Royal Caribbean Blog writer Michael Poole is on Allure of the Seas this week and is LIVE blogging his experiences right here. Check back every day for a new post, all about what he did onboard.

Pre Cruise – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Over the years it’s become tradition of mine to fly down early and water the ships leave Port Everglades.

We had two ships leave today one Carnival and the Oasis of the Seas. I was so excited to see the Oasis up close; even if you have seen it many times it’s still very impressive.

If you are wondering how to get out to the rocks I wrote a full blog post on how.

After the beach we had dinner at Boatyard restaurant. The restaurant is very nice, mostly seafood options and on the water, however it’s very expensive if you are looking to keep it on a budget.

Cruise Day – Allure of the Seas

This morning, we all had a pre-arranged shuttle through our hotel to take us to the ship at 9:30am. I know, I usually don’t arrive at the terminal this early but in a group you just go with the flow.

When we arrived around 9:45AM the porters where standing curbside to help us. However, once we went inside the terminal the security lines don’t start taking guest until 10am.

Once it reached 10am we were right though with no issues, actually very fast. I mention we have a group of 35, around half of us are Diamond or Diamond Plus and we were all able to sit together in the Diamond lounge. The boarding process started at 11:15am, and we were on board at 11:25am.

Once on board, we all rushed straight to Park Café for lunch and it wasn’t opened yet! That kind of seams to be the theme today, they did open at 11:35am.

I will say, the line here was unlike I’ve ever seen before, I think the secret is out about having lunch here on day one.

Sail away

On the Oasis class they don’t put you outside under the lifeboats for the muster drill, rather in large venues.

My location was in the Aqua Theater, so it’s much more enjoyable than the method on ever other Royal Caribbean ship.

For the sail away party we decided to meet in the Wipeout Bar in the aft.

his bar is between the two FlowRider facing the very back. If you are looking for a location without a lot of people I would suggest this area. They had great bar service here and it’s a different kind of view than you are usually used to poolside.

Pre-Dinner

Tonight, my group decided to meet in the Champagne lounge for pre dinner cocktails.

I must report, they were out of the two champagne that were included in the premium drink package. So needless to say the champagne lounge didn’t have any champagne. They said, by tomorrow they should restock on the bottles so we will see what they have.

I notice the limit on the drinks for the premium package is now $13 vs the $12 limit they have had in the past.

I went with the Cucumber Martini, which is good, but the real one is down in 150 Central Park.

Dinner / Aqua Show

Dinner tonight was in the main dining room, on deck 4. We went with second seating at 8:30pm.

My favorite meal all week was tonight the famous prime rib!

We also brought a bottle of wine for the table to share, if you are wondering there is no cork fee for your own bottles.

Around 10:15pm, we forgot we had the aqua show in 30 minutes so we quickly left dinner, to change for the show. Even though you have reservations for this show you want to arrive at least 20 minutes early for a good seat.

They have a little pre show in the crowd that helps pass the time and it’s funny too.

For those of you that have seen both Oasis and Allure aqua show, I think the Oasis on is far better. However, the show on Allure is still very enjoyable and I recommend everyone going to this show over all of them.

Few Random Thoughts

• Voom didn’t work great the first few hours still in port, but it works great now.
• Always a line at the freestyle coke machines.
• Next Cruise office now on deck 5 on the promenade.
• Haven’t been in the windjammer yet, and I don’t miss it.
• Staff on board very friendly, bar staff fairly fast.

What questions do you have? Please comment below. Next up, sea day!

Royal Caribbean posted new photos from many of the restaurants and bars aboard its newest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas.

Guests on Harmony of the Seas can enjoy a mix of casual venues, comfortable sit-down eateries and upscale dining.

The world's largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas features a $6.5 million art collection of more than 3,000 works.  Inspired by the theme “The Wonder of Our World, The World We Live In”, artists from around the world – more than 60 countries, from Argentina and Australia to  Greece and Morocco – created unique pieces to intrigue Royal Caribbean guests and crew, alike. 

After months of delays, the Tidal Wave slide is finally open on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas.

The first Boomerang-style slide at sea is now open to all guests and features a steep drop that propels riders up a near vertical wall for a moment of weightlessness and into free fall.

Royal Caribbean Blog reader Rena reported that the brand new slide opened the afternoon of June 3rd and was open all day yesterday.

Royal Caribbean refurbished Liberty of the Seas back in January, and added the Tidal Wave slide, but it never opened to guests in the sailings since the refurbishment work was done.

Evidently, there were additional issues with operating the slide safely, and Royal Caribbean opted to take additional time to perfect the slide experience and ensure it would be operating safely for all guests.

It is Sunday and with June here, temperatures and Royal Caribbean news are starting to heat up!

The big Royal Caribbean news this week is Royal Caribbean's announcement that it will sell Legend of the Seas to Thomson Cruises in the spring of 2017.

Legend of the Seas' final sailing will be on March 13, 2017 and all scheduled sailings from February 20, 2017 onward will be canceled. This includes the summer season cruises from Venice, Italy as well as the balance of the Brisbane itineraries.

Legend of the Seas first entered service with Royal Caribbean in 1995. The 69,130-gross-registered-tons ship carries 1,832 guests (double occupancy) and 726 crew.

