key?

The proper pronunciation of Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas has recently become a major source of debate among cruisers.

When Royal Caribbean transformed CocoCay into Perfect Day at CocoCay, there was a decision to call the island by the same pronunciation that the Bahamians prefer, which is "key".

Since many of us were so used to pronouncing it "cay", it drummed up a lot of discussion which is appropriate.  Many cruise fans pointed out "cay" rhymes with "Perfect Day", thus, it must be the case.  I have always seen that as a coincidence, since Perfect Day at Lelepa was announced and definitely does not rhyme.

The truth is both pronunciations are acceptable, but "key" is more proper.

6. Confusing sail away time with all aboard time

Of all the things on this list, I probably would not stop and correct someone on a cruise ship out of respect for them and not wanting to look like a know-it-all....except for this one.

When your cruise ship visits a port, you will see the times listed of when the ship is in port. However, these times are not what times you can actually get on or off the ship.

The ship has two times guest need to take heed of: what time the ship departs, and what time you need to be back onboard.

The all aboard time is the cut off for when you must be back onboard the ship.  This is to ensure there is enough time for everyone to get back on the ship, and prepare the ship to set sail.

So when you are planning your day in any port, you want to ensure you are back onboard well before the all aboard time.

7. Anytime Dining

Royal Caribbean's flexible main dining room dinner program is called My Time Dining, but there are a lot of other names people call it.

Lots of guests will call it "anytime dining" or even worse, "freestyle dining".  

Freestyle Dining is the trademarked name of Norwegian Cruise Line's bold initiative to shake up cruise ship dinner.

Happy weekend! We hope you remembered to Spring Forward! Here’s all the Royal Caribbean news this week!

Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean canceled nearly all of its May 2021 cruises.

The new round of cancellations means cruises will not be able to restart until at least June.

This means its voluntary cruise shutdown extends through May 31, 2021.

Cruise operations had been suspended through the end of April 2021, but will now be extended an additional month.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean extends Cruise with Confidence program by one month
• Royal Caribbean releases new Odyssey of the Seas sailings from Israel
• Royal Caribbean now surveying guests about comfort level with booking a cruise
• Royal Caribbean produces video where masks are required on Quantum of the Seas
• Royal Caribbean is re-evaluating its cruise ship health protocols following stellar vaccine results
• Here are the questions about crew members a lot of people are searching the internet for
• Spotted: Royal Caribbean ship scheduled to sail from Los Angeles, California in 2021
• What is the earliest flight I should book after the cruise?
• Royal Caribbean is close to purchasing Grand Lucayan resort in Freeport
• 20 Radiance Class cruise ship tips and secrets
• England opens up option for cruises to restart on May 17
• Ovation of the Seas enters dry dock for routine five year maintenance

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 397th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, which has the top things I wish more cruisers knew about going on a cruise.

In this episode, I have seven suggestions for anyone going on a cruise that wants to enjoy their cruise to its fullest.

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: 5 Costly lessons learned on a cruise (and how to avoid them!)

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 — Where are Royal Caribbean's cruise ships right now?
 — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Royal Caribbean releases Long Caribbean cruise itineraries for Winter 2022-2023

Royal Caribbean has released a new round of 2022-2023 itineraries for sale.

This week, the "Other/Long Caribbean" for Winter 2022-2023 went on sale, encompassing five cruise ships. These new sailings are available to book immediately.

The last major milestone in the construction of Royal Caribbean's next new cruise ship will begin this weekend.

Odyssey of the Seas will begin her sea trials on the evening of March 14, 2021 in the North Sea.

Shipbuilder Meyer Werft confirmed Odyssey will begin her test runs on Sunday.

Sea trials are tests of a cruise ship's navigational and technical systems, which are the final part of cruise ship construction prior to delivery.

Odyssey will test her technical and nautical systems in the North Sea, before returning to Bremerhaven.

It is not clear how long sea trials will be exactly, as they can vary in duration. Sometimes one or two sessions are common.

The ship has been in northern Germany since completing her conveyance down the Ems River from the shipyard in Papenburg.

Read more: 13 Beautiful photos from Odyssey of the Seas conveyance

In addition to the sea trials, work is continuing on the final interior work so that the ship can be delivered "in a few weeks".

In the final weeks before delivery, Meyer Werft announced, "extensive protective measures on board" following the reports of a few shipyard workers testing positive for Covid-19.

Among the enhanced protocols, a new task force will be deployed onboard to implement and adjust necessary protocols, while reducing personal contact among workers.

The several hundred shipyard workers onboard are undergoing daily antigen testing. Anyone come onboard must show a PCR test less than 48 hours old.

While Meyer Werft has not announced a delivery date yet, it appears that will occur later this month.

Royal Caribbean International Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations, Mark Tamis, told travel agents during a webinar that the date the new cruise ship will be handed over on March 24.

Read more: Why are new cruise ships still being built?

Odyssey of the Seas is a 169,000-gross-ton ship that measures 1,138 feet (347 meters) long and 135 feet (41 meters) wide.

