Veteran shipbuilder Martin Saarikangas is confident that Royal Caribbean's third Oasis-class ship will be built at STX's Turku shipyard despite recent reports of an impasse between Royal Caribbean and the Finnish government in regard to financing the project.

Saarikangas commented, "I take the silence as a positive signal. If history is correct, there is sure to be something pending.  The situation is not hopeless."

Finnish Economic Minister Jan Free Mount and Defense Minister Carl Haglund refused to comment on the financing of the project by Finnish state-owned specialized credit institution Finnvera.

The newspaper Turun Sanomat reported on Friday that the Finnish government's economic policy rejected a proposal for funding.  Royal Caribbean is said not to have given up, but is still searching for a financial solution.

The funding for a ship like this is critical to getting the project a green light.  Ship building requires huge loans and in turn, guarantors for the line.  In most cases, the country foots the bill (and the risk) with Finnvera the lynchpin to the third Oasis-class ship being built or not.

Royal Caribbean announced in October that it was pursuing the possibility of ordering a third Oasis-class ship.

A really fun photo effect is called "tilt shift", where the camera is manipulated so that a life-sized location or subject looks like a miniature-scale model.  We've scoured the Internet to find some fun examples of this effect with Royal Caribbean ships!

Voyager of the Seas by cockneydave1980

Independence of the Seas by Mike Greatrex

Radiance of the Seas by Tyler Ingram

Voyager of the Seas promenade by Kristian Mollenborg

Labadee by CaMareo Waller

Royal Caribbean is seeing a slight drop in the number of cruise passengers from North America that are cruising their Australian cruises this season due to economic unease across the Pacific.  Royal Caribbean insists that passengers from Australia have made up the difference

Royal Caribbean commercial manager Adam Armstrong confirmed that initial demand from North America has been down because consumers in the United States and Canada are more cautious about spending money.

However, Armstrong said the cruise line was prepared for this and had already increased its marketing efforts in Australian markets in the last few months.

Armstrong commented on the numbers, "Overall, we’re carrying more Australians than ever on our local ships. But we’re still carrying about a quarter to a third, depending on the cruise, of our guests from overseas."

"Broadly speaking, we've booked the same load factor this week as we did this week last year so we've really managed to absorb that additional capacity quite nicely."

Armstrong is confident that as the Australian cruise market grows, capacity issues will become irrelevant.  Armstrong did warn that infrastructure constraints are a major hindrance to growing demand for cruises in Australia.

Armstrong also confirmed that Royal Caribbean is considering ports across Australia and New Zealand such as Brisbane, Melbourne, Auckland and Fremantle.  All of those ports could be alternatives for Royal Caribbean to Sydney, which has high costs and limited berths.

"Generally Australia is one of the most expensive countries to operate in,” he said. “So adding that extra cost is always going to be a challenge, particularly if you've got advantageous pricing in other countries where you can put your ships, like Asia."

"Nonetheless, Royal Caribbean remains committed to Australia, with the cruise line becoming “increasingly successful in the market."

The cruise industry is embracing the importance of interior design aboard its ships and when it comes to Royal Caribbean's newest ships that are under construction, the importance to remain chic is ever present.

The new Sunshine-Class ship that Royal Caribbean has been working on is reflective of the new trends.  According to Scott Butler of Wilson Butler, a handful of spaces on the new Sunshine-class ships will remain "white spaces" until the last moment so that Royal Caribbean can respond to the latest trends.

“Shelf life is always a risk with any designer, whether on land or at sea,” he added in an exclusive interview with Cruise Industry News.

About 135 passengers aboard Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas became sick along with eight crew members as the ship returned from New Zealand to Sydney.

"Those affected by the short-lived illness have responded well to over the counter medication administered on board the ship"' Royal Caribbean said in a statement late yesterday.

The illness caused big lines at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay to stretch hundred of meters as frustrated new passengers were kept waiting for hours. Royal Caribbean says the long lines were mostly a product of new passengers choosing to ignore staggered boarding times.

Those boarding Voyager of the Seas were given a statement which gave the norovirus outbreak as the reason for the delay in boarding.

Passengers were asked to fill out forms revealing whether they had recently suffered from gastro or flu-like symptoms. Those who ticked `yes' were taken aside for medical check ups.

Plans to build a third cruise ship by Royal Caribbean in the STX Turku shipyard in Finland are reportedly frozen due to the fact that the funding is still completely unresolved

On Thursday, the Finnish government rejected Royal Caribbean's proposed package of financing due to the fact that the state does not want to act as a guarantor for the loan capital, according to the newspaper "Turun Sanomat."

Negotiations for financing of the new ship will continue. Other options include searching for other sources of financing. One option is that Royal Caribbean will pay for a larger chunk of the purchase price.

The value of the proposed order by Royal Caribbean is about one billion Euros. A ship order like this can provide over 12,000 ship building jobs in Turku.

Royal Caribbean is continuing its work to restructure its French office by officially merging operations in France with the Spanish office.  

In addition, Royal Caribbean announced that the Director General of the Spanish office, Wangüemert Belen, will also be the head of the French office.  The position of head of the office in France had been open since Frederic Martinez left the company earlier this summer.  

In a statement, Royal Caribbean described the promotion for Belen as a decision that will, "strengthen the synergies of these two priority markets for the company and generate new growth opportunities for the company."

In another report by Tour Hebdo, 23 of the 38 office positions in France are being removed due to redundancy with the Spanish office.  The laid off workers will be informed in December.

The President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina, met with executives from Royal Caribbean as part of his government plan to make the Dominican economy more based around tourism.

Medina was received by Captain Henrik Loy, captain of the cruise Explorer of the Seas while she was anchored in the Bay of Samana.

One of the objectives stated by the president is boost cruise tourism and work on a cruise ship terminal in the Dominican Republic.

Michael Ronan, Royal Caribbean Regional Vice President made ​​a presentation to foreign and domestic entrepreneurs, including  Federico Schad , Director of Services and Bay Cruise Tejera Rafael Blanco, president of Dominican Tourism Competitiveness Consortium.

It is the first time a Dominican president addressed a cruise ship operator in an effort promote this important form of tourism.