Technology and show stopping performances make Royal Caribbean's Starwater a must-see experience in Two70 on Quantum of the Seas. Get a sneak peek of a Royal Caribbean must-see show.

Royal Caribbean has selected ElevenOS as the guest Internet management platform for all the ships in the fleet.  ElevenOS' parent company Eleven has completed deployment of ElevenOS on all 22 ships at the end of 2014.

ElevenOS is used to manage all aspects of the onboard Internet service including custom branded portal pages, guest authentication, billing, and advanced reporting. With the help of ElevenOS, Royal Caribbean is able to deliver a faster, more reliable onboard connection and seamless online guest experience that works across multiple guest devices (phones, tablets, etc.)

ElevenOS also enables Royal Caribbean to offer tiered bandwidth options, so users can choose the level of service that meets their needs and budget.

"ElevenOS provides us the power and flexibility that we need in order to revolutionize Internet communications at sea for Royal Caribbean International guests,” commented Bill Martin, vice president and CIO for Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "Only in the last year can cruise vacationers enjoy the fiber-like Internet connectivity that can only be found aboard select Royal Caribbean International ships, as well as more than 10 times faster speed than the industry across the fleet. ElevenOS helps us effectively manage a range of products, pricing, accounting, and reporting, which has helped us deliver a seamless and stress-free Internet communications solution for our guests on vacation.”

Whether you're new to Royal Caribbean or been on a few cruises, there's a lot of considerations as to when to research, plan and book your cruise vacation.  It can be complicated and moreover, you want to ensure you aren't missing something important.

Thanks to the members of Royal Caribbean Blog, we've compiled an optimal timeline of what you should do, when to ensure you're ahead of the game in all respects.

This timeline is a suggestion and it is not to say that not following it in its entirety will lead to be a bad cruise experience.  Rather, this should be a guideline for your planning to assist, not dictate the cruise planning.

24-12 months before your cruise 

• Start looking at cruise itineraries to pick the right one for you.
• Check RoyalCaribbean.com for available sailing dates and cruise options.  Depending on when you're looking, deployment schedules may limit how far in advance you can actually book.  
• Be sure to also look at deck plans for which staterooms have most space (i.e. hump staterooms). Also consider using cruisedeckplans.com to be able to drag the decks above and below your stateroom to ensure your room isn't going to have noise bleed.
• Put a deposit down on the sailing you want and to reserve the stateroom you want.  You can change or cancel the cruise without penalty for several months while you continue researching.
• Research if trip insurance for your cruise makes sense, perhaps due to hurricane season or if there are health risks involved.  Royal Caribbean offers insurance as well as third party suppliers, which are often cheaper.
• Look at excursions after placing your deposit.  When excursions become available varies widely but it's best to start looking at what Royal Caribbean is offer as early as possible.

90 days before cruise 

• Final payment due for all holiday cruises (Christmas or New Years Day). Look for your passport or birth certificate & make sure they 1) can be found 2) are up to date.
• Online check-in becomes available
• Start researching third party shore excursion options.  
• Check your passports.  If you need to replace a lost birth certificate, apply for a new passport, or renew one that is about to expire, start the paperwork now.

75 days before your cruise

• Final payment due for 7-night or longer cruises. Look for your passport or birth certificate & make sure they 1) can be found 2) are up to date.

74 - 65 days before your cruise 

• For those on 7-night or longer cruises, check again for available staterooms, dining, entertainment or shore excursions that may have become available due to other guests not making final payment.

60 days before your cruise 

• Final payment due for 3, 4 or 5-night cruises. Look for your passport or birth certificate & make sure they 1) can be found 2) are up to date.
• Around this time dining and entertainment reservations will become available on royalcaribbean.com

59 - 50 days before your cruise  

• For those on 5-night or shorter cruises, check again for available staterooms, dining, entertainment or shore excursions that may have become available due to other guests not making final payment.

49 days before cruise 

• E-docs and luggage tags are available to download and print.

4 days before your cruise

• Last chance to complete online check-in at royalcaribbean.com. You must complete and print out your SetSail Pass by now.

3 days before your cruise

• Last chance to reserve shore excursions, specialty restaurants, spa or salon services using Cruise Planner. 

72 - 24 hours before your cruise 

• Check into your airline online
• Do one last check of weather expected for your cruise.

2 days before your cruise 

• Last chance to purchase Gifts and Gear from Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean's steakhouse specialty restaurant, Chops Grille, price has gone up to $39 per adult on certain ships.

The price increase appears to have been made on Oasis of the Seas, although an upcoming Quantum of the Seas cruise still lists the $35 cover charge.  It's possible the $39 price will eventually make its way around the fleet at some point later.

Previously Royal Caribbean was charging $35 per person to dine at their most popular specialty restaurant. The roughly 11 percent increase is a new change for guests wishing to dine at the restaurant.

Royal Caribbean recently revamped Chops Grille's menu by adding dry-aged steaks as an option to the menu that carries with it an additional charge. The dry-aged steaks cost between $18-19 and the roasted maine lobster has an additional $21 charge.

READ OUR REVIEW OF THE NEW CHOPS GRILLE MENU

In the past, Royal Caribbean has honored the old price if guests have reserved Chops Grille and paid the old $35 per person price.

What do you think of the new price for Chops Grille? Do you think it's still a good value?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Hollywood, California architecture firm 5+design designed four venues on Royal Caribbean's brand new Anthem of the Seas.

The firm did similar work on sister-ship Quantum of the Seas and this time around, 5+design was responsible for the look and feel of Two70, Two70 Café, The Library, Royal Esplanade and Via and Spice venues.

