Royal Caribbean

With some cruises towering almost 240 feet above the water line, the engineering marvels have some tricks up their sleeves to maneuver through tight spaces, such as underneath bridges. 

Last year, Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship had to navigate under Denmark's Great Belt Bridge en route from Finland to Spain.  

While successful, the operation took a lot of planning and coordination between the crew, ranging from those working in meteorology to operations. 

Royal Caribbean's nowhere near done with building Icon Class ships. 

The cruise giant announced plans to build a fourth Icon Class ship to be delivered in 2027, with options for a fifth and sixth Icon Class ship at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. 

I’ve just returned from my first Celebrity cruise, and there were a few aspects of my cruise vacation that I preferred over Royal Caribbean.

From the time I started cruising, I’ve booked the majority of my cruises on Royal Caribbean. Despite having twenty excellent cruises with the line, I occasionally like to switch up my vacations. Thus, I recently booked a 7-night Norwegian fjords itinerary on Celebrity Silhouette.

Star of the Seas is Royal Caribbean's second Icon Class cruise ship, but this new cruise ship is anything but a copy of the first ship.

Instead, Royal Caribbean identified a series of focal points to help evolve Star of the Seas and offer guests a similar yet new product. 

I’ve sailed on nineteen Royal Caribbean cruise ships, but none were quite like Utopia of the Seas. After spending a weekend onboard the cruise line’s party ship, there were a few things that surprised me about the experience.

Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas rescued 77 migrants in the Ionian Sea during a 7-night Greek Isles cruise. 

Greek authorities alerted the ship of an overcrowded sailboat in distress, as reported by ABC News. The migrants were transported to Kalamata, the nearest major port in Greece, causing Odyssey to cancel a scheduled stop in Santorini. 

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas is scheduled to undergo a $100M+ renovation in early 2025.

One of the largest cruise ships in the world is about to get many of the beloved features that debuted on the later ships, promising future guests an enhanced vacation experience. 

She'll go into dry dock in March 2025 before beginning her season in Europe, a first since 2015. The inaugural cruise for the updated vessel is April 11. Guests can depart from Barcelona and Rome (Civitavecchia) on weeklong cruises to Spain, France, and Italy.

Loyalty can go a long way in the cruising industry. The more you choose to travel with the same cruise line, the more you will be rewarded for doing so.

Cruise lines have loyalty programs to encourage travelers to continue traveling with the same brand or company. Repeat customers are an important component of a cruise line’s clientele. As such, many cruisers find themselves continuing to travel with the same cruise line to reap the benefits of loyalty programs.

Carnival Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean are two of the biggest names in the industry for mainstream cruise lines; however, the cruise lines are also major competitors for affordable, family-friendly vacations. Even still, there are many differences between the two cruise lines.