Happy Sunday! Temperatures may be dropping, but there is plenty of Royal Caribbean news to share.  This is your weekly summary of all the Royal Caribbean news from this past week, perfectly fitted for your consumption.

Royal Caribbean shared when it will put new cruises on sale in 2024-2025.

While not complete, the initial deployment schedule gives an idea of when to expect new cruises to book to  Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, and Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean promises more release dates will be announced soon for other 2024 - 2025 sailings.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean drops pre-cruise testing requirement for almost all cruises
• Royal Caribbean adds daily limit to unlimited dining plan a la carte restaurants
• Royal Caribbean makes small change to make it easier to track Diamond drink vouchers
• Royal Caribbean has quietly brought back pre-cruise entertainment reservations on some cruise ships
• The best cruise itineraries for every type of traveler
• Royal Caribbean cruises in November 2022: What to expect
• What families will love about Icon of the Seas' new dedicated family neighborhood

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 475th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is available to enjoy, where Matt lists the things that change about how you cruise as you cruise more often.

Cruising a lot changes your outlook on how you cruise, and I have a list of 5 things I think people that cruise a lot would tell first time cruisers about how the process changes.

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.

New RCB Video: Where to keep Seapass Card, phone, and cash when on a shore excursion?

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Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video — Where to keep Seapass Card, phone, and cash when on a shore excursion? — and don’t forget to subscribe here.

Royal Caribbean Group reports first quarterly profit in almost three years

Royal Caribbean reported its third quarter earnings this week, and had positive cash flow for the first time in almost three years.

Royal Caribbean Group posted better than expected earnings for the third quarter of 2022 with a total revenue of $3.0 billion and net income of $33 million.

Revenue hitting $3 billion is the highest since the third quarter of 2019.

What to expect with Royal Caribbean's Black Friday and Cyber Monday cruise deals

While Royal Caribbean’s Black Friday sale changes year to year, there will undoubtedly be a sale for cruise fares and add-ons.

Just like so many retailers, there will be a post-Thanksgiving sale to look for and it will bring potentially higher savings.

You might be wondering how lucrative these sales will be, and if it will save you any money.

Royal Caribbean is targeting people who vacation in Orlando

Are you a family that typically does a land vacation in Orlando? Royal Caribbean wants you to go on a cruise instead.

During Royal Caribbean Group's earnings call with investors this week, Royal Caribbean Group executives talked about how Icon of the Seas was designed to attract families away from a land vacation in Florida.

The ship's new family-centric offerings are part of the cruise line's more aggressive marketing approach to Orlando attractions.

Royal Caribbean wants to make it easier to keep track of your Diamond drink benefits.

Diamond, Diamond Plus, or Pinnacle members get a set amount of complimentary beverages every day of your cruise, which includes alcoholic beverages.

In an email to guests, Royal Caribbean said it would make a slight change to how drinks are redeemed.

Effective on sailings starting this Friday, November 4th, guests will sign their check when using any beverage vouchers.

Prior to this change, there was no receipt to sign and the vouchers were all managed in the backend. 

Guests that purchase a drink and pay for it with their SeaPass card get a receipt, so this will be more similar to this.

This is another recent change by Royal Caribbean to the Diamond drink program. In June 2021 the amount of drinks was altered so the Diamond drinks would essentially cover almost any beverage and could be used all day.

Benefits of this change

Royal Caribbean says it is making the change for two reasons that it thinks will benefit guests.

First, the receipt has a count of vouchers to help you better track how many you have left.

So if you’re a Diamond member, and you have 4 a day – it may tell you 2 of 4 have been redeemed.

The second reason is to help with billing discrepancies.

For instance, you ordered a $3 coffee and they may have applied your voucher – and you don’t learn about it until you’re at dinner, wanting that nice $13 cocktail and you’re out of vouchers.

For these reasons, offering receipts should make it simpler to track for guests, "While it’s a little more work for our teams, by having you have your hard check – you can better control both your count and the proper application!"

How the Diamond drink vouchers work

Royal Caribbean provides complimentary drinks each day to its Diamond, Diamond Plus and Pinnacle guests.

