Following the announcement head of Royal Caribbean Entertainment Peter Compton was leaving last week, Royal Caribbean formally introduced their new head of entertainment, Nick Weir.  Weir is the new Vice President of Entertainment and will oversee the cruise line’s onboard entertainment and guest activities programming, as well as Royal Caribbean Productions.

Weir has more than 25 years experience in both the entertainment and cruise industries.  Nick also hosted and presented a number of major network television shows in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He is best known for hosting a re-launch of the primetime network-television show "Catchphrase," where he succeeded in the mission of markedly improving the ratings in the critical 18-54 target demographic.

For the past 10 years, Nick owned and operated an entertainment consulting company with projects that included television and live event production services, speech and script writing, entertainment program analysis and solution development, charity event/live auction production, corporate video production, cruise industry start-up projects and Cruise Director services. Additionally, he has served in many capacities in the cruise industry, including as Entertainment Consultant and Cruise Director for Celebrity Cruises and Costa Cruises, and consulted extensively for Star Clippers Tall Ship Cruises.

Peter Compton, who changed the face of entertainment on Royal Caribbean ships for 24 years, has retired from the cruise line.  Compton was responsible for bringing ice skating shows, Broadway shows and water shows to Royal Caribbean's fleet.

Compton, the Vice President of Entertainment and Guest Services, has opted to leave Royal Caribbean to spend more time with his family. 

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein had glowing remarks for Compton's departure, "Peter is simply the best entertainment professional the cruise industry has ever known.  He is responsible for Royal Caribbean's reputation for top-notch entertainment over the last 24 years. From professional ice skating to Broadway musicals to the AquaTheater, he constantly blazed new trails for us and the industry."

Joining Royal Caribbean in 1989 when the Sovereign class of ships were coming online and introduced large theaters with good sight lines and better facilities.  In 1990, Compton helped form Royal Caribbean Productions to enable the cruise line to customize shows.

Over the years, larger generations of ships were built and Compton was responsible for the entertainment onboard, such as suggesting the idea of ice skating shows to Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain.

Other highlights include partnerships with DreamWorks Animation and with Broadway producers that brought hits like 'Chicago,' 'Hair Spray' and 'Saturday Night Fever' to the ships.

Compton will be succeeded by Nick Weir on October 14. 

OceansTV has announced that it has reached a deal with Royal Caribbean to supply a broad ranging TV channel package covering the European and Asian regions.

The deal covers ten of Royal Caribbean's ships, including Independence of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and Mariner of the Seas, will receive the channels.  The deal will allow passengers on Royal Caribbean ships to watch in the comfort of their staterooms include RTL9, CNBC Europe and channels from the BBC, RAI and TVE.

Vision of the Seas will air a selection of Scandinavian channels including SVT1, NRK1, TV2 and Eurosport Nordic. Voyager of the Seas and Legend of the Seas which are offering cruises in Asia are showing popular channels onboard such as KBS World, CCTV4, CNBC Asia and MTV China.

"We've thoroughly enjoyed working closely with Royal Caribbean to supply them with a rich and entertaining TV channel package tailored to the tastes of the passengers onboard," said Andy McEwan, CEO of OceansTV. "Our network of TV content suppliers is growing all the time and we're delighted to be in a position to offer cruise lines such a fantastic choice of high quality channels."

Royal Caribbean is going to hold an open audition for singers, dancers and gymnasts on March 4th in Atlanta, Georgia.  Royal Caribbean Productions is looking to fill some roles in its various shows aboard its ships including its Broadway, ice and aqua shows.  

The audition event will be at the Atlanta Ballet and they are looking for talented performers between the ages of 18 and 40.

Anyone interested in attending should bring with them a current photo and resume.  In addition, singers should come prepared with sheet music in the proper key and 16-32 bars of a ballad and an up-tempo song. Must be able to sing various styles of music.  Dancers must be technically trained with a strong background in Jazz. Flying and tumbling skills are a plus.

Royal Caribbean has offered ice skating entertainment for ten years now and here is a look back at the spectacular ice shows we've enjoyed in that time.

The hit Broadway musical "Saturday Night Fever" has debuted on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas and is the first Broadway show featured on a Royal Caribbean cruise in Europe.

Performed in Liberty of the Seas' state-of-the-art, 1,320-seat Platinum Theatre, the musical depicts Tony, the ambitious Brooklyn teen who spends his Saturday nights disco dancing.  Tony is played by  the British actor Lucas Rush.

The addition of Saturday Night Fever to Liberty of the Seas marks Royal Caribbean's third full-length Broadway musical to be performed on its ships.  The two other plays are “Hairspray” performed on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas and “Chicago” playing on Allure of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean announced John Targaglia's Off-Broadway family musical "ImaginOcean" will debut on Freedom of the Seas starting in May 2011.

ImaginOcean will be the fourth Royal Caribbean ship to perform the show, joining Oasis, Allure and Liberty of the Seas.

Tartaglia was excited to bring his show to another Royal Caribbean ship, "ImaginOcean made its debut on Oasis of the Seas where it ran for several months prior to opening at New World Stages in New York in the spring of 2010. Our goal as the producers of this show continues to focus on making this universal family musical accessible to as many people as possible -- on land and at sea -- and we are thrilled to continue our relationship with Royal Caribbean and install our fourth production on Freedom of the Seas next month."