It was another week full of exciting Royal Caribbean news including something for those with special needs, itinerary changes because of a hurricane, a new website update and more!

We have a lot to share, so let’s jump right in…

The big news this week was Royal Caribbean will start offering the Autism Channel on most of its cruise ships very soon to meet the needs of its special needs cruisers.

The Autism Channel is a streaming television service providing information and resources to families and professionals supporting and improving the lives of people with autism spectrum disorders.

The new on-demand programming will begin in late October 2015 on Quantum, Oasis, Freedom, Voyager and Radiance class ships.

There will be over 35 different episodes available, ranging from 4-30 minutes in length. Some episodes are about an hour as well.

Royal Caribbean News

• Hurricane Joaquin forced Royal Caribbean to chang the itineraries of Enchantment of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas.
• Royal Caribbean updated the look and feel of its website's cruise book section.
• Royal Caribbean was named Best Cruise Operator for the 8th year in a row.
• Explorer of the Seas is on her way to Australia.
• Everything about the FlowRider on Royal Caribbean ships.
• A look at how Royal Caribbean and Heinken created a new recyclable beer keg.
• 12 photos of breaktaking views from the bridges of Royal Caribbean ships.
• Mariner of the Seas will host Asia's first cosplay cruise.
• Junior Sute photo tour on Independence of the Seas.
• The recipe for one of our favorites: the Lava Flow cocktail.

Let's cruise together on Allure of the Seas

I want you to join me on Allure of the Seas!

The Royal Caribbean Blog staff are going on Allure of the Seas and we are inviting all of our blog readers to join us!

We will be sailing on Allure of the Seas on February 21, 2016 and there are some fabulous rates available.  Interior staterooms start at only $850 per person (double occupancy)!

Read all the details (and the fun meets we already have planned).  This will be an amazing week with plenty of surprises and exclusive events for those that book into our group!

Royal Caribbean Blog Reader Finds

If you are on a Royal Caribbean cruise and spot something cool, new or just fun, share a photo with us on facebook or twitter so we can add it to our Royal Caribbean Blog Reader Finds each Sunday!

Ryan Fritsch sent us this great photo of Jewel of the Seas with the Golden Gate bridge behind her.

Paul Crow shared a photo of waiting for the ice show to begin on Independence of the Seas.

Nikki Nothstein‎ just returned from a cruise Liberty of the Seas and she says,"already wishing I was back on the deck in the Solarium enjoying the sunshine."

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The 113th episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and this week, our friend Susan returns to talk all about her back-to-back Independence of the Seas cruise.

In this episode, Matt taks to Susan all about her experience doing a back-to-back cruise on Independence of the Seas, with a look at her staterooms, onboard activities she enjoyed and how her high school reunion at sea went.

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.

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

Royal Caribbean shared the 10 most stylish items to take on vacation.

Travel Weekly reports on Royal Caribbean's goal of eliminating last-minute cruise deals.

Eat Sleep Cruise has a virtual bar crawl around Adventure of the Seas!

Cruise Hangout shared reviewed their first Royal Caribbean cruise.

Have you heard about the brand new video streaming app called Periscope?

It is essentially an app that allows people to stream live video from anywhere they have a signal and we, at Royal Caribbean Blog, are on Periscope too! (Follow us at @theRCLblog)

Last night we were chatting together about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise and I posed a question to my friends that joined me, "Share with everyone your best Royal Caribbean cruise tip."

Wow, there were some some really great ideas and I wanted to share the best of them right here on the blog.

Lisabeme2: Book onboard for the NextCruise booking bonus.

AVFD102: Get to the port early and use a porter.

RKSister: Don't overpack.  Wear clothing more than once, such as pants or shorts.

Bill1125: Book a suite to get Concierge access because at disembarkation, you get to use secret elevators and encounter no lines leaving the ship.

Jamesw32: Don't wait to go home to give feedback.  Get any concerns resolved onboard.

Daboyz1223: Wear a swimsuit onto the ship in embarkation day because your luggage may not get to your stateroom for a while.

Lisabeme2: Do the VIP All Access Tour at least once.

CraigOchs: Pack a highlighter to use for the Cruise Compass.

Kevinkline5: Walk as part of the "Walk for Wishes" charity event onboard.