Guests who are at a lower tier of Crown and Anchor Society (Gold, Platinum, or Emerald) do not qualify for the drink vouchers.

• Diamond: 4 beverage vouchers valid all day at any bar (except Starbucks)
• Diamond Plus: 5 beverage vouchers valid all day at any bar (except Starbucks)
• Pinnacle: 6 beverage vouchers valid all day at any bar (except Starbucks)

Drink vouchers are loaded automatically every day on a guest's SeaPass account. 

This includes alcoholic and non-alcoholic options, and includes any beverage up to $14 per drink.

Royal Caribbean is eyeing its competition, and it's not another cruise line.

With Royal Caribbean's introduction of Icon of the Seas, the company wants to attract families that would otherwise consider a land vacation in a place like Orlando, Florida.

With its mega theme parks, Orlando is one of the top family vacation destinations. The city saw 75 million annual visitors in 2018. While that number has fallen since then due to the global health crisis, Orlando still saw 59.3 million visitors in 2021.

During Royal Caribbean Group's earnings call with investors on Thursday, executives singled out Orlando as the market they hope their new cruise ship will more favorably compete with once it launches.

"The Icon product, along with Perfect Day, with the kind of experiences that we're offering, with the kind of new accommodations that we have on Icon and the experiences that we have for young families, older families and of course couples and singles and what have you, is really squarely standing shoulder to shoulder with Orlando and those kind of destinations," said Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley.

Mr. Bayley sees the Royal Caribbean International brand being more "aggressive" with how it competes with the Orlando attractions, "And what we're beginning to see is us moving certainly the Royal brand into that space far more aggressively."

"We're really focusing on this target market, which is family and of course has many new neighborhoods, including a neighborhood called Surfside, which is absolutely focused on young families and those young families with children six and under travel all year round, because obviously parents can pull their kids out of pre-K."

Illustrating how compelling a choice Icon of the Seas is to Walt Disney World, the Wall Street analyst shared an anecdote from a recent trip in which another traveler he did not know told him he was going to book Icon of the Seas instead of Disney World, "a random traveler behind me saying they were thinking about going to Disney, but going to book the their family on the Icon."

"One off conversation but part of a broader theme."

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty talked about how the cruise line has narrowed the competitive advantage land vacations have over cruises, "We've seen this 40% gap to land based vacation. It used to be about 20%."

"The Royal brand actually closed the gap very significantly with the introduction of Perfect day, the modernization of our fleet. And so we see there is a lot of opportunity to close that gap here over time."

How Royal Caribbean can compete better with Orlando

Mr. Liberty was pleased with the progress Royal Caribbean International has made to be a more attractive offer compared to land vacations, but thinks more is needed.

"We need to increase frequency with our guests, we need to improve our loyalty programs," he explained when talking about ways to improve.

"We need to be more 1:1 so that we're putting offers in front of our guests that are very relevant to them individually and just bring more awareness."

He thinks by doing those kind of things, it will make Royal Caribbean more competitive with land-based vacations.

Super weapon: Icon of the Seas

Royal Caribbean sees the launch of Icon of the Seas as not only a great new ship, but the asset that will give them the best choice yet to skip a land vacation.

"It is a game changing, first of its kind vacation experience where everyone can experience their version of the ultimate vacation," Mr. Liberty explained at the beginning of the call with investors.

While Royal Caribbean has always been a top family cruise line, Icon of the Seas is poised to move the cruise line beyond anything else it has ever offered.

Royal Caribbean will introduce a first of its kind area of the ship dedicated to young families at the back of the ship, which has everything a family with young kids could want, along with family-focused accommodations and with easy access to the kids club and other popular onboard attractions.

"Icon is the first in a new class of ships for Royal Caribbean, which is squarely in the family market, which is a scale brand with huge presence in the American market and in a strong global footprint," Mr. Bayley explained.

In Surfside, there will be places for kids and adults to enjoy, including Splashaway Bay and Baby Bay splash parks for junior cruisers and the Water's Edge pool for grownups.

Surfside will also house family-friendly dining venues, although those venues have not been announced yet.

The tide has finally changed for Royal Caribbean Group's bottom line.

