royal caribbean

Symphony of the Seas Arrives in Port Miami

Last week I wrote about the Allure of the Seas arriving in Miami and becoming the largest vessel to dock in Port Miami. Over the weekend the ever-so-slighty larger Symphony of the Seas has usurped her older sister as the largest…

Allure of the Seas Arrives In Miami

Allure of the Seas Departing Port Everglades ©CruiseInd

Today on Twitter I live tweeted Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas arriving to her new home in Port Miami. The Oasis-class ship becomes the largest ship to have berthed in the Port. The 225,282gt ship will use the brand new…

Royal Caribbean Purchases Majority Stake in Silversea Cruises

Royal Caribbean has just announced that they have purchased 66.7% of ultra-luxury brand Silversea Cruises. Prior to today, Silversea has been family owned by the Italian Manfredi Lefebvre D’Ovidio. Royal Caribbean will pay $1 billion USD in cash as well…

Updated First Look: Symphony of the Seas

This post has been updated to include higher-res photos. The world’s largest cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas, has now been delivered to Royal Caribbean. In our series of First Looks, which replaces the Inaugural Liveblogs, lets take a look…

Symphony of the Seas Handed Over to Royal Caribbean

STX France has just handed over Royal Caribbean’s latest flagship, the Symphony of the Seas. She is now the largest cruise ship ever with an estimate measure of 228,021gt and 1,188ft LOA. The Harmony of the Seas is the same…

Royal Caribbean and CTrip to Dissolve SkySea Cruises

©CruiseInd

Royal Caribbean and Chinese tour company Ctrip have agreed to dissolve their joint venture SkySea Cruises. This was the Chinese based line that operates the SkySea Golden Era (ex-Celebrity Century) since May 2015. In December of this year she will…

BREAKING: The New Cococay

©CruiseInd

Royal Caribbean just announced some major enhancements to their private island in the Bahamas, Cococay. In the render we see a water park, cabanas and even the new pier! They’ll also be adding a bar an restaurant called Captain Jacks:…

[VIDEO] Great Cruises: Radiance of the Seas

brilliance tampa

This is a documentary that aired on the Travel Channel in the early 2000’s. Probably the crusie documentary I watched the most when I was a teenager. Just a quick note on quality. This was recorded onto a VHS and…

Royal Caribbean Names Newest Vessel

Royal Caribbean has announced that it’s next vessel will be called Spectrum of the Seas. The announcement came during her steel cutting at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany. When she comes out in 2019, she’ll head direct to China…

UPDATED: Are the Future of Cuban Cruises Really in Jeopardy?

via Flickr user Stephen Colebourne

The below originally posted in 2017. You can follow along with the 2019 restrictions here. UPDATE 6/16/2017 PM:The new policy for US-Cuban relations going forward is out. As predicted, it won’t interfere with cruise operations too much. The relations will…

Royal Caribbean Newbuild to be Based in Asia-Pacific

Launching in 2019, Royal Caribbeans next Ultra-class vessel (Quantum-class) will head direct to Asia and be based there year-round. The ship is still yet to be named but will launch in spring 2019. She will be joining her sisters Quantum…

Fourth Oasis-class ship, Symphony of the Seas, Homeported in Miami

Allure of the Seas Departing Port Everglades ©CruiseInd

Royal Caribbean announced that the fourth Oasis-class vessel will be officially named Symphony of the Seas. Royal Caribbean’s newest flagship will be delivered in April 2018. She’ll spend her inaugural summer season sailing the Mediterranean, based out of Barcelona. She’ll…

Cruise Lines Get Approval For Cuba

via Flickr user Stephen Colebourne

It’s official, US Cruise lines can now sail US passengers to Cuba from US ports. The US Government just handed approval to a bunch of cruise lines today. Let’s take a look. Royal Caribbean Cruises received approval for Royal Caribbean…

Back When You Could Cruise to Cuba

via Flickr user Stephen Colebourne

This post originally appeared on CruiseInd eight years ago. At the time, it looked at how Americans could legally cruise to Cuba and why Royal Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas was likely to become the line’s first Cuba ship. As…

Harmony of the Seas Sets Sail From New Homeport

Harmony of the Seas Departing Port Everglades. Captured by Greg Dragonetti 11/5/2016

UPDATE:Here is a sailaway montage of the event if you’re interested: After a summer in the Mediterranean, Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas sailed across the Atlantic to her new homeport of Port Everglades (Ft Lauderdale). I was joined by…

Worlds Largest Cruise Ships Meetup At Sea

I had noticed something strange when checking AIS on Friday. Ok that’s pretty cool. Can’t wait to see the photos. @RoyalCaribbean @RoyalCaribPR #OasisOfTheSeas #AllureOfTheSeas #HarmonyOfTheSeas pic.twitter.com/40PontO2Iv — CruiseInd (@cruiseind) November 4, 2016 The three largest cruise ships in the world,…

Royal Caribbean Orders 2 LNG Powered Icon-Class Vessels

©CruiseInd

Royal Caribbean has announced they have entered into an agreement with Meyer Group to build two ships that will be part of a new class of ships called Icon class. Details are still scarce but what is know is they will…

Anthem of the Seas Has Another Rough Ride In the Atlantic

Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas had another rough encounter with a storm in the atlantic. If this sounds familiar, the same ship was caught off guard by a freak squall in February. The 168,666gt ship sailed into Bermuda this…

[VIDEO] Sovereign of the Seas Drydocking

©CruiseInd

Here’s a great documentary about the drydocking of Royal Caribbean’s former vessel Sovereign of the Seas. She’s currently sailing for Pullmantur as the Sovereign. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Preview Royal Caribbean’s New Terminal in Miami

©CruiseInd

In anticipation of home porting an Oasis-class ship in Miami, Royal Caribbean plans to build a new, state of the art terminal. It will be located on the opposite end of Dodge Island from where their current two terminals are.…

Royal Caribbean to Sell Legend of the Seas

splendour of the seas TUI Cruises Thomson cruises Thomson Discovery

Royal Caribbean will be selling its 1995-built Legend of the Seas to Thomson Cruises. Her sister, TUI Discovery (ex-Splendor of the Seas) is already sailing for Thomson. Her final sailing for Royal Caribbean will be the March 13th cruise next…