As part of Royal Caribbean's Revitalization program to upgrade all of its cruise ships to include amenities first introduced on the Oasis of the Seas, Independence o the Seas has recently been scheduled to have its upgrade take place in April 2013.

To avoid its cruise ships running into issues related to labor strikes that are scheduled to occur in Spain, Portugal and Greece, Royal Caribbean has altered itineraries for Independence of the Seas.

Independence of the Seas will skip a stop in Lisbon, Portugal on November 14 and will instead call upon Lanzarote, Spain.

Royal Caribbean announced that the "Royal Advantage" program that is helping to refurbish the company's ships with ammenities seen first on Oasis class ships, will be coming to Independence of the Seas too. 

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

Photo by Steph Curtin

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.

Royal Caribbean has decided to not offer its all-you-can-drink alcohol packages that are currently offered aboard Independence of the Seas when she arrives in Florida for a seasonal deployment.

Royal Caribbean has announced that Independence of the Seas, which has been based out of the United Kingdom, will be based in the Caribbean for the 2012-13 season.  The move will offer American three Freedom-class ship options in 2012-2013 cruise season

British new site BurtonMail sent one of their writers to Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas to see what all the hype is about.

The Port of Alicante, Spain this week has received more than four thousand tourists arriving on board the biggest cruise ship that sailed the Mediterranean Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas. Independence of the Seas arrived at 8 am and departed at 4.30pm on Monday.