Royal Caribbean Group posted better than expected earnings for the third quarter of 2022 with a total revenue of $3.0 billion and net income of $33 million and Adjusted EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was $742.3 million.

Revenue hitting $3 billion is the highest since the third quarter of 2019.

The change comes as demand for cruise vacations surges following the global health crisis. The cruise line's occupancy rate was 96%, more than double the 36% level in the year-ago quarter.

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty called the third quarter "better than expected", "Last quarter's better than expected performance was a result of the continued robust demand environment and strong execution by our teams."

"The combination of our leading global brands, the best and most innovative fleet in the industry, our nimble global sourcing platform and the very best people have delivered a successful return of our business to full operations and positions us well to deliver record yields and adjusted EBITDA in 2023."

As expected, total revenues per passenger cruise day were flat as reported and up 1%.

Third quarter by the numbers

Load factors (meaning how full were the cruise ships) in the third quarter were 96% overall, with Caribbean sailings reaching almost 105%.

Royal Caribbean Group expects fourth quarter load factors to be similar to third quarter overall, and to reach triple digits by year-end.

Booking volumes in the third quarter accelerated versus the second quarter of 2022 and remained significantly higher than booking volumes received in the third quarter of 2019 for all future sailings.

Bookings update

Booking volumes in the third quarter were significantly higher than the corresponding period in 2019, because Covid-19 testing and vaccination protocols were eased.

The company said its customers continue to make their cruise reservations closer to sailing than in the past, resulting in about 50% more bookings in the third quarter for current year sailings when compared to the third quarter of 2019. 

While 2022 bookings remain strong and on pace to achieve occupancy targets, the most notable change has been a substantial acceleration in demand for 2023 sailings.

Booking volumes for 2023 doubled during the third quarter when compared to the second quarter and were considerably higher than bookings for 2020 sailings during the comparable period in 2019, the highest in company history.

As of September 30, 2022, the Group's customer deposit balance was $3.8 billion, reflecting typical seasonality as peak summer sailing deposits have been recognized in revenue. In the third quarter, approximately 95% of total bookings were new versus FCC redemptions.

A look at 2023

For 2023, all quarters are currently booked well within historical ranges at record pricing.

While still early in the booking cycle, the view for 2023 is encouraging and the company expects a return to historical load factors in early summer, record yields and adjusted EBITDA for 2023.

The company expects to benefit from lower transitory expenses and accelerating benefit from actions taken to improve margin while partially mitigating continued inflationary pressures expected to persist through the first half of 2023.

Trifecta program

Royal Caribbean Group announced a new three-year plan it hopes will get it back to maximum profitability.

The Trifecta Program has three main goals to be achieved by the end of 2025:

• Triple Digit Adjusted EBITDA per APCD, to exceed prior record Adjusted EBITDA per APCD of $87 in 2019.
• Double Digit Adjusted Earnings per Share to exceed the prior record Adjusted Earnings per Share of $9.54 in 2019.
• Return on Invested Capital ("ROIC") in the teens to exceed the prior record ROIC of 10.5% in 2019 through optimizing capital allocation and enhancing operating income.

The company plans to achieve these goals through a formula of moderate capacity growth, moderate yield growth, and strong cost controls, all while ensuring disciplined capital allocation, investing in the future and improving the balance sheet.

With few exceptions, Royal Caribbean has dropped its pre-cruise testing requirements across the board.

Royal Caribbean sent out an update on Wednesday with new protocols that have removed the need to conduct a pre-cruise Covid-19 test, even if you are unvaccinated.

"Effective November 2, 2022, all travelers on U.S. sailings — regardless of vaccination status — will no longer require pre-departure testing (excludes sailings to Colombia, Haiti, & Honduras)." Cruises from Australia are also not included in this policy change.

Travel agents and guests were notified of the change in policy.

Prior to this change, unvaccinated guests had to take a Covid-19 test before their cruise. Fully vaccinated guests and guests ages 11 and younger are exempt.

Royal Caribbean recommends guests be fully vaccinated and boostered against Covid‐19. While vaccination is not required, they kindly ask passengers to disclose their vaccine status during check-in.

