Representatives from Royal Caribbean along with five other cruise lines visited the port of Santander, Spain today in a reconnaissance trip being made to the tourist area in the north of Spain.

Today and tomorrow, these representatives will look at tourist destinations in Cantabria Santander, Santoña, Laredo, Castro Urdiales, Park Cabárceno Soplao Cave, Altamira, Santillana del Mar, Comillas and San Vicente de la Barquera.

The visit is organized by Cruise Forum, an organization for the promotion of Santander as a destination for cruise ships and to improve the quality of services received by the passengers of such vessels on its scale in the port of Santander.

Thanks to the rapid growth of the Spanish cruise market, Royal Caribbean has created a new position of Regional Head of Sales, North Central Spain, including Madrid, Castillaand León, La Rioja, Navarra, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country.

The new position will be occupied by Andres Zambrano, who takes position after more than two years playing the role of Account Manager, has a spotless reputation and extensive experience in the sector.  His leadership has allowed him to assume the role of Regional Head of Sales for Central and Northern region of Spain, a strategic location for the company with great growth potential, primarily due to the arrival this year of Liberty of the Seas Barcelona and the Adventure of the Seas, which starts operating at the port of Valencia.

Andres Zambrana, as a strong figure of the sales team at Royal Caribbean, will bring its experience and its treatment and experienced team and good relationships with travel agencies in these areas in order to strengthen and further expand the success of Royal Caribbean in the Central and North of the country.

Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, the largest cruise ships that sail the Mediterranean, for the first time has docked at the Port of Alicante from Palma de Mallorca before going back to England via Lisbon, according to reported in a statement the Port Authority of Alicante.

The arrival of Independence of the Seas to the Port of Alicante has had a special welcome event that fused traditional and new technologies. Specifically, an exhibition of traditional crafts of the province - pottery, white palm, rolls, cobblers and basket weaving teachers - combined with the use of the latest technology to interact with passengers.

The technological tools developed, a pioneer in the cruise industry, has allowed passengers Independence of the Seas the application instant download of Puerto de Alicante tourist for next generation mobile phones by scanning QR codes.

The chairman of the Port Authority of Alicante, Miguel Campoy, with this technology is available to cruise passengers "all available information regarding the cultural, culinary products and services in the province."

A QR Code (Quick Response Barcode) is a system for storing information in a two-dimensional bar code. Such codes, whose use is already widespread in countries like the U.S. or Japan, gradually replace the current barcode.

The recent inclusion of totally free software that reads QR codes in physical smartphones allows a wide range of new services aimed at tourists. Amenities generated by this new technological application highlights the ease of use by not having to manually enter data on the phones.

Thus, users with capture devices and programs can access content without typing a URL, or access through a browser.

Yesterday was the first stop of Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas in Ravenna, Italy which made it's first stop at the brand new cruise terminal that Royal Caribbean has a share in.

The stop in Ravenna was the first ever for Voyager of the Seas and she will be returning again as she is scheduled to make 20 calls in the port of Romagna, which will bring almost 77,000 passengers.

To mark the occasion, on June 20 there will be an official presentation to celebrate the inaugural season at the cruise terminal.  From May to October in Ravenna will be operating three ships of the fleet for a total of 25 airports and nearly 90 thousand passengers handled.

Royal Caribbean has just embarked on becoming the largest operator at the cruise port in Malaga with a challenge on the horizon of moving 75,000 passengers.

The company opened its third season in Manchester and the second with the ship Adventure of the Seas , a veritable floating city where passengers enjoy experiences such as skating on an ice rink, climbing or attend a show worthy of the billboard Broadway.

This ship was activated an operation that provides up to 28 outputs from the port of Malaga cruise one week until the end of next October.  Malaga thus constitutes the second most important point of embarkation for Spain for Royal Caribbean, behind Barcelona.

