Happy Sunday! November has arrived, and so has Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship to her homeport of Port Everglades.  Each week we summarize all of this week's Royal Caribbean news, just in case you missed any of it.

This week's news was dominated by Harmony of the Seas, with the meeting of the three Oasis class ships on Friday marking an historic event.

Allure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas converged off the coast of Florida for the first, and perhaps only, time ever.  To see all three ships in the class in one spot was quite exciting, and it also marked the arrival of Harmony of the Seas to the United States.

Here is a look at the rest of the Royal Caribbean news from this week.

Royal Caribbean News

• Adventure of the Seas refurbishment is delayed due to to the impact of Hurricane Matthew.
• Royal Caribbean is now the official cruise line of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers.
• The band DNCE will perform live on Harmony of the Seas.
• Royal Caribbean made its first-ever call to Wollongong, Australia.
• Our guide to single staterooms on Royal Caribbean's ships.
• Harmony of the Seas is here and why you should be excited about it.
• A video look at the culinary experience in Wonderland on Harmony of the Seas.
• Royal Caribbean released an infographic that details all the family fun on Harmony of the Seas.
• A behind-the-scenes look at the Ultimate Abyss slide.
• Our readers shared photos of the Halloween fun on Harmony of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

On this week's episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast, Matt is previewing his cruise on Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas.

Matt is sailing on two short Harmony of the Seas cruises this week, and in this episode, he shares a look at what he has planned onboard (and how he convinced his wife to let him cruise solo).

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.

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

Royal Caribbean answers the question of how it hires the thousands of crew members that it needs.

Cruise Habit reviewed the first sailaway for Harmony of the Seas from Port Everglades.

Eat Sleep Cruise posted a full review of Sabor on Oasis of the Seas.

The Enterprisers Project has an interview with Royal Caribbean's CIO.

Cruise and Ferry wrote about the end of the 2016 cruise season for Royal Caribbean in Nova Scotia.

Forbes has a look at what it's like to work on the world's largest cruise ship.

My Harmomy of the Seas adventure begins today and naturally, I was up bright and early to get a start on it.

Harmony of the Seas leaves from Port Everglades, Florida, and I live about 3 hours north of there in Orlando.  I was on the road a little after 6am and enjoyed a quiet and uneventful car ride down the Florida Turnpike to Harmony of the Seas' new home.

I arrived at the pier at about 9:30am and was among perhaps 30-40 other early birds to get in line for security.  It is absolutely not necessary to arrive that early for any cruise, but I was so excited that I could not help myself.

Check-in was quite easy and simple.  The check-in is a hybrid of the traditional Royal Caribbean check-in process, mixed with a little Quantum class touch.  You still go to the counter to check in, but I was able to provide a photo of myself during the online check-in.  Also, guests are not given SeaPass cards. Instead, your SeaPass cards are waiting for you just outside your stateroom.  

Once checked in, I was seated in the Diamond section of Terminal 18.  Because Harmony of the Seas was coming from a transatlantic voyage, US Customs was going to take longer to clear the ship.  Royal Caribbean did send passengers an email prior to the cruise warning guests of this delay.  That being said, boarding did not begin until a little after noon, and I was not onboard until 12:30.  Not a big deal, but the issue with a late embarkation like that is there was a big crowd in the terminal to get onboard.

Once onboard the ship, I followed my traditional embarkation day regiment and headed straight to the Windjammer for lunch.  I was blown away by the size of the Windjammer on Harmony of the Seas! It was massive, and much larger than the Windjammer on Allure of the Seas.  This was a welcome change.

After lunch I started exploring the ship and immediatley I noticed that Harmony of the Seas felt so much like a Quantum class ship.  I joked on Periscope that Harmony of the Seas feels more like a Quantum class ship that is pretending to be an Oasis class ship, than the other way around.  This is by no means a bad thing, just a surprise to me.  The look and feel of Harmony (especially in the staterooms, cooridors and certain venues) is so reminiscent of being on Anthem of the Seas that I would dare someone who has been on either to see certain photos onboard and be able to know the difference.

