Royal Caribbean will send Brilliance of the Seas to Tampa in 2013-2014, replacing Jewel of the Seas.

Brilliance of the Seas will offer four and five-night western Caribbean cruises with stops in Cozumel, the Cayman Islands and either Key West or George Town.

Prior to arriving in Tampa, Brilliance will enter drydock in May 2013 and be revitalized to give it a major refurbishment including New onboard dining and entertainment options, revitalized staterooms, and other amenities including Wi-Fi, digital way-finding systems and an outdoor LED video wall.

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 general manager of Royal Caribbean Italy,  John Rotondo, spoke about the future of Royal Caribbean and Sicily as Royal Caribbean debuted in port their today.

"We will increase our presence in the region.  By adding Catania programming we want to intensify our presence in Sicily and we are confident that its strategic position will allow cruise passengers to visit a territory rich in priceless beauty."

"The whole region has great potential and we are sure will play an increasingly significant role in strategic planning and Royal Caribbean in the Mediterranean".

Royal Caribbean is planning on sending Grandeur of the Seas for a five-week upgrade that will cost $48 million to the Navantia ship yards in Cadiz, Spain.

The changes coming to Grandeur of the Seas include

• technological upgrades
• new entertainment offerings
• a new Diamond Lounge for Crown & Anchor Society loyalty guests
• a Concierge Lounge for suite guests and top-tier loyalty guests
• a transformed Viking Crown Lounge
• an overall refreshment of furniture, carpet, upholstery and staterooms
• new dining venues including
  • Giovanni's Table
  • Izumi 
  • Park Cafe
  • Chops Grille
  • Chef's Table
• Addition of Royal Babies and Tots Nursery for children ages 36 months to six years old
• Ship-wide WiFi
• Outdoor video screen overlooking the pool deck

The renovation is part of Royal Caribbean's planned fleet revitalization and is the third of six Vision-class ships that will be fully renovated.

Grandeur of the Seas will finish its refurbishment on May 31, at which point she will embark upon an 11-night Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona, Spain.

Royal Caribbean has been awarded the title of "Middle East's Leading Cruise Line" once again by the World Travel Awards.  This marks the third consecutive win for Royal Caribbean.  

The 19th annual World Travel Awards gala event took place on April 30th, 2012 at the Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa in Dubai, and was attended by hundreds of travel executives from around the world.

Helen Beck, Royal Caribbean's Regional Director, commented on the award, "Our crew is focused on delivering a great vacation experience and personalising the service they provide to each and every one of our guests. In fact, this year marks the ten year anniversary of our ‘Gold Anchor Service’ programme, which is the framework for delivering the Royal Caribbean International experience. Our guests consistently tell us that this type of special interaction with our crew and the exceptional service they receive creates memories that last a lifetime and are the reason they keep coming back to us."

Royal Caribbean has announced the Winter 2013-2014 itineraries for Explorer of the Seas.  Explorer of the Seas will continue sailing out of Cape Liberty, New Jersey where it is home ported throughout the year.

Explorer of the Seas will begin with an 11-night Southern Caribbean cruise, departing Nov. 3, 2013, which calls at San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Antigua and St. Kitts. Vacationers also can choose a range of nine- or 10-night itineraries that take guests to three paradisiacal Eastern Caribbean ports, plus Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s private beach destination on the north coast of Haiti. Eastern Caribbean ports include San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, St. Kitts and Samana in the Dominican Republic.

In addition, passengers can choose to cruise on 7-night cruises to the Bahamas, with stops at Nassau, Bahamas; Port Canaveral, Fla.; and Royal Caribbean’s private island CocoCay. The Dec. 22 and 29 departure will see guests celebrating Christmas and New Year’s Day, respectively, at Nassau; while the Mar. 21, 2014 sailing will offer guests an eighth night at sea.

In April 2014, Explorer of the Seas will offer a pair of five-night Bermuda and nine-night Bermuda and Caribbean itineraries. The shorter sailing features an overnight at Kings Wharf, while the longer itinerary calls at Kings Wharf, St. Maarten, San Juan and Labadee.

Royal Caribbean has selected managed communications specialist Harris CapRock Communications to handle its fleet-wide communications.  

The five year deal provides hybrid satellite and terrestrial communication systems that will enable Royal Caribbean to improve overall communications performance while enhancing guest experience and crew morale.

For its part, Harris CapRock will deploy a fully managed VSAT and terrestrial communications system that will enable access to Royal Caribbean's corporate network and business applications, broadband internet, and telephony services.

The hybrid service combines Ku-band, C-band and shore mobile connectivity, designed so that the ships can switch from one preferred platform to another to maximise service availability and avoid downtime. Each ship will be equipped with two or three of Harris CapRock's stabilised VSAT antenna systems.

After Royal Caribbean refurbishes Brilliance of the Seas in the spring of 2013, it plans on sending her to the United Kingdom later that year.

Brilliance of the Seas will offer eight 12-night cruises to Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea out of Harwich, England starting May 15, 2013. These voyages will include stops at Copenhagen; Stockholm; Helsinki; Talinn, Estonia; Gothenburg, Sweden; and an overnight in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Brilliance of the Seas also will operate a single 11-night Norwegian Fjords and Iceland itinerary departing July 27, 2013 that will call at Bergen and Geiranger, Norway; Lerwick/Shetland, Scotland; Klaksvik, Faroe Islands; and Reykjavik, Iceland (for an overnight stop). The ship will be based in Harwich through Aug. 31, 2013, when it will depart for Boston on a 15-night itinerary that will include calls at Le Havre, France; Portland, Dorset, U.K.; Cork (Cobh) and Dublin, Ireland; Klaksvik; and Reykjavik.

Brilliance of the Seas is scheduled to spend the summer 2012 sailing to Northern Europe out of Copenhagen and Amsterdam. 

The Port of Gijón, Spain will host the docking of Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas tomorrow.  This will be the first cruise of the season and will bring the city 2,435 passengers and 765 crew.

The Royal Caribbean ship will dock at North Pier Extension area, from Vigo bound for Portland (United States).

This is the same ship that opened last year the springs in the area of enlargement, reports the Port Authority of Gijón.

This is the first of nine cruise ships expected this year will host the Port of Gijón, reinforcing the role that has been gaining in recent years in passenger traffic.

Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas will homeport in Messina this summer and the mayor officially welcomed the new ship.  At a ceremony this morning, Messina Mayor Giuseppe Buzzanca celebrated the occasion along with the Commissioner of the Port Authority, Dario Lo Bosco, and the Director General of Royal Caribbean Cruises John Rotondo.

The choice by Royal Caribbean of Messina confirmed the strengthening of the commitment on the peninsula and the eye towards the markets of southern Italy, allowing Royal Caribbean to serve 14 ports in Italy.

Navigator of the Seas will visit Messina each week for 27 times between May and October, transporting 84,000 passengers during its  7-night itineraries in the Eastern Mediterranean