Two crew members from Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas were arrested in Port Everglades, Florida this past Sunday for allegedly smuggling cocaine.

The men were stopped during a routine inspection of Allure of the Seas as they were attempting to disembark.  Allure of the Seas was returning from a Western Caribbean cruise to Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico.

Inspectors noticed something during an x-ray scan in one of the men's backpack.   Both of the men removed various electronics and a wallet from the backpack and then told security agents the backpack did not belong to them, according to the investigative report.

Royal Caribbean's security personnel contacted the Broward Sheriff's Office deputies and Customs and Border Protection to investigate. A police dog alerted to something in the backpack which was then field-tested. The substance inside tested positive for cocaine and both men were arrested.  More than one kilogram of cocaine was found, which was trafficked from Jamaica.

In its statement, Royal Caribbean said it maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding illegal drugs on its ships. "We take various steps to prevent the transport of illegal narcotics, including working closely with law enforcement in all of our ports of call."

Royal Caribbean is upgrading its main dining room menus with an extensive multi-million dollar enhancement across its fleet of cruise ships.

Royal Caribbean is focusing on the complimentary dining choices in its main dining room.  The changes include dishes infused with regional flavors reflective of the destinations of the world the line’s ships sail to; improved choices for guests with dietary restrictions; and superior presentation.

Royal Caribbean Executive Vice President of Operations, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, commented on the changes, "In today's food-aware culture, the palettes of our guests have evolved and they have come to expect, not only a variety of choices, but cuisine of the highest quality made with the freshest of ingredients. In recent years, we have introduced many new specialty dining concepts and in this next evolution we are expanding the options in our main dining room with even more variety, allowing us to cater to our international guests while offering them the highest quality dining on land or at sea.”

Some of the new menu changes include upgraded entrees such rack of lamb and surf & turf with new offerings like premium beef sliders and daily entrée dinner salads.

Royal Caribbean has redone its main dining room menus by adding variety but it also was sure to keep some dishes that have become passenger favorites over the years, such as aged hand-cut Manhattan steak, escargot bourguignonne, shrimp cocktail and crème brulee, popular selections now available every night.

There also has been a focus on the desserts with a new “hot from the oven” blueberry peach crumble, sticky bread and butter pudding and sumptuous carrot cake.

The updated menu format also includes a new vegetarian symbol, which is the official symbol of the European Vegetarian Union and considered the most widely used vegetarian symbol worldwide for easy recognition.

 In addition to the new menu designations, Royal Caribbean is rolling out new daily gluten-free bread offerings, available on request in all venues, including specialty restaurants.

Here's a copy of the new menu. You can view the schedule for the roll out of the new main dining room.

Port Canaveral, Florida received approval from a federal panel to widen and deepen the channel.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Review Board gave unanimous approval of the port's feasibility study and that the project may continue to seek approval from other state and federal agencies.

The project need the approval of the Corps of Engineers to receive federal assistance for future maintenance of the channel.

The proposed project would widen Port Canaveral's 400-foot-wide channel by 100 feet and deepen it by 2 feet along its 3.5-mile length.  Work is expected to begin in July and be completed by the fall of 2014.  The widening and deepening of the channel would allow Port Canaveral to accommodate larger cruise and cargo ships.

Tom Weinberg, Canaveral Port Authority Chairman, said the decision by the review board, “is a huge deal. This is a significant milestone to have this level of approval so quickly.”

Port Canaveral estimates that, if its cargo and cruise business increases as projected, this project and related developments at the port could generate nearly 3,500 permanent jobs for Brevard County. It also will mean an estimated 3,413 temporary construction jobs.

Royal Caribbean has struck a deal to have CA Technologies provide integrated and automated IT management solutions that aim to improve the guest experience aboard all of its cruise ships.

The deal will simplify IT management both on shore and onboard the cruise ships.  Royal Caribbean will use a range of CA Technologies solutions, including application performance management, infrastructure management, automation, and project and portfolio management.

Royal Caribbean is planning a massive IT upgrade program to modernize its legacy applications that will take place over the next 12 to 18 months.

Royal Caribbean Chief Information Officer Bill Martin commented on the deal, ""Our investment in technology has increased dramatically. Thanks to CA Technologies Business Service Innovation approach, we have transitioned our focus from maintaining IT systems to delivering new, innovative guest services with speed and agility. CA Technologies has enabled us to transform our IT organization and address the high expectations guests have as a result of the trend towards consumerization of IT. Guests want wireless access to the Internet from their smartphones, tablets, laptops and game consoles the second they board the ship to access a range of services; it's imperative that we provide them the best possible experience with those services."

CA Application Performance Management helps Royal Caribbean ensure quality of service and quality of experience for its Web sites. CA APM enables the cruise company to identify and resolve potential problems before they cause downtime and disruption for guests.