Our rooms were ready at 1:30pm and I really like my Boardwalk balcony stateroom.  The room is quite large and can easily accomodate two guests.  The amount of storage space is fantastic and the decor is once again nearly identical to the Quantum class rooms.

Of course, the balcony is what this sort of stateroom is all about and the Boardwalk view is terrific.  My room is towards the aft of the ship (perhaps 4 rooms from the end), and that provides a great view of the AquaTheater, rock climbing wall,  and more importantly, Sabor.

I have always been a fan of the neighborhood balconies because they are less expensive (typically) than ocean facing balconies, and offer a kind of experience that no other class of Royal Caribbean ships can offer.

After dropping all my stuff off in the room, I was off to start exploring Harmony of the Seas.  It is a beautiful ship, with so much going on.  I am quite happy that I added this three night sailing on, so that I can get more time to "see it all."

I was really impressed by the design of the main dining room on Harmony of the Seas.  The art piece is particularly beautiful!

When muster drill time came around, I realized that my station was in the Boardwalk, near the AquaThear.  My first outdoor muster station experience on an Oasis class ship.  

Following the drill, I immediately made my way up to deck 15 to try my hand at the Ultimate Abyss.  

This is a 10-story slide and I was excited to finally try it.  I was one of the first few guests to get in line and after perhaps 10 minutes, the slide opened up and it was my turn to descend.

As I got closer and closer to the entrance to the slide I got a little nervous with apprehension, but once I pushed off and began sliding down I immediately loved the whole experience.  Not only is it a lot of fun, it is not nearly as intese or scary as one might imagine.  I as impressed by the special effects in the slide, which consist of lighting and sound effects.  Definitely a must-do and I think I have to try it again a few times.

After riding, I spent some more time exploring the ship.  I even got a chance to check out some fellow Royal Caribbean Blog readers' studio staterooms, which were quite nice and definitely something I could stay in if I was sailing alone (especially for the price).

My favorite spot on any Oasis class ship is Central Park, and I was excited it again on Harmony of the Seas.  It is a beautiful area, full of natural beauty and terrific ambiance.  It especially looks great once the sun goes down and the lights come on.

I grabbed a quick dinner in the Windjammer this evening, and enjoyed the great variety of options.  I even brought my own bottle of wine, that the crew were happy to store for me for dinner tomorrow night.

Being in the evening, I also took advantage of the Crown and Anchor Society Diamond level complimentary drinks from 5-8:30.  Because there are so many Diamond members onboard, Royal Caribbean converted the Attic on deck 4 into a temporary Diamond lounge.  I certainly got some value from this very nice perk.

I was so busy exploring the ship that I completely overlooked our sailaway from Port Everglades. Oh well, I will see it again later this week when I return to Harmony of the Seas!

I had planned to see Columbus the Musical at 8:30pm, but unfortunately there was so much motion this evening that the show (and The Fine Line) had to be cancelled. It was really quite odd how much motion we were experiencing so close to land.  As soon as we got out of the channel, the ship started swaying quite a bit.  The good news is by about 9pm or so, the motion subsided quite a bit, and as I am writing this, we are back to barely any movement. I took the extra time to enjoy the live music in Central Park.

I am happy to report that I was able to exchange my old WOWband from Anthem of the Seas to Guest Relations and I received a new WOWband with no issues.  Plus, I finally got a new color (white) to add to my collection.  Personally, I love the convenience of the WOWbands over the SeaPass card.  No digging in my pocket for the SeaPass card and it is so easy getting back into my stateroom.

Since I had my handy, dandy WOWband, I wanted to test it out, so in the name of research...I had a drink from the Bionic Bar.  I ordered one of the stock drinks, and there is no denying how cool it is for a machine to make a drink on demand.  

There was a second showing of Columbus the Musical at 10:30, so I tried for this showing and the motion subsided enough that the show could go on.

