In news that potentially could affect all cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, New York Senator Charles "Chuck" Schumer is asking the cruise industry to adopt a "bill of rights" for passengers that will guarantee  certain protections while aboard their ships.

The Democrat from New York says he will ask the big cruise lines to voluntarily adopt guidelines that would include guarantees that cruise ships have sanitary conditions, back-up power, medical staff and other standard procedures.

Schumer's plan would also include the right to a full refund if a trip is abruptly canceled due to mechanical problems.

The senator is also calling on the Secretary of State to negotiate with countries that host cruise ships U.S. passengers use to adopt the rights.

Royal Caribbean announced today Jewel of the Seas will return to San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2014 and offer Southern Caribbean cruises once again.

Following what will be its first year-round 2013-14 Southern Caribbean season, Jewel of the Seas will offer three itineraries throughout the region, calling at St. Croix, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados on one; at St. Maarten, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados on another; and at St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba and Curacao on the third.

Royal Caribbean announced today its 2014 Mediterranean cruise schedule, which brings the total to eight cruise ships that will call Europe home in 2014.   Liberty of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas, Serenade of the Seas, and Splendour of the Seas will sail the Mediterranean and compliment the previously announced Independence of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas and Legend of the Seas in Northern Europe.

Royal Caribbean’s 2014 Northern Europe cruises will open for booking on March 20, 2013, followed by its Mediterranean cruises on March 28.

“No one can deliver Europe to families like Royal Caribbean can,” said Lisa Bauer, executive vice president of Global Sales and Marketing for Royal Caribbean International. “Only on Royal Caribbean can vacationers visit multiple destinations to experience the continent’s history, culture and excitement, while sailing aboard our recently revitalized ships that are Designed for WOW. Guests will receive Royal Caribbean’s friendly and engaging GOLD Anchor service from every staff and crew member, and enjoy up to five times more onboard dining options, and more exclusive and exciting entertainment, such as the DreamWorks Experience on Liberty of the Seas or the new spectacular aerial-acrobatic experiences in Legend of the Seas’ four deck-high Centrum.”

Most of Royal Caribbean’s 2014 Europe fleet will have undergone the cruise line’s fleetwide revitalization program to bring their ships upgraded onboard options such as new restaurants, entertainment and upgraded staterooms.

Liberty of the Seas will sail roundtrip from Barcelona on a seven-night, Western Mediterranean itinerary, calling at Provence (Marseilles) and Nice (Villefranche), France; and Florence/Pisa (La Spezia), Rome (Civitavecchia), and Naples/Capri, Italy. The Aug. 10 sailing calls at Cannes, France, instead of Nice. A four-night, roundtrip itinerary departing May 14 will offer vacationers a taste of the Freedom-class experience, with a call at Nice and Florence/Pisa. An eastbound trans-Atlantic sailing on May 1 and westbound on Oct. 26, both 13-night itineraries, will bookend Liberty of the Seas’ Europe season.

Navigator of the Seas will homeport at Rome (Civitavecchia) to sail a seven-night Eastern Mediterranean itinerary, which calls at Sicily (Messina), Italy; Athens (Piraeus) and Chania (Souda), Crete, Greece; and Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey. Alternatively, vacationers have a second option to embark on their seven-night Eastern Mediterranean cruise, sailing roundtrip from Sicily (Messina). Additionally, vacationers can choose a 15-night Galveston to Rome or 14-night Barcelona to Galveston trans-Atlantic cruise, sailing May 4 and Nov. 9, respectively.

acationers also can embark on longer nine- to 12-night Italy, Greek Isles and Turkey cruises from Barcelona from May through August, and Venice from late August through October. From Barcelona, Serenade of the Seas will alternate 12-night Mediterranean Greek Isles and night Mediterranean Venice itineraries the latter featuring an overnight in Venice. From Sept., Serenade of the Seas will homeport in Venice and alternate 10-night Greek Isles and 11-night Greece and Turkey itineraries. Vacationers also can sail into Europe with Serenade of the Seas on a 16-night trans-Atlantic cruise from New Orleans to Barcelona on Apr. 26. Vacationers also can choose a nine-night eastbound sailing from Barcelona to Venice on Aug. 27 and a 10-night westbound return on Oct. 27, takeing guests throughout the Italian Mediterranean and the Adriatic.

