You may be wondering when booking a cruise why you should book Royal Caribbean?  We were inspired by a recent episode of CruizeCast to look at why someone would want to choose Royal Caribbean for their next cruise.  Rather than contrast Royal Caribbean to other lines, we thought it might make sense to tell you why Royal Caribbean is as popular as it is and why you should consider them for your next cruise.

Things to do

If there's a selling point to Royal Caribbean, one of them has to be what your cruise ship will offer.  While all cruise lines offer a lot to do onboard, Royal Caribbean has defined the category of onboard activities.  If you see any of Royal Caribbean's television commercials, you will see mostly passengers doing something.  There are rock climbing walls, mini-golf courses, ziplines, the Flowrider, ice skating rinks just to name a few.

It's not to say that on Royal Caribbean ships, you will feel ostracized for not participating in events.  Far from it, in fact.  If your ideal cruise is to go to the pool and sleep, you can do that without ever being bothered.  But if you're ever inclined to do something physically active on your ship, Royal Caribbean offers a lot of it.  

Many of these activities are free and available throughout your cruise.  Most passengers probably try one or two activities on their cruise.  These activities aren't the focus of the cruise, but it is something that separates Royal Caribbean from the competition.  Royal Caribbean really tries to convey the idea that there's always something going on during your cruise so you won't have to worry about being bored because there's nothing to do.

The Ships

Royal Caribbean has strived to differentiate itself from other cruise lines by pushing the envelope of how big a cruise ship can be.  Over the past 10 years or so, Royal Caribbean has constructed new ships that are bigger than the ones that came before it and if you're looking to be on the state-of-the-art cruise ship that is the biggest and newest, Royal Caribbean is a great choice.

As of the writing of this blog post, Allure and Oasis of the Seas are the largest cruise ships in the world.  Not only are they large, they also feature distinct "neighborhoods", that can best be described as themed areas of the park in the ship.  Think of it like how Adventureland or Tomorrowland are themed if you were to visit Disneyland/Magic Kingdom... same basic concept, different look and feel.

Royal Caribbean does have a number of relatively smaller and older ships in its fleet, but the company has spent a considerable amount of time and money keeping them updated with revitalizations that add new venues, cabins and amenities.

Price

Royal Caribbean has set itself squarely in the middle of the pack when it comes to pricing.  They aren't the cheapest big cruise line out there, nor are they the most expensive.  Royal Caribbean is a mass-market cruise line that tries to appeal to everyone and their prices are generally affordable to most people in the market for a cruise.  

While the ship, itinerary and time of year all dictate the exact pricing, generally speaking the average price of a Royal Caribbean cruise is what most people would consider affordable and comparable to a land-based vacation elsewhere.   Quite obviously what one person finds affordable will vary from what someone else finds affordable, but there seems to be a consensus out there among veteran cruises of the price point that Royal Caribbean tries to serve.

The rest

There are plenty of other reasons why people come back to Royal Caribbean time and time again.  For some, it's the food onboard the ship, others enjoy the onboard entertainment.  Royal Caribbean has a large fleet that serves a number of markets outside of the Caribbean, such as Alaska, Europe, Asia, Australia and more.

Can a floating city of 6,000 passengers per week touring holiday and not leave behind a sea of ​​waste? Cruise companies fight tooth and nail that they follow environmental policies, and ensure that they meet international standards even with the challenge of being sustainable and non-polluting by the account that brings. Only in Spain, in the first half of the year there have been 3.2 million cruise passengers, 17.7% more than the same period of 2010, a total of 1,632 large ships. And the craze for this type of trip, relatively new in Europe, has for decades sweeping the United States.

Each cruise company usually develops its own sustainability plans. One of the largest in the world, Royal Caribbean, said that for 40 years have implemented various measures "to protect the environment," but it was in 1992 when they launched the Save the Waves program, focusing on the "reduce, reuse and recycling waste" in all vessels in its fleet.Royal Caribbean monitors their ships pollution (managing the tons of garbage produced daily) and strictly prohibiting passengers to throw any litter overboard. In fact there are cameras that could determine from which little cabin is thrown into the sea.

Royal Caribbean places posters in the restrooms asking not to throw the towels on the floor unless changes are required to avoid unnecessary washing and reduce pollution.

Royal Caribbean has on its ships an environmental program officer, whose duty it is to instruct the crew about managing waste. Royal Caribbean's procedures were the first certified ISO 14001 in the sector.

