Many people choose to celebrate the holidays on a Royal Caribbean cruise, and we have a look at some of the Christmas decorations onboard Anthem of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean decorates its ships quite nicely for the holidays, and each ship has a different look and feel for this special time of the year.
Special thanks to Christie McLarty for providing these photos.
Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! The holidays are here, and so is our weekly round up of this week's Royal Caribbean news.
The gifts came a little early for Royal Caribbean this week, with Royal Caribbean being named Best Cruise Line Overall by Travel Weekly for 14th consecutive year.
Royal Caribbean also claimed the top spot in a few other categories including Best Cruise Line in the Caribbean, Best Cruise Line Sales & Service, Best Overall Individual Cruise Ship (Allure of the Seas), and Best New Cruise Ship (Harmony of the Seas).
Travel Weekly honored the winners of its Readers Choice Awards at a gala dinner and ceremony on December 15 at the Conrad Hotel in New York. Winners were selected in 78 categories, ranging from hotels to tours to airlines to GDSs to cruise lines, represent the best of the best in travel.
The 177th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and this week, we are sharing three wishes for Royal Caribbean.
In this episode, Matt and Billy make wishes for changes we would make if we had access to a genie (and opted not to wish for wealth and a long life).
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.
So many of our readers have reached out to us to ask how they can help the blog and we are introducing the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders for just that reason.
The Insiders group is a way readers can contribute to Royal Caribbean Blog and help fuel some of the really amazing ideas, projects and new content that we have lined up.
As a way of saying thank you for your contribution, there are some fun rewards for being a member of the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders.
Becoming a member of the Royal Caribbean Blog Insiders is completely up to you and you can cancel at any time. No questions asked!
As always, thank you for visiting Royal Caribbean Blog and being a part of our community!
CIO shows how CIOs eye new initiatives in 2017, including Royal Caribbean's CIO.
Cruise Fever has the pros and cons of a Boardwalk balcony stateroom on Allure of the Seas.
Royal Caribbean shares tips on how to pick your first cruise.
In The Loop Travel has tips on how to eat like a local in Cancun, Mexico.
This week's batch of beautiful Royal Caribbean photos is here and it's always fun to share with all of you the great photos our readers take while on their cruise vacation.
The photos we have to show this week are fun and of course anyone can send us their Royal Caribbean photos to use as well!
Our first photo is from Michael Bonham, and it is of sail away from Cozumel on Allure of the Seas. You can still see Liberty of the Seas docked in the background.
This is a great photo by D J Epstein of the aerial show on Grandeur of the Seas!
Check out the colors in this sunrise photo by Susan Widdowson! It was taken on Harmony of the Seas during the transatlantic crossing.
Dana Hall sent in this photo of savory bites while on Oasis of the Seas. She noted that they had no savory bites on one night of the cruise, but the next day, the waiter brought over a whole plate full!
Next is a great photo of Liberty of the Seas backing out of Cozumel, taken by Megan Mathews.
Angela Wright shared this photo of Freedom of the Seas, which was taken from her snorkeling excursion in Grand Cayman.
We round out this week's edition with a photo of Anthem of the Seas in Labadee, taken by Thomas Lemmer.
Thank you to everyone that sent in their photos this week and if you have Royal Caribbean photos, well, we want to see them! You can use this form to send us your photos and we will feature them on an upcoming Friday Photos blog post!
Royal Caribbean is tacking on extra instant savings for cruises booked through the end of the year, on top of the December promotion that offers every third night of your cruise free.
The bonus savings are valid on cruises booked between December 23 - 30, 2016 on sailings departing on or after January 21, 2017 (excluding China departures).
Qualifying bookings will be eligible for
1-2-Free Offer is combinable with adjoining Instant Savings, Kids Sail Free, Anthem Upgrade, Crown & Anchor discounts and rates, Next Cruise offers, and Shareholders benefits. Offer is not combinable with restricted rates (for example, Senior Rates, Resident Rates, Military Rates) or any other offer or promotion, including, but not limited to, prior promotions, Standard Group, Interline, Travel Agent, Travel Agent Friends and Family, weekly Sales Events, Net Rates.
Offer available to residents of the United States and Canada.
A passenger jumped off Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas early this morning, prompting a search by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Local news is reporting the passenger is a 22-year-old man, who jumped off deck 12 of Independence of the Seas just before a.m. when it was 33 miles southeast of Key Largo.
Royal Caribbean issued a statement regarding the event,
"We are saddened to report a guest onboard Independence of the Seas was witnessed intentionally going overboard from deck 12 at 1:45 a.m.
The ship immediately alerted local authorities and turned around to help search for our guest. Two of the ship’s lifeboats and the U.S. Coast Guard conducted a search."
The Coast Guard is searching for the man.
Royal Caribbean's drink packages are quite popular with guests, and we get lots of questions from our readers if a drink package purchase is worth it. The unlimited drink packages offer a lot of convenience, flexibility, and a wide variety of drinks to enjoy.
Before you purchase a Royal Caribbean drink package, you will want to consider these five important factors to ensure a drink package purchase makes sense for you.
Royal Caribbean's drink packages are priced on a per-day and per-guest basis, which means once you purchase a drink package, you will be charged for every day of the cruise going forward. The exact price of the drink package can actually vary from ship to ship. Over the last year or so, Royal Caribbean has been offering its drink packages at various prices depending on the ship, itinerary, and time of year.
There is one universal truth about the drink packages, and that is they are often discounted if purchased prior to cruise, but will come with a full price onboard. These pre-cruise discounts are available from Royal Caribbean's Cruise Planner site, and discounts are regularly offered on the Deluxe unlimited alcohol drink package. Other non-alcoholic drink packages have had discounts offered in the past, but the availability of discounts seems to vary.
