Last month, the town of Rockland, Maine announced it was going to increase its fee for passengers that arrive on cruise ships from $1 to $6 and that didn't leave Royal Caribbean happy, as they complained the new measures did not give the cruise line enough time in advance to react to the changes and felt the fee hike was unfair. 

On Monday night, the Rockland city council voted 3-2 to reverse its decision, however, the decision only applies to Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas.  Jewel of the Seas will arrive in Rockland in October. This is a short-term victory for Royal Caribbean, who will not have to foot the bill for the difference in the rate increase, but the future of Royal Caribbean's presence in the town or even the area may still be in doubt.

There's a new report that Jewel of the Seas has been struck by the norovirus once more.

Approximately 86 passengers were suffering symptoms of the dreaded gastro bug aboard the Royal Caribbean ship which arrived in Harwich today.

Earlier this month there was a report of Jewel of the Seas being affected by the norovirus where 292 guests and 16 staff members were affected by the virus.  Royal Caribbean is once again giving the ship an “extensive and thorough sanitization”.

Royal Caribbean has offered cruises to the New England coast area as well as Canada's eastern coast for some years now but ports in the area as projecting elevated number of cruisers to be visiting this year.

"Maine ports are expecting 335 cruise ship calls this year, up from 281 last year. Ports in the Canadian Maritimes and in Newfoundland are projecting 467 calls, 84 more than in 2009. Boston is anticipating a record 300,000-plus cruise ship passengers to pass through its port."

Currently three Royal Caribbean ships serve New England, including Jewel of the Seas (out of Boston), Explorer of the Seas (out of Bayonne, NJ) and Enchantment of the Seas (out of Balitmore).  For those looking for something a little different than just a cruise to the Caribbean, a summer cruise to the northeast can be a fun and exciting opportunity. Interestingly enough, the peak season for a New England cruise is early fall, which coincides with the changing of the autumn leaves, which can make for some really pretty landscapes.

"September and October remain the peak months for cruise ship trips, but more ships are now showing up in the region in July and August and earlier."

A user on Cruises.co.uk is reporting that their cruise aboard Jewel of the Seas has had an outbreak of norovirus onboard.  Those passengers that are scheduled to sail on Jewel of the Seas on June 12, 2010 have been informed that they should arrive late because embarkation will start at 4:30pm instead as no passengers will be allowed on board before that time.  

In addition, the ship is going through "enhanced sanitizing" on Saturday and that if any passengers have had gastrointestinal symptoms within the last three days, they should consider rescheduling their cruise.

Royal Caribbean, as well as other cruise lines, take the threat of norovirus very seriously.  Norovirus, or norwalk gastroenteritis, is transmitted by the fecal-oral route via contaminated water and foods.