I had some high expections for this original Royal Caribbean production and I have to say, it did not disappoint at all. It is a fun show with a goofy, yet endearing plot that works in a lot of hit songs you can easily sing along to.  Easily another must-see show for Royal Caribbean!

Tomorrow we will be in Nassau, but I plan on staying onboard to explore more of Harmony of the Seas!

Random Observations

• Starbucks did not have the Christmas/green cup drinks yet.  Those drinks came out during Harmony's transatlantic, so I did not expect them to have that quick of a turnarond. I asked, and no coffee card on this sailing either.
  
• Due to the Customs delay, our muster drill (and sailaway) was pushed back 15 minutes.
• Today was the first day of the neighborhood balcony perks.  My perks include free soda drink package, a free meal at Johnny Rockets and a private rock climbing session.  I need to investigate how one "cashes in" on those last two perks.
• Our cruise director, Abe, made an announcement that due to the embarkation issues many guests experience, Royal Caribbean is giving everyone onboard Voom for free.  If you bought Voom, you will get a credit.  Not a bad start to the cruise!
• I spotted a Walking Dead reference in the cooridor of deck 9!
  
• It definitely pays to pre-book a Royal Caribbean drink package before your cruise. Here are the posted rates for the drink packages if purchased onboard.
  

Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class ships, Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas and the new Harmony of the Seas, all met at sea earlier today.  This marked the first, and possibly only time an meeting like this might occur.

The three ships rendezvoused off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida in a celebration of the arrival of Harmony of the Seas to her new homeport of Port Everglades.

Harmony of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world, just edging out her sister ships Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.  The three ships represent the meeting of the largest cruise ships in the world, in one place.

Royal Caribbean's three Oasis class ships are meeting just off the coast of Florida today, and Royal Caribbean is sharing a live stream of this historic event.

Harmony of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas are meeting together for the first time.

Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas is nearly at her new home of Port Everglades, Florida, and I will be onboard two of the first few sailings and LIVE blogging every day of the cruise, to share with you what it is like to experience this amazing ship.

This is a somewhat different type of live blog, and cruise experience, for me.  I will be on two different sailings, separated by two days between them.  Our cruise begins later this week, but here is a cruise preview to share with you what to expect on our trip!

The Cruise

As I mentioned, I will be on two different Harmony of the Seas sailings. The first is a three-night Bahamas cruise on November 5th, and the other is a two-night Bahamas cruise on November 10th.

The story of booking this cruise goes back a few months ago, when Royal Caribbean invited me to come aboard a two-night Harmony of the Seas preview cruise, where members of the media, travel agents and other VIP's are invited to check out this new ship.

Royal Caribbean Blog has been lucky enough to have been invited to a couple other preview sailings on Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas, so to be honored with an invite for this sailing is quite wonderful.

These two-night preview cruises go by extremely quickly, and are filled with a number of events meant to educate and provide a deeper insight into how the ship functions. The events are very interesting and offer quite a bit of insight, but it comes at the expense of the limited time onboard.

I had noticed there was a 3-night sailing on Harmony of the Seas just prior to my 2-night sailing, and it was over a weekend.  This seemed to be the perfect solution to allowing me additional time for ship-based research prior to the media cruise experience.

With as much of a serious tone that one can use in a written blog post, I will be using my collective 5-nights on Harmony of the Seas to spend it researching what is unique about this ship, and using my time to collect information that I plan on using in future blog posts.  Of course, I relish this sort of "work", and the opportunity to check out Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship is extremely exciting to me.

Stateroom

I will be staying in two different stateroom categories between the two sailings.

On the first sailing, I will be in a Boardwalk view balcony stateroom.  When I made the reservation, I got a Neighborhood Balcony Guarantee stateroom, because it was less expensive and I was fairly open to the room type.  I will be sailing solo on the 3-night sailing and believe it or not, the Neighborhood Balcony Guarantee was the cheapest option available.