For its part, Splendour of the Seas will homeport at Venice for its entire Europe season and alternate seven-night Greek Isles and Greek Isles & Turkey itineraries. The ship will reposition from Sao Paolo, Brazil to Barcelona for a 14-night trans-Atlantic voyage on Apr. 25, and then start its Europe season with an eight-night Italian Mediterranean and Adriatic itinerary from Barcelona to Venice. Splendour of the Seas concludes its Europe season with a seven-night Western Mediterranean cruise from Venice to Barcelona on Nov. 15, before returning to Sao Paolo on Nov. 22 on a 15-night westbound trans-Atlantic itinerary.

Royal Caribbean announced its 2014 Alaska cruises and cruisetour offerings, which include 34 sailings on seven-night itineraries from Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, Washington.  Delivering Royal Caribbean's Alaska experience will be the recently revitalized Radiance of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas.

Radiance of the Seas will switch between North- and Southbound seven-night cruises out of Vancouver and Deward, respectively.  Passengers will cruise the Inside Passage and the monumental Hubbard Glacier, as well as call at Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Skagway, Alaska. Radiance of the Seas’ Alaska season will be bookended with a seven-night itinerary, sailing roundtrip from Vancouver on May 9 and Sept. 5, calling at Icy Strait Point, Juneau, and Ketchikan, and cruising up Tracy Arm Fjord to see Sawyer Glacier.

 In addition, Rhapsody of the Seas will offer seven-night, roundtrip itineraries to Sawyer Glacier from Seattle, Washington. Passengers will sail the Inside Passage and call at Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria, British Columbia. Two similar seven-night itineraries that call at Ketchikan instead of Victoria will sail from Vancouver to Seattle on May 16 and vice versa on Aug. 29.

 “Royal Caribbean has been unfolding the wonders of the Alaskan frontier for a quarter century and we continue to deliver this amazing destination like no other cruise line,” said Lisa Bauer, executive vice president of Global Marketing and Sales, Royal Caribbean International. “Guests can explore this awe-inspiring destination while sailing aboard our recently revitalized ships that are Designed for WOW and enjoy Royal Caribbean’s friendly and engaging GOLD Anchor service from every staff and crew member. To further immerse themselves, vacationers also can choose an unforgettable Royal Caribbean Alaska cruisetour combining the best of land and sea in the region and without having to worry about any of the planning.”

In addition to witnessing the majesty of Alaska by ship, vacationers also can explore Alaska’s interior on a variety of exciting Royal Caribbean Cruisetours, which combines a sailing aboard Radiance of the Seas with a three- to six-night land tour adventure. Royal Caribbean takes care of all the planning, transportation and lodging on fully escorted tours that spend at least one night in Denali National Park and one leg on the Wilderness Express, a plush, glass-domed train cars that offer panoramic views of the grand Alaskan frontier. A 10-night, family-geared cruisetour will feature a three-night land tour that includes a behind-the-scenes visit to the Alaska Sea Life Center to learn about the region’s natural habitat and the center’s wildlife rehabilitation and conservation efforts, and wildlife spotting in Denali National Park at the Murie Science and Learning Center.

For Italian food, Royal Caribbean offers its specialty restaurant Portofino aboard many of its cruise ships.  We decided to try this popular alternative restaurant and see if this restaurant is worth checking out.

Portofino is featured on Royal Caribbean's Voyager class ships, Freedom class ships, Brilliance of the Seas, Jewel of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas.

Atmosphere

We ate at Portofino aboard Freedom of the Seas and compared to Chops Grille, located across the way near the Windjammer, Portofino is much brighter and seems slightly more open.  Where Chops has dark woods with light accents, Portofino goes for lighter colors all around and seemed less "dark" than Chops. 

The word "portofino" is actually the name of a small fishing village in Norhern Italy that is famous for its picturesque harbor and historical association with celebrity visitors.

Like Chops, the restaurant has two "rooms" that make up the restaurant.  The first room is where you enter and has tables lined up against the window for views of the ocean (assuming it isn't too dark to see outside) and the second room is more of a cul de sac, with tables arranged around the room.

