Just days after announcing its third Oasis-class cruise ship will be named Harmony of the Seas and feature water slides, Royal Caribbean is pulling back the covers even more on this new ship to reveal new details.

The waterslides coming to Harmony of the Seas will me multi-story waterslides that twist and turn over Central Park.  One of the slides will feature a champagne bowl that swirls guests around as they make their approach to the end of the ride.

In addition, more venues were announced for Harmony of the Seas including a Bionic Bar on the Royal Promenade.  The Bionic Bar was first introduced on Quantum of the Seas and features robot bartenders serving up one-of-a-kind crafted cocktails.

Speaking of technology, Harmony of the Seas will also offer guests use of the new RFID bracelets known as WOWbands, another Quantum-class innovation.  There will also be the same high-speed internet access that the other Oasis-class ships have had via the new satellite internet technology provided by partner O3b.

With the internet speeds on Harmony of the Seas, guests will be able to stream video, Skype with friends and family back at home and share their cruise vacation on social media.

Onboard Harmony of the Seas you will find virtual balcony staterooms and suite guests will have access to a well-appointed suite lounge and a private suites-only restaurant called Coastal Kitchen, as well as an exclusive full-service Suite Sun Zone sun deck.  There will also be studio stateroom choices for single travelers.

In the Boardwalk neighborhood, you will find classic arcade games and a relocated Starbucks location.

Dynamic Dining and Dynamic Dining Classic will be the dining choices on Harmony of the Seas.  Guests can choose between the two Dynamic Dining choices.  Dynamic Dining’s “Classic” option allows guests to rotate through each of the main complimentary restaurants at an early- or a late-seating time throughout their cruise with their dining group and the same assigned waiter each evening.

Royal Caribbean announced a few of the restaurants that will be onboard Harmony of the Seas

• Izumi Hibachi & Sushi Bar
• Sabor Modern Mexican
• Wonderland

Harmony of the Seas will be Royal Caribbean’s third new ship to launch throughout the next 18 months. Itineraries for Ovation of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas will be announced this coming March.

Our newest podcast episode is out to help give you a quick "audio escape" to a Royal Caribbean cruise!

Episode 82 is available for downloading where we talk about the benefits of staying onboard your Royal Caribbean cruise while in port.

There are a number of reasons you might want to consider staying onboard your Royal Caribbean ship while it's in port and this week, Matt discusses the rationale behind letting everyone else go ashore.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 82. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Stitcher 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!

The reults of the 2015 Cruiseline.com Members Choice Awards have been announced and Royal Caribbean walked away with 20 overall awards and 6 first place finishes, giving them the most total awards of any company in the competition.

The Members Choice Awards are culled from over 8,100 cruise reviews submitted by the site's members and then verified through travel agent partners.

Royal Caribbean came out in first place along these categories

• Best Cruise Line
• Best ship (Allure of the Seas)
• Best ship for first timers (Allure of the Seas)
• Best line for first timers
• Best line for tweens and teens
• Best line for suites

You can see the complete results from the awards here.

Due to heavy fog in the Tampa Bay area, Royal Caribbean has canceled the already delayed February 23 sailing of Brilliance of the Seas.

Photo by Dustin Fox

Royal Caribbean notified passengers on the scheduled sailing their cruise would not occur because of the existing delay and anticipated upcoming delays with additional fog.

Royal Caribbean will provide each guest a full refund of the cruise fare as well as a future cruise certificate worth 25% of the cruise fare paid for the February 23rd sailing.

Brilliance of the Seas was scheduled to return to Tampa yesterday but heavy fog at sea prevented the ship from entering the port.  Royal Caribbean originally postponed the start of cruise to February 24 but the additional delay forced Royal Caribbean to cancel the sailing all together.

Just a day after announcing the name of the third Oasis-class cruise ship, Royal Caribbean confirmed that this brand new cruise ship will feature water slides onboard.

Royal Caribbean will add three water slides to the ship's Pool and Sports Zone.  The new slides will take guests down three decks in a series of twists and turns.

Other details surrounding Harmony of the Seas, including where it will be homeported or where it will sail to, have yet to be announced.

Harmony of the Seas is about halfway done with construction at STX France and scheduled for delivery in mid-2016.

Over the weekend, Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship floated out of its Meyer Werft shipyard and already we found a lot of really beautiful photos of this new ship and wanted to share them.

