Royal Caribbean has come away with two lucrative awards from the annual Cruise Critic Editors' Picks Awards.  The cruise giant was honored by being named the "Best cruise line for Families" for the fourth year in a row.

Cruise Critic commented on Royal Caribbean's dedication to families by describing them as, "With brand partnerships with companies like DreamWorks and Fisher Price, and an astonishing range of onboard activities, from rock-climbing to theater programs, Royal Caribbean offers a superb all-around family cruise experience. "

Royal Caribbean also took home another award after Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas were picked as "Best for Entertainment".  Both ships were picked for the sheer amount of "stuff" to do onboard, "It's not just the scope of entertainment options -- ice skating shows, 3D movies, musicals, jazz and comedy shows in stand-alone clubs -- that set the Oasis-class duo apart. The quality of choices, culled from the Broadway stage and DreamWorks character army, is second-to-none. And we can't forget the AquaTheater; the outdoor amphitheater, which hosts jaw-dropping Cirque-style shows, is the most breathtaking performance venue at sea."

Cruise Critic editors evaluated lines and ships in 25 categories by comparing like-for-like, taking into account the audience to which each line markets, in order to highlight the very best cruise lines and their particular strengths. The annual Cruise Critic Editors' Picks Awards complement the Cruisers' Choice Awards, which are announced in the spring and highlight the cruise ships which receive the highest ratings from reviews posted on Cruise Critic.

Hurricane Rina has forced Royal Caribbean to change the itinerary for Allure of the Seas. Royal Caribbean announced that Allure of the Seas will not stop in Cozumel, Mexico as scheduled on Friday.

Instead, Allure of the Seas will stop in Nassau, Bahamas on Friday.  Royal Caribbean made no other changes to its schedule.

The Allure of the Seas will be the backdrop for a new TV travel series hosted by comedian Paul Merton in the United Kingdom.  The Channel 5 show, Paul Merton’s Adventures, is begins on Wednesday October 19 at 9pm.

Merton will take a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's mega-shop and will showcase Merton's onboard activities such as zip lining.

During the filming, Merton was impressed by the size of the ship, "I was amazed by the vastness of the vessel. You only appreciate how tall the ship is when you disembark and realise you’ve been in a floating tower block.”

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas was the site for the premiere of DreamWorks' new animated film, "Puss in Boots" and Hollywood's celebrities showed up for the event.

Stars of the film Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek walked the red carpet along with the film's director, Chris Miller, and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Joining them was Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein.

Katzenberg described the process to create the film as needing 400 artists working for four years to complete the project.  Puss in Boots is a prequel to the events of the Shrek fims.

The movie premiere was described as the first-ever movie premiere at sea.

The Chef de Cuisine for 150 Central Park on Royal Caribbean's Allure and Oasis of the Seas, Maureen "Molly" Brandt, is going to be a contestant on the ninth season of Top Chef, which airs in November.  Molly sat down for an interview with eater.com to discuss her life as a chef on a cruise ship.

Coming from working in restaurant kitchens on land, what has been the biggest challenge you've encountered cooking on a cruise ship? What's the biggest relief?
Sure, I miss gas heat, but that's surmountable. The biggest challenge of cooking on a cruise ship isn't the cooking at all, it's the inventory. On land you can just call up your favorite purveyors and order something different for the next days menu and it will be delivered in the morning. Here you have to plan a month to a month and a half ahead to get different products onboard. First I have to identify the exact product I want, and then contact our purchasing agents who then source it through a distributor at the best possible price. Then it's entered in to our inventory management system, and contracted for the Miami market. Then it's ordered by our onboard team 2 weeks in advance of the receiving date. It's a process! The biggest relief in cooking on a cruise ship is that I know absolutely that the cooks for the restaurant are going to show up every single day. Unless they intend to swim ashore I suppose!

What comes first when you design menus?
I have a really cerebral method to designing my menus for the ship. My first step is to figure out the focus ingredient of each dish for the menus. After a little over a year at sea I pretty much know what the tastes are of the demographic onboard, and that helps to determine what that focus ingredient will be. After that I decide on a theme per dish, and I don't limit myself, it could be a color, season, place, a classic dish.... really anything. Then I pick a the primary cooking method for each featured ingredient. After that I set up a grid, and work out the puzzle to achieve a balance of color, flavor, texture, and cooking method per each dish and tie it in to my decided theme.

