Royal Caribbean announced new itineraries for 2012 that will sail from Baltimore, Maryland to Bermuda aboard Enchantment of the Seas.

The announcement adds a new set of six-night cruises to Bermuda as well as eight-night Bermuda and Northeast United States cruises that will sail out of Baltimore in the spring and summer of 2012.  Enchantment's new six-night itinerary will make 3-day calls to Kings Wharf, Bermuda

In addition, Royal Caribbean is also planning to send Explorer of the Seas, which is based out of Bayonne, NJ, on a new seven-night round trip cruise in September and October of 2012 that will feature three days in Bermuda.  The new itineraries will include five and nine-night Bermuda & Caribbean itineraries through the spring and summer of 2012.

Adding to the news, Jewel of the Seas will continue its ninth season of sailings out of Boston, MA of roundtrip seven-night Canadian cruises.

The Alicante Port Authority announced today that Royal Caribbean has agreed to have Independence of the Seas make six stops at Alicante, Spain in 2012 after an agreement was reached between the two entities.

This agreement has been announced in the course of the exhibition "Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention, which since yesterday and tomorrow is held in Miami, and where the APA participated as part of the Spanish delegation.

Through this collaboration, the Independence of the Sea will arrive at the port of Alicante on six occasions between the months of June, July and August 2012.

Independence of the Seas was considered the world's largest until the construction of "Oasis of the Seas" in November 2009.

With another Royal Caribbean ship moving from the Caribbean to Europe in the summer of 2012, the Caribbean Tourism Organization has expressed concern over the growing momentum to take business away from their region of the world.

Royal Caribbean announced earlier than Serenade of the Seas would be leaving the Caribbean in favor of a European itinerary and the CTO is taking steps to develop alternative strategies, with the goal of becoming more competitive in the cruise line business during the summer period.

The Caribbean is still an in-demand place to visit and remains highly rather and Caribbean cruises form a significant part of tourism in general.  Supporting this data is the fact that arrivals increased by 6% in 2010, which continues to build upon strong tourist figures that have been steadily accumulating over the past four decades.

Of particular concern is the Southern Caribbean, which experiences good demand in the winter but the summer season is disadvantaged by the geographic factor and the high cost of fuel.

Royal Caribbean International has released today its new iPhone application in Spanish, a free download that allows users to manage and view any information about the company's cruises.

Director of communications for Royal Caribbean in Spain, Marc Pedrol, noted that the application is a new active channel with which to maintain contact with the cruisers.

"We've always made innovation one of our core values ​​and this tool allows us to take a step further in this direction. We want to be close to our customers and we can see from how many more channels the better," he said.

The search for cruise is one of the strengths of this application that the user can obtain information on the available outputs and real-time price of all the routes chosen by the cabin for travel.

Also possible to other information on Royal Caribbean International as news, promotions, ports of call, complete descriptions of ships and cabins and all the entertainment and dining options on board.

Among the most intriguing sections of the application is a WebCam, you can see live the life of the ships 'Oasis of the Seas' and the 'Allure of the Seas'.

Royal Caribbean has decided to end port of calls in Barbados after moving Serenade of the Seas to Europe for the Summer 2012 cruise season.

The move has upset Caribbean officials, namely the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), which has expressed concern about the loss.  CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley said they are aware that repositioning is a normal course of business within the cruise sector, particularly during the summer months.

Royal Caribbean is tapping famous Hollywood actor James Brolin to star and direct a new series of video clips that can be seen online. Called "Ocean Views", these webisodes will be available on March 14 on the Royal Caribbean's web site as well as its YouTube channel.

The episode Brolin will star in and direct is called "Royal Reunion", which will tell the story of how many different generations of family are taking a cruise on Allure of the Seas.  Joining Brolin in the cast will be other actors such as Dean Cain and Amy Yasbeck.

Brolin's episode is one of many in the video series that will feature actors starring and directing in their own episodes.  Jenny McCarthy will act in and direct a video called “The Allure of Love,” which also takes place on the ship; it is a comedic look at a star-crossed romance.  Other stars set to appear include Samantha Bee, Adam Carolla, Paula Deen and Albert Pujols.

After announcing a new class of cruise ships last month, Royal Caribbean signed an agreement with German shipyard Meyer Werft to build them.  Previously the two companies had  signed a letter of intent but Royal Caribbean has now signed an agreement that will solidify the deal.

The new class of ships, called "Project Sunshine", will be a 4,100 passenger ship that is scheduled to be delivered in the fall of 2014.  The agreement also allows for an option for a second ship for delivery in spring 2015.

St. Kitts and Nevis’ Minister of Tourism Richard “Ricky” Skerritt announced that Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, will make a stop to St. Kitts in December 2011.

Allure will make a stop at the island's Port Zante cruise pier on December 30.

Royal Caribbean's vice president of Government Relations, Michael Ronan, is excited about the news of bringing Allure to St. Kitts for the first time, "Royal Caribbean International is delighted to bring the world-renowned Allure of the Seas to St. Kitts. While Allure of the Seas is the world’s largest and most revolutionary cruise ship, the ship’s ports of call are also very important to our guests. We look forward to bringing more of them to beautiful and vibrant St. Kitts."

Royal Caribbean now expects 45 ports of call to St. Kitts in the 2011-2012 season by its ships, doubling the 2010-2011 season when just 20 calls were made there.

Royal Caribbean announced it will partner with FUNA International to provide stereoscopic 3D digital cinema to Royal Caribbean's brand new Allure of the Seas.  Thanks to Royal Caribbean's partnership with Dreamworks Animation, the deal with FUNA will make it possible for guests on Allure of the Seas to enjoy all the current 3D DreamWorks titles as well as other 3D movies, in the ship's Amber Theater.

Christopher Vlassopulos, Entertainment Technology and Technical Direction for Royal Caribbean International had this to say about the new deal, "We called upon FUNA and their team to come up with creative technical design solutions in a number of areas including physical placement, additional cooling and power and integration with the existing audio system, and the result is a 3D movie experience as good as or better than any land-based theater.  On testing the finished product, people at the highest level at Barco [projection supplier], DreamWorks and Dolby [sound system supplier] were 'blown away' with the result. We wanted to do a good job but to impress them out of the gate was a real bonus and obviously something the guest will really enjoy. It looks and sounds great."

In addition to Allure of the Seas, other Royal Caribbean ships are set to receieve the 3D theater upgrade. Vlassopulos confirmed that Oasis of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas will reveive the 3D upgrade.

In addition to the new theater, FUNA has provided technical design, engineering, integration and consulting for entertainment, display and communications in most of the theaters, restaurants, clubs, and public spaces - as well as the crew recreation and support areas.

Jamaican authorities arrested two Royal Caribbean crew members after finding cocaine while Grandeur of the Seas was docked in Montego Bay.

Customs agents discovered 18 kilograms (40 pounds) of drugs in one of the crew members cain and 15 kilograms (33 pounds) in another cabin on the ship Grandeur of the Seas,

Royal Caribbean said in a statement. The ship had just arrived on Wednesday from the Colombian port of Cartagena. Cynthia Martinez, Royal Caribbean spokeswoman, said both crew members are Jamaicans and that the company is cooperating with authorities in the investigation