Royal Caribbean wins Best Entertainment award for third year in a row

In:
17 Oct 2013

Royal Caribbean came away a winner yet again after the winners were announced for the Cruise Critic 2013 Editors' Picks Awards.

For the third year in a row, Royal Caribbean won the Best Entertainment award for its impressive entertainment options across its entire fleet – including Broadway performances like "Hairspray" and "Chicago," ice skating productions and aerial shows.

Cruise Critic described the reason Royal Caribbean won as follows, "Entertainment on Royal Caribbean's ships doesn't stop with the theater. The line smartly uses every inch of public space to pack in music, shows, comedy and Broadway productions. While its large ships get the headlines for high-diving and ice-skating productions, passengers on its smaller ships will love entertainment options such as atrium aerial shows and piano bar sing-alongs."

Royal Caribbean CEO "frustrated" by United States government shutdown

In:
16 Oct 2013

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein appeared on CNBC and discussed his disappointment with the United States' government shutdown and its impact on Royal Caribbean's business.

Goldstein commented on how the government shutdown has affected Royal Caribbean, "We are receiving most of the services that we need, particularly from the United States Coast Guard and Customs & Border Protection. But as you mentioned, when it comes to bringing our customers to national parks such as Acadia up in Maine, we are not able to do that and it's very frustrating for us and for our guests."

When asked if it was financially better for Royal Caribbean to keep guests onboard their ships or allow them to go on excursions, Goldstein responded, "It's not a money making proposition to disappoint your customers. They bought these vacations a long time ago with high expectations. They want to see these national parks.  We're not going to improve our situation by being a part of their frustration."

Royal Caribbean warns Baltimore port strike could affect Grandeur of the Seas cruise

In:
16 Oct 2013

Royal Caribbean issued a warning today for guests on the October 17 Grandeur of the Seas cruise out of Baltimore, Maryland that their luggage service may be affected.

The longshoremen’s union at the Port of Baltimore is currently on strike. If the strike continues tomorrow, there will be a delay in moving guests’ luggage on and off the ship. 

As a result, Royal Caribbean is asking guests guests scheduled to sail on Grandeur of the Seas on October 17, not arrive at the port before 1:00 p.m. Check in for this sailing will take place between 1:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

The sailing’s departure time will be delayed until 7:00 p.m. to accommodate this event, but it will not impact the scheduled itinerary. 

Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast Episode 11: First Royal Caribbean Cruise Experiences

In:
16 Oct 2013

The latest Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast episode is now available for your listening pleasure.

Episode 11 is now available for downloading and it's chock full of our listener's stories.

In this episode, we are sharing our first Royal Caribbean cruise experiences.  Matt shares his first cruise experience aboard Royal Caribbean and describes why he booked the cruise and what kept him coming back (and back and back).  We also have first Royal Caribbean cruise stories from our readers to share and how they fell in love with cruising with Royal Caribbean.

We also have a lot of listener feedback to share, mostly from last week's unlimited alcohol package episode, so we're sharing everyone's opinions on the packages as well as answering some questions.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 11. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS 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!

Legend of the Seas arrives in Souda, Greece for first time

In:
16 Oct 2013

Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas sailed into the port of Souda, which is on the island of Crete and marks the first time Legend of the Seas visited the port.  

During the time she was docked in Souda, the Mayor of Chania, Manolis Skoulaki and the ship's Captain met to exchange souvenirs onboard.  The small ceremony commemorated Legend's arrival to the port and is a common practice among first time visits for cruise ship.s

The meeting was also attended by the President of the Port Authority of Chania, Costas Brokalakis and the shipping agent, Nicholas Tsagkarakis.

Royal Caribbean in talks with Curacao government to add new mega cruise ship pier

In:
16 Oct 2013

The Caribbean island of Curacao's Minister of Economic Development met with different organizations about adding a second mega pier for cruise ships as well as a cruise terminal in Caracasbaai. 

The Curacao Chronicle reports Royal Caribbean has shown "great interest" in the island.  Royal Caribbean President of Commercial Development, John Tercek, indicated to Minister Stanley Palm that his company is interested in the second mega pier in that area.

Tercek agreed with the Minister that further discussions were needed regarding Caracasbaai so that other aspects of the project can be researched further, including nature and the environment.  Tercek also said that the Caracasbaai project does not preclude current plans on a second mega pier. The aim is to offer the city center as part of a tour which leaves from Caracasbaai.

Restaurant Review: Seaview Cafe

In:
14 Oct 2013

Few restaurants on Royal Caribbean ships enjoy the cult status that the Seaview Cafe does and rightfully so.  It has become a beloved complimentary restaurant to dine at, building its reputation on really good freshly made food.  And while many Seaview Cafes have been removed to make way for new restaurants, we had a chance to check out Seaview on Jewel of the Seas and get a sense of why everyone raves about this place.

Atmosphere

The Seaview Cafe is kind of like your local neighborhood deli that offers a simple, yet tasty menu.  The theme here is basic cafetria style restaurant.  The restaurant overlooks the ocean (hence its name) and features full length windows along most of the indoor eating spaces.  The outdoor tables are close to the railing and give an even closer look at the sea.

The seating area reminds me of the sort of tables and chairs you might find near a pool.  Light color wood and hard plastic that is less formal than the Windjammer seating but nicer than the tables and chairs found near the Jewel of the Seas pool.  Call it casual yet practical.

There's a fair amount of seating available in the Seaview Cafe, but not a ton. During busy times of the day (like lunch on a sea day), it will fill up quite quickly.  Since there's just one person to take orders, a line out the door is common but it usually moves quickly if everyone knows what they want to order.