A guest is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after the required number of doses in their vaccine series have been fully administered (e.g. 2 shots of Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, etc., or 1 shot of Johnson & Johnson). Vaccines must be approved for use by the WHO or U.S. FDA, with the exception of CanSino.

Pre-cruise testing remains for certain itineraries

If your Royal Caribbean cruise visits Labadee, Roatan, or somewhere in Colombia, then unvaccinated will still need to test.

Guests age 12 and up who are not fully vaccinated have 3 days to take a test before their cruise, regardless the duration of the cruise.

Guests under the age of 12 do not have any testing requirements.

Accepted Tests

Guests can take advantage of in-person, telehealth, and self-swab tests. This includes unsupervised testing.

Proof of a negative test can be the printed or digital results, a clear photo of your self-test result, or your actual self-test in hand.

Another relaxation of policy

This is one of many changes in Royal Caribbean's approach to Covid-19, which has steadily seen health protocols erode in order to be closer to other forms of leisure travel. Airplanes, theme parks, casinos, and hotels no longer require any such Covid protocols and have not had any requirements for months.

Royal Caribbean Group CEO Jason Liberty spoke about the change during an earnings call with investors earlier this year and said the change is a move to be more like other forms of leisure travel, such as theme parks, casinos, or air travel. 

"We are continuing to adapt our protocols to align more closely with how the rest of society and other travel and leisure businesses are operating."

"This means that we're transitioning to the point where everyone will be able to vacation with us while always working with our destination partners to meet their regulations."

When Royal Caribbean resumed cruises in 2021, Covid-19 protocols were a major component to the onboard experience.

Since September 2022, all travelers, regardless of vaccination status, were able to cruise on most itineraries, as long as they meet testing requirements to board.

Since then, more itineraries opened up to unvaccinated cruisers.

In the past when Royal Caribbean relaxed travel requirements, they've reinforced their ships are still a step ahead of other travel in terms of protocols, "We continue to maintain additional layers of protection that far exceed any other vacation experience. This includes vaccination of all crew and keeping them up to date with boosters when eligible, routine surveillance of all crew, enhanced testing and treatment capabilities in our onboard medical centers, and much more."

Maybe you will be able to book shows for your Royal Caribbean cruise before the sailing begins after all.

Guests are reporting seeing the option to pre-book select entertainment on at least the Oasis Class cruise ships later this year.

Prior to the cruise industry shutdown in 2020, Royal Caribbean allowed passengers to pre-book stage shows before the cruise via the Cruise Planner website.

Pre-booking entertainment has not returned since Royal Caribbean cruises restarted in June 2021.

Reversing a change?

In late September, Royal Caribbean informed travel agents that they would not bring back the option to book shows before the cruise.

As we continue to shape the future of cruising, a few experiences may look a bit different to some of your clients. With this, we will no longer be accepting pre-bookings for onboard entertainment. All guests who would like to attend our entertainment onboard must book these at the Box Office or on the App once onboard.

There was no mention of exceptions.

Royal Caribbean has made no new announcement or confirmation of a policy change.

Some ships have option to pre-book shows

In the last week or so, many Royal Caribbean cruisers have reported being able to pre-book shows when visiting the Cruise Planner website.

Thus far, the option to pre-book as not appeared in the Royal Caribbean app.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers started to share the change on the RoyalCaribbeanBlog forums that the option has re-appeared once more.

Based on reader reports, the option is available on the Oasis Class cruise ships beginning for sailings in December 2022.

A notice on the Cruise Planner indicates the option is available for:

• Allure of the Seas
• Anthem of the Seas
• Harmony of the Seas
• Navigator of the Seas
• Oasis of the Seas
• Odyssey of the Seas
• Ovation of the Seas
• Symphony of the Seas

Wonder of the Seas isn't on the list, but plenty of cruisers have reported being able to book shows for December sailings.

Thus far, it appears to be primarily December 2022 cruises that have the option, but it's possible more sailings could be added later.

Reader reaction

The early reaction from readers has been a sense of surprise mixed with confusion as why the policy has seemingly changed so quickly.

CruzOnBye was able to take advantage of this option, "We’re on Odyssey in December and can now reserve The Book in Two70 and also the Zone Zero activity so that’s nice!"

