Royal Caribbean has reached an agreement with local officials to allow cruisers to tour the Arechi Castle (Castello di Arechi) in Salerno, Italy. 

According to agreements reached with representatives of Royal Caribbean, the Castle will be visited by guided tours with stops, tastings of local products.  These tours will be included in the itineraries of 2011 that visit the city.

The Arechi Castle is a massive castle commanding the city from a 300 m  hill. It was enlarged by Arechi II over a pre-existing Roman-Byzantine construction. Today it houses rooms for exhibitions and congresses. The Castle offers a complete and spectacular view of the city and the Gulf of Salerno.

Two-time Canadian silver medallist Vaughn Chipeur has announced he is retiring from competitive figure skating.  Instead of performing in front of judges, the 25 year old will skate in professional shows across Canada before joining the lineup on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

In addition to a pair of second-place finishes at the Canadian championships in 2009 and 2010, Chipeur was fourth in 2008 and seventh in 2007. He was 23rd at the Vancouver Winter Olympic this past February.

It isn't clear which ship he will be joining, but it will be likely limited to the fleet of Royal Caribbean ships that have an ice skating rink, the Oasis, Voyager and Freedom class vessels.

Oasis of the Seas has been in service since December 2009 and it has taken the world by storm with it's impressive assortment of onboard amenities such as the bigger rock wall, Flowrider, carousel and even a zip line.  It's hard to imagine that Royal Caribbean could have put anything else on it but in fact, at one point there were plans to include a roller coaster and a ferris wheel!

Cruisersconnect cites in a recent article from VG by Rune Thomas Ege, CEO of Royal Caribbean Adam Goldstein mentioned the idea for some of these additions. "Imagine the experience (of riding a roller coaster at sea). You are pulled to the top of the ship, and then the roller coaster takes you along the outside of the ship and down towards the ocean as the ship is moving, it would be really spectacular.”

Sounds pretty cool, but after further review, Royal Caribbean nixed the idea because, "Both the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster would probably turn out really expensive, so for the time being we have not moved on with the ideas.”

Royal Caribbean has scheduled its second quarter earnings report for 2010 for July 22, 2010 at 10am eastern. If you're interested in hearing the report live, the call will be available at Royal Caribbean's investor relations web site, www.rclinvestor.com.

If you want to listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. There is no passcode or meeting number. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

Azamara Cruises, a Royal Caribbean subsidiary and specialty cruise line has released its 2011-2012 brochure which features 57 new ports of call. There are lots of new itineraries and options to choose from, but Royal Caribbean seems to have high hopes from its cruise business in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Royal Caribbean Associate Vice President and General Manager for the UK & Ireland, Jo Rzymowska said: “The UK and Irish Market is demonstrating great affinity to the revamped boutique cruise experience and we’re looking to grow the volume of guests from this market sailing with Azamara Club Cruises throughout 2011.”

Royal Caribbean has already been sending lots of its ships to Europe and given the potential in growth that Rzymowska cited, more could be on the way.

Cruise vacations can be great opportunities to see the world and do a lot of interesting and new things, but for some people, they may just simply want a break from the "daily grind" and look to get away from it all.  

Smarter Travel has ranked the best ships for getting away from it all and Royal Caribbean can be found in the list.  Chief among them, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas is ranked as the "Best Ship to Get Lost In".

Why: The biggest ships are roomy enough to disappear into, with entertainment, sightseeing, sports, and activities to suit every sort of personality. Celebrity Cruises, Cunard, Royal Caribbean, MSC Cruises, Princess, Carnival, and Costa all boast ships measuring more than 100,000 tons that carry thousands of passengers. But, of course, none beats the world's largest passenger vessel, with its capacity for 6,296 passengers and 2,394 crew, seven neighborhoods, 16 passenger decks, nearly two dozen restaurants and bars, plus shops, theatres, and a myriad of other public spaces. The ambience on Oasis of the Seas is cordially anonymous: As one Cruise Critic reviewer put it, it's "simply too vast to inspire connections." You can be introduced to someone early on and never cross paths again—and that really is a plus for the loner. Sister ship Allure of the Seas, whose maiden sailing is December 1, 2010, promises more of the same.

Yesterday there was an unfortunate death in St. Thomas, as a 14 year old cruise passenger from a Carnival Cruise Line ship was on a beach excursion to Coki Beach when she was shot to death after being caught in a crossfire by rival gangs. This has prompted other cruise lines to make decisions about the immediate future of excursions on St. Thomas. 

According to CruiseCritic, Royal Caribbean hasn't made their decision yet, "A spokeswoman tells us that the lines do not have any ships in port today, but do tomorrow (Celebrity Solstice). However, a decision has not yet been made regarding tomorrow's tours; we'll keep you posted."

Carnival has cancelled their tours in the area while other cruise lines have not made any decisions yet.

Quick note for those keeping score at home, James E. Shields, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President Finance and Treasurer, has accepted a position at MoneyGram International as their Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective July 13, 2010.

Last month, Royal Caribbean announced it was teaming up with RLJ Companies, Global Building Solutions, LLC and Haiti-based WIN Group to help with the economic reconstruction of Haiti. Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein gave an update on this partnership, saying that "Royal Caribbean will continue to take an active role in Haiti’s long-term rebuilding as promised".

The particular focus in the beginning will be to construct two factories that will build a special kind of structural panel that is hurricane and earthquake resistant, yet economical for applications such as our school project, housing development and other commercial applications.

Bob Johnson, the founder of BET, is working with Royal Caribbean to help with these projects and this partnership is part of a greater goal of Royal Caribbean to help the island nation recover from the mega earthquake that struck the region.  

Oasis of the Seas, the celebrated largest ship in the world and now seven months old, is still generating enough demand to maintain it's premium prices over other ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, according to a report by Majestic Research.  In the report, cabins on Oasis of the Seas are selling for 41% more than the rest of the Royal Caribbean fleet during the current quarter.  Even interior cabins, the cheapest option, sell for typically 69% more.

Majestic Research's Matthew Jacob had this to say about the future outlook for Oasis of the Seas, "We expect the ship will continue to generate strong premiums throughout most of 2010, although premiums appear to be leveling off sequentially".

When Oasis of the Seas debuted in 2009, an interior cabin cost 142% more than a cabin on Royal Caribbean's other ships.  Majestic Research reports that the premium dropped to 112% in the first quarter of 2010 and then to 74% in the second quarter of the year.

This trend should continue until December 2010 when Allure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas' sister ship, debuts.

So this sounds like great news for Royal Caribbean, right?  Well, the bad news is Majestic Research says the higher prices on Oasis come at the cost of cannibalizing the premium for cabins found on the rest of Royal Caribbean's fleet.  

Jacob says Freedom class ships have seen their premium for interior cabins versus the rest of the Royal Caribbean fleet shrink to 4% during the current quarter from 27% during the same quarter last year (the last full quarter prior to the launch of Oasis). Celebrity's Solstice class ships have seen their premiums decline to 22% during the current quarter from 68% during the same quarter a year ago, he says.