After being delayed due to Tropical Storm Isaac, Royal Caribbean's ships returned to port today.  Allure of the Seas had her seven night itinerary extended to nine due to the storm, but arrived in Port Everglades at 5:30am this morning.

Despite the delay, passengers said the staff on board did a great job handling the storm and keeping everyone safe. "Good job. They did an excellent job. They let us know in advance. I didn't hear anyone complaining," said Barbara Moore.

Meanwhile Majesty of the Seas made her way back to the port of Miami, which was closed since Saturday.  Tropical Storm Isaac forced the port to close but was reopened on Monday afternoon.

Majesty of the Seas was extended from a three-day journey to a four-day trip, and the ship did not stop at the scheduled ports of call. "They gave us back our port charges, I guess because we didn't go to any ports. But other than that, I think they made a lot of money in the casinos and the alcohol," said passenger Michael Brodie.

Royal Caribbean is announcing that Allure of the Seas will be delayed returning home by two days due to Tropical Storm Isaac.  Instead of returning to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday as scheduled, she will instead stay out at sea to avoid the storm until Tuesday.

This will bring Allure of the Seas back to port two days later than scheduled. The next sailing for Allure of the Seas will begin on Tuesday August 28 instead of Sunday August 26 as a result and will reduce the length of the cruise from seven to five nights. As a result, the ship will skip scheduled calls in Falmouth, Jamaica and Labadee, Haiti and add a call in Nassau, Bahamas.

Royal Caribbean is making up the delay to those on the now five-night cruise by offering them onboard credit for the missing days as well as a future cruise certificate worth 10% of the fare they paid for the cruise.

Royal Caribbean is asking guests who are scheduled to sail on Allure of the Seas on Sunday, August 26, not arrive at the port until 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 28 for check-in and boarding.

If you are scheduled to sail on the August 26 Allure of the Seas cruise and cannot make the new Tuesday departure, you should call Royal Caribbean at 888-829-4050 in the U.S., and 408-926-9002 internationally.

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas rescued 58 Haitans that were stranded in the Caribbean Sea and brought them to Cozumel, Mexico.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez says a guest spotted the boat and immediately informed a crew member on Thursday as they were heading from St. Maarten to Cozumel.

The Haitians informed the Allure of the Seas crew that they didn't need any help but the Allure of the Seas did contact the United States Coast Guard.  The Coast Guard asked the ship to return and help them.  

A total of 47 men and 7 women were rescued and given food, water and medical treatment.

Royal Caribbean turned the Haitians over to the Mexican Navy upon arrival in Mexico.

Royal Caribbean is announcing two more of its ships are being affected by Tropical Storm Isaac.  

Both Majesty of the Seas and Monarch of the Seas will not stop at Royal Caribbean's private island of CoCo Cay this weekend due to concerns of the storm.

This change is in addition to the previous announcement that Allure of the Seas will change from an eastern Caribbean itinerary to a western Caribbean itinerary.

As of 11 a.m. ET, Isaac was 165 miles south-southwest of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and moving to the west-northwest at 14 miles per hour. The storm has maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour. 

Royal Caribbean Australia launched a flagship sale last Sunday and it has already broken records as the busiest sales period in the history of Royal Caribbean Australia.

Commercial Director Adam Armstrong is excited to see the sales for Royal Caribbean cruises spike, "Our phones have been ringing off the hook since the flagship sale was announced,” he said. “We know that some agents have been having trouble getting through to us due to the sheer volume of calls, so we have decided to extend the sale until Monday night to ensure we can assist everyone who would like to book with us for the coming season.”

Royal Caribbean will have three ships based in the region, starting in October and will offer itineraries that include ports of call in the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.

“We’ve obviously had great interest in our megaliner, Voyager of the Seas,” continued Armstrong. “However, the Aussie favourites Rhapsody of the Seas and Radiance of the Seas have extremely strong bookings too. With Rhapsody of the Seas returning to the region after undergoing a massive refurbishment, passengers are excited to see the improvements made to the ship which is such a familiar sight to Australians.”

