Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas made its first stop at St Kitts-Nevis on December 30, which St. Kitt's Tourism Minister described as "an historic event".

Rich Skerritt, the Tourism Minister for the island, spoke to The St. Kitts Nevis Observer about the occasion, "Almost the entire population of Nevis can be housed aboard this one vessel. This is a strong indicator of the growth of our relationship with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and the cruise industry in general.  This is also a reminder of our responsibility and the expectations which have been raised of our port to deliver a quality destination experience for cruise passengers and all visitors."

Cruise passenger numbers have increased over the last four years at St. Kitts along with passenger satisfaction levels.  

Allure of the Seas' arrival also drew St. Kitts' Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, Minister Skerritt and other government officials, who attended a cocktail reception and plaque & key exchange ceremony aboard Allureof the Seas.

With it being the end of 2011, we thought it proper to look back on the biggest stories related to Royal Caribbean in 2011, as determined by our readers.  These ten stories were the ten most viewed posts here on RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com and should be entertaining to see which story generated the most buzz!

1. Hurricane Irene
2. Two country music themed cruises in January 2012
3. Will Royal Caribbean's new Project Sunshine ship be more crowded than ever?
4. Rock Legends cruise ready to go
5. Royal Caribbean to roll out All-You-Can-Drink Packages
6. Frommer's names Allure of the Seas best ship of 2011
7. Royal Caribbean announces new 2012 cruises to Bermuda and North East USA
8. Extreme weather damages Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas
9. Taylor Swift to perform on Allure of the Seas on Friday
10. Royal Caribbean orders new ship for 2014 delivery

Those were the biggest stories based on page views, but here's our editors picks for the biggest stories of 2011

1. Royal Caribbean confirms new ship coming
2. Falmouth port officially opens with ceremony
3. Royal Caribbean planning major cruise fleet upgrade
4. Royal Caribbean will send Voyager of the Seas to China
5. Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas leaves San Juan early and strands passengers

What do you think was the biggest Royal Caribbean story of 2011?

Photo by DJ Spiess

Royal Caribbean has won five awards at the Travel Weekly 2011 Readers Choice Awards, held at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.  Royal Caribbean's sister company Celebrity Cruise Line won an addition three awards as well.

• Best Cruise Line: Domestic – Royal Caribbean International
• Best Cruise Line: Caribbean – Royal Caribbean International
• Best Cruise Ship: Rookie – Royal Caribbean International Allure of the Seas
• Best Cruise Line: Sales & Service – Royal Caribbean International
• Best Cruise Line: Overall – Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean Senior Vice President of Sales, Vicki Freed, accepted the awards on behalf of the company.  Also accepting the coveted “Best Cruise Line; Sales & Service Award” on behalf of Royal Caribbean along with Ms. Freed was Joanne Schimelman, Vice President Sales and National Accounts.

Royal Caribbean's mega ship the Allure of the Seas is going to visit the island of St. Kitts.

Sunday will offer passengers an unique 9-night itinerary that will deviate from the usual pattern Allure of the Seas visits and will include docking in Basseterre, St. Kitts on December 30.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein described the visit to St. Kitts in a recent blog post as a variation on the typical itineraries that Royal Caribbean will offer from time to time.  Royal Caribbean spokesman Harrison Liu calls the visit "uniquely special", as there are no other calls to St. Kitts planned for Allure of its sister ship Oasis of the Seas.

In celebration, the island is planning a festive welcome for Allure of the Seas.  The celebration will include St. Kitts and Nevis' prime minister, tourism minister and other top officials will be greeting the ship.

Dozens of infractions on a recent Centers for Disease Control inspection earned Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas a failing score of 85 out of 100 on its November 18 vessel sanitation inspection.

The inspection was unannounced and Monarch barely missed passing by one point (86).

Monarch was cited for among other infractions

• fruit flies were mentioned 11 times (found in bulkheads, by preparation counters, and in and around the buffet during live service)
• Soiled plates in the clean buffet stack
• missing safety signage

The inspection also revealed that Monarch of the Seas had not adopted new standards from the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program's (VSP) Operations Manual, which include carrying a test kit for measuring alkalinity in the swimming pools and posting poolside safety signs warning passengers not to use the facilities if they are "experiencing diarrhea, vomiting, or fever" and encouraging them to shower before entering the facility.

Royal Caribbean issued a statement in which it was "extremely disappointed" to learn that Monarch only received an 85 during its last inspection. The line added that it is working closely with the proper authorities to "correct and remedy the deficiencies found aboard Monarch that caused the low score," and that it was "confident that Monarch of the Seas would receive a passing score when the ship was re-inspected." We've reached out to Royal Caribbean and the CDC to determine if and when the ship was re-tested. We'll keep you posted.

Forgive us, it's almost time for vacation and one of our readers, Megan, sent us this odd, yet amusing video of a kid dancing all around his Royal Caribbean cruise ship.  We thought, "What the heck!" and share it with all of you.  Enjoy!

Lots of people are hesitant to try a cruise but Michael van Baker tried out a Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas out of Puerto Rico and decided to share his thoughts.

On why he's trying a cruise now, van Baker seems to finally have given into the idea, "The people I know just don’t go on cruises, unless they have an excuse: visiting relatives, hip destinations, all-you-can-drink offers. But when I was casting about for ways to beat Seattle’s December gloom, the prospect of a Caribbean cruise seemed worth considering."

The seven night cruise sailed out of Puerto Rico and visited Grenada, Dominica, Antigua, St. Croix, and St. Thomas.

Once onboard, van Baker was surprised by his room size, "The first surprise was the size of the stateroom–I had been on enough boats not to expect a majestic expanse, but the balcony stateroom managed to feel positively roomy."

van Baker did note that Serenade, which is going for a refurbishment in 2012, is showing her age, "The stateroom TV wasn’t a flat panel, but a tubed variety, sporting a distinctive green cast across the bottom third from years of use. (The projector in the ship’s cinema was also worn or in need of maintenance. There are parts of Thor I can’t describe to you because they were a muddy haze–which, of course, is both a plus and a minus.)"

You can read more of van Bakers thoughts on his full report.

Royal Caribbean's Managing Director of Australia, Gavin Smith, is calling once again on authorities at the Cairns, Australia to dredge the shipping channel  and the swing basin.

Smith said that while Rhapsody of the Seas was able to safely traverse the Trinity Inlet, it was "at the limit and edge of its physical capabilities".  He said that Royal Caribbean would prefer the dredging take place to allow for easier and safer crossings as well as allow larger ships, such as Radiance of the Seas, to dock at the cruise terminal.

Currently, Radiance of the Seas is required to anchor off Port Douglas when she arrives in February 2012.

Earlier in the year, Smith had asked for the channel to be dredged to allow the ship to dock even in poor weather conditions. Royal Caribbean prefers to dock rather than moor and force its passengers to be transported via tenders ashore.