Royal Caribbean is offering its brand new premium alcoholic drink package for two on select cruises when you book a balcony or higher category stateroom.

You can choose from one of these four trans-Atlantic sailings to qualify for the free drink package

• Navigator of the Seas’ 15-night sailing from New Orleans to Rome (Civitavecchia), Rome on April 6
• Independence of the Seas’ 13-night sailing from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to Southampton, U.K. on April 7 
• Brilliance of the Seas’ 11-night sailing from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Lisbon, Portugal on April 13
• Adventure of the Seas’ 14-night sailing from San Juan to Southampton on April 21  

The alcohol drink package usually costs $55 per person, per day. The premium beverage package includes house wines, beers under $6.25 each, fountain sodas, and well, call and premium brands of liquors and frozen drinks at restaurants, bars and lounges when open.  

The offer is only for residents of the United States and Canada on new bookings made between January 24 and February 15, 2013, in balcony and higher category staterooms.

As part of Royal Caribbean's Revitalization program to upgrade all of its cruise ships to include amenities first introduced on the Oasis of the Seas, Independence o the Seas has recently been scheduled to have its upgrade take place in April 2013.

Independence of the Seas will receive

• Outdoor movie screen
• Cupcake Cupboard
• Digital Signage
• Pervasive Wi-Fi
• Nursery 
• Giovanni’s Table specialty restaurant

The $7 million refurbishment will take two weeks, at which point Royal Caribbean will deploy Independence of the Seas to Southampton, England where on May 2, 2013 she will begin her summer season.  Some of the itineraries offered include some new shorter sailings such as a two-night cruise to Le Havre for Paris and three-night cruises to Le Havre for Paris and Zeebrugge for Bruges. 

InformationWeek spoke with Royal Caribbean's Chief Information Officer Bill Martin about how the cruise line uses iPads aboard its cruise ships.  For a while now, Royal Caribbean has offered iPads for guest use in select suite staterooms. 

The iPads let guests order room service, make reservations for events on and off the ship, watch movies from the onboard movie library, and receive customized offers for onboard spas and restaurants.

Martin spoke about how currently Royal Caribbean opts to swap out iPads in the same way they change bed sheets.  The "old" iPad is swapped out for a fresh one that is ready to go, while the "old" iPad is taken to an IT office onshore and completely re-imaged.  This is done to ensure any photos or changes made by the previous guest aren't seen by the next guest.

Martin indicated that while this operation is sufficient for now, the cruise line wants to eliminate offering iPads and instead develop apps for guest use.  

"So many people have these now. And we're starting to see other mobile devices come into the picture, not just Apple's" Martin said.

Royal Caribbean wants to provide the app only and for all devices, including iPads, Kindles or Android.

Martin has been relying on outside developers for tablet apps and development. But the company is "going to have to bring some of that in house," he says, so that it doesn't have to contract outside for every project and can call a vendor's bluff when needed.

Martin also talked about the need for WiFi throughout the ship and for better onboard internet.  He acknowledges that 75 cents per minute for internet "sounds ridiculous" so Royal Caribbean's recent deals with O3b will help with that problem as well.

In the 2012 readers poll for Best Large Cruise Ships in the world by Condé Nast Traveler, six Royal Caribbean cruise ships received recognition.

Of the top 20, the six Royal Caribbean ships to make list were (with rank in the poll next to it)

• Oasis of the Seas (9)
• Liberty of the Seas (10)
• Independence of the Seas (12)
• Freedom of the Seas (13)
• Allure of the Seas (16)
• Voyager of the Seas (20)

The Royal Caribbean ships to make the list are among the largest cruise ships in the world and also among the newest.  Nearly all of them are based in the United States with Independence of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas spending part of their time in Europe and Asia respectively.

Royal Caribbean is holding auditions for Saturday Night Fever, which is shown on Liberty of the Seas.  The auditions will begin in February in cities such as New York, London and Hollywood, Florida.

Royal Caribbean Productions is casting roles for, which include Bobby C, Annette, Stephanie Mangano, Tony Manero, Gus, Double J, Flo Manero, and Monty/Frank Sr. There are also auditions for other minor roles such as dancers and singers.

If you're interested in auditioning, you can find out more information about auditions by going to the Royal Caribbean Productions page for a full list of dates and locations.

Saturday Night Fever is a Broadway play that is inspired by the 1977 film of the same name that focuses on Tony Manero, a Brooklyn youth whose weekend is spent at the local discotheque.

Royal Caribbean has rolled out its new advertising message, dubbed "Designed for Wow" in television commercials that began airing on January 7th.

This new marketing campaign follows last year's "The Sea is Calling" theme.

Royal Caribbean Executive Vice President of Marketing, Lisa Bauer, says the new commercials are based on market research.  She also said the "shell phone" that was a major part of last year's commercials will not return for this year's ads.

The 30-second commercials show various activities unique to Royal Caribbean ships, combined with reaction shots from passengers.

Featured are the zipline and Aqua Theater from the Oasis-class ships, but also the Flow Rider surfing experience and ice skating rinks found on older ships.  

Royal Caribbean was named Best Cruise Company by Norwegian's travel industry competition known as the Grand Travel Awards.  This award is the 18th consecutive time Royal Caribbean has won the award.

The award ceremony was held at the annual Grand Travel Awards at the Radisson BLU Scandinavia Hotel, where Royal Caribbean Generam Manager of Nordic Countries Roar Meidal accepted the award.

"We are very grateful to have received this award enough away. The fact that travel agents have voted us back to the best cruise company gives us the motivation to continue to offer the best cruise experiences.  We had not done it alone."

Meidal believes that the award has to be shared by both passengers and travel agents.

"We see that more and more people get their eyes opened to cruise as a holiday form. It is clear that the combination of relaxation, activity and adventure tempts many. Now we plan to take the prize home two more times, so that we can write us 20 straight victories."

Royal Caribbean has agreed to extend its satellite TV channel contract with Oceans TV for two of its cruise ships.

The first agreement extends the service for Serenade of the Seas while it cruises in Europe and the Middle East in Winter and Spring 2013. This will provide channels such as BBC World News, BBC Entertainment and CNBC Europe for English speaking passengers. Passengers from Italy can watch Rai News, Rai 1 and Mediaset Italia; TF1 and AB1 are available for French passengers while TVE Internacional and RTL Schweiz can be viewed by Spanish and German speakers respectively.

The second agreement Royal Caribbean extended its satellite TV channels for Splendour of the Seas.  As Splendour cruises the waters of South America, it will provide Brazil's largest commercial television network which is watched by an estimated 120 million people daily across Latin America.

As well as satellite TV channels, Oceans TV supplies cruise lines with live events, international movies, promotional videos, safety films and portable entertainment systems such as the iPad and Sony PSP.