If you could whittle down the list to the essentials, what would be your advice to a new chef at sea? What would be five things for chef Schwartz and his chef de cuisine Jamie Seyba to keep in mind as they prepare to execute the new menu with your help?
1. Have patience with the inventory.
2. Wear your track shoes.... Sometimes it's quite a distance between point A & B on the world's largest cruise ship.
3. Accept all assistance that is offered.
4. Invest in an alarm clock for those early United States Public Health internal inspection mornings.
5. Enjoy life onboard. Remember that this isn't just a job, it's a lifestyle.

What's the favorite chef hangout on board?
Probably the most popular place to decompress after work is to head to the deck 6 crew bar, located directly underneath the helipad. Some pretty epic parties are hosted there.

When chefs eat on board what do they prefer (venue as well as dish)?
Well officially we eat most of our meals in the Garden Cafe, which is the crew buffet. However my favorite thing to eat for lunch is the Kummelweck sandwich at Park Cafe. It's roast beef at it's finest on a salty caraway seed roll with special mustard and horseradish. I probably eat 3-4 a week.

How often do you go off-ship and what's the first thing you want to do and/or eat?
I have a very unique contract that allows me to be off the ship for little pockets of time, and when I fly in to Miami my first stop is invariably Michael's Genuine Food & Drink.... No, seriously, it is! I crave his heirloom tomato and burrata salad, and crispy hominy. Other than that I try to get out to as many different restaurants as possible to see what other chefs are doing, as I'm so isolated on the ship. I also may get off the ship at ports of call, and typically I go for lunch and an icy cold adult beverage!

You are a second officer's rank. What does that role entail?
Actually I'm a 2 1/2 stripe officer, which I find pretty hilarious as a chef, but don't worry, no one is saluting. All it really means is that I'm in a managerial position running 150 Central Park from top to bottom. It also allows me some nice perks onboard and most importantly for me, the ability to go virtually anywhere on the ship.

What do you think of the menus chef Michael has developed? Are there any dishes that stand out in your mind and why?
I'm a big fan of Michael's food, and only wish that he had a restaurant on my permanent ship the Allure of the Seas! The biggest standout for me is his roasted Harris ranch short rib with Swank Farms watercress, cipollini onions, and romesco. It is a huge combination of flavors and textures, and the execution is spot on. I'll take two please!

Is there any product you are interested in working with based on what chef Schwartz is sourcing from South Florida farms?
After tasting the Pak Choi last night from Swank Farms I will definitely be finding a way to integrate it in to my winter menus. The flavor is so complex and vibrant, I could have eaten just a plate of that and been happy. 

Infographic courtesy of Cruise118.com

Port Canaveral, Florida is celebrating the start of construction of a new cruise terminal with a scheduled completion date of July 2012.  The new terminal should be large enough to handle any cruise ship in the world, including Royal Caribbean's behemoth Genesis class ships such as Oasis and Allure of the Seas.

Port Canaveral Port Authority Chief Executive Officer J. Stanley Payne says the new Terminal 6 dock will be large enough to accommodate "the absolute largest cruise ships in the world," including Royal Caribbean's 6,200-passenger, Genesis-class ships.

Currently Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas is home ported in Port Canaveral, which was the largest passenger ship ever built (by gross tonnage) from 2006 until construction of Oasis of the Seas, so large ships are something Port Canaveral can handle.

Tropical Storm Irene has caused Royal Caribbean to change a few cruise itineraries.  Oasis of the Seas will reverse its itinerary and now visit Cozumel first on Monday, Tuesday is a sea day, stop at Falmouth, Jamaica on Wednesday, stop at Labadee on Thursday, sea day again on Friday and return to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday

Freedom of the Seas will also reverse its itinerary and left port today to go to Cozumel first on Tuesday, followed by Grand Cayman on Wednesday, Falmouth on Thursday and Labadee on Friday.

Allure of the Seas will now stop at Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday instead of Monday. The rest of her scheduled stops at St. Thomas (Wednesday) and St. Maarten (Thursday) will take place as planned.

Finally, Serenade of the Seas will have its cruise order changed as well. It left from San Juan, Puerto Rico today and will  visit Aruba on Tuesday, Curacao on Wednesday, St. Kitts  on Friday and St. Thomas on Saturday.