Royal Caribbean opened the 2017-2018 Australian summer season for sale, including Ovation of the Seas sailings.

To celebrate, Royal Caribbean is offering launch savings of up to $1,300 per person off the standard cruise fare when booked before May 31, 2016.

Ovation of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas will offer 66 sailings ranging from two to 23 nights during the 2017/18 season. From September 2017 through to April 2018 the four megaliners will call at 46 ports across Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Asia and North America with departures from Sydney, Fremantle, Auckland, Singapore, Honolulu and Seattle.

Highlights of the season include family-fun sister ships Voyager of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas sailing predominantly South Pacific itineraries, while Ovation of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas will cruise Australia and New Zealand. The 2017/18 season will see more overnights such as Adelaide for Explorer of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas, new destinations such as Wollongong, and more open-jaw itineraries like Radiance of the Seas’ sailings between Sydney and Auckland.

Royal Caribbean announced today it has cancelled seven more Empress of the Seas sailings on April 25, 30, May 5, 9, 14, 19 and 23.

This is the second time Royal Caribbean has cancelled scheduled sailings on Empress of the Seas, following the cancellation of the first six Empress of the Seas sailings in March 2016.

Royal Caribbean provided this explanation as to why these additional sailings are being cancelled, "Modernizing Empress of the Seas for her return to the Royal Caribbean International fleet began in late February. As work has progressed, we learned that more significant infrastructure and physical improvements across the ship's multiple galleys and provisioning areas were needed to meet our high standards."

"We decided that instead of simply repairing the five galleys, we would completely rebuild them, starting from scratch with entirely new infrastructure and all new equipment, at a cost of $10 million."

"We sincerely apologize to our guests and travel partners for the inconvenience, and hope they understand that more time was needed to ensure Empress of the Seas meets the standards for quality our guests expect from Royal Caribbean."

Guests originally booked on the March 30, April 4, April 7, April 11, April 16 and April 21 sailings and rebooked on one of the newly cancelled sailings will receive a full refund and a future cruise credit of 100%.

Guests scheduled to sail within 14 days of departure on the cancelled April 25 or April 30 sailing, who do not rebook, will receive a full refund and a future cruise credit of 50% of the fare paid.

All other guests scheduled to sail on the May 5th - May 23rd sail dates will be provided an onboard credit if they rebook to another Royal Caribbean sailing.

This week's podcast episode is ready to go, as we present episode 142 of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast for your downloading pleasure.

This week, Matt provides an overview of the Oasis-class cruise cruise ships and what anyone going on one of these amazing ships should know before stepping foot onboard.

There's also lots of reader emails to share this week about everything Royal Caribbean.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 142. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS 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!

Take a look at the newest additions to the Royal Caribbean family, Mama and Baby Panda Art installation onboard Ovation of the Seas

There's less than 99 days until Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas debuts so we're counting down each day with a brand new blog post all about Harmony of the Seas. Read our blog each day for a new post all about this amazing cruise ship.

Studio Staterooms

A big change in the cruising industry has been offering stateroom options to people cruising alone and on Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, there will be a class of staterooms just for people that prefer to travel alone.

These "studio" staterooms offer the single traveler accommodations without the hefty single supplement fee that was traditionally added to the cruise fare.

Harmony of the Seas will offer a variety of studio staterooms for guests to choose from.

Studio Interior Stateroom

Full size bed and full bathroom. Single occupancy stateroom, no single supplement required. 103 sq. ft., escept for stateroom 4660 is 96 sq. ft

Studio Ocean View Stateroom

Full size bed and full bathroom. Single occupancy stateroom, no single supplement required. Can sleep up to 2. (96 sq. ft.) Staterooms 4682 and 4688 are 104 sq. ft.

Following its success in Hong Kong last year, Royal Caribbean is bringing its brand new Ovation of the Seas to Hong Kong in November 2016. This will be the first time that Royal Caribbean will have two ships deployed in Hong Kong.

