Royal Caribbean has canceled port stops for the Oasis of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas in St. Thomas and St. Maarten. The passengers on the Oasis of the Seas will have the biggest effect to their route.

The Oasis of the Seas will spend Monday and Tuesday at sea, leaves on Wednesday to Costa Maya and Cozumel on Thursday after, as planned before it goes back to Fort Lauderdale. The Freedom of the Seas will be diverted on Wednesday to Grand Cayman on Thursday and is also in Cozumel.

Representatives of seven U.S. cruise companies will visit Alicante, Spain from September 22-24 to explore the possibilities of the port and the city for inclusion in the scales of their cruises.

At the Port of Alicante, employers will provide a detailed tour of the municipality, which includes a visit to the port facilities and various destinations in the city and the province suitable for cruisers trips.

The group is made up of directors of Royal Caribbean, Silversea, Windstar Cruises, Princess Cruises, Crystal Cruises, The World and NCL. They all pose a significant potential to attract cruise ship tourists, so the visit will be crucial for the interests of the Port and the city.

Result of relations with one of them, Royal Caribbean, owner of  Independence of the Seas, visited yesterday the Port of Alicante, with a passage more than 4,000 travelers who had the opportunity to many excursions in Alicante and its province. The ship, which came from Palma de Mallorca, afternoon sail to Lisbon, from where they sail back north to their summer base in Southampton.

Launched in 2008, the Independence of the Seas will return to dock in Alicante on 29 August.

Royal Caribbean is posed to name its second female cruise ship Captain aboard its Vision of the Seas ship later this month.  Lis Lauritzen is the woman who will command the ship.

Lauritzen follows in the footsteps of Karin Stahre-Janson, who is Captain of the Monarch of the Seas.  She was promoted to that rank in March 2007, becoming the first female captain of a major cruise ship.

Since Stahre-Janson, two other cruise lines have appointed woman to be in charge of cruise ships, including P&O Cruises and Cunard Line in 2010.

Royal Caribbean is bringing back its sports and fitness program for this year's cruise season, called "Royal Life". With cruises out of Santos, Brazil on January 27 and Rio de Janeiro on January 28, the goal is to combine leisure cruise vacation, wellness and health care. On board, passengers will be able to exercise, attend lectures on nutritional counseling and relaxation.

For a week, adults and children will hold various activities overlooking the sea and the beautiful beaches of Brazil. The cruise participants will attend spinning classes, rhythms, hydrobike, pilates, yoga (at sea and ashore), kids yoga and contest for the whole family. To help keep in shape, the ship's menus will have options for eating lighter and healthier. In this new edition to be in charge of new partnerships between the Royal and renowned professionals in the areas of sports, wellness and nutrition

The Royal Life cruise costs from R$ 203.80 10x + R$ 81.52 per person, no fees, inside cabin double. The feeding schedule and activities are included.  

Royal Caribbean has selected Gianni Rotondo to lead Royal Caribbean's Italy office and be in charge of the development of the Italian market. Lina Mazzucco held the position with Royal Caribbean Italy since 2005, and will pass the baton to Gianni Rotondo, who has joined Royal Caribbean three months ago.

"After 6 years of activity in this great company I decided it was time to leave to pursue other routes. I carry with me all the experiences and challenges, the people with whom I have worked in recent years and the rewards, including one of all: to have ten times the number of Italian guests on our ship," says Lina Mazzucco "hope Gianni professional satisfaction and the same passion. "

With over 30 years of experience in the travel and a degree in Law, Round arrives from Atahotels Royal Spa, an independent Italian chain of hotels, where occupying the role of commercial director. Before that, he was general manager of the Northern European markets in London and Alitalia CEO of lastminute.com Italy, and CEO of Easy Market Spa.

"The Italian market has experienced strong growth in demand from consumers Italians, for all the brands of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd and Royal Caribbean International in particular." Said Michael Bayley, executive vice president, international, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "We have great confidence in the new general manager. Gianni has all the personal qualities and professional and managerial skills that we need to pursue our growth strategy in Italy."

"It 'an important time for growth of the Italian market," says Gianni Rotondo, " and European company, which will expand its activities in 2012 with 23 new ports in seven countries. This result is undoubtedly the result of passion and commitment with which Lina Mazzucco has guided the company in recent years. Following the precious example of Lina, who preceded me in this challenge, I will do my best to give further impetus to the company and increase brand value. "

The Genoa office of Royal Caribbean has about 30 employees, including sales, marketing and business operations, management of the 3 brands: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises Club.

Mariner of the Seas in March has arrived for the first time in the Mediterranean to Civitavecchia, where he remained until the end of October, offering 7-night cruises calling at Cannes, Ajaccio, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.

At Royal Caribbean's second quarter 2011 quarterly results yesterday, Royal Caribbean announced an accounting error that has resulted in double digit drop in Royal Caribbean's stock price.  Today, corporate litigators Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is investigating potential claims concerning whether Royal Caribbean and certain of its officers and directors have violated federal securities laws.

