Royal Caribbean is offering guests the option of exploring select ports of call mid-voyage with new Multi-Day Adventures program.

Guests debark their Royal Caribbean ship mid-voyage, where they take part in a fully guided tour that includes hotel accomodations, meals, airfare (where applicable) and transportation, before rejoining the ship at another port.

Royal Caribbean is offering Multi-Day Adventures in destinations such as

• New Zealand
• Guatemala
• Greece
• Israel
• Bangkok

These Multi-Day Adventure tours offer the opportunity to venture beyond the coast and explore the "heart" of each destination - from the Holy Land’s sacred spaces and the ‘lost’ Mayan ruins of Tikal, to visiting the site of the first Olympic games in Ilia, or admiring New Zealand’s magnificent Milford Sound.

To avoid cancelation penalties, Multi-Day Adventures must be canceled 30 days prior to sailing.

Program requires a minimum number of participants to operate at the advertised price. Should this minimum not be met, Royal Caribbean reserves the right to offer the program to those already booked at an adjusted price for a private excursion, or cancel the departure completely.

We love to share photo updates from around Royal Caribbean's fleet, and today we have a great look at the pool and sports decks from Liberty of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean Blog reader Steve Ritter is back from Liberty of the Seas and shared these photos of the new kids pool area and the miniature golf course.

Both areas were added during Liberty of the Seas recent January 2016 refurbishment.

At 10 stories high, Harmony of the Seas' Ultimate Abyss is not only the tallest slide at sea but also an amazing engineering feat. Get an inside look into the construction process with the manufacturing team as well as the world’s only thrill engineer. Hear what makes Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate Abyss such an epic adventure.

Royal Caribbean announced today that the brand new Ovation of the Seas will extend her maiden Australian and confirmed she will return for the 2017/18 summer season.

During Ovation of the Seas' first season down under, the ship will now offer four extra cruises during this forthcoming summer 2016/17 season.

In addition, it was confirmed that Ovation of the Seas will return for a second season in summer 2017/18 due to, "the extraordinary demand for the ship from Australians."

Final deployment details for the additional sailings and 2017/2018 season will be released later in April.  Royal Caribbean Australia is offering a newsletter to get more information when they do become available.

“The level of interest for Ovation of the Seas has exceeded all of our expectations; we’re currently over 90 per cent sold for next summer’s sailings,” said Adam Armstrong, managing director, Royal Caribbean Australasia.  “She is a true game-changer and such was the high demand for the ship that we’ve been able to secure four extra cruises from Sydney, which will extend the season into late February 2017.

“This extension of her maiden season – plus her subsequent return in summer 2017/18 – reaffirms Australia’s position as one of the most significant cruising markets in the world and Royal Caribbean’s position as Sydney’s leading cruise line,” Armstrong continued.

“We are delivering Australians the most modern style of cruising from their doorstep – a style they previously had to travel overseas for.  Australia has asked for more and we will deliver; four more cruises, a return at the end of 2017, and more opportunities to experience a brand new era of cruising on Ovation of the Seas, purpose-built for the Asia Pacific market,” Armstrong concluded.

We love looking at beautiful Royal Caribbean photos and today we have a handful of great ones to share.

Photographer Rob Starling shared these great shots of four different Royal Caribbean ships coming and leaving Port Everglades, Florida.

Liberty of the Seas

Legend of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Allure of the Seas

Independence of the Seas

All photos copyright Rob Starling.

Royal Caribbean announced that it was joining 16 other companies and the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance (USWTA) in a pledge to crack down on wildlife trafficiking and educate consumers on the dangers trafficking poses to animals around the world.

Royal Caribbean is joining the cause by building awareness of wildlife crime and influencing buying behavior through the education of its 60,000 crew members and upwards of 5 million travelers annually. The cruise line also will work to identify and eliminate any indirect sale of products and souvenirs made from illegal wildlife products, through its on board shopping vendors and suppliers.

The illegal wildlife trade not only threatens the survival of many species in the wild but generates approximately $10 billion per year in illegal profits for sophisticated criminal syndicates that are masterminding the killing, transport and marketing of illegal wildlife products.

