Last week Royal Caribbean made the big news that its Voyager of the Seas ship will be based out of Sydney, Australia for five months in 2012 and while a list of port calls is expected next month, news has come that very likely Dunedin, New Zealand will be among the stops according to the Otago Daily Times.

Voyager of the Seas will be the largest cruise ship to ever visit New Zealand, surpassing the previous record of the Queen Mary 2's 3056 passengers.

The move by Royal Caribbean to move Voyager of the Seas to Australia and New Zealand is to help meet the increasing cruise demand of the region, according to Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein, "there are clear opportunities in the China and Australia markets, which are key areas for Royal Caribbean International's global development".

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.

Cruise Critic reports Royal Caribbean is planning on rolling out All-You-Can-Drink Packages to its customers in the near future onboard some of its ships.

There are three packages that will be offered

• $29 per day per person: the beer and wine package includes all brews, house wine by the glass and a 25 percent discount on other liquors and wines
• $39 per day per person: includes the above package and includes ll cocktails and premium and specialty liquor.
• $49 per day per person: Premium Package builds on the second tier, but also offers wines by the glass up to $10 and more premium liquors

Currently the packages will start with UK based cruises with it available from March 13 on Grandeur of the Seas and from March 14 on Independence of the Seas and Legend of the Seas

Danske Markets, a brokerage house, believes that Royal Caribbean will increase the fleet in the future. "We believe Royal Caribbean will announce new ship orders until the spring of 2011", writes in an analysis broker comment.

In his bullish scenario they see that Royal Caribbean ordering new vessels in line with recent market order.

"We believe the price of new ship orders may represent a significant share price trigger as Royal Caribbean's ROIC (return on invested capital) is sensitive for new construction investment in the longer term", writes Danske Markets.

With Allure of the Seas having made her debut,t he next logical question is what will be the next ship for Royal Caribbean.  Royal Caribbean executives have been tight lipped on the issue but the next order could be sooner than we think.

Wells Fargo Securities analyst Tim Conder thinks that based on a recent analyst meeting with executives earlier this week about Allure of the Seas, that Royal Caribbean is likely to order a new ship sometime in early 2011, with delivery in 2014.

Conder speculates that the new vessel would be in the 4,000 to 4,200 berth range.  This figure is significantly smaller than Oasis and Allure of the Seas, which can accommodate 5,400 passengers.

There's a rumor swirling through the cruise industry right now that Oasis of the Seas may move over to serve European ports sooner rather than later.  Classic Cruises cites a few anonymous rumors they've heard that Oasis of the Seas could be headed for the Mediterranean as several ports are ramping up their facilities to handle larger passenger volumes.  In addition, And Royal Caribbean executives have been reminding Mediterranean port officials that Port Everglades and all the Caribbean ports where Oasis of the Seas pulls into required investments in their infrastructure upgrades.

Given Royal Caribbean's recent track history of moving their larger ships "across the pond", (Mariner of the Seas, Independence of the Seas just to name a few), it isn't out of the question and just recently Cruise Manager Carla Salvado said at the recent MedCruise assembly in Constantza that she would welcome the giant ship.

Royal Caribbean does have a 10-year agreement with Port Everglades that stipulates that the it must move 17 million passenger between 2008 and 2018 for its three brands, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Azamara, according to a spokesperson.  Royal Caribbean has also said Oasis and Allure of the Seas will home port in Port Everglades.  Of course, at one point in time Royal Caribbean did also say that its Voyager Class ships would never leave Florida.  

It's likely too early to get worried that Oasis will be leaving soon, but you never know what can happen in just a few short years and given Royal Caribbean's recent love affair with Europe (and it's high cruise demand), you can never count this out as a possibility.

The Spanish language site Estrategia Negocios is reporting that Royal Caribbean is working with the country of Nicaragua to rebuild the port of San Juan del Sur.  The idea is to rebuild the port, which will promote more cruise ships operating in the Pacific to stop in Nicaragua.  Nicaragua Tourism Minister Mario Salinas sees the cruise business as "a segment to exploit. "  In addition, the Nicaraguan government is also working on the construction of 'inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua tourism', a mechanical transport system move boats and yachts between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Perhaps Nicaragua is looking for something similar to the deal that Royal Caribbean has reached with Jamaica to open a $170 million port at Historic Falmouth Jamaica.  By opening a new sea port, Nicaragua seeks to increase the weight of the tourism industry in the country, to which the sector currently contributes about 5.2% of GDP, with about 930,000 visitors during 2009, which resulted in an increase of 8.6 % from a year earlier.  Nicaragua ranks low in tourism compared to its neighboring countries such as Costa Rica and so this, along with other measures taken, will hopefully increase tourism in this Central American country.

According to a tweet by Stitchkingdom, the characters from DreamWorks Animation will be appearing as characters to meet aboard Royal Caribbean ships.  This could be the announcement promised at 11am eastern today by Royal Caribbean.  In a few hours, we will know more!

Update: USA Today is confirming the rumor.  Characters will first arrive on Allure of the Seas and then spread to Oasis of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas.  The characters will include Shrek, Fiona and Puss In Boots from Shrek; Alex, Marty and the Penguins of Madagascar; Po of Kung Fu Panda and Hiccup of How to Train Your Dragon. The characters will appear as part of exclusive special events, parades, character breakfasts and photo opportunities. Characters also will appear in an AquaTheater show on Allure of the Seas, and in an ice skating show on the ship.