Royal Caribbean uses CA Spectrum(R) and CA Virtual Assurance for Infrastructure Managers to manage its on-board network and data center devices. The integrated solution, used on SL class and OA class ships, enables Royal Caribbean to monitor its infrastructure across multiple platforms via user-friendly dashboards that help the organization drill down to identify and fix the root cause of a problem before it impacts guests.

Royal Caribbean also uses CA Client Automation to track networked assets and deploy software upgrades remotely to help minimize the need for IT staff to travel around the ship and ensure devices remain continuously available.

Royal Caribbean hosts what it calls a "WOW Sale" usually once per quarter to attract new cruise bookings and if you're considering booking a cruise during one of these sales, here are some things to keep in mind.

What is a WOW Sale?

WOW Sales are promotions Royal Caribbean runs to attract new cruise bookings.  Wow Sales are more targeted at people who have never cruised with Royal Caribbean before than veteran Royal Caribbean fans, although there's absolutely no reason someone who has sailed with Royal Caribbean before cannot take advantage of the sale.

What does the WOW Sale offer?

There are two basic components to a typical WOW Sale.  The first is reduced deposits on new bookings.  Usually that means you only need to put down 50% of the normal deposit amount for your cabin.  This greatly reduces the amount of money you need to put up to hold a cabin for a booking.  It's a great benefit if you're looking at a longer cruise and/or a bigger cabin.  As an example, a 7-night balcony may usually require around $700 for a deposit but with the WOW Sale, that would be cut in half to $350.

In addition to the reduced deposits, Royal Caribbean offers onboard credit depending on your cabin.  This can be up to $200 of onboard credit per cabin and the amount varies depending on how long your cruise is.  Typically the onboard credit offered is as much as you can usually get for a cruise.

Do cruise prices go down as well?

During a WOW Sale, the actual cruise fares do not usually change.  The sale is mainly about offering booking incentives rather than a reduction in the price of the cruise.

What are the drawbacks of a WOW Sale?

The chief drawback to booking a WOW Sale is for those that have sailed with Royal Caribbean in the past and have other discounts.  WOW Sales prohibit combining the sale offer with other discounts including Next Cruise Credits, balcony discounts from Crown and Anchor Society status or Crown and Anchor Society saving certificates.

If you have access to one or more of these discounts, a WOW Sale usually doesn't make financial sense.  Keep in mind, WOW Sales are targeted at people that have never sailed with Royal Caribbean before since it offers them the best booking incentives a first timer can expect to see.

How can I book a WOW Sale?

You can book a WOW Sale either by booking through Royal Caribbean directly or through your preferred travel agent.

Royal Caribbean is doing its part to make another record cruise season for Sydney, Australia.  The city expects 265 visits before the cruise season ends in April 2013.

Many of the passengers that will help set that record will be traveling aboard Radiance of the Seas, including the 2100 people it brought to the city yesterday after a 17-night trip from Hawaii.

Royal Caribbean managing director of Royal Caribbean Cruise Australia expects up to 750,000 Australians to take a cruise in 2012.  That is a 34% increase from 2010 when just 620,000 Australians went on a cruise.  

''The stronger economy is providing a better return, and the better return is attracting a better quality of ship."

That's great news for Royal Caribbean and the cruise industry, considering there just a 4% increase in American cruises and 5% among British cruisers over the same period of time.

Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas arrives in Sydney on November 22 and will bring even more passengers than Radiance.

Many of us have pondered just how Royal Caribbean manages to prepare all the food over the course of a cruise to feed its passengers and The Daily Traveler took a look behind the scenes at Royal Caribbean's food preparation to see how it's done.

Royal Caribbean vice president for food and beverage operations Frank Weber says time is importing, "We start loading around 7 a.m. in the morning, so we have until 3:30 p.m. to send something back to our produce supplier, like a pallet of tomatoes, and to get a replacement a little later in the afternoon."

Longshoremen then load supplies onto the ship. Royal Caribbean transfers the food from wooden pallets to metal trays, which can be more easily cleaned, to prevent ship contamination by anything that might have been on the wood. For similar reasons, other packaging, such as cardboard, is incinerated.

Technology assures smooth sailing by alerting crewmembers to how many passengers are grabbing a bite. Royal Caribbean, for instance, has head-counting cameras in the ceilings of its main dining areas that count when and where passengers are gravitating to and subsequently provide data that can be used to anticipate peak serving times.

The cruise ships offer simple menus so their cooks can prepare food to order and serve it at the perfect temperature (i.e. offering a single main version each of meat, poultry, and seafood).  The exception is the specialty restaurants onboard that serve a small, subset of passengers.

Simplified menus allow chefs to synchronize meal creation with the needs of diners. "We don't pre-cook the steaks and keep them in a warmer as you would in a typical hotel banquet operation," says Weber, describing a method that's common to better cruise lines. "And we don't plate food until the waiter is on the path to deliver it."