The talented photographer Jeroen Houtman sent us these great shots of Anthem of the Seas.  Enjoy!

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas was delayed returning to her homeport of Tampa, Florida today due to heavy fog.

Brilliance of the Seas was due to arrive at the Port of Tampa this morning but the ship ran into thick fog in the Gulf of Mexico, making the return to Tampa Bay unsafe.

Brilliance of the Seas is about four hours away from Tampa and surrounded by fog.

As a result of the fog, Royal Caribbean has pushed back the next cruise's embarkation by one day to tomorrow.

A Royal Caribbean issued a statement “Because of the current Coast Guard advisory, and the uncertainly of when Brilliance of the Seas will arrive to Tampa, we have decided to delay boarding for your cruise until tomorrow."

The fog not only caused a delay in the returning passengers getting off the ship but also delayed the subsequent cruise for passengers eager to begin their cruise vacation.

As a gesture of goodwill, and to thank guests for their understanding, Royal Caribbean will provide each stateroom with an onboard credit. Additional details regarding the onboard credit will be provided to guests tomorrow.

UPDATE: The February 23rd sailing has been cancelled.

After weeks of speculation, Royal Caribbean announced it will name its third Oasis-class ship Harmony of the Seas.

Drum roll please...Royal Caribbean's newest ship to be named #HarmonyoftheSeas. More details to follow soon!

— Royal Caribbean PR (@RoyalCaribPR) February 23, 2015

Rumors of the ship's name had been circulating around the internet for a while now but Royal Caribbean chose to hold back the ship's official name until now.

UPDATE: Thanks to an intrepid blog reader, we have a better look at the rendering for Harmony of the Seas, which reveals multiple water slides, which would be a first for the Oasis-class and a fairly unique addition to any Royal Caribbean ship.

Photo posted by Tomáš Malíšek

Despite the fact we now know the name, little else is known about Harmony of the Seas.  Harmony has been in the shadow of Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas but guests can expect more information to start coming out more frequently in the months leading up to her debut.

Harmony of the Seas is under construction at the STX shipyard in St. Nazaire, France and is scheduled to debut in April 2016.

Hope you had a great week (maybe one week closer to your next Royal Caribbean cruise?) and you had a chance to keep up with what's new with Royal Caribbean this week. But if not, here's a roundup of this week's news.

The big news this week was all about Anthem of the Seas' float out that took place yesterday.

After a few days delay due to poor weather, Anthem of the Seas finally made her way out of the Meyer Werft shipyard dry dock and is now one step closer to launching.

Anthem of the Seas will conduct a few last-minute changes while in the shipyard harbor before her conveyance on the River Ems in March.

Royal Caribbean News

• Speaking of Anthem of the Seas, her godmother will be a (singing) travel agent.
• Dates have emerged for Royal Caribbean's 2016-2017 deployment schedule.
• Royal Caribbean announced new shows that guests will enjoy onboard Anthem of the Seas.
• Royal Caribbean named a new Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations.
• Our tips for what you need to know before taking a solo Royal Caribbean cruise.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The eighty-first episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and we've got an exclusive interview with an Anthem of the Seas' designer.

In this episode, Matt welcomes back to the podcast 5+Design designer Tim Magill to discuss the public spaces he and his team have worked on, on Anthem of the Seas.

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

In The Loop Travel shared seven things you'll enjoy on Quantum of the Seas.

Cruise Hangout shared a video by the brains behind Two70's shows on Quantum of the Seas.

Facebook group Anthem of the Seas is the perfect spot for tons of Anthem of the Seas information.

My San Antonio calls Quantum of the Seas "a billion dollar beauty".

Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Anthem of the Seas, succesfully was floated out of Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany yesterday despite numerous weather related delays.

The float out was originally scheduled for 1:00pm local time but had to be pushed back several times.  Eventually the ship left the building dock and was towed at a slow pace to the shipyard harbor. 

While in the harbor, Anthem of the Seas will receive some last changes and tests.

The next major milestone for Anthem of the Seas will be her conveyance on the River Ems to the North Sea for sea trials.  She will then make her way to Southampton, England to begin offering cruises.

After the 2015 cruise season in Southampton, Anthem of the Seas will head to Cape Liberty, New Jersey in November 2015 to offer cruises to the Bahamas and Caribbean.