Anyone interested in a drink package should check what discount is available for a drink package prior to the cruise, and understand what the costs will be. While drink packages will be sold onboard your Royal Caribbean ship, they are rarely discounted. Moreover, purchasing the drink package online will ensure less time spent waiting to purchase it onboard.
It greatly helps if you have a good idea of how much drinks will cost onboard the ship if you were to purchase them a la carte, instead of using a drink package. After all, one of the key benefits of a drink package is to pay a fixed cost and be able to enjoy as many drinks as you like, often saving money versus buying those same drinks individually.
You can refer to this list of Royal Caribbean drink prices for a good idea of how much the popular drinks cost. Drink prices may vary from ship to ship, but it will provide a good ballpark of estimating how much your indulgences onboard may cost you. It is entirely possible that you may find your drinking habits may not make a drink package purchase a financially suitable arrangement.
An often overlooked consideration for purchasing a drink package is your Royal Caribbean cruise itinerary. The drink package benefits are only useful to you while onboard a Royal Caribbean ship (or private destination), which means if your itinerary is port intensive, you will have far less time to take advantage of the drink packages.
Conversely, if you have many sea days, a drink package may make more sense since you will have ample time onboard to take advantage of the package.
As mentioned earlier, beverage packages do work at both Perfect Day at CocoCay and Labadee, which are Royal Caribbean's private destinations. If your cruise happens to stop at one of these ports, that is another full day of drink package value to reap.
It is important to weigh how many sea days versus port days you will have, if any of those stops include a private destination, and what your plans are for any ports you visit. You may find with touring onshore, a drink package purchase will not be so conducive to getting a good return on your package investment.
While the drink packages do include quite a lot of beverages, not everything can be had with a package. Depending on your habits and preferences, this may or may not be a deal breaker.
Royal Caribbean's deluxe drink package allows guests to enjoy drinks such as Labadoozies, Coco Locos, after-dinner shots, or the drink of the day, but it does not include the souvenir mugs/glasses they are often served in.
Likewise, Starbucks on Oasis Class ships and those little bottles of alcohol in your minibar are not included either.
If you find yourself with buyer's remorse when it comes to a drink package, there are options available for canceling and getting your money back.
The simplest means is to cancel the drink package prior to your cruise. If you followed our advice and booked a drink package but want to cancel it, this can be easily done via the Cruise Planner site. Just follow these steps:
If you decide to cancel the drink package onboard the ship, usually Royal Caribbean will allow it, but not always. You will need to go to Guest Services onboard and ask to cancel and refund the drink package.
Keep in mind that if they do cancel your drink package purchase, any drinks you purchased will be charged to your SeaPass account individually. We have heard from lots of guests this has worked, but cannot guarantee canceling a drink package onboard will be available for you.
Your best bet is to consider the drink package prior to your cruise and make any cancellations before you get onboard.
Our newest podcast episode is out to help give you a quick "audio escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise!
Episode 177 is available for downloading, in which Matt and Billy share three wishes they would make if they were in charge of Royal Caribbean.
With the new year right around the corner, Matt and Billy dreamed up some changes to Royal Caribbean they would like to make if they were in charge of the company.
Here’s the podcast page for Episode 177. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Stitcher or on iTunes!
Take a listen and as always, let us know what you think! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!
From high-flying aerial stunts to sensational swimming and diving, “The Fine Line” offers all the elements of astonishing entertainment. Performers leap from high diver platforms, glide across slacklines and fly suspended above the crowd, using every inch of Harmony of the Seas’ unique AquaTheater. From beginning to end, extreme stunts and skill, keep audiences engaged in this immersive entertainment venue.
At the 2016 Travel Weekly Readers Choice awards, Royal Caribbean came away as being named the Best Cruise Line Overall for the 14th consecutive year.
Royal Caribbean also claimed the top spot in a few other categories including
"It is such a great honor to sweep the top categories in the cruise sector of these notable awards selected by Travel Weekly readers and so many valued travel agents," said Vicki Freed, senior vice president, Sales and Trade Support and Service, Royal Caribbean International. "Being recognized as ‘Best Cruise Line Overall’ since the inception of the Readers Choice Awards, as well as ‘Best Cruise Line Sales & Service’ for nine years in a row, is testament to our incredibly strong relationships with travel partners built on years of working together, learning together and innovating together. We thank Travel Weekly and valued agents for their ongoing support, and will continue to deliver on our commitment and promise to our travel partners’ success."
Travel Weekly honored the winners of its Readers Choice Awards at a gala dinner and ceremony on December 15 at the Conrad Hotel in New York. Winners were selected in 78 categories, ranging from hotels to tours to airlines to GDSs to cruise lines, represent the best of the best in travel.
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. released today its Sustainability Report, which documents the Company’s commitment to environmental stewardship and showcases improved efficiencies across its fleet.
In the report, the company noted the expansion of its Advanced Emissions Purification program, as well as a new set of goals for the year 2020 that were established with input from the company's global conservation partner, World Wildlife Fund.
2015 marked the 10th-year of the Save the Waves program, which focused on emissions and waste reduction, as well as increasing the number of shore excursions that met an internationally recognized sustainability standard.
In line with these goals, over the past decade RCL built its most efficient cruise ships and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 25 percent. In 2015, 17 ships reported 100 percent re-purposed waste on certain itineraries.
"At Royal Caribbean, we are working to put sustainability into the heart of our business," said Richard D. Fain, Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "We bring 5,000,000 guests to nearly 500 ports around the world every year, and we understand our responsibility to do so in a way that protects the oceans that we sail every day. Our mantra is continuous improvement, and that especially applies to our environmental performance."
Royal Caribbean also achieved a few other notable highlights during this year, including
The full Sustainability Report may be viewed at www.rclcorporate.com/environment.