Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas rescued 58 Haitans that were stranded in the Caribbean Sea and brought them to Cozumel, Mexico.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez says a guest spotted the boat and immediately informed a crew member on Thursday as they were heading from St. Maarten to Cozumel.

The Haitians informed the Allure of the Seas crew that they didn't need any help but the Allure of the Seas did contact the United States Coast Guard.  The Coast Guard asked the ship to return and help them.  

A total of 47 men and 7 women were rescued and given food, water and medical treatment.

Royal Caribbean turned the Haitians over to the Mexican Navy upon arrival in Mexico.

Photo by IssiC_MS

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas rescued Cuban refugees afloat at sea twice on this past Saturday.

The first rescue was of five Cubans on a raft in the Atlantic Ocean.  According to reports, the Cubans were given food and water while being transferred to the United States Coast Guard.

Another group of Cubans were reported rescued as well later that day by Allure of the Seas.  No comment by Royal Caribbean at this time.

Royal Caribbean has released their schedule of cruises to the Caribbean for 2013-2014 and are now open for bookings.

Royal Caribbean is planning cruises for Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Independence of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas to bring a total of 140 sailings across 31 itineraries what will make stops at 20 different ports.

New to the schedule will be cruises out of New Orleans, Lousiana aboard Serenade of the Seas.  The first cruise out of the Big Easy will be a 9-night Caribbean cruise on December 12, 2013 that will stop at Key West, Nassau, Labadee & Ocho Rios.  Following that cruise, Serenade will alternate between 7-night cruises to the Bahamas and Western Caribbean.

It will be business as usual for Oasis and Allure of the seas.  They will continue their popular 7-night western and eastern Caribbean cruises out of Port Everglades, Florida.

Also calling Port Everglades home will be Independence of the Seas, who will offer 6-night cruises to the western and eastern Caribbean.

Freedom of the Seas will continue to operate out of Port Canaveral, Florida and alternate between 7-night eastern and western sailings.  

Finally, Navigator of the Seas will debut in Galveston, Texas with two western Caribbean cruises.  Both are 7-night sailings and one itinerary calling at Falmouth, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, while the other at Roatan (Honduras), Belize City (Belize) and Cozumel.

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, reported a "fire of short duration in the engine room," a spokeswoman said

The ship was sailing from St. Maarten to  Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale when an engine fire broke out at 7:45 pm on Friday, said spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez..

"The ship's high fog system was immediately activated, which contained and extinguished the fire."

No passengers or crew members were injured and the ship sailed to Port Everglades without any assistance. The cruise scheduled to return on Sunday.

One of the largest cruise fan websites, CruiseCritic, has released the results of the 2012 Cruisers' Choice Awards and Royal Caribbean has walked away with a number of prizes for its ships.

Among large cruise ships, Royal Caribbean was nominated in many categories and won the following categories:

• Best For Dining: Serenade of the Seas
• Best for Embarkation: Allure of the Seas
• Best for Entertainment: Oasis of the Seas
• Best for Families: Allure of the Seas
• Best for Fitness: Freedom of the Seas
• Best for Service: Serenade of the Seas

Royal Caribbean is bringing back the Royal 5K race this year and will take place twice.  First,  the event will take place in Falmouth, Jamaica in April 2012 aboard the Allure of the Seas.  Next, in December 2012, Royal Caribbean will hold the Royal 5K in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, onboard Oasis of the Seas. 

These cruises that include the Royal 5K race will also offer passengers other activities including

• Private meet-and-greet sessions with high-profile racing athletes
• Seminars and lectures with high-profile athletes
• Personal training tips from experts
• Speed tests onboard the track on your ship
• A chance to win prizes, including a grand prize trip to ESPN headquarters

The Royal 5K package price is $25.  

The first Royal 5K was held back in December 2010 in St. Maarten.

Bahamas police are investigating an apparent suicide of a British man on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas that occurred this past Friday.  This investigation is related to the incident first reported about a man who fell off the ship.

Police report that at 7:10am while aboard Allure of the Seas, the man committed suicide while the ship was off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico.

American Federal agents are assisting the police in the Bahamas, including Superintendent Paul Rolle, Head of the Central Detective Unit, along with officers from the Broward County Sheriff's Office and Customs and Border Protection.

"We do not have much information we can share with the public at this point. All we know is a British man is dead and it may or may not have been suicide. We are still conducting our on scene investigations and interviewing eyewitness. We are being assisted by other law enforcement agencies and expect to wrap up our investigations shortly. At that time, I will provide an update," he said.

Royal Caribbean issued a statement said the 30-year-old fell from the balcony of his stateroom on Deck 11.  The statement also said, "The ship made multiple public announcements and began a complete search of the ship, in efforts to locate the guest. When the guest did not respond to the pages and was not found onboard, the captain alerted the local authorities of the situation."

The victim suffered serious injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

The Today Show Travel listed their favorite cruise ships for families and five of Royal Caribbean's newest ships made the list.

First up is Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.  The sheer number of amenities are notes for fun things for kids.

The two largest ships at sea each have pretty much everything you need to entertain the kids: a sprawling H2O Zone water park, a pair of rock-climbing walls, a miniature golf course, two surfing simulators, a basketball court, an ice-skating rink, and a hand-carved wooden carousel.

The Freedom-Class ships were also mentioned, including Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Independence of the Seas.

Aside from a huge playroom and video arcade aboard the Freedom-class ships, kids can't enough of the H2O water park, rock-climbing wall, ice-skating rink, surfing simulator, mini golf course, and basketball court. Kids of all ages love the Ben & Jerry's ice-cream parlor and the Johnny Rockets diner on board for burgers, fries and milkshakes (both venues at an extra charge).

A British man has fallen overboard from Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas and Mexican and American officials are conducting a search of the waters nearby to find him.

Royal Caribbean confirmed that a 30-year-old man was seen going over the railing from his stateroom aboard Allure of the Seas.  Video camera footage from aboard the ship confirmed the report as well.

The incident occured as Allure of the Seas was sailing to Cozumel, Mexico and the United States Coast Guard is assisting the Mexican Navy in the search efforts.