Last week we looked how to book excursions through Royal Caribbean but today we're going to explore why and how to book an excursion through a third-party service.  For many cruisers, taking in a shore excursion with a company that isn't officially sponsored by Royal Caribbean can be daunting and even frightening but we're here to show you that does not have to be the case.

Why book an excursion through a third party?

First and foremost, booking your excursions on your own can save you money.  Most of the time, the same excursions Royal Caribbean offers can be found through other parties for significantly less money.  Since everyone is always looking to make their vacation dollars go further, this is an obvious benefit.

In addition, booking excursions on your own can offer you more than what Royal Caribbean does.  Your imagination is your limitation here and you can go through a tour guide or create your own excursion through tools and resources in planning it all.  Moreover, guided tours that are booked through a third party can sometimes be less crowded than Royal Caribbean tours (although this is not a guarantee).

How do I find third-party excursions?

While booking excursions through Royal Caribbean is simple enough, booking excursions on your own will take a little more effort to get done.  The internet has blossomed into a wealth of information for finding good excursion options.  

The first place to start are web sites that list well known and used excursion options.  Our two favorites are Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic's message boards.  Trip Advisor allows you to go to each port of call you are visiting and see what attractions, businesses and tour operators are listed along with detailed reviews.  For finding good beaches or museums and other things to do, Trip Advisor has a lot of information supplied by users to help you decide what is worth doing.

Cruise Critic has a section of its message board dedicated to ports of call around the world where you can see threads and posts about things to do at each port as well as reviews of tour operators.  In some cases, the tour operators themselves post on the boards.  For more personalized help in figuring out what is good for you, Cruise Critic is the best choice.

Last, but not least, is Google.  Simply search for the port of call you are visiting along with keywords such as, "tours" or "excursions" can generate some good leads as to what is available.  It's a good thought to cross reference what you find in your Google searches with Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic to ensure the claims are as good as they say.

How do I book third-party excursions?

Usually third party excursions are booked in one of two manners.  The first is reserving your spot online through a reservation form.  The second is emailing or calling the person responsible for the excursion and reserving your spot.

Where Royal Caribbean requires payment of your excursion up front, quite often payment for your third party excursions is not due until you actually take the excursion.  Regardless of how you reserve the excursion, make sure any payment you make in advance is through a credit card so you can fight it if the excursion operator does not show up.  The excursion operator will let you know about payment options but most excursions we book on our own require payment when you arrive and it's usually in cash.

Can I cancel my excursions?

Take a look at any fine print about the excursions you book, but most excursions will automatically cancel your reservation if your cruise ship cannot dock at the port.  Otherwise, it's up to the operator as to what the excursion policy is.  

Many of the best third party tours are family run businesses that aren't sophisticated enough operations to have formal cancelation policies.  So while you could simply not show up as a way of canceling, a courteous email or phone call is the right thing to do to let them know your plans have changed.

Concerns of using third-party excursions

By far the biggest downside to booking an excursion on your own is the cruise ship will leave if you are running late and do not make it back to the ship in time.  That being said, these tour operators know this fact very well and word of mouth and other online reviews are the lifeblood of their businesses.  So it's in their interest to get you back to the ship on time so that you will not be disappointed and not post a negative review on every site you can get your hands on.

The cruise line may also cite safety concerns but in our experience, the safety of excursions is no worse or better by booking with or without Royal Caribbean.  Do your research and make sure there are enough positive reviews to feel confident you are going with a reputable operation.

More than likely if you've been on a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Caribbean you have run across an alcoholic drink that is famous among Royal Caribbean fans called the Labadoozie. Labadoozie's have reached cult-like status for being a large, fruity alcohol drink that is just perfect to have while on a beach. 

So what is a labadoozie?  Basically, it's a frozen drink that mixes a lot of citrus juice, such as orange and pineapple, with a lot of rum.  Ice plus juice plus rum equals the perfect cold drink for a beach day at Labadee, Royal Caribbean's private island.  Not only is the drink tasty, it's also large.  Royal Caribbean staff will walk around Labadee for most of the day selling this iconic drink in plastic souvenir sports bottles.  

By the middle of the afternoon, you will see tons of labadoozie cups everywhere with many passengers opting to indulge with this drink for a way to forget their problems at home.  It's one of those drinks that seems to satisfy all kinds of drinkers.