Voyager of the Seas will arrive in Fremantle, Australia on her maiden voyage to Australia on November 5.

Royal Caribbean has changed Allure of the Seas from an Eastern Caribbean itinerary to a Western Caribbean itinerary to avoid Tropical Storm Isaac, which is gaining strength and can move to the category of hurricane this Thursday .

Allure of the Seas will call at Falmouth, Jamaica and Cozumel, Mexico instead of St. Thomas and St, Maarten.

No other changes have been made yet although Royal Caribbean is recommending passengers on Majesty of the Seas, Monarch of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas keep an eye on further updates.

Royal Caribbean held talks with the Odessa City Council to bring a cruise ship there in April 2014.  A meeting between Royal Caribbean's vice president Craig Milan  met with the vice-mayor of Odessa, Elena Pavlova on August 21st to look at the tourist infrastructure of the city.

Milan commented on the city's possibility, "Several cruise ships call at  your port. Unfortunately they are isolated cases. But feedback from our customers, who have been in Odessa, has been very positive."

Milan says regular cruises with a mandatory sunset and base parking are planned in Odessa in April 2014.  

In turn, Pavlov noted that the city is interested in such a partnership, "If everything goes as planned, our city is waiting for the next tourist boom. Royal Caribbeancan bring from 2 to 4 thousand passengers on average." 

Royal Caribbean is interested in investing in the development of the Yalta and Sevastopol seaports as well.

Travel Blackboard interviewed Royal Caribbean's senior vice president for global sales and marketing, Lisa Bauer, to talk about her new role with Royal Caribbean and her experience at Royal Caribbean.  

When asked about what she'd like to see improved in the cruise industry, Bauer responded, "It would be nice to get a global voice for cruising. I think that they all do a great job, but that would be the one thing, if we could all figure out how to come together and make a global cruise industry, versus all the regional associations."

Bauer also commented on Royal Caribbean's recent revitalization program that has been upgrading it's entire fleet of ships in an effort to make them all more relevant in a time when new ships get a lot of attention.

"Well the guests’ reaction has really been unbelievable because the ships right now and the ratings from all our customers are quite high. "

"They’re amazed that we took something that was already so great and made it even better. "

We’ve done this thing and now every ship is our best ship and that’s really caught on!

"You go on Rhapsody of the Seas and it’s like a brand new ship! The people that loved the ship before because they loved the crew and they love that type of ship and they love where it goes now have a ship that’s got an incredible entertainment experience etc... "

"So the fact is that the guests have already loved it and then it’s like “wow”. "

"Our ratings are up double digits, which is unbelievable, because they were already so high. "

"This was a big deal; it was a lot of money. But it was really to make sure that our guests had a consistent brand experience. The ability to have these key brand elements, no matter what ship you get on in the world, is very important to us and it is resonating amazingly with the guests. " 

Last week Royal Caribbean announced it would scale back the amount of stops in Bermuda and now we know why.  Royal Caribbean is citing guest demand for the change.  The company has recieved feedback that its passengers want to visit other destinations, especially from the cruises that depart Baltimore, Maryland.

A Royal Caribbean spokesman elaborated on the issue, "While Bermuda continues to be a great destination for our guests, we also have received feedback that they want more variety of destinations from Baltimore."

"As a result for 2013, we will alternate Bermuda and Bahamas sailings with Grandeur of the Seas."

Royal Caribbean is scaling back Grandeur of the Seas' calls to Bermuda to just 26 in 2013.  Explorer of the Seas will continue to make some stops in Bermuda but the total between the two ships will amount to 41 trips total in 2013, which is a drop of 14 compared to 2012.

Royal Caribbean added: “Bermuda is a spectacular destination and very popular with our passengers."

“While we would have liked to visit more often, the difference in the number of port calls is largely due to a change of itinerary patterns from Baltimore, which limited our ability to call in Bermuda.”