Bill1125: Bring ice cream to the pool bar and amazing drinks can happen.

RKSister: Book My Time Dining a few days in advance before your cruise.

Jamesw32: Progressive trivia is a great way to meet new friends, especially if you are cruising solo.

Kris1208: Just enjoy and relax.

What are your best Royal Caribbean tips? Share them in the comments!

Royal Caribbean has altered Liberty of the Seas planned itinerary due to the forecasted path of Hurricane Joaquin.

Liberty of the Seas will not be able to call on Kings Warf, Bermuda as originally scheduled. Instead, the ship will sail to St. John, Canada in an effort to ensure guests have a safe and comfortable cruise.

Royal Caribbean changed Enchantment of the Seas' itinerary earlier today to avoid Hurricane Joaquin as well.

Royal Caribbean will continue to closely monitor weather conditions and will provide updates as soon as they become available.

Royal Caribbean has altered the itinerary for Enchantment of the Seas due to Hurricane Joaquin.

Due to the current path of the hurricane, Enchantment of the Seas will not be able to call on Nassau, Bahamas as originally scheduled. Instead, the ship will sail to Freeport, Bahamas in an effort to try to find the calmest seas possible. 

No other Royal Caribbean ship itineraries have been changed yet.  This marks the first Royal Caribbean ship to be affected directly by the hurricane.

Royal Caribbean will continue to closely monitor weather conditions and will provide updates as soon as they become available.

At the 26th Annual TTG Travel Awards in Bangkok, Thailand, Royal Caribbean took home the honor of being named the Best Cruise Operator.  It is the eight year in a row Royal Caribbean has won this award.

The Best Cruise Operator award recognizes the cruise line offering the best product, services and facilities. This award is also recognition for Royal Caribbean for being the most professional sales and marketing team in terms of innovative ideas and servicing.

Royal Caribbean has been voted unanimously by readers of TTG Asia, TTG China, TTG India, TTGmice, TTG-BTmice China, TTGassociations and TTG Asia Luxury for the award. The TTG Travel Awards are given out annually to honor organizations in Asia Pacific’s travel industry for their strong commitment towards service excellence.

Sean Treacy, Managing Director, Singapore & Southeast Asia of Royal Caribbean Cruises (Asia) Pte Ltd. who received the award said, “It’s a great achievement for us to win this prestigious award for eight years running, which shows how much Royal Caribbean International has grown to be the cruise brand of choice in Asia. For this, we deeply thank our trade partners and customers for their continued strong support. We aim to keep delivering exceptional holidays to more and more of them with our revolutionary ships, innovative style of cruising and high service standards and value as our business grows in Asia.”

Royal Caribbean's introduction of Quantum of the Seas to Asia this year has brought a lot of attention to cruising in the region and combined with what Mariner of the Seas has been offering, the cruise line has been doing well in this burgeoning cruise market.

Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas is on her way to Australia, where she will soon be the largest cruise ship to sail in that region.

Photo by Raul Soler

Explorer of the Seas departed Southampton, England today and will sail for 42 days through Europe and via Dubai, India and Asia before arriving in Perth, Australia on November 13.

Once Explorer of the Seas arrives in Perth, she will offer a 16-night itinerary around the southern half of Australia and New Zealand, before arriving at her new homeport of Sydney on November 28.

On that same day, sister ship Voyager of the Seas will be in Sydney harbor as well and both ships will be present to meet for what is sure to be a great photo opportunity.

Explorer of the Seas arrives in Australia just months after receiving a multimillion dolar makeover back in April.  She features a number of new additions and improvements including

• FlowRider surf simulator
• New restaurants
  • Chops Grille
  • Giovanni's Table
  • Izumi
• two new bars
• Virtual balcony staterooms
• Panoramic staterooms
• Complete refresh of all public spaces and staterooms

Royal Caribbean gave a face lift to part of its web site last night, which updated the look of the site that guests use to book their cruises.

Back in March 2015, Royal Caribbean updated the look of its web site but the update was largely only for the home page and a few pages outside of it.  Much of the rest of the site retained the old design look.

With the latest update, the part of the site that allows guests to price cruises and book a sailing online now matches the homepage in terms of look and feel.

