Royal Caribbean announced to its travel partners it will be recategorizing its staterooms in an effort to simplify room types for both travel agents and guests.

The latest categorization effort will result in a reduction in the number of categories and a 40% reduction in deck plan colors. In addition, deck plans will result in more intuitive identifiers.

Royal Caribbean is also making connecting staterooms easier than ever to identify and book with designated categories. Connecting staterooms will be double occupancy in both connecting rooms and available on all ships in the fleet except for Majesty and Empress of the Seas starting in 2021.

Royal Caribbean also announced its new Spa Stateroom category. Spa cabins will be featured on Radiance, Voyager, Freedom, Oasis, Quantum and Quantum Ultra Class ships. They will be open for booking later this month for cruises departing in 2021.

Royal Caribbean announced they are creating a new stateroom category, the Spa Stateroom that adds in-room amenities and spa privileges.

Here is what is included with the Spa Staterooms:

• 50% off one spa treatment of your choice per stateroom
  • Spa treatments cannot be prebooked, must be booked onboard
• Priority when booking spa treatments
• Upgraded carpet & balcony cushioned balcony furniture
• Upgraded mattress and pillows
• Upgraded jetted shower head
• Upgraded toiletries
• Welcome gift of fresh fruit on embarkation day
• Refreshments delivered daily
  • Water, coffee & tea
• King-size down feather pillows
• Cozy slippers and luxurious robes
• Bluetooth speaker
• Succulents
• Tranquil artwork

These new Spa Class rooms will be double occupancy only.

Spa Staterooms will be available on all on Radiance Class ships and above as of May 2021. Bookings for the Spa Staterooms will become available beginning the week of October 28, 2019.

UPDATE: These staterooms will eventually be available on Radiance, Voyager, Freedom Oasis, and Quantum Class ships. They will be below a suite, but above a standard ocean balcony room.

Four new Spa Category rooms:

• SB -  Spa Oceanview with Large Balcony
  • Not available on China itineraries
  • On Freedom, Voyager or Radiance Class these will be known as Spacious Spa Oceanview Balcony
• S2 - Mid Ship Spa Ocean View Balcony
• S4 - Forward/Aft Spa Ocean View Balcony
• XS - Spa Gurantee Category

Are you about to book your first cruise and looking to save money by reserving the cheapest room available? Before you book it, we have important tips to know about those cheap room deals.

It is mighty tempting to book the cheapest room on a cruise to make your vacation dollars go further, but our newest video has some helpful information on what to know about the cheapest rooms.

And if you love this video, we have lots of other great cruise videos to watch on our Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel!

By the way, have you subscribed yet? Be sure to subscribe to our channel and never miss a single episode!

Do you usually book the cheapest room on a cruise? Was it a good idea? Share your experience in the comments!

If you want to feel like a pro before you ever step foot in your room, we have a brand new video to share with eight really helpful things to know about your Royal Caribbean stateroom.

Your cabin on a cruise ship is your homebase for the duration of your cruise, and there are some important things to know about your room that can greatly enhance and improve your time spent inside. Without further adieu, here are eight important need-to-know tips for a Royal Caribbean cabin!

Did you love this video? We have lots of other great cruise videos to watch on our Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel!

Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Be sure to subscribe to our channel and never miss a single video!

So check out the video and then let us know: What do you think is important to know about a Royal Caribbean cabin?

Royal Caribbean has begun adding virtual stateroom tours for select staterooms on the Royal Caribbean website that allow guests to take a 360-degree view of suites.

The new virtual tour options are powered by Matterport and allows the user to move virtually around the room, with special features highlighted during the tour.

Currently we have only spotted this new virtual tour option for suites on Symphony of the Seas.

Here is a link to each stateroom type that offers a virtual tour:

• Junior Suite on Symphony of the Seas
• Grand Suite 1 Bedroom on Symphony of the Seas
• Grand Suite - 2 Bedrooms on Symphony of the Seas
• Owner's Suite on Symphony of the Seas
• AquaTheater Suite - 2 Bedroom on Symphony of the Seas
• Royal Loft Suite on Symphony of the Seas

Thanks to Lovetocruise2002 for alerting us to this feature.

