The final cooking competition is over to become the next chef at 150 Central Park on the soon to be launched Allure of the Seas and it's Maureen Brandt of Stillwater, Minnesota.  Brandt won the fan vote last month and today competed with five other chefs for the right to become the next Chef de Cuisine of 150 Central Park, the signature restaurant onboard Allure of the Seas.

Brandt competed in a day long competition and cooked three meals for the panel of judges.  Her specialties included chilled Lobster, provencial Lamb Loin and a pistachio cake.

Chef Daniel Fein came in second place and CruseCritic is reporting he has accepted the position of Chef of 150 Central Park on Oasis of the Seas, whose chef has announced previously that he will be leaving.

With Brandt winning, she completes a long trek of winning the Allure of the Seas Culinary Challenge, which started back in early July 2010.  She submitted a video of her cooking a dish and explaining why she should be considered for the contest.  She then made it to the final six competitors, won the fan vote and today has won the cooking competition.

Brandt is a 1999 graduate of Stillwater Area High School and she is also a "Certified ProChef Level Three" by the Culinary Institute of America and CEC through the American Culinary Federation.

The panel of judges for the cooking competition included Culinary Institute of America Chef Lou Jones and Dr. Victor Gielisse and from Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations, Lisa Bauer; Vice President of Food & Beverage Operations Frank Weber.

President Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic signed into law a decree that will exclude cruise ship passengers in transit from paying the $15 airport fee.  The fee had been generating around US$7.4 million in revenues for the government of the island nation.

The country earns around US$80 million per year from the 400 cruise ships which currently dock in Dominican ports, where each one leaves around US$200,000.A 5% growth in cruise ship arrivals is expected this year, with more than 350,000 tourists visiting in the first four months.

Royal Caribbean has two ships that stop at Samana in the Dominican Republic, Explorer of the Seas and Enchantment of the Seas.

If you affiliate yourself with the Tea Party movement, then there's a Royal Caribbean cruise for you.  Conservative publishing site WorldNet Daily is sponsoring a special cruise dubbed "The WND Tea Party at Sea" to be held aboard Liberty of the Seas September 19-26, 2010.

This cruise will feature teaching sessions by Joseph Farah, Alan Keyes, Jerome Corsi, David Kupelian, and Aaron Klein, all of whom are contributors to WorldNet Daily, a site with politically conservative tenancies.

The cruise follows the WorldNet Daily "Taking America Back" conference, a three-day extravaganza at Miami's Doral Resort and Spa (home of the Blue Monster golf course). The conference spans Constitution Day, Sept. 17, and features a current elected representative, Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.); a couple of formers, Jeremiah Denton (R-Ala.) and Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.); and a couple GOP hopefuls (Floridians Allen West, seeking a House seat, and Alexander Snitker, running for Senate). And, for all of you who have been wondering, "Where's Ann Coulter lately?", the conservative commentator will be on board, too.

If September 2010 doesn't work for you, there's another cruise being held by the same organizing group in January 2011 for "true patriots who are passionately committed to the principles of liberty and freedom as granted to us by the Founding Fathers."  This cruise will feature Keyes as well as former Georgia congressman Bob Barr and Gary DeMar, founder of American Vision.

Mexican tourism officials met with representatives of Royal Caribbean and other major cruise lines to promote new routes and increasing tourists Pacific Mexican states and the Gulf of Mexico. The cruise line representatives were part of the Cruise Association of Florida and the Caribbean.

Secretaries of Tourism of Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Colima, Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche, and the secretaries of Chiapas and Guerrero met with representatives from major cruise lines including Royal Caribbean International, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America and Norwegian Cruise Line.

Royal Caribbean sponsored a study of "Study on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Market in Spain" and announced the results, which were prepared by the market research institute IPSOS Marketing.  The goal of the study was to analyze the current situation of the cruise market in Spain.  

The study indicates that 75.4% of people who have taken a cruise are quite or very satisfied with their cruising experience.  In addition, the study listed profiles of most cruise passengers, with families and couples with children topping the list of potential cruisers, with an average age of 35-50 years old.  The study also revealed that 25% of the population plans on taking a cruise in the future.

Royal Caribbean CEO in Spain, Belén Wangüemert, commented, "The growing number of families on cruise ships is a phenomenon that, in the case of Royal Caribbean, is mainly due to the fun and excitement of the program for children and young people, Ocean Adventure, as well as the agreement we have recently signed with Dreamworks".

It appears cruising is becoming very popular in Spain as 33.5% of respondents of respondents that have taken a cruise before do not want to do something else on their vacation. This surprising data "supports the high levels of loyalty and satisfaction between cruisers' admits Wangüemert Bethlehem.  "Once a person chooses this type holiday, the chances are high that you return to make another cruise."

