The cruise business was good for Royal Caribbean in the Middle East, as the company reported a record year of business for Middle Eastern cruises in 2011.  The amount of guests Royal Caribbean saw rose 34% compared to the previous year.

Europe remained the most popular destination for passengers from the Middle East. with approximately 75 percent of all bookings from the region were made for European cruises.   Following Europe was the Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean's Executive Director of the Middle East, Lakshmi Durai, commented on the news, "All markets performed well and showed positive growth compared to last year.  We are very happy with the support we get from travel agencies around the region and our education programme as well as marketing and PR activities are successfully demonstrating the advantages of cruising as a holiday option for guests in the Middle East."

For the 2010/2011 cruise season, 135 ships brought a total of around 375,000 passengers to Dubai. Abu Dhabi received 78 calls by cruise liners with around 140,000 passengers disembarking and 109 cruise ships called at Muscat Port carrying 340,000 passengers in 2010.

Some bad weather in the Caribbean yesterday forced Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas to miss a port of call.  Freedom of the Seas was scheduled to stop at Grand Cayman yesterday but instead took a sea day.

The main reason for not stopping at Grand Cayman was the waves were too big for tenders to safely transport passengers to and from the ship.

Freedom of the Seas was the only Royal Caribbean ship affected by the foul weather, whereas five Carinval Cruise ships and a Norwegian Cruise Line ship had to alter their itineraries in one way or another.

Legend of the Seas kick started the start of cruise travel between the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong with a 5-night cruise to Hong Kong and Taiwan from Xiamen, China on October 19th.

Two thousand passengers boarded the Vision class ship and it's the first cruise route with Xiamen as the port of embarkation.

A total of 21 cruise routes (13 start from Xiamen) will be launched from March to October next year to cover trips to Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Thanks to an increased demand in the Persian Gulf region, Royal Caribbean has decided to extend its third consecutive season in the Gulf to six months.  This will run from November 2011 through April 2012 and will be the longest season ever for Royal Caribbean in the region.  

Cruises during this season will be comprised of 18 round trip 7-night sailings and two Dubai and India 12-nights sailings.  Brilliance will starts her 7-night itineraries in Dubai, then sail to Fujairah and dock in Muscat, where guests can enjoy an overnight stay in the port. Brilliance then continues with a sea day, via Abu Dhabi and then back to Dubai.

In addition, Royal Caribbean is the only cruise line in the region that will offer two new 12-night sailings that include stops in India.  Coming from Dubai, Brilliance of the Seas will spend three days at sea before stopping in Goa, New Mangalore and Cochin before docking in Muscat and then sailing back to Dubai.

The Allure of the Seas will be the backdrop for a new TV travel series hosted by comedian Paul Merton in the United Kingdom.  The Channel 5 show, Paul Merton’s Adventures, is begins on Wednesday October 19 at 9pm.

Merton will take a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's mega-shop and will showcase Merton's onboard activities such as zip lining.

During the filming, Merton was impressed by the size of the ship, "I was amazed by the vastness of the vessel. You only appreciate how tall the ship is when you disembark and realise you’ve been in a floating tower block.”

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas was the site for the premiere of DreamWorks' new animated film, "Puss in Boots" and Hollywood's celebrities showed up for the event.

Stars of the film Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek walked the red carpet along with the film's director, Chris Miller, and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Joining them was Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein.

Katzenberg described the process to create the film as needing 400 artists working for four years to complete the project.  Puss in Boots is a prequel to the events of the Shrek fims.

The movie premiere was described as the first-ever movie premiere at sea.

Royal Caribbean Australia is helping to provide fun experience for the children of Camp Quality, a camp for children who are living with cancer.  Recently, Royal Caribbean held a fun day aboard Rhapsody of the Seas when it was docked in Sydney harbor.  

Royal Caribbean's Public Relations Consultants, Gail D'Arcy of The D'Arcy Partnership, spoke about the experience, ""We invited not just the children who were unwell and their parents, but their siblings, who also share the stress of living with someone with cancer.  The staff at Adventure Ocean kids' club were on hand to welcome our young guests, who spent the morning there and at the rock-climbing wall. Everyone had lunch in the main dining room and spent the afternoon in the swimming pool. It was such a great success, we did it again in Sydney in December that year."

In the coming year, Royal Caribbean will hold similar events aboard Radiance of he Seas when ti joins Rhapsody of the Seas from October until April 2012.

D'Arcy says Royal Caribbean will donate a nine-night South Pacific cruise aboard Rhapsody of the Seas again this November. Last November it gave Camp Quality a cruise to Noumea and Isle of Pines, to go to a family that deserved a holiday.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein spoke with the media following meetings with New South Wales, Australian authorities.  Goldstein urged the leaders in New South Waves to do more, as they have "not fully taken on" the responsibility they have for the future of the cruising industry in Australia because of local issues.

Goldstein feels that Australia is starting to realize the economic benefits cruising brings to the country but it needs to do more to secure its spot.  Goldstein said he has witnessed a "greater determination" by Australia since his last visit in 2009 but there's still more the country can do.

“I am not sure that New South Wales fully understands how critical it is that the cruising equation be right here in Sydney not only for its own benefit but for the benefit of the country,” he said. “Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and other cities will all benefit if Sydney is a robust hub of the cruise wheel but I don’t think the leadership in New South Wales has fully taken that on yet. They are very focused on their own issues and their own opportunities rather than viewing it in a more holistic way.”

Goldstein did say Royal Caribbean was involved in "preliminary discussions" about long term infrastructure issues as well as “touching on a number” of possible solutions, but declined to elaborate any further.

Royal Caribbean's reservation center in Wichita, Kansas is looking to hire 100 new employees starting this fall.  Royal Caribbean is looking to prepare for the busy winter seas and this fall will begin the hiring process, according to Royal Caribbean's Director of Trade Support and Services, Mike Semier.

"We're gearing up for 2012.  Our first three months are our busiest times."

"Our hiring comes in phases, but we haven't had this big of a hiring push in a few years," Semler said. "Celebrity does have some new ships coming onboard, and business has been pretty resilient to the economy. The good news is that people still value their vacation time."

The jobs are entry level positions with pay starting at $9.89 per hour with benefits after 90 days.

Those interested can visit http://jobs.rccl.com to apply

Royal Caribbean announced that Voyager of the Seas will receive the DreamWorks Experience package next year after the cruise giant reached an agreement with DreamWorks to extend the agreement that was already in place.  Voyager of the Seas will soon offer DreamWorks parades, character breakfasts and other special events.

Voyager of the Seas will become the fifth ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet to receive the DreamWorks addon.  Royal Caribbean is hoping the addon will give Royal Caribbean more interest in the Asian cruise market as Voyager of the Seas debuts in Asia next year.  

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein spoke about the new deal, “Expanding the DreamWorks Experience to Voyager of the Seas further illustrates our commitment to the China market, and the Asia and Australia region. This is really going to set us apart as an international cruise line that delivers the very best in family entertainment for guests around the world."