Dr. Zinan Liu, President, North APAC & China of Royal Caribbean International said, “We are so confident in the Hong Kong cruise market we decided to extend the homeport season of Voyager of the Seas from three months to over four months, and in addition bring our newest ship,Ovation of the Seas, here by the end of this year. Having two ships here will enable us to increase our programme in Hong Kong from 20 to 30 sailings . This means we could be welcoming over 100,000 vacationers this year which is about a 65% increase compared to last year.”

Hong Kong

Ovation of the Seas is the third addition to the Quantum class ships, and is a sister ship to Quantum of the Seas that visited Hong Kong last year. Built by Meyer Werft in Germany at a cost of USD 1 billion, the 168,666 tons vessel has 2,090 staterooms for up to 4,180 guests and will be the largest cruise liner ever to be based in Hong Kong.

Ovation of the Seas will depart from Southampton, England on her 53-day “Global Odyssey” cruise to Tianjin, China on 3rd of May. She will then have a season in Tianjin in June before coming to Hong Kong in November.

Authentic Cantonese delicacies on board

For the first-time-ever, Royal Caribbean is partnering on board with the award-winning Cantonese culinary experts, Xin Dau Ji, to provide over 20 exquisite signature dishes, including fried scallops, fish fillets with corn, steamed chicken in Lotus leaves, pan-fried fresh shrimp and more.

Balwin Yeung, Director of Sales & Marketing of Royal Caribbean Cruises Hong Kong Ltd. said, “Hong Kong vacationers expect the very best at this level of cruising which is why we have invited Xin Dau Ji to answer their culinary desires, especially their craving for truly authentic Chinese cuisine. Both Royal Caribbean and Xin Dau Ji are noted for their innovative approaches and share the same target group of customers in middle-class families. With these values in common and a similar customer base we should be perfect partners, in achieving a win-win collaboration.”

To ensure guests can enjoy the perfect meal with their friends, Voyager of the Seas has also introduced the all-new “E-sea dining” seat arrangement for on board restaurants. Guests can get seats with companions when they come to the restaurant instead of only getting a designated table. The main menu has also been upgraded to Quantum Class, and redesigned to a picture-oriented menu for more appealing reading.

C AllStar

In another breakthrough, Royal Caribbean has announced its collaboration with the popular young boy band, C AllStar to entertain travellers on board. It will be the first theme-cruise of Royal Caribbean’s new Hong Kong homeport season.

The positive image and the energetic charisma of C AllStar matches perfectly with the vitality of Royal Caribbean’s brand image. The inspiring story of the young band represents the spirit of diligence and perseverance of Hong Kongers, which also symbolizes Royal Caribbean International’s determination to stay in Hong Kong and their vision to “Cruise Extraordinary”.

Royal Caribbean has brought back the  BOGO Saver deal, with buy one, get one 50% off plus FREE gratuities.

The new BOGO SAVER deal is valid on all sailings on or after May 20, 2016, excluding China departures.

• Buy One Guest, Get Second Guest 50% Off
• 25% off for 3rd and 4th guests
• BONUS –  Pre-paid gratuities in Oceanview categories and above for the first and second guests on all products excluding Alaska, Asia, China, Transatlantic and Repositioning sailings.
• PLUS for eligible new deployment sailings departing on or after May 1, 2017 (excluding China departures), offer includes Free Upgrades within stateroom type.

​Cruise must be booked April 19-May 1, 2016, 2016.

Free Upgrade within the stateroom meta-category (for example from a D8 to a D1, interior to interior, or ocean view to ocean view). Free Upgrade refers to booking a stateroom for the price of the lowest available category within the same stateroom meta-category type. Upgrade is subject to stateroom availability at time of booking. Upgrade offer excludes Panoramic, Family, and Suite staterooms.