"As a planner this is my biggest frustration of no longer being able to do. But hey, I save time not doing the old school muster drill, so that time is now taken up running around making reservations," said Vancity Cruiser.

"This is the kind of thing Royal really needs to improve," NotPayinExtra posted. "What is there problem with communication? Just tell us already. Limited time booking online or not? "

CruiseGus preferred not having this option back, "I for one really liked the you could not book until you got on board. The major problem with the way they do it, in the App is even if you cancel a show ahead of time because you want to change it, you are lock out from re-booking so you have to go to guest services or see someone"

We now know when Royal Caribbean will open up the first set of new 2024-2025 bookings.

While not complete, we have our first look at when Royal Caribbean will release new sailings to book.

Royal Caribbean typically releases new sailings twice per year: in the fall and again in the spring.

The partial deployment schedule will cover Alaska, Hawaii, Europe, and Caribbean sailings.

• Week of November 7, 2022: Alaska & Hawaii
• Week of November 14, 2022: Europe
• Week of December 12, 2022: Year-round/Summer Caribbean

This is in addition to the Icon of the Seas sailings already released for 2024-2025.

Royal Caribbean promises more release dates will be announced soon for other Fall 2024 - Winter 2025 sailings.

All itineraries are subject to change without notice.

What is a deployment schedule?

The deployment schedule is the plan for when Royal Caribbean will open select sailings for sale.

There is no indication of which day, just the week the new itineraries will become available to book, but it could be on any day of the noted week.

Guests will commonly misconstrue the new cruises to come out on the exact day, rather than at some point during the week.

When the new sailings are available, it is common for the new itineraries to be entered into the booking system first, and the website second. This means in some cases cruises are bookable earlier if booked over the phone or with a travel agent, even if they do not appear on the website.

What should you do now to prepare?

If you are in the market for a cruise during one of these new deployments, you will want to keep an eye out for once cruises go on sale.

Royal Caribbean typically allows Crown and Anchor Society members a 24 hour head start on the general public, but since anyone can sign up for Crown and Anchor Society, there is no excuse for waiting.

Talk with your travel agent in the days leading up to the new deployments coming online so you can jump on specific bookings and book them.  

One of the best strategies for the lowest prices is to book a cruise as soon as it goes on sale.  Hard-to-find staterooms are also available during this period, so now is the time to lock in a studio room or a suite.

Planning on booking a cruise in 2024-2025? These stories will help:

• What is the best time to cruise to the Caribbean?
• 7 tips for a great Mediterranean cruise
• What is the best time to cruise to Alaska?
• What is the cheapest month to go on a cruise?

Royal Caribbean's unlimited dining package won't be as unlimited as it has been in the past.

The terms and conditions for Royal Caribbean's unlimited dining package have been updated to add a daily limit to the a la carte restaurants where guests pay per item.

On the Cruise Planner website, some sailings now show an update for the a la carte pricing, "For restaurants with a la carte pricing, you’ll receive a $20 food credit, which can only be used once a day."

Prior to this change, there was no limit at a la carte restaurants and guests could return to any a la carte restaurant on the same day and get another $20 per person credit.

Examples of restaurants with a la carte pricing include Playmakers and Portside BBQ.

In the past, the $20 per person credit was determined by your seating. Once the check was closed out, you were free to return and start a new tab with another round of $20 credit.

There's been no change to Izumi sushi, which still carries a $34.99 food credit or the option to use the prixe fixe menu.

Similarly, there's been no change to specialty restaurants that have a cover charge, where guests can enjoy unlimited visits to specialty dining restaurants every night of your sailing and lunch on sea days.

Dining packages have become very popular with cruise fans, who enjoy the ability to dine at as many specialty restaurants as they like for a fixed price.  With Royal Caribbean rolling out new specialty dining concepts in recent years, the focus on specialty dining has been greater than in years past.

Read more: Is food included on a Royal Caribbean cruise?

Izumi hibachi price change

In addition to the change in policy related to the a la carte restaurants, it looks like the cost to eat at Izumi hibachi is going up as well.

The policy now lists a $15 surcharge for dining package guests to eat at hibachi, instead of $10.