While the labadooze is famous for its generous serving of rum, you can order the drinks virgin (with no alcohol) so that younger people in your party can have them or if someone just would prefer not to have any booze.

Because Labadoozies are so well known across the fleet and because of their popularity, the good news is you can usually order a labadoozie on your cruise ship even if you aren't in labadee.  It wont be in the sports drink cup, but it can hit the spot for the days at sea you wish you were still at Labadee for.

Labadoozie recipe

The two most common questions about labadoozies are what's in it and how do I make it at home?  Fret no more, we have answers to both.

• 1/2 oz Orange Juice Concentrate
• 1/2 oz Pineapple Juice Concentrate
• 1/2 oz Papaya Juice Concentrate
• 1/2 oz Coconut Cream
• 3/4 oz Dark Rum
• 3/4 oz Coconut Rum
• 1/4 oz Grenadine
• Crushed ice
  (Makes one cocktail)

Special Needs Group has announced it is adding all accessible ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet to its Web portal/accessibility content resource.  Included in the index is Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Quantum of the Seas, which launches in November 2014.

The Special Needs Group portal offers detailed cruise ship accessibility features and provides helpful information including:

• Number of accessible staterooms
• Accessible stateroom features
• Food & Beverage venues accessibility
• Recreational facilities accessibility
• And more

The Royal Caribbean accessibility information launches today with sister brands Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises later this month.

For Quantum of the Seas, the portal lists 34 accessible staterooms, which have have wider doors, roll-in showers, grab bars and turning spaces.  The ship also features braille/tactile public room signage, amplified phones, lowered counters at select locations and more.

SNG President and CEO Andrew Garnett said, "By continuing to add ships/cruise lines to our accessibility content resource, we're reinforcing our corporate responsibility to help educate travel professionals, as well as the traveling public, that individuals with special needs have the ability to travel now more than ever before. The content that we create and provide is mainly informational as opposed to commercially-driven, allowing individuals with special needs to choose the most appropriate ship/cruise for them."

Royal Caribbean kicked off a new cruise sale today, called the Holiday Cruise Sale, where guests can get up to $200 in onboard credit for sailings between December 18 - 31, 2013.

The sale begins today and is applicable on sailings of five nights or longer on any of its cruise ships.  The deal says if you book an inside or ocean view cabin during these dates, you will receive $100 in onboard credit.  If you book a balcony cabin or a suite, you will get $200 per cabin in onboard credit.

This new sale is applicable for all new individual bookings from customers in North and South America, and is not combinable with Crown & Anchor discounts, Royal Caribbean shareholder benefits and other promotional offers.

The sale ends on July 31.

Royal Caribbean has promoted Tracy Quan from director of brand communications to associate vp, global corporate communications.  She will report to Rob Zeiger, vp, global chief communications officer for Royal Caribbean.

Quan, who will be with Royal Caribbean for eight years in December, was recently involved in the launch of the Oasis-class cruise ships.

She was also selected as one of the 'Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing' in 2010 by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International.  She also accepted a Platinum HSMAI award for the collaborative work with public relations agency Weber Shandwick in 2009 for Oasis of the Seas' introduction.

Quan also worked on the Freedom class ship launch but the Oasis-class ship launch was a real game changer for the cruise industry, "'Allure's publicity launch was more successful than Oasis in spite of the fact it was the second ship."

Royal Caribbean's corporate communications department now aims to build a stronger global public relations team using resources from North America. In the past, each country or regional manager drove the PR functions.

Happy weekend Royal Caribbean fans!  The big news this week surrounded the return of Grandeur of the Seas to service after more than a month of canceled cruises to repair fire damage to the aft of the ship.  

While a few parts of the ship are still being repaired, most of the ship is good to go. Check out our photo update from onboard Grandeur of the Seas and see how this great ship looks like.

Royal Caribbean News

• The third Oasis-class cruise ship Royal Caribbean has on order has secured financing.
• Wondering how to book an excursion through Royal Caribbean? We share the basic steps on when and how to book your adventures off the ship.
• Word on the street is that Quantum of the Seas will make stops in Bermuda in 2015.
• Speaking of Quantum of the Seas, it looks like the shipyard where she's being built is getting ready to lay the keel.
• Have questions about Royal Caribbean's unlimited alcohol package? Here are answers to all the questions we could think of!
• Want to work for Royal Caribbean and live in Brazil? Royal Caribbean is hiring!

