Royal Caribbean and Florida International University (FIU) will unveil a 130,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art rehearsal and production studio on Friday and announce details of a new partnership that will include collaborative research and talent development.

The Royal@FIU World Stage Collaborative will include paid internships, custom curricula and behind-the-scenes access to Royal Caribbean’s experts and facilities.

Students will gain hands-on experience in cruise line operations, stage management, lighting, stage design, audio engineering and production. In addition, FIU faculty and staff will have access to Royal Caribbean marketing and sales data from its six cruise brands to conduct original research and present findings to Royal Caribbean.

A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony will take place from 10:15 a.m. to noon Friday at FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus.

Royal Caribbean has donated recovery money to the victims of the cyclone in the south Pacific that has devastated Vanatu.

Royal Caribbean donated AUD$100,000 to the Australian Red Cross.

Royal Caribbean Australia issued a statement on what the company is doing to help.

We are deeply saddened by the devastating situation in Vanuatu. Our thoughts and prayers are with the wonderful people of this country who have long given a very warm welcome to our ships. 
  
Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines will give AUD$100,000 to the Vanuatu cyclone relief efforts. We are seeking further information regarding how our friends and guests can also support the people of Vanuatu at this time. 
  
Communication remains difficult but we are working with our partners on the ground to ascertain the situation in Vanuatu. We want to ensure that any visits from our ships will help rather than burden the people of Vanuatu. 
  
All sailings will embark as scheduled from Australia and we will advise our guests of any itinerary changes to future cruises if they occur, in order to provide them with a safe and comfortable holiday but also support and help the people of Vanuatu in the best way possible. 
  
The relief donation is in addition to the recently announced partnership with the Vanuatu Government under which Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines will invest AUD$3.8million in shipping infrastructure in Vanuatu. 

Royal Caribbean's donation follows fellow cruise line Carnival Cruise Line, who also donated money to aid the area.

Another week has come to an end and we've gone through and hand-picked some fun articles for you to take a look at in case you missed any of it.

The big Royal Caribbean news this week was Anthem of the Seas had her conveyance up the River Ems and is poised now to begin her sea trials.

Anthem of the Seas' conveyance was an impressive operation, requiring her to go backwards up a narrow river with the aid of tug boats at about 2-3 knotts.  It also produced some great photos and videos that we shared on the blog this week.

Anthem of the Seas is scheduled to be handed over to Royal Caribbean in mid-April.

Royal Caribbean News

• It looks like Royal Caribbean will send Ovation of the Seas to China when she debuts.
• Royal Caribbean announced its 2016 Europe and Alaska cruises.
• Royal Caribbean rolled out a new promotion, BOGO50.
• Harmony of the Seas will debut in Europe before coming to the United States.
• Harmony of the Seas bookings will be available on April 2nd.
• A tropical depression in the south Pacific altered two Royal Caribbean ship itineraries.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The eighty-fourth episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and this we're talking about WOWbands.

In this episode, Matt looks at why these new silicone bracelets represent a big step forward for guests.  From convenience of use to the technology behind them, Matt shows why WOWbands help make everything onboard easier and what the future may hold for them.

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

Cruise Currents has a list of 8 reasons an interior stateroom can be perfect for any cruiser.

Travel Weekly reports Royal Caribbean will require passenger emails from now on.

CNN reviewed Quantum of the Seas and all she offers.

Could Royal Caribbean be sending its brand new cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas, to China?  

A marketing document by Royal Caribbean UK's travel agent support website has posted a schedule of deployments coming for 2016 cruises and Ovation of the Seas is listed under the China cruises.

The document claims Ovation of the Seas will join Legend of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas, Quantum of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas and its sailings will go on sale in August.

If true, this will be another salvo by Royal Caribbean in its effort to dominate the emerging cruise market in China.

Ovation of the Seas is the third Quantum-class ship and is scheduled to be complete in Spring 2016.

Tip of the hat to cruiseboy305 for finding the news.

UPDATE: Royal Caribbean has indicated this document cited in the article is "an unfortunate mistake".  Furthermore, Royal Caribbean is still finalizing their deployments and we can expect an official answer in the next month's time.