Teppanyaki dining at Izumi is one of the most popular specialty restaurants on any Royal Caribbean ship. Reservations often are sold out by the first day of the cruise, if not earlier.

Why did Royal Caribbean make this change?

There's no official word why Royal Caribbean added a limit of one use per day for the fixed price menu.

Based on my own experience with the unlimited dining plan, it's possible this change was made to cut down on guests overusing the package benefits at restaurants such as Playmakers.

Being a sports bar, often guests may linger at the bar to watch more than one game, or return later on for the evening game and order more food.

It's also possible this was meant to reduce crowding at these locations.

How the unlimited dining package works

Royal Caribbean introduced the unlimited dining package in 2019 to replace the Ultimate Dining Package and it allows guests to enjoy their meals at specialty restaurants as many times as they’d like, based on availability.

Guests are not able to make reservations for specialty dining before the cruise when they have a dining package. Instead, they must wait until they got onboard a ship to make reservations.

Once at the restaurant, all the guest has to do is inform their waiter that they have a dining package and the waiter can then verify it and charge it appropriately.

There are a few exceptions to what is included with the dining packages: Teppanyaki/Izumi Hibachi is included, with a $15 surcharge, and Chef's Table is included, with a $49.99 surcharge.

It's not included with premium dining experiences, such as Wine Pairings Dinners, Taste of Royal, Mystery Dinner Theater, Culinary Activities, and Holiday Celebration Dinners.

Dining packages do not include room service, mini bar, or restaurants at Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Time is running out of 2022, but there are going to be plenty of cruises in November to look forward to before the month ends.

November marks the beginning of the peak Caribbean cruise season, with many ships beginning their repositioning to North America after a summer in Europe.

Hopefully this article shares with you what you need to know about going on a Royal Caribbean cruise in the month of November, with important news, tips, and helpful information along the way.

November is a month dichotomies: the first half of the month is traditionally a less in-demand time to cruise, with some great cruise deals to be found, while the second half of the month transitions into higher demand with the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Nonetheless, there can be excellent deals to be found, even at the last minute.

November is also the very end of hurricane season in the Caribbean. 

Technically, hurricane season ends on November 30, so there is still a chance of a tropical disturbance impacting your sailing. Storms this late in the season are rarer, but not unheard of, so keep tracking storms leading up to your sailing.

Ships sailing in November 2022

All of Royal Caribbean's cruise ships are back in service, and Royal Caribbean has returned for the first time to Australia since 2019.

Royal Caribbean's cruises down under this season will offer 2- to 12-night cruises to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Here's where you can find each ship this month.

• Freedom of the Seas from Miami, Florida
• Anthem of the Seas from Cape Liberty, New Jersey
• Allure of the Seas from Galveston, Texas beginning November 13.
• Symphony of the Seas from Miami, Florida
• Independence of the Seas from Port Canaveral, Florida
• Harmony of the Seas from Port Canaveral, Florida
• Mariner of the Seas from Port Canaveral, Florida
• Liberty of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Adventure of the Seas from Galveston, Texas
• Explorer of the Seas from Miami, Florida
• Navigator of the Seas from Los Angeles, California
• Spectrum of the Seas from Singapore
• Grandeur of the Seas from Miami, Florida
• Enchantment of the Seas from Baltimore, Maryland
• Radiance of the Seas from New Orleans, Louisiana
• Serenade of the Seas from Tampa, Florida
• Voyager of the Seas from San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Quantum of the Seas from Brisbane, Australia
• Ovation of the Seas from Sydney, Australia
• Oasis of the Seas from Miami, Florida
• Brilliance of the Seas from Tampa, Florida
• Wonder of the Seas from Port Canaveral, Florida
• Odyssey of the Seas from from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Vision of the Seas from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Rhapsody of the Seas from Bridgetown, Barbados
• Jewel of the Seas from Port Canaveral, Florida

Not only will ships begin sailing in Australia, but Royal Caribbean will commence cruises from Bridgetown, Barbados.

Another big change for Royal Caribbean will be the opening of its new cruise terminal in Galveston, Texas.

The $125 million, 161,334-square-foot Galveston Cruise Terminal significantly expands Royal Caribbean’s presence in the city, increasing its ability to welcome up to 630,000 guests each year.

