Photo sent by Kenneth Kinzig

Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas arrived today at Mormugao Port in Goa, India.  Mariner is making a stop in Goa as part of a sailing from Dubai.  The ship was greeted by the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa, Francisco D’Souza.

A traditional reception with Goan music and dance was organized by the Goa Tourism, Government of Goa to welcome the passengers. The passengers were also given memorabilia by the Goa Tourism while they disembarked from the ship to tour Goa.

Tourism Minister of Goa, Dilip Parulekar said, “We welcome this cruise and we will work on bringing-in more cruises and tourist in Goa.”

Royal Caribbean will move Explorer of the Seas out of Bayonne, New Jersey and right into Port Canaveral, Florida in November 2014.

Explorer of the Seas will offer a range of four- to nine-night Bahamas, and Western and Southern Caribbean vacations.  Explorer will join Freedom of the Seas and Enchantment of the Seas, which are based in Port Canaveral year-round.  Explorer of the Seas’ 2014 holiday season cruises from Port Canaveral are now open for sale.

Explorer of the Seas will sail four Western Caribbean cruises roundtrip from Port Canaveral through Jan. 4, 2015. On these five-night itineraries, guests call at Cozumel, Mexico, and Nassau, The Bahamas, or CocoCay and Cozumel. Vacationers also can choose two Southern Caribbean sailings on a nine-night itinerary that call at each of the ABC Islands and Labadee.

Additionally, a five-night Bahamas cruise, departing Dec. 13, 2014, will call at Nassau, Grand Bahamas Island and CocoCay. Guests on a special four-night sailing, departing Dec. 23, will call at Labadee on Christmas Day. The following eight-night Caribbean itinerary will herald in the New Year in St. Maarten, as well as call at San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. Croix and Labadee. Vacationers also can choose an extended 14-night Southern Caribbean itinerary, departing Nov. 1, 2014, which repositions Explorer of the Seas from Cape Liberty to Port Canaveral via the Southern Caribbean.

Explorer of the Seas, a Voyager class ship, had spent 8 consecutive years in the New York metro area.

Royal Caribbean is set to put cruises on its newest cruise ship, Quantum of the Seas, on sale on May 28, 2013 and today they announced the first cruises onboard the ship.

Quantum of the Seas' inaugural voyage will take place on November 23, 2014.  This will be the official inaugural voyage for the ship, although shorter cruises for the media and travel agents are likely to precede it.

Quantum of the Seas will offer seven- and eight-night Bahamas, eight- to 11-night Eastern Caribbean, and 11- and 12-night Southern Caribbean itineraries.  As previously announced, Quantum of the Seas will sail out of Bayonne, New Jersey.  The first round of itineraries that Royal Caribbean has announced today extend through April 2015.

Bookings will be available to Crown & Anchor Society loyalty program members beginning May 28, 2013 before opening to the general public on June 4.

“Royal Caribbean is proud to partner with some of the Caribbean’s premier destinations for the inaugural season of Quantum of the Seas,” said Adam Goldstein, president and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “The Quantum class of ships will combine a new set of truly exciting and first-at-sea innovations that can only be found on Royal Caribbean, with some of the most incredible destinations in the region. We can’t wait to WOW vacationers with Quantum cruising.”

On the Bahamas cruises, guests call at Port Canaveral, Fla., Nassau and CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private tropical island paradise. The Eastern Caribbean cruises will include ports of call among San Juan, Puerto Rico; Samana, Dominican Republic; St. Thomas; St. Kitts; and St. Maarten. Guests on the Southern Caribbean cruises will call at San Juan, St. Maarten, Martinique, Barbados and St. Kitts. On most Caribbean sailings, Quantum of the Seas also will visit Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s very own highly-rated private beach paradise on the north coast of Haiti.  

Royal Caribbean's largest shareholder is challenging Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain by supporting a plan that could lead to a major shakeup.

Oslo-based A. Wilhelmsen AS owns 19% of Royal Caribbean stock and Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen, is its chairman and a Royal Caribbean director.

Investors vote tomorrow on a non-binding shareholder proposal calling for the elimination of staggered directors’ terms at Miami-based Royal Caribbean. The company opposes the plan, which would have each board member come up for an annual vote.

A similar vote came up back in 2009 but did not have Wilhelmsen's support despite getting 29% of the vote.  Both Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis & Co. have recommended in favor of the activist proposal.

if the vote passes, it could lead to changes at Royal Caribbean such as separation of the chairman and CEO roles as well as turnover on the board of directors.

