We're counting down the days until Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship debuts, Quantum of the Seas, with our 99 days of Quantum countdown.  Each day we will post something about this amazing new ship.

Virtual balconies

Cruisers love balconies on their Royal Caribbean cruise for the fantastic views but sometimes the price is just a little too high.  Royal Caribbean came up with a way to bring the balcony experience to inside staterooms for a fraction of the cost of a real balcony stateroom.

READ YESTERDAY'S POST ALL ABOUT NORTH STAR

Virtual balconies are inside staterooms with an 80-inch high definition LED screen attached to a wall that delivers views outside of the ship, just like a real balcony stateroom.

The screen stretches from floor to ceiling and will show you exactly what you would see if you had a real balcony.  Using high definition cameras, these virtual balconies give you a glimpse of what's outside.

Guests can turn the virtual balcony off at any time, especially at night when sleeping but it's available anytime they want.

There's even natual sounds that are piped into your stateroom to provide as authentic an experience as possible.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Quantum!

Royal Caribbean is investing $2 million to help prevent Norovirus gastronomic illness from infecting their cruise ships.

Royal Caribbean has extended its contract with ByoPlanet International and added $2 million to fund the company's disinfectant technology that prevents Norovirus on ships.

Royal Caribbean bought 350 additional ByoPlanet sprayers to add to the existing 10-30 sprayers they have on each cruise ship.

The disinfectant works by spraying electrically charged disinfectants that wrap around surfaces to kill mold, odors, mildew, bedbugs, algae and parasites.

Royal Caribbean has been a partner of ByoPlanet since 2010.

Royal Caribbean is counting down the days until its brand new Quantum of the Seas debuts and as of today, there are 99 days until that happens, so for the next 99 days we will be posting something every day about this amazing new ship.

North Star

Royal Caribbean has been pushing the envelope for years in terms of what a cruise ship can include and North Star is another example of "they can put that on a cruise ship?".

Northstar is an observation pod that is attached to a giant arm on top of Quantum of the Seas.  North Star will allow passengers to go up in the sky above the cruise ship 300 feet above the sea.

For the the first time ever, guests can get an amazing view around their cruise ship and take what is sure to become amazing photos of the scenery.  

Imagine the view from North Star of the port you're in and the feeling of being able to see it all from the safety of North Star.  What may have required an expensive helicopter ride before now allows for a complimentary experience that is found on no other cruise ship.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post as we celebrate 99 days of Quantum!

Royal Caribbean has 21 ships in service today along with another handful of ships on their way and each has a name that help make each ship unique.  Did you know Royal Caribbean has had other names for ships that never got used?

When Royal Caribbean builds new cruise ships these days, they register for a trademark for many possible ship names but not all names get used for reasons we may never know.  Searching through the Trademark Electronic Search System, we found a list of ship names Royal Caribbean registered that never used and it got us dreaming about the "what if's" with these names.

Endeavour of the Seas

First up is Endeavour of the Seas, whcih was registered on September 17, 2004, which was the same day they registered for Freedom of the Seas. 

In fact, Endeavour of the Seas was originally the name of the second Freedom-class ship before ultimately being named Liberty of the Seas.  Even to this day, www.endeavoroftheseas.com redirects you to Royal Caribbean's web site.

Journey of the Seas

Royal Caribbean registered the name Journey of the Seas back on February 16, 2001, which was also the same day it registered Jewel of the Seas.

Traveler of the Seas

Traveler of the Seas was also registered on February 16, 2001

The other Quantum class names

In late 2012 Royal Caribbean applied for six trademarks for new cruise ship names but ultimately only used two of them (Quantum & Anthem) so the other four names appear to be abandonded as well.

• Vantage of the Seas
• Ovation of the Seas
• Passion of the Seas
• Pulse of the Seas

Which ship name do you think Royal Caribbean should have used? Add your suggestion in the comments below!

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.

Quantum of the Seas float out was scheduled to happen yesterday but the big step had to be delayed for a few more days due to poor weather.

Quantum of the Seas will now be floated out on August 12 at 4pm local time, which is a better time for Americans to see it than it's original time slot.

If all goes well, she will begin her thruster and stabilizer tests following the float out.

Royal Caribbean News

• Preview of Voyager of the Seas' upcoming changes
• First time cruisers: taking the kids on a cruise
• Royal Caribbean is appealing to be able to trademark "Broadway at Sea"
• Learn all about Royal Caribbean's Promenade View staterooms
• Quantum Experience Advisor Dhani Jones released a new video about spinning classes

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The fifty-third episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is available, previewing a listener's Jewel of the Seas cruise.

This week Matt invited listener Kris to preview his upcoming Jewel of the Seas cruise as well as discuss what there is for kids to do on a cruise.

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 COO Adam Goldstein shared business travel advice on LinkedIn.

Motley Fool is writing about how Royal Caribbean's massive internet upgrade is about getting more Millennials to cruise.

Seatrade Insider says Royal Caribbean China chief Zinan Liu will deliver the keynote Cruise Shipping Asia-Pacific speech.

Royal Caribbean tried to trademark the name "Broadway At Sea" for its onboard musical theater that it offers but its trademark registration was denied by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

This week, Royal Caribbean filed an appeal with the TTAB.

Royal Caribbean believes that "Broadway" is traditionally used as a noun to refer to the street in New York City, whereas Royal Caribbean's name differs.

The trademark office attorney argued why Royal Caribbean's trademark request was descriptive, "Applicant is reminded that the question is not whether someone presented only with the mark could guess what the services are.  In context with the identified services offered by applicant, potential consumers will immediately understand that the term 'Broadway' refers to Broadway-style shows."

Royal Caribbean's brand new Quantum of the Seas will have to wait a few days more for its float out from its Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany.

Quantum of the Seas will now be floated out on August 12, 2014 at 4pm local time.

It had previously been scheduled to float out on August 9 but a poor weather forecast forced Meyer Werft to delay.

If all goes well, she will begin her thruster and stabilizer tests following the float out.

We love sharing Royal Caribbean photos that our readers send in because they are so much fun to look at.  We want your photos too, so send us your best Royal Caribbean photos to share with the world.

Our first photo this week is from Karen Boerner of the Centrum on Enchantment of the Seas during night.  I believe Royal Caribbean ships look exceptionally beautiful at night and this photo proves that theory!

Marie Cischigano sent in this photo of her relaxing on her balcony on Freedom of the Seas.  Great view and this is why so many people love to get balcony staterooms.

Next is this photo by Paul Wilson of Navigator of the Seas while he was in Roatan.  One of my favorite ships in Royal Caribbean fleet and taken on a beautiful island!

Frank Battiston sent us this photo from Allure of the Seas when the crew helped rescue 15 people who were stranded at sea. Well done, Royal Caribbean!

Lastly we have this photo by Matt Carrera of enjoying Antigua's local brew while on a Jewel of the Seas cruise.  It's always a plus to enjoy an adult beverage while on a beautiful island's beach.

If we didn't include your photo this week, then that means you need to send it in to us for use on a future Friday Photos post.  We want to see your favorite Royal Caribbean cruise photos and you can use this form to send them to us.

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

Episode 53 is available for downloading and this week we are reviewing the beautiful island of St. Maarten.

Matt previews a listener's upcoming southern Caribbean cruise on Jewel of the Seas as well as discusses bringing kids on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 53. 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!

Quantum Sports and Fitness Advisor Dhani Jones experiences an action-packed FlyWheel class on his quest to deliver new activities and fitness for Royal Caribbean's newest ship, Quantum of the Seas.