Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas rescued a sailor racing in the Newport Bermuda Race after he became dehydrated.

The chairman of the 2012 Newport Bermuda Race, John Osmond, said at 3:00 am on Monday Nathan C. Owen reported to be suffering the effects of dehydration.  

Enchantment of the Seas transferred him from his 46-foot sloop "Seabiscuit" at about 200 miles northwest of Bermuda in rough seas.

Enchantment of the Seas was on its way from Bermuda to Boston, Massachusetts when officials at Bermuda’s Rescue Coordination Center contacted the Enchantment of the Seas' captain and requested that the ship be diverted to rescue and treat Owen.

Following the cruise industry-wide booking slump thanks to the Costa Concordia disaster earlier this year, Royal Caribbean appears to be moving back into positive numbers again.  

Tom Fecke, Royal Caribbean Germany chief said, "We are seeing a permanent increase in bookings for a few weeks" and is satisfied with the results.  According to Fecke, compared to the same period earlier this year, bookings are seven percent higher and Fecke hopes to finish the current fiscal year with "small growth".

To achieve this goal, however, Royal Caribbean would have to normalize the booking patterns again. 

Photo by Vegard Elias Antonsen

A man from Brazil pleaded guilty to two counts of lewd and lascivious battery in the rape of a 15-year-old girl on the last day of cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.

Luiz Scavone, 20, was sentenced by Broward County Judge Matthew Destry to one year in prison and was also declared a sex offender. In addition, following Scavone's jail sentence, Federal officials will arrange for the man to be deported back to Brazil.

Scavone and his 15-year-old brother were arrested back on January 3 for sexual assault of a teenage girl from Iowa that they lured to a private room from an onboard nightclub.

 If Scavone returns to the United States, he will be required to notify corrections officials and be supervised as a sex offender. 

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development devotes part of the program this Saturday to discussing the oceans, with a series of conferences to promote protection of the seas and the commitments to prevent the deterioration of this source of life and maintain their productivity .

These commitments are reflected in the "Declaration of the oceans healthy and productive to help reduce poverty," Rio +20 in which received support from various entities, including some of the largest purchase of marine products in the world with more than business $ 6 billion annually.

Royal Caribbean is among these including others such as Costco, Darden Restaurants, High Liner Foods Inc. and Icelandic Group.

Countries that have expressed support for the alliance are Australia, Iceland, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, Fiji, Jamaica, Kiribati, Palau, Samoa, Seychelles, and the U.S. Agency for Development USAID.

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas and Splendour of the Seas will make a total of 40 cruises throughout Europe, with 41 stops in the summer of 2013.

Brilliance of the Seas will depart out of Harwich, England to ports in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea with 12 night itineraries.  Meanwhile, Splendour of he Seas will offer seven-night cruises to the Adriatic and Eastern Mediterranean out of Venice, Italy.

Brilliance of the Seas will begin its summer season on May 15, 2013 and will offer eight trips to and from Harwich to scales and in Copenhagen Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Gothenburg and St. Petersburg where it gets a night.

Splendour of the Seas, which was upgraded in November 2011 with new amenities from the Royal Advantage program, will start its summer season on May 5 with a six-night cruise from Barcelona to Venice with a stop in Marseille, Florence/Pisa and Rome (Civitavecchia).  The ship will offer four itineraries, two in the Greek islands, one in the Greek Islands and Turkey, and another in the Greek Islands and Croatia.

Royal Caribbean passengers can for at least this winter, enjoy a cruise to Guadeloupe aboard the Brilliance of the Seas. The ship will offer departures from November 14, 2012 to April 3, 2013.

The ship will carry passengers every Wednesday to Pointe-à-Pitre for cruises of one week with two alternate routes: Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, sea day, San Juan, Tortola, St. Martin, St. Kitts and return to Guadeloupe; Guadeloupe, Barbados, sea day, San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John's and back to Guadeloupe.

Royal Caribbean announced that the "Royal Advantage" program that is helping to refurbish the company's ships with ammenities seen first on Oasis class ships, will be coming to Independence of the Seas too. 

The work on Independence of the Seas will not be a revitalization like it has occurred on older ships, but rather will be "a less extensive upgrade".  The upgrade is currently slated to take place March 2013 (see below).

The Royal Advantage upgrades began in May 2011 with the revitalization of Radiance of the Seas with the goal of modernizing the fleet and bringing the closer in terms of amenities to the new Oasis class ships.

After the Radiance of the Seas, Splendour of the Seas followed in November 2011.  Royal Caribbean continued with their plan has this year with improvements to Rhapsody of the Seas in March, and the Grandeur of the Seas, whose revitalization process ended on June 1.  Work on Serenade of the Seas is scheduled for November and by 2013, the Vision Class ships will begin, starting with Legend of the Seas in January.  She will be followed by Vision of the Seas in March, Brilliance of the Seas in May, and Navigator of the Seas in November, in what will be the first Voyager-class ship to be upgraded.

By 2014 the remaining ships will be Voyager class, specifically the Adventure of the Seas, in January, the Voyager of the Seas in April, and the Explorer of the Seas in November.

Each ship is in dry dock for about a month and, on completion of the revitalization, becomes have new dining and entertainment, a specific area for babies and children from six to 36 months, new family cabins as well as increased coverage Wi-Fi and new technologies such as iPad in all staterooms and digital Wayfinders location.  

UPDATE: Our reader wdwgolfer called Royal Caribbean and heard that the Independence of the Seas refurbishment is scheduled for April 2013, after the 13 night transatlantic cruise that departs from Port Everglades on April 7. The dry dock is scheduled for 12 days.