Royal Caribbean is adding a brand new float to the 87th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade next week and we've got a sneak peek of what the float will look like.

Photo copyright NorthJersey.com

The new float is called, "A World at Sea from Royal Caribbean" and is meant to be 3-D postcards from a cruise, the revolving scene changes from rock climbing to surfing to flying through the sky on a zip line.

Photo copyright Royal Caribbean International

Quantum of the Seas godmother Kristin Chenoweth will be on the float for the parade.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade will be televised at 9:00am eastern time on November 28.  Check local listings for channel.

Wednesday means it's podcast day and we have a brand new Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast to share with everyone!

Episode 16 is now available for downloading and we're previewing the brand new Quantum of the Seas cruise ship this week.

In this episode, Matt shares everything we know about Quantum of the Seas as well as look into some rumors about the new ship. There's a lot of exciting new features onboard and it's an opportunity to discuss what makes this brand new class of ships so exciting.

We are also answering more listener emails this week all about Royal Caribbean cruising.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 16. 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!

Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship that is under construction, Quantum of the Seas, has plans to go to Bermuda in 2015 but simulations looking at if the new mega-ship can dock there have raised some questions.

The Bermuda Sun reports simulation tests to determine whether Quantum of the Seas will be able negotiate Bermuda’s channels have been undertaken in Baltimore.

Modifications may have to be made to the North Channel in order to accommodate Quantum of the Seas, which has a bigger draft than the next largest ship to dock in Bermuda, the Norwegian Breakaway.

Officials in the Bermuda government have indicated to the Bermuda Sun that despite Royal Caribbean's published plans to send the new ship to Bermuda, a final decision had not been made yet to approve the itinerary.

A spokesman for the Bermuda Ministry of Transport and Tourism told the Bermuda Sun: “A decision on the Quantum of the Seas sailing to Bermuda for the 2015 season has not yet been made.

“However, the Bermuda Government continues to work very closely with Royal Caribbean International principals and technical officers and a decision will be made in due course.

“The Quantum of the Seas vessel simulation exercise was completed by the Department of Marine & Ports Senior Branch Pilots on November 13 and 14 at the MITAG facility located in Baltimore.

“The information and data obtained from simulation exercises will assist in determining if modifications are required to our channels to ensure safe transit of the vessel. Once the report is presented a decision will be made based on the channel modification requirements and the associated timelines to complete.”

Anthem of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's second Quantum-class cruise ship that is under construction, had her keel-laying ceremony today in Meyer Werft shipyard.

The first block for Anthem of the Seas put in place and marks the official start of construction of Anthem of the Seas.

Anthem of the Seas will be ready for service sometime in Spring 2015.

The Song of Norway, Royal Caribbean's first ever cruise ship, has been sold for scrap metal according to a report by Maritime Matters.

Song of Norway was retired from Royal Caribbean's fleet in 1996 when she was sold to AirTours but prior to that, she was the pride of Royal Caribbean's young fleet.  She was built in 1970 and revolutionized cruising, becoming one of the first ships to be widened.

The ship's owner, ISP, was using the ship for private charters in recent years bit was sold to the scrap yard, which will result in the ship being broken up in China sometime in 2014.

It's a sad day to see part of Royal Caribbean's history go.

Royal Caribbean announced today it is partnering with NetDimensions Interactive to create online, self-paced learning modules for its new shipboard property management software.

This new software will eventually be rolled out to all of the cruise ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet, along with sister brands Celebrity Cruisse Line and Azamara Club Cruises. The first ship crew will access their software simulation training this December for a January ship launch, with staggered rollouts on additional ships in February and March 2014.

The online training for the new property management software will support an enterprise-wide initiative that will streamline existing guest and crew handling processes, and help automate the loading of guest reservation information to the fleet in a more real-time manner. Uniform, online employee training on the software will enable Royal Caribbean operations to provide a higher level of customer service, improve business results, standardize the fleet, and simplify the operational environment.

Royal Caribbean has decided to send Rhapsody of the Seas to Istanbul instead of Alaska in 2015 and subsequently cancelled two sailings in April and May 2015 due to the change.

Cruise Passenger reports the two cancelled cruises are the Sydney to Honolulu 16-night cruise departing on April 17, 2015 and the the Honolulu to Vancouver 13-night cruise departing May 2, 2015.

Royal Caribbean it is contacting guests that were booked on these cruises and offering them a full refund or the option to move to an alternative cruise, including the Trans-Pacific cruises on Radiance of the Seas.

Instead of these cancelled cruises, Rhapsody of the Seas will offer a 16-night Sydney to Singapore sailing departing April 17, 2015 followed by a 14-night Singapore to Dubai cruise departing May 3, 2015. Lastly, there will be a 15-night Dubai to Istanbul cruise departing May 17, 2015.

If you ask me, there's no such thing as a bad video when it comes to Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.  It's quite photogenic but I found the best video I've ever seen of this magnificent ship with these great aerial video taken by Dronefly while Allure of the Seas was docked in what appears to be St. Thomas at dusk.  Amazing!

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas made her inaugural cruise from Tampa, Florida on Saturday and is the ninth ship in the fleet to call Tampa home.

Brilliance of the Seas took her 2,100 passengers on a Western Caribbean cruise itinerary that will visit Key West, Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Roatan, Honduras.

When Brilliance of the Seas returns to Tampa next week, it will begin a series of four- and five-day cruises with ports of call in Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico.

Brilliance of the Seas will offer cruises from Tampa through May 1.

The Tampa Tribune reports to celebrate her first cruise, the Tampa Port Authority arranged a tour of the 12-story Radiance-class ship for authority board members and news reporters.

Royal Caribbean plans to deploy a second ship in Tampa for Caribbean cruises next year.

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 is the changes to the unlimited alcohol packages that Royal Caribbean rolled out on Friday.  Royal Caribbean added a few new plans and then changed its existing plans.

After being rumored for a few days, Royal Caribbean rolled the new beverage plans out, starting with a new non-alcohol plan as well as an ultimate alcohol package that promises to include, "virtually unlimited options".

Royal Caribbean also added to the existing Select and Premium unlimited alcohol packages the Coca-Cola Freestyle cups and a discount on the onboard wine packages without any price increase.

Royal Caribbean News

• The other big news this week is that Allure of the Seas will be getting a one week refurbishment in February 2014 to address propulsion issues, at the expense of having to cancel one sailing.
• There's a new Quantum of the Seas progress photo to view.
• We had an exclusive interview with a Royal Caribbean designer how new cruise ships are designed and built.
• Royal Caribbean also changed this week the way they handle complimentry stateroom upgrades.
• Royal Caribbean is going to test a new Wi-Fi system that they hope will increase internet speeds for guests at sea.
• There's a new Quantum of the Seas video showing how they are using virtual reality to design the ship.
• Royal Caribbean is also planning to make a big announcement on November 21 and we're pretty sure it will be Anthem of the Seas will be sailing out of Southampton, England.
• Royal Caribbean pledged $1 million to the victims of the Phillippines typhoon Haiyan.

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast

The fifteenth episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is available and we're discussing a core question of why to cruise with Royal Caribbean.

This week, Matt looks at what he finds appealing about Royal Caribbean and what seperates Royal Caribbean from its competitors.  Rather than compare Royal Caribbean directly to other cruise lines, Matt focused on what Royal Caribbean does really well.

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 Critic has a list of the five coolest things on Vision of the Seas.

BeyondShips has a photo tour of Brilliance of the Seas' refurbishment.