These commitments are part of a broader effort towards sustainability by Royal Caribbean.  As part of its environmental stewardship program, Save the Waves, and global partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), RCL will work towards ensuring that its ships, operations, suppliers, and vendors are not indirectly promoting illegal wildlife products, and has committed to removing high risk seafood species from their procurement.

To celebrate the launch of Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas in less than 100 days, we're counting down each day with some really cool about the ship. Check out our blog each day for a brand new post all about Harmony of the Seas.

Watching Harmony of the Seas sailaway

With Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas debut, it seems like everyone wants to see this new ship.  Certainly we would all like to cruise on her, but the next best thing would be seeing her in person!

In November 2016, Harmony of the Seas will homeport from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and anyone can watch her sailaway as she begins her regularly scheduled cruises.

To watch Harmony of the Seas (and likely other cruise ships too) depart Port Everglades, take a ride in your car or taxi to John U. Lloyd Beach State Park.

Parking at John U. Lloyd Beach State Park does have a parking fee.

• $6.00 per vehicle. Limit 2-8 people per vehicle.
• $4.00 Single-occupant vehicle or motorcycle.
• ​$2.00 Pedestrians, bicyclists, extra passengers, passengers in vehicle with holder of Annual Individual Entrance Pass.

After you enter the park, you will drive 2.2 miles from the gate to the parking lot for the jetty pavilion.  There, you can find a pier and beach area to watch all cruise ships sailing out of Port Everglades pass through.

Ships usually depart in the late afternoon, between 4 and 5pm and it can be a fun experience, especially if you are in town prior to your cruise leaving the next day or sometime thereafter.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Harmony!

We have reached the end of another week, and that means we have all the Royal Caribbean news from this week to share with you.

This week, Royal Caribbean announced it was raising the gratuity amount for all sailings that depart on or after May 1, 2016.

Gratuities are going up 55 cents per guest, per day and will have a daily cost of:

• $13.50 per guest, per day for guests Junior Suite, Balcony, Ocean View, and Interior staterooms.
• $16.50 per guest, per day for guests in Grand Suite and above staterooms.

The reasoning for increasing the daily gratuity amount is because Royal Caribbean wanted, "to better align with industry standards."

Royal Caribbean News

• We are hearing Majesty of the Seas is going to leave the fleet (again).
• Details on the next Royal Caribbean sale, that offers BOGO 50% and more.
• Royal Caribbean is going to recategorize some of its staterooms.
• Royal Caribbean is offering shore excurions featuring National Geographic Snorkeler equipment.
• Royal Caribbean is courting the guy who wanted to name a cruise ship Boaty McBoatface.
• Royal Caribbean had an April Fools joke about launching a cruise ship in space.
• Check out these fun drink floaties.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 139th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available, where we played our own April Fools joke this week.

In this episode, the hosts of the defunct CrownCast podcast host and talk about a variety of Royal Caribbean topics, including the virtues of smaller ships, favorite ports of all and more.

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.

99 Days of Harmony

To celebrate the countdown until Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas debuts, we kicked off a brand new blog series, 99 Days of Harmony, that looks at what makes this new ship so amazing.  

Each day we are posting a new blog post all about Harmony of the Seas, so here's what you might have missed this week.

• 5 things that sound like an April Fools Joke (but aren't)
• Let's Celebrate
• Royal Caribbean creates a virtual tour for Harmony of the Seas
• Main dining room

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

From the Deck Chair has a look at Harmony of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean has a look at how to book a cruise.

Quartz answers the question of why the best cruise ships are in China.

Porthole Magazine spoke with Royal Caribbean COO Adam Goldstein.

TravelAge West has a first look at Harmony of the Seas.

In honor of Harmony of the Seas' launch in less than 99 days, we are counting down each day with a new blog post all about this amazing ship.

Five Harmony of the Seas features that sound like April Fool jokes

The first of April brings with it a slew of April Fool jokes across the internet (including two from Royal Caribbean), but there are some prominent features aboard Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas that are the real deal and definitely, no foolin'.

Today, we are counting down the top five things on Harmony of the Seas that might sound like an April Fools joke but really are available onboard.

Robots serve drinks

Harmony of the Seas will feature two robot arms designed to serve guests drink at the Bionic Bar.