Eats

Portofino prides itself on Italian food, with a mix of classic dishes and some new things the chefs have come up with.  They aren't trying to change what we think of when it comes to Italian food, rather, they just want to provide quality Italian food that you can't find elsewhere on the cruise ship.

The menu at Portofino is simple, with an antipasti (appetizers) and pietanze (main courses) making up the menu.  All the food is referred to by their Italian names, although the descriptions for each item is sufficient to getting an idea of what the food is.

Like Chops, there's a bread appetizer that is served for everyone although there's a greater variety of breads and spreads to find.  I was very, very tempted to indulge myself here and try them all but I didn't want to fall for the faux pas of eating too much bread before my meal (thanks mom!). The spreads consisted of cloves of garlic, a pesto paste and Kalamata olive spread.  

For our appetizers, I chose the minestrone alla Genovese along with the Carpaccio di Tonno (I just can't say no to tuna).  My wife opted for Insalata alla Cesare (Caesar salad) and Prosciutto in Insalata.

When I saw the minestrone soup, I was a little surprised because every minestrone soup I've ever seen comes in a tomato broth.  This was a clear broth and definitely not traditional.  That being said, it tasted wonderful and I could tell this was not soup from a can or anything else of that low quality.  I could taste the freshness of the ingredients and really enjoyed it.

My tuna carpaccio was again, not what I was expecting.  Rather than deep red tuna, this tuna was might lighter in color and topped with oranges and a citrus-dill dressing.  It tasted good and I enjoyed it, although in this case, I think I prefer a more traditional tuna carpaccio but that's just my personal taste.

My wife started with the prosciutto and enjoyed the different take on her dish.  By now we realized the appetizers were not what you'd find at your local Olive Garden and that was a definite plus.  We may not have known what we were ordering, but every appetizer we tried was interesting and a welcome change. Her Caesar salad was probably the most "routine" appetizer we had.

For our main courses, we went with the tonno ai ferri (I really, really can't say no to tuna) and the taglierini al pesto.

The tuna filet was great not just because of the tuna itself, but the marjoram-garlic drizzle and vegetables it came with.  When I combined it all, I really enjoyed the dish and wished I had more of it to eat.  

The pasta in pesto sauce was just plain good.  It's a classic Italian dish and I love having "safety dishes" to fall back on to use as a baseline of good food.  The pasta tasted fresh (no boxed stuff here) and the pesto sauce was quite good as well.  I'd recommend this for something to share among your group.

For desserts, the menu is fairly basic and offers some traditional Italian desserts to try.  Nothing jumped out at me, so I opted for the sampler so I could try them all.

The dessert sampler offers four petit desserts to try and for me, it was just enough to get a sense of what they all were without committing to just one.  The chefs here aren't rewriting the book on Italian desserts, rather, it's simple yet indulgent choices.

My wife was intrigued by the tiramisu and went with that.  From just presentation alone, it looked exquisite and after tasting it, it was pretty darn good.  It was really hard to go wrong with any of these choices.

Overall

For the money, Portofino ($20 per person) is a great choice for a specialty restaurant.  The obvious comparison is between this and Chops Grille and given that Chops is $10 more expensive and the experiences between both, I really enjoyed my time at Portofino a little more.  It's not to take anything away from Chops, but if I could only eat at one specialty restaurant aboard Freedom of the Seas, I'd have to go with Portofino.

The other comparison that is easy to make is putting Portofino against Gionvanni's Table. Personally, I prefer individual portions to family style meals and the food at Giovanni's was definitely more traditional than Portofino.  Looking back at both meals, I'd have to lean towards Portofino for the edge it has in trying some new things, especially with my appetizers.

I felt like the quality of the food along with the "je ne sais quois" that the chef provides really made this more than just another Italian dinner.  With an interesting selection of traditional and new Italian dishes, you'll find Portofino is a specialty restaurant worth trying.

Portofino is open for dinner between 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. and we reviewed Portofino aboard Freedom of the Seas.