After a couple of weeks, my room was assigned and discovered it would be a Neighborhood Balcony guarantee.  I have stayed in Central Park Balcony rooms, but never a Boardwalk Balcony.  I am excited to try something new and see what the whole Boardwalk view experience is all about.  Also, my room is very close to the end of the hall (4 rooms away from the aft of the ship), so I am hoping I might have a decent view of the AquaTheater too.

On the two-night sailing, my wife will join me and we will be in an oceanview balcony.

This is a classic stateroom option, and this will be the first time I will be staying in an oceanview balcony on an Oasis class ship.

Itinerary

Both cruises are short and will include a stop in Nassau, Bahamas, although I do not plan on getting off the ship on any of the stops.  I want to take full advantage of my time onboard Harmony of the Seas, and will stay onboard to ensure I have as much time as possible to experience as much of what the ship offers as I can.  Plus, I will be back to Nassau in March on a different sailing, so there will be time to explore there later.

Three things I am excited to try

3. Water slides

Harmony of the Seas features a number of firsts, and its water slides are one aspect of the ship that many families are super excited to try.  Even as an adult, I cannot wait to try them out for myself and check out one of the first water slides at sea on a Royal Caribbean ship.

There are three new slides on Harmony of the Seas, collectively known as The Perfect Storm. Two racer slides and a champagne bowl slide mean I will be taking quite a few trips (in the name of research).

2. Boardwalk balcony

This is my first time staying in a Boardwalk balcony stateroom, and I am excited to compare the experience to staying in a Central Park balcony. Both room types are quite popular with many guests, and getting a chance to check it out for myself is going to be a real highlight.

When staying in a neighborhood balcony, the key feature is the balcony experience.  I always loved having the ambiance of Central Park around me, so I cannot wait to see what it is like with the busy nature of the Boardwalk.

1. Columbus, The Musical!

Of all the amazing entertainment that I have booked so far on Harmony of the Seas, the one I am most excited to see for myself is Columbus, The Musical!

This is a Royal Caribbean original production that was created in the same style as Something Rotten and Spamalot. I have high hopes for this show, based on the reviews I have read about it and the stories I have heard from Royal Caribbean about the show's creation.

What's next

Our Harmony of the Seas cruise begins on Saturday, November 5th, and I will be sharing the details on the blog, as well as across my social media channels.  Be sure to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Periscope for live updates throughout the day.

I invite you to share in this experience with me, by posting in the comments for any blog post questions and comments you may have.  I try to make these live blogs as interactive as I can, so I want everyone to feel welcome to share their thoughts.

Thanks for reading all of this and welcome aboard our next fun live blog experience!

When Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas arrives in her new home of Port Everglades, Florida, the cruise line is planning a celebration with multi-platinum-selling band DNCE.

In a spin-off of Thanksgiving, Royal Caribbean is celebrating "Friendsgiving " by throwing, "the Ultimate Friendsgiving party onboard".

On the November 10-12 Harmony of the Seas VIP sailing, Royal Caribbean will hold the Ultimate Friendsgiving celebration. In addition to custom Friendsgiving menus and cocktails, the party will culminate with an exclusive live performance by multi-platinum-selling band DNCE, fresh off their win for “Best New Artist” at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. They will be performing songs from their highly anticipated self-titled debut album, which will be released on Nov. 18.

Consumers are invited to attend the Ultimate Friendsgiving experience by following @RoyalCaribbean on Instagram and Twitter and RoyalCaribbean on Snapchat. Those on land can also tune in live on Thrillist Facebook to on Friday afternoon, Nov. 11 for an inside look at adventures onboard Harmony, plus some tips and tricks from Royal Caribbean on how to take Friendsgiving celebrations to the next level this year.

Royal Caribbean's next sales promotion begins today, with a BOGO (Buy One Guest, Get Second Guest 50% Off) and up to $100 onboard credit per stateroom to spend at sea. 

