Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas made her inaugural call to Dubai on Saturday.  This is Royal Caribbean's fourth season operating out of Dubai, with its first cruises sailing out of the region in January 2010.

Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) in collaboration with Royal Caribbean, arranged for a grand welcome ceremony at the Dubai Cruise Terminals in Mina Rashid where the ship will be docked. A huge heritage village replica was set-up at the terminal with traditional activities and local music band performance.

DTCM invited representatives from other Government Departments that support the cruise operations such as Immigration, Customs, Police, and DMCA, as well as its strategic partner DP World to attend the press conference arranged on board the cruise ship.

Serenade of the Seas will offer 12 cruises out of Dubai this season until April 14, 2013.  Serenade arrives in Dubai following a total refurbishment of the ship last year.

Helen Beck, Royal Caribbean International Regional Director, commented on the ship's arrival, "Serenade of the Seas is the eighth Royal Caribbean International ship to be revitalized. Announced in 2011, the $300m revitalization program will make every ship our best ship. Each revitalization takes around one month and includes adding new dining venues, more balcony staterooms, entertainment options such as an outdoor movie screen, various technological enhancements, and more."

The plaque & key exchange ceremony, a maritime tradition, followed the press conference during which DTCM and the other invited Government Departments exchanged their commemorative crests with the Ship's Captain. The event continued with a ship visit and lunch on board for all the attendees.

Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas, CocoCay, was awarded the Sustainable Tourism Education Program (STEP) Gold-Level Eco-Certification for its attractions and tour operations.

The award was presented by Sustainable Travel International, a leading nonprofit that support sustainable tourism development.  The certification is the top-tier program and  is among the first global standards to be formally recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), and CocoCay is the first operation of its kind to receive the certification.

All on-island tours and island operations, including workplace practices, guest communications, and environmental management policies were assessed by a third-party independent of Sustainable Travel International and Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean demonstrated an ability to successfully apply its outstanding on-board sustainability initiatives to its shore excursion operations.

Royal Caribbean met certain criteria to receive the award, among them were these distinctions

• Royal Caribbean performed extremely well on all policy and documentation criteria.
• The CocoCay team performed “above and beyond” in areas of guest communications, guest education, group-size policy and visitor code of conduct.
• All on-island vendors sell locally sourced and produced products from the Bahamas, such as artwork and locally-made crafts.

Royal Caribbean Associate Vice President for Safety and Environmental Stewardship, Rich Pruitt, commented on the award, "We are very proud of our CocoCay team and the incredible work they do every day. It is through their dedication to sustainability initiatives that CocoCay has been awarded this prestigious certification that further emphasizes our commitment to environmental stewardship. By working with organizations such as Sustainable Travel International, Royal Caribbean continues to focus on providing an incredible vacation experience both onboard its ships and its private destinations like CocoCay.”

In our second video blog, we preview the Eastern Caribbean itinerary aboard Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas.   We preview each of the three islands: CocoCay, St. Thomas & St. Maarten, including what the islands are known for and what the good excursions are.  Joining me on today's episode is Kaleigh Lay from CruizeCast.

Let us know how you liked the video and any suggestions you have for our cruise!

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Royal Caribbean is offering deals on its winter 2013-2014 cruises to Australia and New Zealand of free stateroom upgrades.

Guests can book inside staterooms aboard Rhapsody of the Seas and be upgraded for free to oceanview staterooms, or you can book a balcony stateroom for the cost of an oceanview stateroom aboard Radiance and Voyager of the Seas.

The offer applies to new U.S. and Canadian individual bookings made on Jan. 30 through Feb. 28, 2013 aboard Royal Caribbean International ships departing from Sept. 2013 through April 2014 on 10-night sailings or longer in Australia and New Zealand. 

For more information, please visit www.RoyalCaribbean.com/AustraliaOffer.

Royal Caribbean senior vice president Lisa Bauer spoke to a group of travel agents in São Paulo, Brazil on Tuesday and discussed some of Royal Caribbean's plans for the future, including launching three new cruise ships by 2016.

Bauer spoke about Brazil's importance as an increasingly larger market, "Brazil is an important market and also strategic. São Paulo customers love our products and it's where we have a high satisfaction rate. We know that agents work hard for our sales and we want to hear what they have to say."

Bauer mentioned the new third Oasis class ship Royal Caribbean is building along with the two Project Sunshine ships that will launch in 2014 and 2015.  According to Bauer, news about all three ships will be communicated throughout the construction period of the vessels.

"We do a global search with our passengers to define what will be news. We will bring some of the existing ammenities and others that are innovative and different from anything I've done," she said.

According to Ricardo Amaral, vice president of Royal Caribbean, Latin America, the focus of creation is seeking a new experience to guests. "Maybe that's why we're the playmaker that invests more in renovations and construction," he said.

For Amaral, the concept of brand and quality are the main characteristics that motivate Royal Caribbean to be preferred among Brazilians. "We believe we have the best product for the Brazilian public for both the domestic market and for Europe," he said. Regarding the numbers, he only mentioned that the season in Brazil is very good, since he can not speak of results that have not been announced for investors.  

The new unlimited alcohol packages are now available for pre-purchase online prior to getting aboard your Royal Caribbean cruise.  

Royal Caribbean announced the all-you-can drink beverage packages last month and initially the package was available to purchase on the first day of your cruise.  Now, guests may pre-purchase the package online to expedite the process.

The package can be purchased via the Royal Caribbean website by logging in and going to "My Cruises" and then finding the "Alcoholic Beverage Packages" link.

Both the classic beverage package and premium beverage packages are available for purchase. The classic package costs $45 per person, per day and includes all beers, $6.25 or less, house wines by the glass, non-alcoholic cocktails & fountain soda and juices.  The premium beverage package costs $55 per person, per day and includes all well, call, and premium brand cocktails, all beers, frozen cocktails, house wines by the glass, non-alcoholic cocktails & fountain soda and juices.

The drink packages are available on all sailings 4 nights or longer and must be purchased by all guests in your stateroom, 21 years of age or older.  Package prices already include gratuity,

At the Seatrade Hong Kong Cruise Forum, experts predict that by the year 2020, 7 million passengers will be cruising in Asia compared to 1.7 million in 2011.  This goal will mean one of out five cruisers will be from Asia if the predictions hold true.

Royal Caribbean regional vice president and chairman of the Asia Cruise Association, Zinan Liu, said that Royal Caribbean has the most tonnage dedicated to Asia currently. 

According to Liu, Royal Caribbean has 276,000 gross tons followed by Star Cruises at 259,749 tons and Costa Cruises at 160,785 tons.

Royal Caribbean vice president for commercial development, John Tercek, says one challenge for the cruise line succeeding in Asia is tailoring the cruise line offerings to the Asian market.

"We are in a bit of an experimental stage," Tercek said.  "The potential is fantastic, but it's a question of what do the local clients want to do, and can we accommodate it?"   

One such difference is Asians prefer shorter cruises, as opposed to European and North American cruisers.  Asians typically like cruises of 5-nights or less while Americans and Europeans prefer 12-14 night cruises.  Another example is cruises out of China skip sun-bathing ports because Chinese guests tend not to enjoy sunbathing in harsh sunlight.

Perhaps the biggest challenge currently is the lack of ports in Asia that can handle the large cruise ships that Royal Caribbean has in its fleet. Of the 80 potential ports in Asia that were outlined by Liu, most lack the capacity to handle large ships such as Voyager of the Seas, which recently arrived in Asia.

Tercek believes the arrival of ships like Voyager of the Seas will help increase port capacity, "Wherever we take that ship, others follow because we cause the infrastructure to be built."