The head of the Phuket, Thailand Marine Department Office is trying to kick-start stalled negotiations to expand the port to allow larger cruise ships to dock there.  Represenatives from Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises met with Thai officials on July 12 to discuss the problems encountered by large ships using their port.

Located at Cape Panwa, the deep sea port has long been criticized as too small to accommodate large vessels, both cargo and passenger, for docking.

According to Marine Department Region 5 chief Phuripat Theerakulpisuk, Royal Caribbean wants to see the government become more involved in lengthening the wharf and dredge the seabed.

Chief Phuripat cited one example of a Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas, measuring 312 meters long and 38m wide, that is forced to moor about four kilometers from the wharf and ferry its passengers ashore on smaller vessels.

Chief Phuripat commented on the need, "“It’s uncomfortable for passengers. Royal Caribbean Cruises has come to Phuket three times – once in May and twice in June, bringing 6,000 passengers each time. I truly believe if the port were improved, there would be a lot more ships from across the world arriving on Phuket.”

Photography buffs, aspiring photographers or just people that want to take better photos are all encouraged to join the 11th DSLR Photography Workshop Cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas on October 21-28, 2012.

Hosted by professional photographers Arthur Bleich and Peter E. Randall, the cruise will teach you how to first learn to identify the crucial elements that make up every great image. Over the eight day cruise, you're promised a photographic epiphany: you'll go from simply "taking" photos to "making" them, shooting with a firm concept in mind of exactly what story you want your shot to tell.

The workshop will feature one-on-one help with taking better photos, lecture and demonstration sessions and more.

If you're interested, check out more details on the workshop website.

Royal Caribbean has invited two former Olympic Athletes, Michelle Kwan and Greg Louganis, to compete in a number of physical activities aboard Oasis of the Seas.

Dubbed the Royal Deck-athlon, there will be 10 featured events, such as Flow Rider, Rock Climbing wall, figure skating, zip line, diving, mini-golf and more.

You can follow along the progress with video updates on the Facebook page.  Royal Caribbean is also offering a chance for a free seven night cruise aboard Oasis of the Seas for those that watch the videos.

Photo by Mike Harris

Travel+Leisure magazine has posted their annual awards for the best travel in the world, and Royal Caribbean made the list.

For the category of "Top Large Cruise Ships", Royal Caribbean made the #9 spot.

Here are the full results

1. Crystal Cruises 89.90
2. Regent Seven Seas 89.36
3. Azamara Club Cruises 87.31
4. Oceania Cruises 86.05
5. Disney Cruise Line 84.96
6. Cunard Line 83.26
7. Celebrity Cruises 81.61
8. Holland America Line 80.37
9. Royal Caribbean 79.40
10. Princess Cruises 79.08

Royal Caribbean's ninth spot finish was identical to last year's awards, although its score did dip slightly from last year.  Sister companies Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises placed in the list as well, with Azamara moving up one spot from last year.

The scores are results of reader surveys from the Travel+Leisure Magazine.

Royal Caribbean has announced that it will add Coca-Cola's Freestyle Machines aboard its ships.  These self-serve beverage dispensers will offer passengers 125 flavors of various Coke products in one machine.

The machines were customized for Royal Caribbean to allow for health code modifications in a marine environment as well as the addition of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) for use with the Royal Caribbean soda packages.

The new Freestyle Machines were installed aboard Majesty of the Seas in June and several other ships (all based in the United States) will receive their machines later this year.  Following that, the machines will be rolled out well into 2013 aboard other ships.

Royal Caribbean Director of Fleet Beverage Operations, Bob Midyette, described the new machine, "It was beyond sexy, it was über cool. Using medical micro dosing technology, flavor cartridges just slightly larger than those of the standard ink jet printer opened a world of flavors never available before (Orange Coke, anyone? or Peach Fanta Zero?). It was like going from an IBM series 700 mainframe to an iPhone 4, skipping everything in-between."

The agreement between Royal Caribbean and Coke is part of a multi-year effort by Royal Caribbean to bring some of Coke's newest advancements to Royal Caribbean's ships and therefore, Royal Caribbean will become the first cruise line to deploy the Freestyle machines.

More than 120 volunteers from Royal Caribbean will donate personal time this Saturday to help paint and landscape Centennial Elementary School in Springfield, Oregon as part of the company's 15th annual G.I.V.E. Day.

G.I.V.E., which stands for "Get Involved Volunteer Everywhere," is a community service event that brings together Royal Caribbean employees, their families, friends, vendors and business partners to assist non-profit organizations and improve the quality of life in their local communities.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain commented on the support Royal Caribbean is offering to the community, "As one of the largest non-Government employers in Springfield, we are committed to supporting and helping our local communities. We hope that the personal satisfaction and enjoyment of assisting our neighbors on G.I.V.E. Day will help inspire our employees to pursue volunteer and public service opportunities throughout the year."

Similar G.I.V.E. Day events took place in South Florida, Wichita, Kansas and Seattle, Washington and are planned for Anchorage, Alaska, United Kingdom, Germany and other International Offices.

Royal Caribbean sent new Public Relations Manager Allison Brennan and Royal Caribbean commercial manager Adam Armstrong to the Sydney Winter Festival to promote Royal Caribbean's own ice rink at sea aboard Voyager of the Seas.

The ice rink at Bondi Beach is a fun opportunity for Australians to ice skate, and Royal Caribbean is hoping to show that passengers aboard Voyager of the Seas can ice skate onboard for free in the Studio B ice rink.

Studio B is a 700-seat venue and offers 45-minutes ice skating sessions at scheduled times on selected sea days, along with evening events including disco skating and rock n’ roll skating.

Complimentary ‘Learn to Skate’ sessions will be offered for beginners while advanced skaters can take advantage of advice from the professional skate team who will be offering lessons for those more adept on the ice.

Twelve professional figure skaters from around the world will take to the ice in “Ice Odyssey”; the 45-minute show that features solo and pair performances. 

Royal Caribbean along with Carnival, Holland America and Princess cruises have informed the government of Panama that they want to invest $30 million to build a new cruise terminal on the Amador Causeway.

The proposal would be awarded for a period of 20 years, with the option to renew for another 20 years and would be built near the Balboa Yacht Club and storage tanks

Panama would use a plan similar to that used in 1997 when they leased the port of Colon in 2000.  

Representatives from the cruise companies visited the site in order to make technical recommendations for the specifications of the tender being prepared by the Panama Maritime Authority.