When working on Anthem of the Seas, 5+design worked to leverage the ship's high-tech base with the design impetus they had in mind. To this point, 5+design equipped the venues to deploy unique programing and technology, allowing the ship to achieve its key innovative concept of transformational spaces.

“These ships were designed to represent a quantum leap forward in technology, sustainability, and passenger experience,” said 5+design Principal Tim Magill. “Royal Esplanade shopping arcade transforms into a parade and performance venue with the deployment of hidden theatrical lighting, actors flying through the space on concealed ceiling tracks and merchandise displays transforming into to elevated stages. However the best example of transformational space can be found in the multi-level great room called Two70.”

Anthem of the Seas is scheduled to debut in Southampton (London), England on April 22, 2015. Following its maiden season in Europe, the ship will homeport in Cape Liberty (Bayonne), New Jersey and cruise the Bahamas/the Caribbean throughout the winter of 2015-16.

Sit back and catch up on this week's Royal Caribbean news.  We've gone through and hand-picked some fun articles for you to take a look at in case you missed any of it.

Earlier this week we confirmed a strong rumor that had surfaced that Anthem of the Seas will offer a new dining option in addition to Dynamic Dining.

Dubbed "Dynamic Dining Classic", this new option for passengers will allow them to rotate among the complimentary restaurants each evening of their cruise while retaining the same waiters and tablemates each evening.  

This is a response to Royal Caribbean fans that prefer a more traditional dining experience and will be available for pre-booking in early March.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean began construction on the fourth Oasis-class cruise ship.
• A norovirus outbreak on Grandeur of the Seas forced the ship home a day early.
• We shared the secret behind some art on Oasis of the Seas.
• Royal Caribbean is offering free unlimited alcohol packages to UK residents.
• Royal Caribbean announced a dividend for shareholders.
• A quick tip to increase the chances you will get a stateroom upgrade on your next Royal Caribbean cruise.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The seventy-ninth episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available and we've got an in-depth review of the changes Royal Caribbean has made to Freedom of the Seas.

After a 24-day dry dock refurbishment, Freedom of the Seas has new public spaces, restaurants, staterooms and more to explore and I've invited Beci Mahnken to help us learn all about what's new and different onboard this popular cruise ship.

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 Interet

Cruise Radio posted a detailed audio review of Quantum of the Seas with friend of the blog Don Bucolo.

A Great Europe Trip Planner shared a review of a recent visit to Royal Caribbean's private island of Labadee.

MEI Travel shared why you should use a travel agent when you book a cruise (or anything else).

Mouse Fan Cafe shared their experience making cupcakes on Freedom of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean's Board of Directors announced on Friday that it will offer its shareholders a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share payable on March 4, 2015, to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 18, 2015.

This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 52 week low of $49.65 and a 52 week high of $85.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $81.34 and a 200-day moving average of $69.80.

It's pretty cold out there in many places but we've got some Royal Caribbean photos our readers have sent in to warm you up.  In fact, each week we ask our readers to send us their best Royal Caribbean photos to showcase right here on the blog so be sure to send yours in too!

Let's see what we have this week.

First up this week is a photo of Mariner of the Seas in the background while Lily Lee was at Pataong Beach in Phuket, Thailand.  I love the contrast of boats in this photo!

Next we have the revitalized Voyager of the Seas from her Singapore to Sydney cruise by Ross and Pam.  That sounds like a great repositioning cruise!

Check out this action shot of the RipCord on Quantum of the Seas by John McCormack.  I can't wait to try this out for myself!

Here we have a photo by blog contributor Michael Poole of the view Enchantment of the Seas offers as she pulls into Nassau.  Looks like another beautiful day in the Bahamas!

Here's a shot of Brilliance of the Seas docked in Tampa by Don Donahue.  Tampa is an underrated port to take a Royal Caribbean cruise from and Brilliance is a wonderful ship!

Ken Slusser knows the way to my heart with this photo of sunset aboard Independence of the Seas.  Can't get enough sunset photos!

Do you have fun Royal Caribbean photos to share?  Send us your favorite photos and we will feature them on an upcoming blog post!

If you take a cruise on Oasis of the Seas, you may notice among the many pieces of art around the ship a "crew" cleaning up some graffiti that has the word "Genesis" written on the wall.  Royal Caribbean fans may recognize this piece of art as a rather large in joke to appreciate.

You'll find this display on the Royal Promenade and the word Genesis was the original project name of the Oasis-class before the Oasis name was selected.  It's common in the cruise industry to begin working on a new class of ships under a project name and then announce a formal name later on.

In the case of the Oasis-class, it was known as Project Genesis.

The art we see here is Royal Caribbean crew members covering up the word Genesis as if it were written down before the ship was built but since has to be erased since we all know the ship class is called Oasis.  It's a clever nod to the ship's history in plain sight.

Based on some updates to Royal Caribbean's web site, it looks like guests can look forward to some exciting new changes to Allure of the Seas when she goes in for her scheduled drydock refurbishment later this year.

Among the changes coming to the ship, the Broadway musical Chicago will be replaced by Mamma Mia, the Broadway musical based on the music of ABBA.    Mamma Mia is also being shown on Quantum of the Seas currently but there's speculation the show will be removed from Quantum of the Seas when she goes to Asia.

In addition, the hit Mexican restaurant Sabor Taqueria & Tequila Bar will be added to Allure of the Seas as part of her preperations for Dynamic Dining.  A similar addition was made last year to sister ship Oasis of the Seas.

These and other changes are expected when Allure of the Seas goes in to drydock in April/May 2015.