Royal Caribbean announced today that chief financial officer Brian Rice will retire soon and the company will begin transitioning his duties to Jason Liberty.  Rice will officially retire in the spring of 2014 and in the meanwhile, Liberty will begin taking over to make the transition process seamless.  

Rice will continue to serve as Vice Chairman until his retirement, overseeing Royal Caribbean’s finance, supply chain, strategy and information technology functions. Rice has been with Royal Caribbean for more than 20 years, serving as CFO since 2006 and Vice Chairman since 2012.

Royal Caribbean named Jason Liberty its new CFO, effective immediately, and he will continue to report to Rice.

Liberty joined Royal Caribbean in 2005 and most recently served as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Finance, overseeing the company’s Corporate and Strategic Planning, Treasury, Investor Relations and Internal Audit functions. Before joining Royal Caribbean, Liberty was a senior manager at the accounting firm KPMG.

“Over the past 24 years, I’ve had the very good fortune to work for an outstanding company in a truly exciting industry,” said Rice. “I am proud to have played a part in its success, and I feel comfortable that I will be leaving the company in excellent shape.”

“Brian has been a key figure in the development of Royal Caribbean, and an important leader who has made significant contributions to the entire cruise industry,” said Richard D. Fain, Chairman of Royal Caribbean Cruises. 

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas has finished a $30 million drydock refurbishment that added a number of amenities first developed for Oasis-class cruise ships.

Brilliance of the Seas refurbishment added a lot to the ship, including doubling the amount of dining options onboard.  The new restaurants include the Italian trattoria, Giovanni’s Table, the exclusive multi-course Chef’s Table. Guests can expand their palettes at a multitude of other dining venues including Royal Caribbean’s signature Izumi Asian Cuisine, Park Café and Rita’s Cantina.

In addition, the five-story Centrum has been transformed into a spectacular new space featuring the Centrum experience, which includes the addition of the 60’s-inspired R Bar as well as a multitude of entertainment experiences including enriching daytime activities, dazzling nighttime entertainment and a new high-flying entertainment experience where aerialists glide through the vertical space of the atrium.

Royal Caribbean also added 

• Concierge Club for suite guests
• Diamond Club for Crown & Anchor Society loyalty program members
• A new English pub
• Royal Babies and Tots Nursery
• Wi-Fi access throughout the ship
• flat-panel televisions in all staterooms
• Outdoor LED movie screen on the pool deck
• interactive digital way-finding system

Brilliance of the Seas will be able to show off her new "toys" this summer when she begins sailing from Harwich, England.  Once there, Brilliance of the Seas will offer Northern European cruises to destinations such as Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland.

Royal Caribbean announced its 2014-15 Australasian program, which happens to be its biggest to date.  Part of the plans call for Voyager of the Seas to undergo a multi-million dollar refurbishment before the new cruise season kicks off.

Royal Caribbean will send Voyager of the Seas along with Radiance of the Seas for a third consecutive summer to Australia.

Royal Caribbean commercial director Adam Armstrong indicated that over 140,000 passengers from over 100 countries will sail with Royal Caribbean during this time frame.

“We began with the revitalisations of Radiance of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas in 2011-12, and now we’ve come full circle as Voyager of the Seas will undergo a bow-to-stern refurbishment to offer even more amazing features,” he said.

Royal Caribbean will announce more details later this year, but Armstrong hinted the revitslisation will see Voyager of the Seas fitted with many of the features found on the cruise line’s newest Oasis Class ships.

Radiance and Rhapsody will arrive in Sydney in October 2014 for the season’s start with Voyager to join them in December 2014.

The program features 55 cruises from two to 18 nights in length, calling at 37 ports across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific before the season’s end in April 2015.

A senior executive at Royal Caribbean indicated that the company may reverse course on a decision to remove Dubai from its cruise itineraries.

Royal Caribbean ceases cruises to the Gulf from Dubai this year, which also included stops in Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Fujairah.

“Unfortunately the season we had last year wasn’t as successful as we’d have liked it to be from a revenue perspective, for various reasons – economics, a bit more competition in the marketplace that brought the rates down,” Helen Beck, regional director, EMEA, told Arabian Business.

Beck was hopeful that Royal Caribbean would return to the Gulf in 2014.

“We were all very disappointed, but we haven’t given up the fight,” she added. “There’s a lot of internal lobbying... to have the decision reviewed, maybe not for this coming winter season, but for future seasons.”