BOGO does not apply to third and higher occupancy guests BOGO is combinable with adjoining Pre-Paid Gratuities, 25% Savings, New Deployment Upgrade Offer, NextCruise Offer, Crown & Anchor discounts and Shareholder Benefits. Pre-paid Gratuities are not combinable with Crown & Anchor discounts and Shareholder Benefits. BOGO and 25% Savings are not combinable with restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military). Pre-Paid Gratuities are combinable with restricted rates (for example, Seniors, Residents, Military) as well as NextCruise offers. Offer is 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, and Net Rates.

Offer open to residents of U.S. or Canada.

Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas is in the process of having her $30 million refurbishment and we have some new photos of the work being done.

These photos of the work being done were sent to us and it is great sneak peek at what to expect.

Royal Caribbean announced its 2017-2018 Australia summer season itineraries.

Ovation of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas will combine to offer 66 sailings ranging from two to 23 nights during the 2017/18 season. From September 2017 through to April 2018 the four megaliners will call at 46 ports across Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, Asia and North America with departures from Sydney, Fremantle, Auckland, Singapore, Honolulu and Seattle.

Royal Caribbean remains the biggest cruise line in Sydney over the summer season – with bigger ships and more capacity than any other cruise line.

The recently refurbished Explorer of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas will sail predominantly to destinations like Mystery Island and Port Vila in Vanuatu as well as Noumea, Isle of Pines and Lifou (Loyalty Islands) in New Caledonia.

Meanwhile Radiance of the Seas and Ovation of the Seas will focus on Australia and New Zealand itineraries, sailing to ports around Australia like Hobart, Adelaide and Fremantle, as well as to the North and South Islands of New Zealand.

Radiance of the Seas will also include calls to Fiji and Tonga on her 14-night Sydney to Auckland cruise, departing 3 January 2017.

Royal Caribbean guests will soon start to experience more overnight calls. Explorer of the Seas will make two overnight calls in Suva in Fiji on her repositioning voyages, at the commencement of the season and on her return to Seattle in 2018, allowing guests to enjoy a multi-day shore excursion or choose to stay overnight on land. Both Ovation of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas overnight in Adelaide. Radiance of the Seas will overnight in Adelaide during her nine-night Tasmania cruise departing on 13 December 2017 and Ovation of the Seas will follow suit during her eight-night Tasmania voyage departing 27 January 2018.

Explorer of the Seas will continue the work of Radiance of the Seas in opening up the South Coast of NSW to cruise tourism with a maiden call to Wollongong (Port Kembla) – as part of her seven-night Tasmania sailing departing 12 March 2018 – making her the largest cruise ship to ever call there.

2017/18 Itinerary Overview

Ovation of the Seas will offer nine sailings during her second local season with departures from November 2017 through to February 2018, including:

• A 14 night repositioning voyage from Singapore to Sydney departing 23 November 2017 and calling at Fremantle, Adelaide and Hobart
• A 10 night New Zealand sailing with scenic cruising to the Milford Sounds region, as well as calls to Dunedin, Wellington, Napier and Picton
• A 12 night Christmas cruise to New Zealand departing 17 December 2017 and a 12-night New Year’s cruise to New Zealand that departs on 29 December 2017, calling in both the North and South Islands
• A nine night New Zealand school holidays sailing departing on 10 January 2018
• Calls to South Pacific favourites Mystery Island and Noumea during an eight night school holidays voyage departing 19 January 2018 (subject to port approval)
• An eight night Tasmania voyage departing 27 January 2018 that includes a call to Hobart and an overnight stay in Adelaide
• An extended 14 night New Zealand cruise departing 4 February 2018 which visits the Bay of Islands, Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Picton, Dunedin and includes a scenic cruise to the Milford Sounds region.

