Tag Archives: Mariner of the Seas

Classic Rock Cruise Setting Sail in 2019

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Royal Caribbean International renders Mariner of the Seas' upper aft deck additions
PHOTO: Royal Caribbean International renders Mariner of the Seas’ upper aft deck additions. (photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean International)

Classic rock fans rejoice.

The inaugural On The Blue cruise will sail to the Caribbean in 2019 and feature several world-famous bands.

The five-night voyage aboard Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas will depart from Miami, Florida, February 10-15, 2019, and will visit Nassau/Paradise Island, Bahamas, and Labadee, Haiti.

The Classic Rock Cruise will be hosted by Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues and feature musical performances and events. Some of the artists playing during the voyage include The Zombies, Dave Mason, Steve Hackett, Alan Parsons, Procol Harum, Al Stewart, Wishbone Ash, POCO, Vanilla Fudge, Colin Blunstone, Danny Seraphine, Rick Derringer, Randy Hansen, The Young Dubliners and more acts to be announced.

Tickets for the On The Blue cruise will go on sale March 14 at 1 p.m. ET, and prices start at $1,099 per person based on double occupancy. Government fees, taxes, and gratuities are additional and mandatory for all passengers, regardless of age.

The Mariner of the Seas features two huge music venues and is undergoing a makeover worth more than $100 million. Scheduled to be completed this summer, it is the biggest facelift in the history of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

The ship will feature new dining concepts, a bungee trampoline experience dubbed Sky Pad, the FlowRider surf simulator, The Perfect Storm waterslides, The Bamboo Room tiki bar, the family-style Jamie’s Italian restaurant by Jamie Oliver and more.

For more information, reach out to your local travel agent.

New Features for Mariner of the Seas in Short Cruise Market

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Mariner of the Seas

Royal Caribbean International today announced the details of a $90 million refurbishment on the Mariner of the Seas, as she moves into the Caribbean short cruise market and is redeployed from the Asia and China market.

Service starts from Miami with a three- and four-day cruise program in June, with the ship sailing to Nassau and CocoCay.

“At Royal Caribbean, we believe in the constant pursuit of adventure and that every weekend is an opportunity to experience something new and live life to its fullest,” said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “With the new Mariner of the Seas, we invite travellers to weekend like they really mean it and make the most of a quick getaway than they even thought was possible.”

Among the highlights is the Sky Pad, a brand new virtual reality, bungee trampoline experience on the Mariner of the Seas.

Guests will strap in and put on a virtual reality headset, which the company said will ” transport them to another time and planet to bounce over moon craters or compete in intergalactic games. The out-of-this-world experience is for guests of all ages, and also can be enjoyed without virtual reality headsets, for those who prefer to look out over the ocean as they leap toward the sky.”

Other additions include The Perfect Storm, a duo of racing waterslides called Cyclone and Typhoon, and a glow-in-the-dark laser tag experience in Studio B, where friends and family can team up to play “Battle for Planet Z.”

Mariner will offer Puzzle Break: The Observatorium, a new escape room experience.

The company is also adding the FlowRide surfing simulator to the ship.

New food and beverage options include Jamie’s Italian, Starbucks and Izumi Hibachi & Sushi.

No Concerns in the Caribbean for Royal

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Oasis of the Seas (Photo: Arjan Elemendorp)
Oasis of the Seas
The new Symphony of the Seas will help propel the Caribbean to a record year of cruise capacity.

Despite the uptick in ships and passengers, capacity and pricing is not a concern for Royal Caribbean International.

“After the hurricanes in September, we saw that softness for about four to six or seven weeks but that recovered and picked up and we’re in a good booked position for Q1,” said Michael Bayley, president and CEO, on the company’s Q4 2017 earnings call. “And overall we’re feeling pretty good about the Caribbean for 2018.

“We’re fortunate because we’ve got the Symphony of the Seas coming into the Caribbean towards the end of the year. We have also got Celebrity Edge and we’re introducing Mariner of the Seas after an extensive modernization and revitalization and we’re putting that product into the short market, so that’s quite a lot of volume that’s coming into that market. We’re actually very excited about what that product’s going to do, the bookings are going very well and it’s still outside of its typical booking window because it’s a short product. So overall, we’re feeling okay about the Caribbean.”

As for the booking window, the company opened 2019 deployment four months earlier than in previous years.

Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises, noted the booking window continues to impress.

“Now you may recall that a year ago I said and I’m quoting, that the booking window has stretched as far as we will ever want and I don’t expect to announce another record level bookings a year from today,” Fain said. “Well I wasn’t terribly accurate, here we are a year later and we’re announcing another record level bookings.”

CFO Jason T. Liberty advised that other companies in the Caribbean marketplace may have pricing challenges, but those incidents are not indicative of the entire market.

“There are occasions sometimes when a new product enters the market from competitors and they may have some challenges initially and you may see some fairly aggressive pricing going into the market,” he said. “That can be disruptive but it’s very localized.”