Royal Caribbean had said it would have to revise prior statements because of an error in the way it accounted for interest expense for amortizing financing fees. It reduced its full-year earning guidance by 10 cents per share even without the accounting change, and by 20 cents per share with the change. On this news, shares of Royal Caribbean plunged 10%, or over $3.25 per share.

MSNBC posted a column lamenting the decline in the amount of food that is included on cruise ships these days and used Royal Caribbean as an example. Citing the increasing cost of specialty restaurants, author Sean O'Neill pointed out how cruise lines like Royal Caribbean are emphasizing more and more the specialty restaurants that cost extra.

The large part of O'Neill's point was centered around Rita's Cantina and the Seafood Shack, found on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas (among other ships not mentioned). 

Passengers used to pay $8 for meals at Rita's Cantina, for instance. They'll now pay a fee of $3 to dine at the restaurant and then pay a price for each item ordered a la carte, too. The 15 percent gratuity isn't included either. 

O'Neill feels that neither Rita's nor the Seafood Shack constitute "premium restaurants" and the quality of the food is low enough that it ought to be included in the price of the cruise.  Adding insult to injury, O'Neill points out that the prices have gone up too with Royal Caribbean's recent decision to charge a restaurant fee and an a la carte charge.

What really concerns O'Neill is the path he thinks the cruise lines are going down of serving worse and worse food in the main dining rooms so that guests will feel more inclined to pay extra for the good food.

Yet the danger here is that all cruise lines will begin to serve sub-standard food in their main dining rooms. After all, by making the dining hall experience less attractive, a company can make more money by upselling customers on fee-based meals elsewhere on-board.

O'Neill was sure to point out that this trend isn't limited to Royal Caribbean, he was simply using it as an example of a trend happening all over the cruise industry.

According to a Wikileaks message released by the site, the Bahamas government attempted to convince Royal Caribbean to build a cruise port on the island of Great Inagua, exploiting that island's 50,000 pink flamingos.

The message from February 23, 2004 indicates former Bahemian Prime Minister Perry Christie met with United States Ambassador Robert Witajewski and discussed the plans.  Christie was hoping Inagua's flamingo population would give the island a competitive advantage in attracting cruise ship passengers.

Witajewski's report to Washington also mentioned, "The Prime Minister also revealed that he was in negotiations to conclude an agreement with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line to build a deep water port at Great Inagua".

The report continued, "Though the island is currently barren, it is home to more than 50,000 pink flamingos, a huge Morton Salt plant and at least one nice beach. He was hoping that the flamingo national park would provide cruise ship passengers with an interesting diversion to the normal Caribbean port of call.

"Christie took on board charge's suggestion that costs of constructing a base on Great Inagua could effectively be reduced if any Royal Caribbean construction were to be made part of the Government of the Bahamas' plans."

That refers to plans also unveiled by Prime Minister Christie to construct a strategic Defence Force base at Inagua, in an attempt to combat drug and illegal immigrant trafficking, plus fisheries poaching.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain spoke with CruiseMates about the company's decision to move more of its ships to Australia and the reasons for the change.  

In 2012, 2 Royal Caribbean ships (Rhapsody of the Seas, Radiance of the Seas) and 2 Celebrity ships will call upon Australia for a number of cruises.

Asked about the potential for over-saturing the Australian cruise market, Fain seemed confident that Royal Caribbean could easily adjust, "Keep in mind the flexibility of our product. If something does not work out we can always change our plans and put our ships somewhere else."

Asked if Royal Caribbean considers what other competitors are doing or if the decision to move ships to an area is based purely on Royal Caribbean, Fain responded, "We really just look at our own brand."

A large group of senior policymakers from Liguria and Genoa, with the Mayor Marta Vincenzi, Claudio Burlando, President of the Region and President of the Port Louis Merlo, welcomed with great enthusiasm the first stop in Genoa of Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas.  Mariner of the Seas will make seven stops during this summer, while 14 are expected in 2012, for a total of 60,000 passengers.

In addition, as announced by Lina Mazzucco, general manager Royal Caribbean in Italy, "the company could become a shareholder of the passenger terminal of the Maritime Station, saw the new commitment of the port of Genoa."

At the first port of Genoa, Mariner of the Seas was also the scene of an opportunity to present the Royal Caribbean's partnership with the Telethon Foundation, a group that conducts research on genetic diseases.  Along with the testimonial of the initiative in Genoa - Olympic gold medalists Valentina Vezzali, Juri Chechi, Antonio Rossi. Royal Caribbean's Director of cruises in Italy, Lina  Mazzucco has provided details of the collaboration, which will be held with regular donations by Royal Caribbean, charity dinner on board ships arriving in Italy, and hospitality on board for the regular meetings of researchers from the Foundation.