Tropical Storm Gert formed in the Atlantic last week and has caused a delay for Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas.
A Royal Caribbean representative indicated that Explorer of the Seas was scheduled to dock at King's Wharf, Bermuda at 9am today but its arrival was delayed due to the storm. Royal Caribbean is still expecting Explorer of the Seas to arrive in Bermuda later on today.
ATM fees have become a nuisance we've all come to deal with but some ATM fees are worse than others but in Bankrate.com's 2010 Checking Study, it was revealed that Royal Caribbean is among the worst.
The study looked at ATM fees across the United States and said the average ATM fee is roughly $2.33. Hotels, however, ranked consistantly higher than the median fee with cruise ships (floating hotels) were particularly high. On cruise ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, for example, expect to pay $5.50 for the privilege of using the ATM, plus your own bank's "off-us" charge.
If you're looking to avoid ATM fees, experts recommend getting enough cash before your cruise from your local bank or credit union. And if you need more money, using debit or credit cards are a good way to avoid ATM fees.
Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas makes stops in Busan, South Korea and that has meant a lot of money for the city. How much money? Well, of the 1,800 passengers onboard the ship, all but 250 were foreign tourists and each foreign tourist represents on average $140 to $180. That comes out to an economic impact for each ship stop of about $267,000.
Lee Gap-jun, head of Busan’s culture and tourism department talks about the value of cruise passengers, "According to research from the Korea Maritime Institute, the added value of one cruise ship passenger is equivalent to that of exporting one container box. If there’s a constant increase in cruise ships entering the port of Busan, it will translate into economic growth for the city of Busan.”
Thanks to Busan's success, other South Korean cities are competing now to attract ships like Legend of the Seas, including Incheon, Jeju and Yeosu.
Cruise Compare published its list of the top five family cruise liners and Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas made their list. The list was compiled from input from the websites' social networking fans.
Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the SeasOasis of the Seas was picked for having a lot for the family to do, including an ice rink, tropical gardens, Zip Line’s carousel, youth zone, DreamWorks Experience and water park.
Two Royal Caribbean workers from the West Indies appeared in a Bermuda court on August 12, charged with drug importation. One of the men plead guilty while the other defendant pleaded not guilty. Both men were remanded into custody.
The two workers were charged with importing an estimated 200 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of just over $52,000. Crown Counsel Tawana Tannock told the court the drugs were found in the soles of the shoes worn by one of the men as he disembarked from the Royal Caribbean ship earlier this month. A search revealed a small brown package in each shoe.
North America has been the perennial leader in cruising for so many years now but Royal Caribbean's Chairman Richard Fain thinks that will change. During the launch of Celebrity Cruise's newest ship (Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity Cruises), Fain made this profound prediction, "Next year, the rest of the world will book more cruises than North America".
Given how Royal Caribbean has distributed its fleet in recent years, it's really no surprise. Half of Royal Caribbean's fleet is based in Europe. In addition, Royal Caribbean is adding capacity in Asia and Australia and they're also opening sales offices in the countries from which its ships will cruise.
With high airfares, many North Americans chose not to cruise in Europe this year, and many believe the strength in the Alaska market is a result of that reluctance.
After Royal Caribbean announced an accounting error during its Second Quarter 2011 fiscal results last month, the stock price dropped 13% that day and that's left one group upset to the point they are suing Royal Caribbean with making a series of materially false and misleading statements related to the Company’s business and operations in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Law firm Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC filed s class action suit against Royal Caribbean on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Royal Caribbean between January 27, 2011 and July 28, 2011 in a Miami court last week. Other law firms are investing the matter, such as Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP and Pomerantz Haudek Grossman & Gross LLP.
Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain says he was “embarrassed” by the error, which was made in 2009 and discovered by the company’s internal accounting team. Royal Caribbean asserts it has revised its past financial statements, it did not restate its prior earnings, and claimed the statements are now valid.
Royal Caribbean's newest marketing campaign in the United Kingdom will focus on the onboard activities found on its ships. The new promotion that will debut this fall is named "Pack More into Your Holiday" and will feature activities and other things to do on Royal Caribban's fleet of ships.
Royal Caribbean's Associate Vice President and General Manager of Royal Caribbean International UK and Ireland Jo Rzymowska spoke a little about the new marketing strategy's goals, "Last year sales in late summer and autumn for Royal Caribbean International were healthy. As well as including tactical pricing offers to drive sales, we’re also gunning for improved agent and consumer awareness as to just what a holiday with Royal Caribbean International includes. The new ‘Pack More into Your Holiday’ campaign is designed to make agents reappraise their idea of who might choose a cruise, and encourage them to sell more holidays at sea”. .
During the month of August, the city of Malaga, Spain will celebrate August Fair City, which begins on August 13 and ends the 20th, and the annual celebration will see more than 18,000 cruise passengers pass through.
Specifically, expected to arrive at the port of Malaga is Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas, which has a maximum capacity of 3838 passengers and 1,185 crew, and it will be based out of Malaga. So will both Saturday August 13th and 20th at 06.00am from Ajaccio ( France ) to Malaga and depart the premises, both days at 17.00 bound for Valencia.
The second ship with more capacity - 2446 passengers - will arrive these days at the port of Malaga is the Grandeur of the Seas, on August 18 at 07.00 hours. Its earlier stop Ibiza and Malaga depart at 20.00 hours that same day towards Gibraltar.
The Cruise Shipping Asia conference will take place November 16-18, 2011 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore and Royal Caribbean will be among the participants.
The conference will feature sessions and exhibition showcases that show off pan-Asia's potential as a cruise business sector and source market, focusing on the region from Japan and Korea to China, Taiwan, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Indian subcontinent and Australia.
Royal Caribbean Executive Vice President Michael Bayley thinks there's lots of potential for the cruise giant, "Asia holds promising opportunities for the cruise industry, and the inaugural Cruise Shipping Asia event gives us all a foothold in shaping what comes next. From port infrastructure development to attracting tourists from around the world, our industry can be instrumental in Asia’s future growth.”
The first panel of the conference is entitled “State of the Asian Cruise Industry" and among the panelists will be Michael Bayley.
In the final conference, "Identifying Source Markets", Dr. Zinan Liu, managing director, China & Asia Pacific, for Royal Caribbean will be on the panel.