With the new design, guests can more easily flow between the steps of choosing the right sailing and stateroom for them.  The updated look provides a more "at a glance" look at everything occurring in the reservation process.

This latest update to the site's design does not include all parts of the site.  Other areas of the site still retain the old look, including My Cruises and the FAQ sections.

Do you like the new design for the cruise booking engine? Share your thoughts in the comments!

In a webcast to travel agents, Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service Vicki Freed announced Royal Caribbean will begin offering the Autism Channel on its cruise ships to meet the needs of its special needs cruisers.

The new program will begin late October 2015 on Quantum, Oasis, Freedom, Voyager and Radiance class ships.

The Autism Channel will be available via the on-demand section in guests' stateroom televisions.  There will be TV shows and short programs for children and parents.  

There will be over 35 different episodes available, ranging from 4-30 minutes in length.  Some episodes are about an hour as well.

Royal Caribbean will be the first in the hospitality industry to offer complimentary on-demand tv access to this sort of special needs programming.

10/01 UPDATE: Royal Caribbean has released more details about its Autism programming aboard its ships.

Some of the programs available for viewing are:  

• I Am Autistic with Daniel Heinlein – Diagnosed with Asperger's as a teenager, Daniel Heinlein talks about autism with doctors, researchers, and others on the spectrum.
• Dr. Judy – A board-certified developmental and behavioral pediatrician, Dr. Judith Aranson-Ramos, MD talks about early diagnosis and treatment for people on the spectrum.
• Real Look Autism – From renowned executive producer Mary Beth Marsden, an unfiltered look at ASD children and their progress.
• Direct From Autism Service Dogs America – Follow a therapy dog's journey from selection through life as a working dog.
• The Rocket Family Chronicles – A mockumentary about the life and times of Rocket, an on-the-spectrum filmmaker and his unique family.
• Cooking with Jana – Gluten and Casein free cooking with Chef Jana McMahon, featuring easy to make recipes low in allergens.

Programming will be initially offered in English as well as closed captioned for guests who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

“The Autism Channel is delighted that Royal Caribbean has chosen to make this valuable content available on many Royal Caribbean ships. For every one person on the autism spectrum there are six more persons directly impacted by that person. Complimentary access to The Autism Channel’s exclusive content will benefit many Royal Caribbean guests and bring more awareness to Autism,” said Jeffrey A. Kasky, president, The Autism Channel.

Royal Caribbean is using a brand new beer keg that is great for the environment and offers better tasting beer too!

Royal Caribbean and Heineken Global Duty Free developed a 100% recyclable beer keg known as BrewLock.

The BrewLock keg holds beer in a collapsible plastic sac inside a hard-shell plastic container. Pressurized air inside the shell squeezes the sac, forces the beer into a hose and on to the tap, without air or gases ever touching the beer.

It’s made of PET, the most widely recycled plastic in the world, according to The National Association for PET Container Resources.

The BrewLock can be completely recycled and can be reused to make new bottles, fiberfill for winter coats, certain auto parts and a wide range of other items.

One big advantage of the BrewLock is the keg serves nearly all the product and leaves far less wasted suds behind that are found in traditional kegs.

Royal Caribbean Vice President of Safety and Environmental Stewardship, Rich Pruitt, is a big fan of the new innovation, "From our side, any kind of recyclable materials that can be compacted and stored easily and then recycled versus shipping stuff around the world, from a carbon reduction concept is a good idea.  Plus, if we don’t have these big (metal) kegs on board that are empty and we’re hanging onto them for awhile, it allows us more storage space for other things."

Besides freeing up precious space on a cruise ship by off-loading the compacted plastic kegs in ports with appropriate recycling facilities, the BrewLock further reduces Royal Caribbean's carbon footprint in another way.

Royal Caribbean released some stunning photos that were taken by ship Captains of some of the best views in the world. 

The photos are part of an effort to show off the various ports of call Royal Caribbean cruise ships visit and they certainly are quite beautiful shots!

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

Sydney Harbor, Australia

Venice Harbor, Italy

Geiranger Fjord, Norway

Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden

Vesivius, Naples, Italy

Golfo di Poeti, La Pezia, Italy

Nice, France

Kotor, Montenegro

Island of Moorea, French Polynesia

Vancouver, Canada

The English Channel, UK

Which photo is your favorite? Tell us in the comments below!