Join us for the first ever Royal Caribbean Blog Cruise!

We're so excited to announce the first ever group cruise for readers and staff of RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com aboard Quantum of the Seas!  This is an exclusive group where we are inviting you, our readers, to join us on one of the first Quantum of the Seas sailings on an 8-night cruise to the Caribbean.

This Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise is all about enjoying this brand new ship with other fans who are big fans of Royal Caribbean.  Don't miss this opportunity to check out the brand new cruise ship as well as be a part of exclusive events for those that book with our group!

For more details on booking the cruise, the itinerary and prices, check out the Royal Caribbean Blog group cruise page and if you have any questions, email me!

Royal Caribbean Around the Internet

USA Today reports we still don't know what started the fire on Grandeur of the Seas.

Cruise Critic is reporting a number of passengers have been bumped off of Grandeur of the Seas due to repairs not being complete.

The Royal Gazette covered a group of students in Bermuda that received Royal Caribbean's Hospitality award scholarship.

Royal Caribbean has come to an agreement to get an unsecured loan for up to €892 million to finance its third Oasis-class cruise ship. COFACE, the export credit agency of France, will guarantee 100% of the financing, according to a filing.

As soon as the loan is funded, it will amortize semi-annually and will mature 12 years as soon as STX France shipyard delivers the new ship, which is currently scheduled for the second quarter of 2016.

Interest on the loan is expected to accrue at a fixed rate of 2.6%, including the applicable margin, or at a floating rate equal to EURIBOR plus 1.15%.

Société Générale is serving as facility agent and mandated lead arranger, BNP Paribas as documentation bank and mandated lead arranger, and HSBC France as mandated lead arranger.

Royal Caribbean has signed an agreement with Assist Card Brazil, one of the largest provides of travelers assistance in the world.  The partnership is the consolidation of a global agreement existing between the two companies.

In Brazil, Assist Card has developed a specific product for Royal Caribbean, which covers medical care in the event of accident or illness during travel, medicines, dental care, transportation and repatriation, among other benefits. The contract - which is exclusive to June 2014 - aims to serve approximately 50,000 Royal Caribbean guests at this time.

"Besides the increase in the amount of product coverage, the big news is the benefit Cashless where travelers no longer have to pay for medical services performed on board and request a refund by returning to the country," explains Roberto Oliveira, Commercial Manager of Assist Card Brazil.

Assist Card is the largest travel assistance company in the world, for over 40 years in the market offering local solutions to emergencies abroad, at no additional cost to your customer. Currently, the company is present in 110 countries, which provides the unique ability to work in minutes almost anywhere in the world. For years, the company performs more than 200,000 visits to people traveling.

The company operates 24 hours every day, making call in the language of its seven million customers worldwide and offers access to more than 155,000 service providers of international medical and dental care, legal and baggage. In addition to these services, the company also offers Trip Cancellation Insurance, Personal Accident and Baggage among others.

Royal Caribbean allowed select travel agents and members of the media to tour Grandeur of the Seas before she resumes normal service for guests tomorrow.  The ship is fresh off over a month of repairs after a fire broke out on the aft of the ship in late May.

Grandeur of the Seas is not 100% repaired but enough of it is good to go that the cruise line feels ready she can sail.  Annette Owens from MEI-Travel provided some of these photos exclusively for Royal Caribbean Blog and we've also included some other photos as well to show you how the ship is.  All work on Grandeur of the Seas is expected to be complete by July 19.

Public areas of the ship that we know are closed are

• Diamond Club Lounge (re-opens July 19)
• South Pacific Lounge (re-opens July 19)

Rear of Grandeur of the Seas showing no signs of fire damage (Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean)

Chart detailing which areas have been repaired and updated. (Photo courtesy of Cruise Critic)

Sections of the rear deck are closed off to passengers to complete repairs. (Photo courtesy of MEI-Travel)

Crew working on a muster station near aft of ship. (Photo courtesy of MEI-Travel)