Seaview Cafe does retain a bit of that nostalgic nautical motif that is found in the Windjammer and elsewhere on Jewel of the Seas, but it's far less pronounced.  It kind of looks like the casual eatery cousin of the Schooner Bar.

Eats

When you enter the Seaview Cafe, you walk up to a staff member who takes your order on the spot.  The menu is printed in a few places and offers sandwiches, soups, snacks and that's about it. It sounds simple, and it is but the simplicity is the restaurant's strength.

Once you order, the staff member gives you a number to place on your table and you find a table on your own and then wait for your food.  There is self-service drinks available (water) or you can alternatively order beer, wine or soda from the drink bar.  

Food is cooked on a first-come, first served basis and will be brought to your table by the staff.  They try to bring the appetizers, soups and salads out first although depending on how busy the kitchen is, it may all come out at once.

Coming into Seaview Cafe, I knew lots of people raved about this place and once I actually started eating, I knew why.  The food is cooked fresh and to order and you can taste it.  Unlike the Windjammer that cooks dozens of burgers at once and then leaves them under heat lamps, here your food is made on the spot.  Of course, the downside of this custom cooking is the time to actually get the food may take a while.

Over the course of our seven night cruise, we ate at Seaview Cafe perhaps a half dozen times and tried a number of different items on the menu and quite frankly, everything we had was really tasty.  My favorite was the Reuben sandwich, which was among the best Reuben sandwiches I've ever had.  

Other favorites were the fish and chips, hot dog and onion rings.  Again, the freshness of the food made a difference and compared to what we found in the Windjammer, we could taste the difference.  I think most of the food came out tasting like one might use as a reference for what other people making the dish should use as an example.  

There are a few items that change each day on the menu, such as the soup and some dessert options.  It's worth asking when you order what specials are available.

Overall

The Seaview Cafe offers passengers really tasty, comfort food for free.  Granted it may take a while for the food to come out depending on how busy it is, but then again that free price tag is what sells it for me.

Sadly the Seaview Cafe is a dying breed and while it's unique to Radiance Class ships, Royal Caribbean is planning on getting rid of the Seaview Cafes from all ships once the fleet-wide renovations are complete.  While the replacement specialty restaurants may offer different and arguably better tasting options potentially, the fact is passengers will lose a quality complimentary dining location in lieu of somewhere that costs extra.

Nonetheless, if you get a chance to eat at the Seaview Cafe before they close the last one, I recommend indulging here as often as possible.  On our cruise, our group often had "second dinner" late at night because the food was just so darn good.  Also going late at night is a good time because it gets the most crowded in the early evening hours.

Report: Royal Caribbean will drop Samana, Dominican Republic from itineraries next year

In:
14 Oct 2013

According to Samana’s Taxi Drivers Association, Royal Caribbean will drop cruise ship stops at the port of Samana in the Dominican Republic next cruise season.  Royal Caribbean follows Norwegian Cruise Lines in their decision to stop visiting the port.

Royal Caribbean had scheduled cruise ship stops at Samana for its brand new Quantum of the Seas but quietly altered those itineraries to drop stops there.

Taxi Drivers Association president Dionisio Smith, quoted by hoy.com.do, said union members and other organizations of the province will hold a march on Wednesday adn 9am to demand the Dominican government's action for resolve the problems that pushed cruise ships away.

The announcement of Royal Caribbean pulling out worries service providers that rely on cruise passengers, which provides an estiamted RD$1.0 million to the local economy for each ship that docks.

Royal Caribbean names Stuart Leven managing director of UK & Ireland

In:
14 Oct 2013

Royal Caribbean has named Stuart Leven the new United Kingdom and Ireland managing director.

Prior to being hired by Royal Caribbean, Leven worked in the travel industry including InterContinental Hotel Group, Thistle and Guoman Hotels, Choice Hotels Europe and KLM. He has been working in a management consultancy for the past five years.

Leven will work in the newly created role that came about earlier this summer when Royal Caribbean decided to split up its Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises operations into seperate entities.

In addition to Leven's hiring, Dominic Paul will take on an expanded role as vice president and will report directly to Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein.  Paul had been in charge of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  He will now also be in charge of Latin America, Asia Pacific and the Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean Post Round-Up: October 13, 2013

In:
13 Oct 2013

The big news this week was once again about Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Quantum of the Seas.  We learned that former NFL star and TV show host Dhani Jones will be the second member of the Quantum Experience Advisors.

Jones will be the Sports and Fitness celebrity expert advisor for Quantum of the Seas and is responsible for coming up with new exciting activities for cruise ship guests.

Jones has taken a look at the existing Royal Caribbean programming for guests as well as the signature Royal Caribbean offerings. He has come up with some new ideas for the Quantum-class ships and been lending his expertise on the latest active trends and providing fresh ideas for SeaPlex.

What else was in the news this week? Read on…

Royal Caribbean News

Royal Caribbean Podcast

Bottoms up!  The tenth episode of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is available and we're discussing everything related to the unlimited alcohol packages.

In this episode, Matt explores the different unlimited alcohol packages Royal Caribbean offers to its guests and describes what each package includes, how much you have to drink to get your moneys worth out of it and answer the always difficult question of are the unlimited alcohol packages worth it.

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

Kuki has a blog post recommending being realistic about your cruise budget.

Cruise Critic wants to know who would be your dream Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas celebrity advisor.

Arthur Frommer thinks bumper cars and ice skating rinks dont belong on cruise ships.

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