There was plenty more Royal Caribbean news to read this week, check out these stories too.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean is giving cruise credits to guests on pre-inaugural Harmony of the Seas cruises.
• Royal Caribbean's next promotion will offer free cruise nights and kids sail free.
• Vision of the Seas will replace Rhapsody of the Seas in Cape Liberty.
• Starbucks opened on Harmony of the Seas.
• Photo tour of the fitness center on Harmony of the Seas.
• An overview of Sabor restaurants across Royal Caribbean.
• Our full review of Izumi on Navigator of the Seas.
• A look at WOWbands on Harmony of the Seas.
• Harmony of the Seas made her maiden call to Vigo, Spain.
• 5 things we think are totally worth the extra cost.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 148th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we are talking about the ships, ports and stateroom choices for a Royal Caribbean cruise.

In this episode, we are continuing our mini-series of episodes that focus on an Alaska cruise, as we look at the Royal Caribbean ships that go to Alaska, as well as must-do activities in the ports and which stateroom choices make sense.

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.

How you can support Royal Caribbean Blog

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!

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

Eat Sleep Cruise has a list of the top 25 Anthem of the Seas secrets.

In The Loop Travel has a list of 25 awesome little things on Harmony of the Seas.

It looks like Royal Caribbean is looking for ways to advertise beyond the traditional means, with this charger spotted in Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. 

Photo by Michael Poole

The C Terminal has this phone charging station that subtly hints a cruise can recharge you, just like this station recharges your phone. 

If you find yourself in Atlanta, check out this little taste of Royal Caribbean!

Royal Caribbean is offering guests that were on pre-inaugural Harmony of the Seas sailings a future cruise credit to make up for the work that was being done on the ship.

Emails were sent to guests on the May 26, 2016 sailing on behalf of Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley.  The email reads as follows:

Each guest on the 3-night sailing is receiving a Future Cruise Certificate for 25% of the cruise fare paid for that sailing.  Guests on the 4-night sailings are receiving 50% of the cruise fare paid back in cruise credit.

It is unclear as of yet if guests from other sailings are also receiving similar offers.

The decision to offer guests future cruise credits appears to be a result of negative press in the UK, that highlighted work was still being done to the ship and allegations that the ship was not complete.

Staying fit and exercising are some of the many things guests can do on Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas and today we have a photo tour of the Fitness Center.

Access to the Fitness Center is complimentary to all guests, with special classes that do have an additional charge.

Fitness equipment from Life Fitness provides guests with cardio and resistance training. 

In terms of classes, here is an example schedule of classes that include yoga, Ryde spin classes, Pilates, fab abs and more.

Some fitness classes have an additional charge, while others are complimentary.

To sign up for any class, just write your name down on the sign up sheet, located in the fitness center.

Harmony of the Seas' Fitness Center features many exercise machines, treadmills, free weights and more.

The Fitness Center on Harmony of the Seas is normally open from 6am until 1am.

Special thanks to Rich Freudenberg for providing these photos.

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 this week is from Marcus of Ovation of the Seas in Barcelona.  I really love how Royal Caribbean lights up their ships at night.

Matt sent in this photo of the Celebrity Constellation leaving from San Cristobal in San Juan Puerto Rico in February. Sure, this isn't Royal Caribbean International, but I thought it was a very pretty view.

Speaking of San Juan, here is a shot by Patrick Weldon sailing away from San Juan on Grandeur of the Seas. I never get sick of seeing this view.

It seems to be Puerto Rico day, as we have this great photo by Timothy Griffin.  Old San Juan is among my favorite port stops.

Let's go over to the Bahamas with this photo by Dave Rimington of Nassau, as seen from Enchantment of the Seas. Great composition!

I love sunset photos, and we have a great one by Earl McGrath.  It was taken on Allure of the Seas as they left Falmouth.  Perfect!

We will round things out with this photo by Shannon of Liberty of the Seas in Labadee.  The black and white effect is quite nice!

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 will roll out a new deal in June, that offers every third night of their cruise is free, and if booked by June 20, kids 12 and under sail free on select sailings. 

1-2-Free Promotion

Cruise must be booked between June 7 and July 6, 2016 and is valid on all sailings on or after July 8, 2016, excluding China departures

•  3-5 Night Sailing – 1 Free Night
• 6-8 Night Sailing – 2 Free Nights
• 9-11 Night Sailing – 3 Free Nights
• 12-14 Night Sailing – 4 Free Nights
• 15-17 Night Sailing – 5 Free Nights
• 18-20 Night Sailing – 6 Free Nights
• 21-23 Night Sailing – 7 Free Nights
• 24 Night Sailing – 8 Free Nights

The savings amount for each free night is calculated by dividing the total stateroom cruise fare by the number of cruise nights. Savings is deducted from cruise fare at time of booking.

This offer is not combinable with restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military) 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.

This offer is combinable with NextCruise offer, Crown & Anchor discounts and rates, Future Cruise Certificates and Letters of Credit.

Offer available to residents of the United States and Canada. 

Kids Sail Free

Kids Sail Free with June 7-20, 2016, guests 12 and under sail free on 5 nights or longer Caribbean, Bermuda, Dubai and Europe sailings departing September 6, 2016-March 9, 2017.

Kids are defined as being 12 years or younger as of cruise departure date, booked in the same stateroom as the first two qualifying guests in a triple or quad occupancy stateroom on select sailings. 

Kids Offer excludes sailings departing between 11/17/16-11/24/16, 12/15/16-1/05/17, 2/16/17-2/23/17 and Harmony of the Seas.

This offer is not combinable with restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military) 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.

This offer is combinable with NextCruise offer.

Offer available to residents of the United States and Canada.