As a bonus, there is a 3D tour provided by Matterport of the Boardwalk neighborhood on Symophony of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean is introducing a new bid-based stateroom upgrade program, known as RoyalUp.

RoyalUp begins on November 28, 2018. Guests will receive an email if their sailing is eligible and they will have the opportunity to browse through staterooms available for upgrade on their sailing. They will select the dollar amount they are willing to pay for the upgrade and submit their bid.

The RoyalUp offer amount is per person for the entire duration of the cruise. Offers are based on two occupants per stateroom - only the first and second guest will be charged. If there are more than 2 guests in the reservation (between 2 and 5 passengers), the offer amount submitted will be per guest but only for the first and second guest on the reservation.

Guests cannot choose the location or specific features of the upgraded cabin, as it depends on availability.

In terms of groups,  Royal Caribbean cannot guarantee that all reservations traveling together will be upgraded. Under the circumstance that all reservations are upgraded, Royal Caribbean cannot guarantee that all the upgraded cabins will be close together.

Guests can make bids across multiple categories to increase your chances of having an offer accepted. If using a travel agent, they can handle the entire bidding process for you.

Upgrade bids can be accepted anytime from the moment it is submitted up until 2 days prior to voyage departure. You will receive an email notifying you of the accepted offer.

Guests can modify or cancel the offer up until 2 days prior to departure, provided that the offer has not already been accepted by RCI and provided their credit card has not been charged.

What do you think of this new offer? Will you be using it? Share your thoughts in the comments.

We have a brand new Royal Caribbean Blog video today, and we are listing the top reasons to book a balcony cabin on your Royal Caribbean cruise!

There are many great stateroom choices when booking a cruise, and certainly a room with private balcony is one of the most intriguing options. Having your own private space to enjoy the view of the ocean, a gentle breeze and the activities in port are a fabulous way to spend any cruise.

Why would booking this type of cruise room be a good idea? We are sharing some compelling reasons to go for a balcony cabin when you book a cruise.

And if you love this video, there’s plenty more for you to enjoy over on our Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel!

By the way, have you subscribed yet? Be sure to subscribe to our channel and never miss a single episode!

Guests sailing in an Ocean View Panoramic Suite (category VP) will now be entitled to the same suite benefits guests sailing in a Grand Suite or higher category stateroom enjoy.

A few Royal Caribbean Blog readers have shared they have received indications from Royal Caribbean that their previously booked Panoramic Suite rooms will receive full suite benefits.

Prior to this change, the Panoramic Suite staterooms had the equivalent benefits of a Junior Suite, but with this change, guests in these sort of rooms will now get more benefits.

Panoramic Suites were added to Voyager and Freedom class ships in the past few years.  Most of these rooms are categorized as Spacious Panoramic Ocean View Stateroom (category 1L), but the Ocean View Panoramic Suite offer more space and are the rooms that qualify for these upgraded benefits.

In addition, the VO Class stateroom on Grandeur of the Seas will receive benefits equivalent to Grand Suites.

Royal Caribbean announced to travel agents that it will expand the amount of staterooms across the fleet of ships that offer a capacity of three guests per room with the addition of sofa beds. The cruise line hopes the change will greatly improve the availability of higher occupancy staterooms, particularly beneficial during peak vacation periods such as summer and holidays.

As of June 1, 2018, ten ships in total will have added triple occupancy staterooms.  These ships include

• Symphony of the Seas
• Harmony of the Seas
• Allure of the Seas
• Oasis of the Seas
• Independence of the Seas
• Liberty of the Seas
• Adventure of the Seas
• Mariner of the Seas
• Navigator of the Seas

In order to identify which staterooms have these new sofa beds, deck plans will be updated with the introduction of a "partial triangle" as the symbol to denoate sofa bed staterooms. Digital deck plans were updated on-or-before June 17th, 2018; whereas printed versions of deck plans will be refreshed in advance of the next print run.

Sample deck plan from Mariner of the Seas with sofa bed option showing

Despite the the addition of these sofa beds, Royal Caribbean says the maximum guest counts remain unchanged for each of the impacted ships, "This initiative simply allows the opportunity to further maximize the number of guests on each sailing, as well as offer additional triple staterooms for those in need of higher occupancy accommodations."