The cruise business in Australia is booming but Royal Caribbean's research shows that customers down under are most concerned about price and don't really care who they sail with.  This is has lead Royal Caribbean to invest more in brand marketing to separate itself from the competition.

Royal Caribbean Commercial Director Sean Treacy told Mumbrella the research showed people did not look at brand at all.

"What was really surprising, and frankly a little damaging to our egos, was that people who are new to cruising can’t tell one cruise brand from another,” he said. “They are merely comparing one big white ship with another and they find it difficult to tell the difference between the likes of us, Princess Cruises and most surprising, P&O."

Royal Caribbean took the research as a "wake up call" to how they were marketing in the Australia market and as a result will be ramping up its brand marketing to increase awareness.

Part of that initiative is increasing its advertising reach beyond print and search and to start local television ads.  The new campaign is called, "It's Royal Caribbean Time".

Royal Caribbean will also increase its social media presence and will run a competition on Facebook offering 50 places on a one-night cruise in December.

Onboard Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, engineers and shipbuilders came together to create the first skydiving at sea experience.

This video offers an inside look at the one-of-a-kind installation of Ripcord by iFly onboard Quantum of the Seas.

A few guests aboard Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas are reporting a giant 40 foot wave struck Explorer of the Seas causing damage to the ship's lifeboats.

Photo copyright Cruise Critic Message Board Forums / Merion_Mom

A Cruise Critic message board member, Merion_Mom, reported that two life boats were torn from their position along side the ship and struck the Promenade deck.

Additionally, some sea water penetrated damaged doors on deck 4 and there were some elevator outages for a short period of time.  No injuries were reported and the ship is able to continue on its normal course.

Photo copyright Cruise Critic Message Board Forums / Merion_Mom

The ship's captain indicated that despite the lifeboat damage, there are still enough space on the deployable life boats and rafts for all guests.

Royal Caribbean has finalizes the price that it will repurchase 3.5 million shares of stock that are held by Awilhelmsen AS (Awilhelmsen).  Awilhelmsen is a privately owned investment company that was one of three founders of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. in 1968.

The repurchase price per share will be $67.45, which is equal to the price paid by a financial institution to Awilhelmsen in connection with its sale of 3.5 million shares conducted yesterday November 3, 2014 pursuant to Rule 144 of the Securities Act.  The repurchase is expected to close on November 6, 2014.

The last reported sale price of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCL) common stock on November 3, 2014 was $68.40 per share.

Before Quantum of the Seas left Southampton, England yesterday, John Wakefield was able to snap these great shots of Royal Caribbean's newest ship docked nearby.

Here are a few of John's photos that he shared with us, that I think are just great looking.  

Speaking to TTG, Royal Caribbean vice president Dominic Paul, indicated his office wants to keep a Quantum-class cruise ship based out of the UK for the foreseeable future.

The addition of Anthem of the Seas to the UK market was a big move for Royal Caribbean.

“For us to place a brand new $1 billion ship in the UK is massive. By bringing it to the UK, we’re saying that we recognise this is a strategic market for us. The goal is to have a Quantum-class ship staying in the UK – we’re not just doing this for one season. We want Anthem to be seen as an iconic UK ship, assuming that it is successful.,” he told TTG.

“I would think it would have a long successful future here [in Southampton],” he added.

Paul wasn't worried about concerns over too much capacity in the market due to the larger ship, “When Independence came to the UK people said it was a really big ship to fill, but it’s got a really strong following now. People have sailed on it time and again – it’s been highly successful.”

After years of construction, preperations and touch-ups, Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship is ready to welcome its first guests onboard for a trans-Atlantic cruise to its homeport of Cape Liberty, New Jersey.

Quantum of the Seas is docked in Southampton, UK where the first paying passengers are boarding and ready to experience her first-hand on an eight-night cruise west. 

Officially, Royal Caribbean has designated her inaugural voyage to be on November 18 but this is one of many pre-inaugural cruises scheduled over the next two weeks.

Quantum of the Seas photo galleries

As many of our readers know, Quantum of the Seas is filled to the brim with new innovations, activities and onboard offerings.  High-speed internet, robot bartenders, a Broadway show and observational pod are just a few of the new additions to Quantum of the Seas.

Quantum of the Seas is the first Quantum-class cruise ship by Royal Caribbean and will be followed by sister ships Anthem of the Seas in spring 2015 and Ovation of the Seas in mid-2016.

With Quantum of the Seas almost ready for her first cruise, Royal Caribbean is pumping out new photos from all over the new ship and we've created easy to navigate photo galleries.

The Solarium, Royal Loft Suite, Windjammer and more photo galleries are available for you to browse and see what this brand new cruise ship looks like.

We will be posting more photos throughout the next few days, so keep checking back for more galleries. Enjoy!

Royal Caribbean is using these final hours before Quantum of the Seas welcomes its first guests onboard to get the ship ready with final touches.Get a behind-the-scenes look at buzz of activity taking place to deliver a wow experience.

Royal Caribbean is beginning a brand new promotion for the month of November, where guests can get up to $1500 to spend onboard.

Those that book select cruises will receive the following onboard credit amounts per stateroom:

3/4-Night Bahamas & 4/5-Night Caribbean

• Suite: $400
• Balcony: $200
• Ocean View: $100

6+ Night Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada, Dubai, Hawaii, Panama Canal, Transatlantic, Repositioning, Asia

• Suite: $1000
• Balcony: $600
• Ocean View: $400

Europe, Alaska, 7+ Night Australia

• Suite: $1500
• Balcony: $1000
• Ocean View: $600

Cruises must be booked between November 1 and 16, 2014.  It's available on all open deployments excluding China departures and Quantum and Anthem of the Seas.

Onboard credit will be applied automatically at time of booking to all eligible reservations and displayed as per person amounts for 1st and 2nd guests, totalling the per stateroom value.

Offer is combinable with current standard/full fare rates and NextCruise offers. Offer is not combinable with restricted rates (including, but not limited to, seniors, residents, military), Interline, Travel Agent Rates, Travel Agent Friends and Family Rates, Going, Going, Gone Sales Events, Net Rates, Crown & Anchor Discounts, or Shareholder Benefits.