The single armed robot will get the ice, mints and lemon and then squeeze and shake them to make your drink. Eventually, there wont be a limit on what the drinks the robots can make. The customization is what Royal Caribbean is aiming for.

Royal Caribbean has teamed up with Makr Shakr, a company with ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to create the Bionic Bars and on the Quantum class ships, they have become very popular with guests from a pure spectacle standpoint (and they make some pretty good drinks too).

Guests walk up to tablets, where they can place orders for drinks, choosing from classic cocktails, signature drinks like Mnemonic Madness (a rum, pineapple juice and Midori concoction) or test the robot bartenders’ skills with their own creations.

Full Broadway show included

Royal Caribbean ships are known for offering some great family entertainment, and on Harmony of the Seas you can see a classic Broadway show for absolutely no additional cost.

Guests on Harmony of the Seas can enjoy the timeless tale of Grease.

The all-new, never-before-seen stage production, specially adapted by Royal Caribbean Productions, will boast a soundtrack of crowd favorites such as “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’,” “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,” “Born to Hand-Jive,” “Beauty School Dropout” and more.

The best part is the show is included with your cruise fare, so there is no additional cost to see this amazing show.

A park in the middle of the ship

Of all the things people expect to find on a cruise ship, a park is probably not one of them, but Harmony of the Seas features a really big one onboard!

Central Park is one seven neighborhoods on Harmony of the Seas, and it is an immense area in the middle of the ship that offers a lush park for guests to enjoy with tropical plants, trees and walkways.

At its heart, Central Park is a public area on the ship that offers restaurants, shopping, galleries and of course lots of nature. It is the perfect quiet place onboard to "get away" and just relax as the world goes by.

A giant 10-story slide off the back of the ship

On the back of Harmony of the Seas is something brand new to Royal Caribbean: a slide more than 150 feet above sea level that sends guests down 10 decks at 9 miles per hour!

The Ultimate Abyss is a brand new thrill for guests and it launches from a glass platform on the Sports Deck, and descends 10 decks down to the Boardwalk.

Spontaneous audio effects within each tunnel create a multi-sensory thrill for daring guests willing to test their mettle while traversing 216 feet through the one-of-a-kind slide duo.

Ultimate Abyss will be the tallest slide at sea and also an epic adventure.

Internet as fast as your home

Imagining using the internet on Harmony of the Seas just like you would at home definitely sounds like an April Fools joke, but it is definitely true.

Voom is Royal Caribbean's revolutionary high speed internet service that lets guests share their adventure in real time through Facebook and Instagram, post videos on YouTube, tweet about shore excursions, and have face-to-face conversations via Skype and FaceTime. Plus, you can even stream movies, games and apps via your personal accounts with Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and more.

How is it possible? Voom utilizes a new kind of satellite internet technology that targets each ship specifically, rather than trying to cover a wide expanse of the ocean.

Welcome to this week's edition of Friday Photos, where we share our readers' Royal Caribbean photos with all of you.  

To me, this weekly feature is an opportunity to enjoy a quick "mental escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise vacation.  Let's get started with this week's batch!

Our first photo this week is of sunset, as seen from Anthem of the Seas by Jorge C Toache Alcázar.  Beautiful!

Shawn Crossley provides us with a divers view of the Oasis of the Seas.  Great angle and even better show!

Here is a view of the Opera House, Sydney, Australia from the balcony of cabin 9076 on Radiance of the Seas.  This must have been quite a sight to enjoy for Alison.

Here is a photo of Justin York's wife at Chankannab in Cozumel, Mexico, during their March 2015 sailing.  Looks like paradise, to me!

It pains me to not have a photo from Labadee, so here is one of Grandeur of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas docked in Labadee, by Ken Slusser.  Ken indicated that surprisingly, it didn't seem overly crowded.

Let's go back down under with this photo by Murray, of Voyager of the Seas Sailing out of Sydney Harbour. Love the composition of this photo.

Our last photo this week is from Zoltán Marton, who sent us this photo of Serenade of the Seas that was taken by his brother while in Saguenay, Canada.

Thank you to everyone who sent in their photos this week. Have a great weekend and be sure to send us your photos so we can post them next week by using this form.