Earlier this year, Royal Caribbean made the announcement it would transition its Crown and Anchor Society Ultimate Value Booklets from actual paper booklets to a digital form that is loaded on your SeaPass card.  We now know more information about how the new digital offers will work.

The new offers will be loaded onto each passenger's SeaPass card, eliminating the paper books, starting in "summer 2013".

A full list of your benefits onboard the cruise can be found on the back of the welcome letter delivered to their stateroom on Day 1 of the cruise. In addition, you will be able to find a balance of offers by visiting an iCafe computer, using your personal computer and via iTV in their stateroom (on Oasis and Allure of the Seas only).

All offers will remain on the card until the passenger disembarks their cruise.  Offers will remain valid if their cruise is interporting.  

Offers expire when the cruise ends. Offers do not carry over to the next cruise.

For those passengers doing back-to-back cruises, a new set of offers will be loaded onto their Seapass card on Day 1 of the next voyage. Offers do not carry over to the next sailing even if they are a back to back cruiser.

Beginning in June, Royal Caribbean cruise ships sailing into Hong Kong will dock at the new $1 billion Kai Tak Cruise Terminal that features eco-friendly features and an impressive harbor view from the terminal's interior and rooftop.

The new Kai Tak Cruise Terminal can handle ships of up to 220,000 gross registered tonnage. It can also process 3,000 passengers an hour.

The first ship scheduled to officially utilize the new Kai Tak terminal is Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas on June 12.  Voyager of the Seas will also dock here this year. Royal Caribbean ships will return to dock here in 2014 as well.

Right now, Asia is a hotbed for cruise industry growth. "Total Asian cruise passengers could reach seven million by 2020 based on projected China cruise market growth," said Bill Flora, director – USA, Hong Kong Tourism Board . "Asia could likely represent 20% of the global cruise market by 2020.”

ROyal Caribbean will send three ships to the United Kingdom in 2014 - Independence of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas - with bookings opening on March 20, 2013.

Both Independence of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas will sail out of the Southampton for their second consecutive seasons from May 2014 until late October 2014. Brilliance of the Seas will return to her home port of Harwich after a debut season in summer 2013.

Royal Caribbean Associate Vice President and General Manager for the UK and Ireland, Jo Rzymowska, commented on the news, "We are delighted to announce our 2014 sailings from Southampton and Harwich on our newly revitalised ships. Our guests can continue to enjoy our innovative facilities and activities onboard including rock climbing, ice skating and surfing, plus our great entertainment. We want to continue to give our guests unforgettable experiences that can only be found on Royal Caribbean International.”

Independence of the Seas will feature a range of itineraries in 2014, including shorter sailings such as a three-night and four-night cruise to Le Havre for Paris, and Zeebrugge for Bruges. Independence of the Seas will also showcase a six night cruise to France and Spain, an eight-night cruise to Norway, various 14-night Mediterranean cruises, plus 11 and 12-night Canary Islands cruises.

From May 2014, Adventure of the Seas from Southampton will return to a series of seven to 16 night cruises around the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, plus shorter sailings, including a four-night trip to Belgium and France.

Brilliance of the Seas, sailing from Harwich, will visit Northern Europe on 12-night Norwegian Fjords and Iceland cruises and the Baltic Sea on 12-night Scandinavia & Russia cruises.

Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas returned to Port Everglades, Florida today after 105 guests and 3 crew members contracted norovirus on the cruise ship.

"Vision of the Seas experienced an elevated number of persons with a gastrointestinal illness on its last sailing," Royal Caribbean International said in a statement. 

Royal Caribbean crew members gave out over-the-counter medication to those affected by the virus.

An official statement by Royal Caribbean discussed what steps the cruise line as taken to prevent the problem in the future, "At Royal Caribbean International we have high health standards for all our guests and crew.  During the sailing, we conduct enhanced cleaning onboard the ship, to help prevent the spread of the illness."

When the Vision of the Seas docked in Port Everglades, the company said it conducted an extensive sanitizing onboard the ship and within the cruise terminal, to help prevent any illness from affecting the subsequent sailing.

"Guests received a letter at boarding that asks if they have experienced any gastrointestinal symptoms within the last three days," Royal Caribbean officials said.