Royal Caribbean

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.

Could you imagine living on a cruise ship for 274 days? Well, that's what a handful of passengers lucky enough to sail onboard Royal Caribbean's first-ever world cruise have been doing since December. 

The voyage, however, hasn't been without its drama. Sharing the 90,090 gross registered ton (GRT) Serenade of the Seas with nearly 2,500 other guests is like living in a small town, after all! 

Nobody wants to receive an unexpected bill on vacation. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened to Vincent Wasney and his fiancée, Sarah Eberlein, while cruising on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas. Before they were allowed to disembark, they had to pay over $2,500 in medical bills for services that Wasney received onboard as a result of a series of seizures. 

Even if you haven't had the opportunity to cruise onboard the world's largest cruise ship, you've likely seen photos of the cabins and public venues. Glimpses into crew-only areas, however, are more difficult to come by.