The November BOGO offer runs from November 3 - 30, 2016 and is valid on sailings departing on or after Dec 3, 2016. Offer excludes China departures.

Here are the offer details

• Buy One Guest, Get Second Guest 50% Off
• 25% savings for 3rd and 4th guests
• Bonus onboard credit
  • 5 nights or less
    • Interior/Oceanview – $25 OBC per stateroom
    • Balcony/Suite – $50 OBC per stateroom
  • 6 nights or longer
    • Interior/Oceanview – $50 OBC per stateroom
    • Balcony/Suite – $100 OBC per stateroom

BOGO is combinable with adjoining 25% Savings for 3rd and 4th guests, OBC, Crown & Anchor discounts and NextCruise offers. BOGO, 3rd and 4th Guest Savings and OBC are not combinable with restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military.  

OBC is not combinable with Crown & Anchor discounts. All offers are not combinable with any other offer or promotion, including, but not limited to, Standard Group, Interline, Travel Agent, Travel Agent Friends and Family, Weekly Sales Events, Net Rates, Shareholder Benefits.

Offer available to residents of United States and Canada.

Traditionally, guests that book a Royal Caribbean cruise (or a cruise in general), have booked a stateroom with at least two guests sharing a room.  The cruise industry was built on this model, but in recent years, more and more guests have opted to cruise alone and Royal Caribbean has responded to this new demand with a special kind of stateroom category for folks that want to cruise alone.

Here is your guide to understanding what a solo cabin is all about, and why you might want to reserve one if you elect to cruise alone.

Why book a solo stateroom?

The primary reason why someone cruising alone would want a single/solo stateroom is because Royal Caribbean will charge a fee for someone trying to stay in a traditional stateroom by themselves.  Royal Caribbean refers to this fee as a "single supplement fee," and it is a means of recouping the cost of that second passenger that is expected to be in the stateroom.  Quite often, the single supplement fee is equivalent to double the cost of a single guest. Because the cruise lines business model depends on staterooms filled with at least two guests in them, single supplement fees have been the means of ensuring the cruise line is not taking a loss on a solo cruiser.

With single staterooms, there is no single supplement fee. When Royal Caribbean added these rooms, they designed them to be respective of the ship's business model and this means solo cruisers do not have to pay double the cost of what the cruise should be.

Studio staterooms are smaller than standard rooms, but they are meant to have enough space for a single guest to live in during their cruise.

Which ships have solo staterooms?

Here is a breakdown of the studio staterooms across Royal Caribbean's fleet.

Why you might want a regular room

It is important to note that while solo cruisers may seek out a studio stateroom, there are two main advantages of booking a regular room, despite the single supplement fee.

First, a regular stateroom will offer significantly more living space, along with a far greater variety of choices.  As you can see from the chart above, there are not many variations available for studio cruisers and no options for a solo cruiser that wants a suite.

Second, Royal Caribbean does offer double Crown and Anchor Society points for guests that pay the single supplement fee for cruising alone.  While it does have a higher cost than a studio stateroom, the extra Crown and Anchor Society points can help guests move up the status levels quite quickly.

Depending on your budget, booking a regular cabin may be an option to consider.

With their unique flavors and spectacular presentation, the culinary creations at Wonderland are as imaginative as they are delicious. Royal Caribbean’s talented culinary team collaborate to dream up everything from completely transparent tomato gazpacho to a melt-away chocolate dessert surprise. These interactive dishes combine gourmet cuisine and art inspiration for a dazzling culinary experience.

Royal Caribbean is offering a special military rate in honor of the Veterans Day in the United States and Canada.

To qualify for a Military rate, at least one guest in the stateroom must be classified as one of the following,

• Active personnel currently serving in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard, Reserves or Canadian National Defense.
• Retired from any of the divisions listed directly above.
• Veterans with an Honorable Discharge serving a minimum of 2 years, or 6-months in an active war zone, in any of the United States service divisions listed above.

Select price code MIL when booking.