Once Odyssey of the Seas is handed over to Royal Caribbean, she will begin offering cruises in May from Israel during summer 2021.

Exactly one year ago today, Royal Caribbean announced it would shut down its cruise ships for the next 30 days. Neither that announcement, nor what would transpire over the next 12 months, seemed possible to last, and yet that is exactly what happened.

In fact, the entire cruise industry voluntarily announced it would shut itself down the next day due to the rapid spread of Covid-19 around the world.

One year later, we are still as uncertain about when cruises might actually restart en masse as we were one year ago.

The lost year

The decision to cancel every cruise ship sailing was not the first tactic employed by cruise lines to bolster confidence in consumers while still operating cruises during the early days of Covid.

Two months earlier, Royal Caribbean cancelled its first cruises due to Covid, with a series of Spectrum of the Seas sailings cancelled on January 27, 2020.

At the end of January 2020, Royal Caribbean announced new screening procedures for its cruise ships that denied entry to guests of certain countries (mainland China and Hong Kong). New protocols were added onboard, such as professional medical treatment; quarantine of unwell individuals from the general ship population; and intensified ship cleaning, air filtration, and sanitization procedures.

Moving into February, a total of 18 sailings had been cancelled by February 14, 2020.

In early March, mandatory temperature screenings were added to the cruise check-in process.

By this time, the government started to get more involved in what was happening with cruise ships. On March 8, United States State Department issued a travel warning to US citizens against going on a cruise ship because of Coronavirus fears.

However, the reality of the rapid spread of the virus was becoming all too clear, and Royal Caribbean pulled the plug for 30 days beginning at midnight on March 14.

One month turned into two, which turned into three, and then cancellations became a monthly routine. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease control moved to prohibit cruise lines from restarting service with its "No Sail Order", which dominated much of 2020.  The order was extended a few times, and effectively banned cruise ships from operating from U.S. waters.

The rest of the spring, summer, and fall, saw no cruise ships sailing and just speculation regarding if or when the CDC would relent and allow cruise ships to restart.

The first good news came in the summer when Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced a joint-effort to craft health protocols meant to keep passengers safe through a variety of new health protocols.

The Healthy Sail Panel was comprised of scientists, public health officials, and epidemiologists. Their job was to look at how they could make going on a cruise as safe as possible during a global health crisis.

They came up with 74 recommendations, which have since become the cornerstone of the entire cruise industry's approach to restarting cruises safely.

At the end of October, the CDC allowed the No Sail Order to come to an end, and replaced with the a phased approach to resuming cruise ship operations in U.S. waters.

The Conditional Sailing Order for Cruise Ships outlined phases that would allow ships to resume service.

Unfortunately, all cruise lines have not received the full extent of instructions yet from the CDC on what they need to do in order to prepare for simulated voyages.

Four months after the No Sail Order was lifted, cruise lines are stil waiting for the list of things needed for test sailings to commence, and subsequently revenue cruises.

Small victories

Once cruises shutdown in March 2020, Royal Caribbean had very little good news to offer, and next to no progress on ships returning to service.

The first major accomplishment was when Quantum of the Seas began sailing from Singapore in December 2020.

Some other cruise lines had been able to restart a ship or two in Europe under tight restrictions over the summer, but Royal Caribbean did not.  Instead, the first ship to return to the water was Quantum of the Seas under a pilot program with the government of Singapore.

An array of 3- and 4-night cruises were open only to Singapore residents and had no port stops. Moreover, guests onboard would need to adhere to the comprehensive health and safety requirements developed by the Singapore government.

Since December, Quantum has sailed successfully without a single positive case onboard (although there was one false positive report).

Following the success of Quantum, Royal Caribbean said it would deploy Grandeur of the Seas to Barbados in December 2021 to offer cruises from that new homeport.

Just a few weeks ago, Royal Caribbean announced a second ship would be able to restart sailing. Its newest cruise ship, Odyssey of the Seas, would sail from Israel in May 2021 with fully vaccinated crew and guests over the age of 16.

Hope on the horizon

While there has been no indication the CDC has budged yet on getting cruise ships to move towards restarting, the world has made some rapid improvements lately.

The advent of a few different Covid-19 vaccines, coupled with a rapid distribution to the public, has many health officials (and cruise fans) optimistic about the future.

With new cases falling and more and more people becoming vaccinated, Covid is no longer the forever problem that it felt like recently.

Cruise lines have not given any kind of a schedule as to when simulated or revenue cruises might be able to restart, but the tone of the comments from cruise executives seems to be much more hopeful.

In his March video message, Royal Caribbean Group Chairman and CEO Richard Fain shared his optimism with travel advisors.

"These are the most hopeful days we have had in a long time. But as we get closer to our goal, we inevitably also get more impatient to reach it."

Despite the fact cruises were the first travel industry to voluntarily shutdown due to Covid, and are the last industry to restart meaningfully, there is good (yet cautious) optimism for ships to resume sailing at some point this year.