What’s the latest with Royal Caribbean Cruises

Royal Caribbean is making cruise news headlines

There’s been a lot Royal Caribbean news over the past few weeks. In this episode we continue our series “What’s the latest?” where we share what’s on the horizon for your favorite cruise line. This week we’ll cover some of the great news coming from Royal Caribbean Cruises. 

Royal Caribbean in extending their Singapore season

With More Than 50,000 Guests Safely Sailing on Board to Date, Holidaymakers are Eager for More Adventure. Royal Caribbean International today announced Quantum of the Seas will continue sailing from Singapore through October 2021. Having resumed sailing in December 2020, Quantum’s 11-month Singapore season will mark the longest yet for one of Asia’s largest and most revolutionary cruise ships. The cruise line introduced Ocean Getaways from Singapore last year with the local government’s CruiseSafe Certification, which confirms the sailings meet the comprehensive health and safety requirements developed with the Singapore government.

Royal Caribbean is resuming cruises in June!

This summer, Royal Caribbean® heads back to your favorite tropical shores onboard two adventure-filled ships. Sail from The Bahamas or Bermuda with stops at our top-rated private destination, Perfect Day at CocoCay. Get back on island time with summer 2021 cruises the whole family can get behind.

They also recently announced they will send Rhapsody of the Seas to Barbados for winter 2022 and 2023. Will visit Southern Caribbean and central america.

More information on Rhapsody’s first Bajan season is available here. The itineraries and ports of call for each are:

• 7-night Southern Caribbean Island Hop: Visiting Scarborough, Tobago; Port of Spain, Trinidad; St. George’s, Grenada; Kingstown, St. Vincent; Roseau, Dominica; and Castries, St. Lucia
• 7-night Southern Caribbean Adventure: Visiting St. George’s; Kralendijk, Bonaire; Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; and Port of Spain.
• 8-night Southern Caribbean Holiday: Visiting Scarborough, Port of Spain, Castries; Fort-de-France, Martinique; Roseau, St George’s, and Kingstown.
• 14-night Ultimate Caribbean: Visiting St. George’s, Kralendijk, Willemstad (overnight), Cartagena, Colon, Puerto Limon, Oranjestad (overnight), and Port of Spain.

Royal Caribbean has already committed itself to vaccinating all of its crew members, as of February 2021.  

At the time, there was not a plan in place to do so, but vaccine eligibility in the United States is beginning to open up widely.

Recently they sent Serenade of the Seas to St. Vincent to provide water, supplies & assistance to the locals impacted by the La Soufriere volcanic eruption.

Royal Caribbean will start West Coast cruises earlier than planned, beginning in November 2021

The first Navigator of the Seas sailings will begin sailing year-round from Los Angeles, California as of November 2021.

When Royal Caribbean announced its return to the West Coast, initially the cruise planned to start sailing in June 2022, but will sailing now significantly easier. Royal Caribbean will offer 3-, 4- and 5-night itineraries to Catalina Island, California and Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – plus, select winter holiday 7-night sailings.

Navigator of the Seas will depart from Los Angeles’ World Cruise Center in San Pedro.

Royal Caribbean’s announcement that it will cruise from Los Angeles regularly after more than a decade is significant, as industry insiders have speculated about its West Coast return for years.

New Ships/Itineraries:

New to the fleet

Odyssey of the Seas

Odyssey of the Seas originally was scheduled to sail out out of Civitavecchia, Italy in May 2021, but was redeployed to Israel due to the global health crisis. Sailings this summer will visit ports in Greece and Cyprus, including Rhodes, Santorini, Mykonos and Athens, Greece and Limassol, Cyprus.  

According to Royal Caribbean Blog:

After completing her conveyance which involved her traveling backward for 10 hours on the Ems River to the open seas….Odyssey of the Seas arrived in Haifa, Israel this week to prepare for her upcoming inaugural sailings, and Royal Caribbean has peeled back the curtains a bit to showoff some of the areas onboard.

Odyssey of the Seas will be the first Quantum Ultra Class ship to sail from Europe and North America, marking a significant arrival to these markets.The 16-deck-high, 1,138-foot-long ship is one of the largest ships in the world, and can accommodate 4,180 passengers.

While not the largest cruise ship in the world (that distinction is held by Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas), Odyssey packs a lot to do onboard, including multiple pools, aqua park for kids, surfing simulator, observation pod, and sky diving simulator.

There are even bumper cars you can ride, along with an array of complimentary and specialty restaurant options.

Odyssey of the Seas is the second Quantum Ultra Class ship, which is essentially a stretched and enhanced version of the original Quantum Class ships.

The SeaPlex is the largest indoor and outdoor activity center at sea.

The SeaPlex itself has been reworked compared to other Quantum Class ships to offer more to do, with the removal of pods and the addition of a large screen and new venues.

Located inside the SeaPlex, Playmakers has a new prime location that features lots of TVs around the bar to keep up with games back home.  But it also offers views of the games on the court below.

On the back of the ship, you will find a number of activities, including the Sky Pad.

The Sky Pad is a complimentary activity and it is a virtual reality, bungee trampoline adventure.

Guests put on a VR headset, and then get strapped into a bungee harness that allow them to easily jump on trampolines while traversing a virtual world only they can see.

In addition to the Sky Pad, Odyssey of the Seas offers a skydiving simulator with Ripcord by iFly, Flowrider surf simulator, and more.

Wonder of the Seas- starting March 2022 from Shanghai

Has 7 neighborhoods and a new suite neighborhood.

Royal Caribbean’s next new cruise ship that is still under construction will be the cruise line’s fifth Oasis Class cruise ship and her deck plans are our first look at what the ship may offer guests.

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