The study also revealed that the 70% of Spanish people prefer Mediterranean cruises, followed by Northern Europe (8.1%) and the Caribbean (6.4%) . While there was a large majority preferring where they cruise, respondents were less clear when they like to cruise with 56% of them choosing the summer, 23.9% prefer the autumn and only 17.8% and 2.3% prefer the spring and winter, respectively.

Interestingly, 42% say they have not completed a cruise yet because of price "Obviously this is a false belief and we have to explain everything that is obtained at a reasonable price. The price-quality ratio is excellent cruise, "says Wangüemert.

A mechanical problem today caused Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas to miss a port on its scheduled itinerary.  Jewel of the Seas was scheduled to stop in Stockholm, Sweden but had to skip the port after a problem with the ship's propulsion.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez, stated that it was a problem with “one of the four hydraulic motors on the starboard propulsion system”.  Martinez confirmed that the problem is expected to be fixed within a matter of days.

"We carried out preliminary repairs in Harwich (England) on Saturday," Martinez tells USA TODAY. "However, we are awaiting a replacement hydraulic motor and will conduct (further) repairs while the ship is in St. Petersburg, Russia."

Martinez added that the Jewel of the Seas today is skipping Stockhold and instead stopping at Visby, Sweden, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. On Wednesday, she will arrive at Helsinki, Finland and remain there from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. By Thursday the ship will arrive in St. Petersburg at 7:30 a.m. and depart on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Royal Caribbean Vice President Michael Bayley visited the new Royal Caribbean headquarters in Italy, the second largest in the world, that had opened in 2010 to announce that Royal Caribbean will handle 60% more passengers in 2011.  Next year will see 2.5 million passengers, airports will grow by 35% to a total of 671 calls at 17 ports.

With Royal Caribbean's addition of 3 Voyager class ships to Italy, about 3,300 passengers will now sail in and out of Italy. Navigator of the Seas docks at Civitavecchia, Voyager of the Seas for the first time in Venice and Mariner of the Seas for the first time will dock in Genoa.

Royal Caribbean is planning on its ships visiting a number of Italian ports, including Civitavecchia, Venice, Livorno, Naples, Messina, Ravenna, Bari, Cagliari, Palermo, La Spezia, Sorrento Salerno, Portofino, Genoa, Portoferraio, Santa Margherita and Trieste.

Guests aboard the Splendour of the Seas received a letter in their cabins last week warning them to be extra careful if they were getting off the ship in Turkey to be extra careful because Turkey is experiencing "an increase in threats of terrorist actions" and "It is not recommended that guests travel alone, or visit any remote locations".  The warning was signed by the ship's Captain, Tommy Nyseter.

Splendour of the Seas distributed these letters at the port of Piraeus in Greece to a ship which had a majority of its cruising guests as Americans.  The letter hopes to warn its guests about potential risks found in the country that can be overlooked due Turkey's "warm and welcoming" residents.

The U.S. Department of State issued a warning to American tourists "to be alert to the potential for these types of incidents in urban and tourist areas" and Royal Caribbean's letter echoes the sentiment of this warning bu making in no uncertain terms a firm warning to be vigilant.

Here's an interesting story where a council member from Dana Point City, California tried to contact Royal Caribbean about seeing what it would take for their cruise ships to stop in their city as a port of call.  Lara Anderson contacted Royal Caribbean to get an answer after questions were raised by the Pacific town on the viability.

Christopher Allen, Director, Deployment and Itinerary Planning for Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises & Azamara Club Cruises responded to the request and cited these issues that Royal Caribbean uses to determine what ports to stop at: Location, marketability, tour/shore excursion offerings, port fees, politics and regulations.

Of more interest are the tough requirements a city needs to be able to handle Royal Caribbean's large vessels.

The port must have the infrastructure to handle our ships. We do not have any small ships. Most of our ships are actually too big to fit through the Panama Canal. As a result, only our ‘small’ ships are over on the West Coast of North America. But even our small ships average about 2000 guests and are about 290 meters in length. Our strong preference for all ports is to be able to dock. Most, but not all, of our ships carry tenders and can tender guests into a port if the distance is below 1.5 miles. However, we try to avoid tender ports as it can create lines, weather disruptions and lesser guest experience. That said, if the appeal is strong enough we will still tender.

It looks like Dana Point City wont be a port city anytime soon short of a major port overhaul, but nonetheless, it's an interesting look at what it takes to be a port destination.

Royal Caribbean detailed some of the new updates that have come to Monarch of the Seas in a report from the ship.  Royal Caribbean gave some TLC to its crew areas by adding an updated gym, new food stations and the crew outdoor deck areas.

Also of interest was the fact that Monarch of the Seas is the "number two ship in the fleet and her ratings are consistently improving and above target".  Legend of the Seas currently holds the number one position.

In addition there was a bit of trivia. Monarch of the Seas was a "test bed" for the Izumi restaurant that is currently on Oasis of the Seas and can still be found on here as a treat for those who love sushi.