Royal Caribbean released a new "vinfographic", where they take you through what goes into a conveyance for a ship like Anthem of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas just completed her conveyance to the North Sea and is now one step closer to launch.

Check out these photos Royal Caribbean provided of Anthem of the Seas' journey.

We love sharing Royal Caribbean photos that our readers took on their cruise vacations, so each week we ask everyone reading this to send us your best, favorite and fun Royal Caribbean photos to share with the world.

This is our weekly fun opporunity to show off these really well taken shots and give everyone else a "quick fix" of a Royal Caribbean vacation.

Let's take a look at this week's batch of photos!

First up this week is a photo by Sean McLellan of sunset at St. Thomas as he was getting back from a snorkeling excursion. I can't resist a good sunset photo!

Next up is this photo by Ross and Pam of Voyager of the Seas returning to Sydney after a great south Pacific cruise.  Looks beautiful!

Next is this photo of Liberty of the Seas in Villefranche, France by Maximilan Frey.  Yup, looks like another beautiful day on a beautiful Royal Caribbean ship!

This photo comes to us by Michael Poole and it's of his favorite ship, Enchantment of the Seas.   She's docked in Nassau, Bahamas and I could go for a fun Bahamas cruise right about now!

I love this photo by Matthew Hull of Quantum of the Seas in Labadee.  Great perspective!

We will round out this week's photos with a shot of the ship I'm going on next week, Quantum of the Seas! It's by Kris Jackson and as the sign indicates, it was taken while in Barbados.

Thanks 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.

Royal Caribbean announced its 2016-2017 deployment schedule for Europe and Alaska and with it, where its cruise ships will be located.

Royal Caribbean’s 2016 Europe itineraries will open for booking starting March 19, 2015, and 2016 Alaska will open on March 26.

Here's a breakdown of the deployments by ship

Harmony of the Seas

Harmony of the Seas, will homeport at Barcelona and sail a round-trip, seven-night Western Mediterranean itinerary. Harmony of the Seas will also offer cruises from Rome (Civitavecchia), but guests must sail round-trip for seven nights.

Brilliance of the Seas

Alternate 12-night Italian Mediterranean and Greek & Italian Mediterranean cruises.

Independence of the Seas

Will sail mostly 10- to 14-night Mediterranean or Canary Island cruises from Southampton.

Navigator of the Seas

From Southampton, Navigator of the Seas will offer new six- to 14-night Norwegian Fjords, Baltic, Mediterranean or Canary Island itineraries.

Serenade of the Seas

Seven-night Norwegian Fjords and seven- to 13-night Scandinavia and Russia itineraries, round-trip from Copenhagen, Denmark, in early summer and August, and from Stockholm, Sweden, in June and July.

Jewel of the Seas

Alternate brand new 10-night Greece & Adriatic and 11-night Greece, Turkey & Croatia itineraries from Venice

Vision of the Seas

Alternate seven-night Greek Isles and Greek Isles & Turkey cruises from Venice.

Rhapsody of the Seas

Will homeport at Rome (Civitavecchia) and sail nine-night Greek Isles cruises in early summer and autumn months. From late June through August, the ship will alternate seven-night Greek Isles and Greek & Turkey cruises.

Explorer of the Seas

Based in Seattle, Explorer of the Seas will offer seven-night round-trip itineraries up Tracy Arm Fjords for an incomparable view of Sawyer Glacier.

In September, the ship will sail three Pacific Coastal cruises, seven nights in duration, which feature an overnight in San Francisco, California.

Radiance of the Seas

Alternate seven-night northbound and southbound Alaska cruises between Vancouver, B.C., and Seward.

Royal Caribbean's third Oasis-class cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, will debut in Europe and offer European cruises in summer 2016 before she makes her way to the United States.

Harmony of the Seas will begin sailings in April 2016 and will offer 7-night cruises from Barcelona and Rome to the Western Mediterranean.  Harmony of the Seas will visit ports such as Palma, Florence and Naples.

After the summer 2016 season, Harmony of the Seas will head to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to offer cruises to the eastern and western Caribbean.

Harmony of the Seas is under construction at STX Europe in France.