Royal Caribbean held its annual shareholder meeting yesterday in Miami, Florida.  Here are the results of the 2011 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

• The shareholders..
  • elected each of Laura D.B. Laviada, Eyal M. Ofer, William K. Reilly and Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen to serve as Class III directors of Royal Caribbean for a term of three years each
  • approved on an advisory basis the compensation of the Royal Caribbean's named executive officers
  • approved a three-year frequency for holding future shareholder advisory votes on named executive officer compensation
  • ratified the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as Royal Caribbean's independent registered public accounting firm for 2011
  • rejected the shareholder proposal to hold future advisory votes on non-executive director compensation

Royal Caribbean announced today that it will open a new corporate office in Paris, France in July 2011 due to "increasing local demand and as part of the company's international growth strategy".

The head of this new office will be Frederic Martinez, who joins the cruise giant after a career in marketing, commercial and management roles for American Express and Air France-KLM.

Royal Caribbean's new corporate office will be located Blvd. Haussmann in Paris' central business district and will include sales, marketing and commercial operations personnel to serve the company's three cruise brands: Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises.  Prior to opening this new office, Royal Caribbean's presence in France was limited to an international representative office.

Cruisers sailing on Royal Caribbean in 2012 will have some new sailings to choose from from three French ports - LeHavre, Toulon and Marseille.  The European deployment is adding numerous departures and overall, Royal Caribbean International is adding 23 ports in seven additional countries to its European schedule. 

Royal Caribbean Executive Vice President Michael Bayley talked about the new office and its goals, "We know that our guests from France enjoy our brands, products and destination offerings.  Frederic is tasked with growing the business and responding to customer demand in France on issues such as enhanced product offerings during July and August, and creating fly and cruise packages for the Caribbean."

Royal Caribbean has started a promotion to create a special announcement commemorating his two years in Brazil.

"You are the star of two years of Royal Caribbean" will be the campaign running with a photo of a guest of the company.  To enter the contest, the participant must upload a photo of him or herself on board a Royal Caribbean ship to any of its social media outlets (facebook, twitter, flickr, orkut, picasa, etc.) and send a link to the email address [email protected].

The best photo wins a mini cruise on board the Vision of the Seas will be the subject of the announcement and celebration.

Royal Caribbean will once again have a cruise presence in New Orleans, Louisiana as Voyager of the Seas is set to arrive in the Port of New Orleans in November 2011 for seven-night trips to the western Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean's return to New Orleans will be its first sailing since 2007 and voyages will continue through April 2012.

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas picked up 9 Cubans in a small boat while on their way back to Florida.  

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said in a statement that eight men and one woman were spotted in a boat near the northern tip of Cuba at around 2pm on Saturday. The Cubans were brought on board and given food, water and medical treatment.  The United States Coast Guard picked up the Cubans after a few hours.

The rescue was announced to cruise passengers by the ship's Captain while it was happening.

A 17-year-old girl from Pennsylvannia is accusing a Royal Caribbean singer aboard Navigator of the Seas of getting her drunk and then raping her.

The girl's family filed a civil lawsuit against Royal Caribbean in federal court in Miami.  The family also reported the incident to the FBI, but no criminal charges appear to have been filed.

The girl alleges that on March 5, while onboard the Navigator of the Seas, she was listening to a band when the singer invited her to dance.  The singer later ordered several alcoholic drinks at the bar.  In the lawsuit, neither the singer nor the bartender asked to verify the girl's age.  She then says she was taken to the singers room as she was "extremely intoxicated and impaired" and when the man started engaging in sexual activity, the girl regained enough consciousness to want to leave. Once she managed to leave, she was found in the hallway crying by another Royal Caribbean employee who brought her to the medical center for examination.

Cynthia Martinez, a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman, said the incident was immediately reported to the FBI and that a team from the company offered the passenger medical care and counseling, "To date, the company is unaware of any charges being filed against anyone in this matter.  Royal Caribbean maintains strict policies governing employee interaction with guests. Due to the violation of this policy, the musician in question is no longer employed by Royal Caribbean."

Royal Caribbean has named Ricardo Amaral as their new Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.  Amaral spent seven years as Royal Caribbean's marketing manager in Brazil and Costa Rica. before taking this new position.

The move is part of a restructuring operation within Royal Caribbean to focus on international markets, which now represent 50% of total revenue.

Amaral has 19 years of experience in the cruise industry, including work in leading companies marketing and sales operations in this segment and its local represenatives. 

The brand new port of Falmouth, Jamaica is bustling with new cruise ship passengers who are visiting the port every week and that has local businesses excited.  So much so that the Trelawny Parish Council is overwhelmed with applications for vendor licenses on days when ships are in port.

Last month the Trelawny Parish Council started encouraging vendors to register after reports of some locals harassing cruise guests.  The council reports that in just four days, over 1000 applications have been submitted.

Falmouth Mayor Colin Gager isn't sure how to proceed, "We are overwhelmed by the number of venders who want to sell craft items and at this point we are not sure how we are going to accommodate all of them".

The original plans by the council called for between 20 and 25 vendors in Water square to be allowed on a rotating basis.  In addition, there would be another 50 allowed on the pier during a day when a cruise ship was docked.

On Royal Caribbean's official Facebook page and Twitter feed, the company issued a statement denying rumors that the cruise line was possibly going to sell Monarch of the Seas and/or Majesty of the Seas.

There have been inquiries, around rumors, asking if we are selling Majesty of the Seas and/or Monarch of Seas. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is not selling these nor any of its brands' ships.

The statement is in response to recent speculation in South Korean newspapers that Royal Caribbean was going to sell one or both of the ships to cruise ship operator "All That Cruise".

Also of interest was Royal Caribbean's choice to post the information on its Twitter and Facebook page in lieu of traditional means of conveying news.  It confirms Royal Caribbean's commitment to its social media initiatives.

At this year's Seatrade Awards Ceremonial Dinner, Royal Caribbean was awarded  the "Investment in People" award for its “Building On Talent” leadership development program.

The Building on Talent program was created as a partnership between Royal Caribbean executives and Human Resources and is a multi-dimensional leadership development initiative.  The program identifies people in Royal Caribbean who are high-potential leaders and develops bench strength so leaders can potentially assume multiple roles throughout the company. Building on Talent's reach is global, both shipboard and shoreside, and cascades from senior executive to professional levels.

Royal Caribbean vice president, global chief and human resources officer Maria Del Busto was honored to receive the award on behalf of the company, “This special recognition is truly a testament to Royal Caribbean's continued dedication to nurturing our company's talent and creating our leaders of tomorrow.  By strategically managing our talent, and thoughtfully planning the successors of our key leadership roles, Royal Caribbean will be better positioned for the future.”