The ship Adventure of the Seas has planned seven-night cruise sailing the Mediterranean and visiting cities such as Rome, Pisa / Florence, Ajaccio in Corsica, Malaga and Valencia.  The novelty of the season is that in autumn, the ship carried four-night short breaks from Manchester visiting Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Marc Pedrol, communications director for Royal Caribbean's goal this year is to consolidate Málaga a product that is working well and that has permeated the force.  Pedrol reported that in 2010 the ship moved 63,000 passengers in Malaga, of which 38,000 were Spanish. This year the challenge will reach 75,000 passengers in Malaga, of which half will be Spanish.

An important market in which Royal Caribbean wants to focus this year, with reinforcement of personnel and marketing activities, is the capital of Spain. The idea is to turn the port of Malaga from Madrid who love cruise travel.

Thus, the ship keeps the agreement reached with the railway operator Renfe that allows them to check their luggage at Madrid's Atocha station before boarding the AVE Malaga direction and find the bags in their cabins.

According Pedrol, 'this year we have ahead of departures from Manchester compared to last year and have changed the itineraries in the fall season. We are delighted with the response and hope to continue growing in this city. "

Photo by italyheaven

Royal Caribbean is planning on offering direct cruise connection from London's Stansted airport in June by utilizing British Airways charter flights to make a connection to Venice, Italy.

These flights will connect to a seven-night Adriatic sailing on Voyager of the Seas.

Jo Rzymowska, Royal Caribbean's United Kingdom and Ireland general manger, says the move comes in response to guest demand, “Feedback from cruise travellers tells us that convenient flight connections are a factor when selecting their next cruise experience.

“Around 6.7 million people live in Stansted’s main catchment area, putting our cruise connections onto the doorstep of millions of potential customers.  

“The new service will deliver an efficient route for thousands of UK cruisers to begin their holiday immediately on the day of departure”.

A positive start to the season for Splendour of the Seas, her first year season cruising from Venice and she is ready to go. Splendour of the Seas is the first ship of Royal Caribbean's fleet to dock at the port of Venice in 2011 and opened a major new cruise season for the brand.

At Movimenterà alone, nearly 60,000 passengers embarked from the port of Venice 29 times for 10 and 11-night cruises to Greece and Croatia until November 2011. Voyager of the Seas arrives on May 21, Brilliance of the Seas May 25. From April to November, there will be seven ships of Royal Caribbean that pass through the capital of Veneto, for a total of 113 airports and handling over 320,000 passengers.

"Year after year, Venice increasingly consolidates its leading role in planning for Royal Caribbean - says Lina Mazucco, CEO Cruises Ltd RCL Italy -. 2011 in particular will be a golden year for the former Maritime Republic, which will nearly double the flow of Royal Caribbean cruise: from about 170,000 last year, we expect to reach over 320,000 this year. "

The Port of Barcelona will welcome on Saturday the largest cruise ship in its history and the largest in the Mediterranean: Liberty of the Seas. Liberty of the Seas is 339 meters long and can accommodate over 4,300 passengers and 1,400 crew members.

The ship is the third largest in the world and will operate from Terminal B Pier Townhouse to September period when Cruise made four, five and seven-night Mediterranean Barcelona port.

The ship has peculiarities as a surf simulator, a climbing wall, basketball court and ice, a theater for 1,350 spectators, 10 restaurants, 16 bars, basketball courts, mini golf, gym and spa, as well as an internal drive shopping longer than a football field.

At the Sicily Travel Expo, Royal Caribbean announced that it will be in Sicily for the first time. In 2011, five vessels will be transitioning to Messina, Sicily which can bring nearly 160,000 passengers.

Palermo will be the first port of call for Grandeur of the Seas May 20, 2011. Mariner of the Seas, in her debut year in the Mediterranean Sea, will touch only once a Palermo October 1. On October 8, it will be Brilliance of the Seas' turn. The cruise season will close the Navigator of the Seas, for the first time in Palermo on October 24.