The new terminal opens on Nov. 9, 2022, which also marks the arrival of Allure of the Seas. For the first time, Texas will be home to an Oasis Class ship, which are the largest ships in the world.

Health protocols for November 2022 cruises

Royal Caribbean's health protocols for November are fairly similar to the protocols from October.

Vaccinated guests do not need to take a test for sailings of 9 nights or fewer for cruises from North America and the Caribbean.

On sailings of 10 nights or longer, fully vaccinated guests age 12 and older will need to bring a negative test result for a COVID-19 test within 3 days before boarding day.

Guests age 12 and up who are not vaccinated have 3 days to take a test before their cruise, regardless the duration of the cruise.

Guests under the age of 12, do not need to take a test prior to cruising.

Cruises from Australia

All guests aged 2 and above, regardless of vaccination status, must present a negative test result for a COVID-19  PCR test taken within 2 days before boarding day, or a self-administered Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) within 1 day before boarding, for sailings of any length.

Required testing for all guests can be completed using a PCR test administered at a private laboratory, or any self-administered Rapid Antigen Test (RAT). Rapid Antigen Tests are not required to be administered under live video supervision.

You will be required to present the negative test result at the time of boarding.  You can show it in the form of a printout or email if taking a PCR test.  Or if taking a RAT, you can show a picture of your negative RAT test on your phone, or present the actual negative test itself.

Guests under 2 years of age do not require testing.

Cruises from Singapore

Unvaccinated guests age 5 - 11 must present a negative test result for a COVID-19 antigen or PCR test taken within the 3 days before boarding day, for sailings of any length.

Fully vaccinated guests age 12 and older, do not have any pre-cruise testing requirements for sailings of 9 nights or less. On sailings of 10 nights and longer, fully vaccinated guests must present a negative test result for a COVID-19 antigen or PCR test taken within the 3 days before boarding day. Kids age 11 and younger who have been vaccinated may follow the testing protocols for vaccinated guests.

Guests ages 12 and older who are not up-to-date must present a negative test result for a COVID-19 antigen or PCR test taken within the 3 days before boarding day.

Required testing for all guests can be completed using any type of PCR or antigen COVID-19 test. It can be professionally proctored at your doctor or drugstore, or it can be a test you administer to yourself at home without supervision.

Guests who are not up to date with their vaccination, must ensure they have a valid medical reason for the exemption and must be approved by a medical provider. The validity of the exemption is also subject to ship Medical Doctor approval. Handwritten medical exemptions will not be accepted.

Guests under 5 years of age do not need to complete a pre-cruise test.

Everyone should review the full list of protocols related to where and when you need to wear a mask, vaccinated-only guest areas of the ship, and more on Royal Caribbean's website.

November weather on a cruise

While it may start getting chilly where you live, temperatures in the Caribbean remain steady, with a range in the 70s-80s.

The end of the rainy season comes in November, so storms are not unheard of, especially since hurricane season does not end until the end of the month.

According to data from NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, for the years from 1851 to 2018, 47 total hurricanes have formed in November and only five of those made landfall in the United States.

Of course, Mother Nature does not follow a calendar, so there are no guarantees when bad weather could or could not occur.

Just like other times of the summer and fall, your best bet is to assume a passing shower or storm, but not an all-day rain out. Packing a poncho or rain coat/windbreaker would allow you to quickly adapt to a storm. 

Thanksgiving on Royal Caribbean

If your cruise happens to sail over the Thanksgiving holiday, you can expect the celebration to extend onboard as well.

Royal Caribbean gets into the spirit of the holiday with fall color decorations around the ship on Thanksgiving sailings, and even a few special events such as Thanksgiving trivia games, and special cocktails.

Of course, there will be plenty of turkey offerings. The main dining room menu will have its regular menu, as well as a special Thanksgiving menu you can order from that has the traditional foods available.

Football games will be available to watch in the bars and screens around the ship.

And in case you are wondering, Christmas decorations start going up around this time, but it varies by ship.  Some ships don't start putting them up until after Thanksgiving.  This can vary by ship and year-to-year.  Some ships doing early December.