Explorer of the Seas will specialise in South Pacific cruises ranging from three to 23 nights, including:

• An epic 22 night repositioning cruise from Seattle to Sydney via  Honolulu, Lahaina, Suva (overnight), Mystery Island, Lifou and Mare departing 6 October 2017
• Three 11 night South Pacific and Fiji sailings, including a combined Christmas and New Year cruise departing on 24 December 2017
• A selection of seven, eight, nine, 10 and 12 night South Pacific sailings during the January school holidays
• A three night Sampler cruise which departs 9 February 2018
• A seven night Tasmania sailing departing 12 March 2018 which includes a maiden call to Wollongong, as well as calls to Hobart and Melbourne
• Explorer of the Seas will depart Australia on 22 April 2018 with a 23 night Sydney to Seattle cruise visiting Noumea, Lifou, Mystery Island, Suva (overnight), Lahaina and Honolulu.

For her sixth consecutive season down under, Voyager of the Seas will join her sister megaliner Explorer in sailing predominantly South Pacific itineraries from October 2017 through to April 2018. Highlights include:

• A 10 night repositioning cruise from Singapore to Fremantle departing on 18 October 2017 and calling at Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi and Phuket
• Voyager of the Seas  will then sail a 16 night Round Australia and New Zealand voyage from Fremantle  to Sydney departing 28 October 2017 that includes calls to Adelaide, Melbourne, Dunedin, Akaroa, Picton, Wellington and scenic cruising in the Milford Sounds region
• An eight night Queensland cruise departing 13 November 2017 with calls to Brisbane, Willis Island, and the Whitsundays
• A choice of two 14 night South Pacific and Fiji sailings including a New Year’s cruise departing 30 December 2017
• A choice of six 10 night South Pacific sailings visiting ports in Noumea and Vanuatu including a Christmas cruise departing 20 December 2017
• Three 9 night sailings calling at ports in Noumea and Vanuatu
• A choice of nine, eight and seven night South Pacific itineraries and an 11 night cruise departing on 5 April, which also visits Fiji
• A two night weekend sampler cruise departing 1 December 2017 and a three night weekend sampler cruise departing 2 February 2018
• Voyager of the Seas will conclude her local season with a 14 night Sydney to Singapore cruise departing 16 April 2018 and visiting Brisbane, The Whitsundays, Cairns, Port Douglas and Darwin.

Radiance of the Seas will offer departures from Sydney, Auckland and Fremantle for the 2017/18 season with itineraries ranging from eight to 18 nights to New Zealand, Queensland, Tasmania and around Australia, including:

• An 18 night transpacific cruise from Honolulu to Sydney departing 19 September 2017 which calls at French Polynesia and New Zealand
• A circumnavigation of Australia, where guests can choose to sail a 16-night ‘Top End’ cruise from Sydney to Fremantle which calls at Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Bali, Port Hedland and Geraldton or a 17 night south coast and New Zealand sailing that calls at Esperance, Adelaide, Melbourne, Dunedin, Akaroa, Picton, Wellington, as well as scenic cruising to the Sounds, or choose to combine the two cruises into one majestic 33-night voyage
• A nine night Tasmania cruise departing on 13 December 2017 that calls at Hobart and Melbourne and includes an overnight stay in Adelaide
• Visit Queensland during an eight night sailing departing on 29 March 2018 that calls at Newcastle, The Whitsundays and Brisbane
• Radiance of the Seas will also offer a 14 night Sydney to Auckland cruise calling in New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga, departing 3 January 2017. This cruise can be combined with the following 14 night New Zealand sailing from Auckland to Sydney to create a 24-night South Pacific and New Zealand cruise
• Celebrate Christmas and New Year on a 12 night New Zealand cruise departing 22 December 2017
• Choose from a selection of 11 night, 13 night or 14 night cruises to New Zealand which visit the North and South Islands and the majestic Milford Sounds region
• Radiance of the Seas departs the region on 17 April 2018 with a 17 night Sydney to Honolulu repositioning sailing visiting Picton, Wellington, Papeete and Bora Bora.