Photo by Kimberly

The International Cruise Victims Association, a non-profit group formed by victims and families of victims of cruise crimes, slammed Royal Caribbean in a recent article for offering prepaid drink packages.  ICV strongly condemns Royal Caribbean for promoting the consumption of alcohol on their ships by offering unlimited drinks for one price.

ICV has sent its unhappiness with the package directly to Royal Caribbean's board of directors with the hopes the company will change its policy.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fainhas characterized the all-you-can-drink packages as "hugely successful." Fain also has said about rhe packages, "It's very dramatic how much people like buying the drinks package, for example, and not have to worry about that." The idea is to give the passenger "a more customized all-inclusive experience."

Royal Caribbean has been forced to cancel stops to its private island in the Bahamas, CocoCay, through Monday due to the effect Hurricane Irene had on it.  Royal Caribbean's reasoning for cancelling is being described as, "we feel our guest's experience ashore would be disrupted".

The following stops have been canceled

• Majesty of the Seas - August 27
• Monarch of the Seas -  August 28
• Freedom of the Seas - August 29

As a result of this itinerary change, Royal Caribbean has decided to amend the following itineraries as follows

• Monarch of the Seas will now stay overnight in Nassau, Bahamas, arriving at 12:00 p.m. today and departing at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, August 28.
• Majesty of the Seas will also stay overnight in Nassau, Bahamas, arriving at 12:00 p.m. today and departing at 5:00 pm. on Sunday, August 28.
• Freedom of the Seas will call on Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday, August 29 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

No word at this time if any further cancelations will be necessary.  Royal Caribbean reported sending a team yesterday to evaluate the damage to the island.

Port Canaveral, Florida is celebrating the start of construction of a new cruise terminal with a scheduled completion date of July 2012.  The new terminal should be large enough to handle any cruise ship in the world, including Royal Caribbean's behemoth Genesis class ships such as Oasis and Allure of the Seas.

Port Canaveral Port Authority Chief Executive Officer J. Stanley Payne says the new Terminal 6 dock will be large enough to accommodate "the absolute largest cruise ships in the world," including Royal Caribbean's 6,200-passenger, Genesis-class ships.

Currently Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas is home ported in Port Canaveral, which was the largest passenger ship ever built (by gross tonnage) from 2006 until construction of Oasis of the Seas, so large ships are something Port Canaveral can handle.

Royal Caribbean's private island of CocoCay in the Bahamas appears to have been damaged to some extent by Hurricane Irene as it passed by.  

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said in an email, "We have a Miami-based team heading to CocoCay as we speak. Once they arrive, we'll have a better idea of the damage."

It is unknown at this time when Royal Caribbean ships can return to the island.

Royal Caribbean's two largest shareholders, A Wilhelmsen AS and Cruise Associates, have informed Royal Caribbean that they have terminated the Shareholders’ Agreement between themselves.  The deal between the two shareholders meant they agreed to vote their shares for the election as directors of four nominees of each shareholder. With the termination of the Shareholders’ Agreemnt, the two shareholders are no longer obliged to vote their shares in this manner.

Royal Caribbean is not included in the agreement but did issue a statement that the decision has nothing to do with Royal Caribbean as a company.  Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean's Chairman had this to say,  "This action is solely between the two shareholders and does not involve the Company.  We do not expect today’s announcement to result in any change in the Company’s operations or strategic direction."

Per Royal Caribbean's Articles of Incorporation stipulate that when the Shareholders’ Agreement was in place, the approval of at least one director affiliated with each of the two shareholders was required for certain corporate actions. Now that the agreement is terminated, this is no longer a requirement. In addition, Royal Caribbean noted that these changes are consistent with current trends in best practice for good corporate governance.

Royal Caribbean has announced it will hold a one-day sale on all of its cruises to the Bahamas and Caribbean this Saturday, August 27.  Called the "One Day Saturday Super Sale", the sale will be valid on Bahamas and Caribbean sailings departing between September 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011.

Royal Caribbean is promising...

• $25 to spend onboard when you reserve an inside or outside stateroom
• $50 to spend onboard when you reserve a balcony or suite

One offer per stateroom and all bookings must be made on August 27, 2011 between 12:00am ET and 11:59pm ET.  Offer is not combinable with any other offer or promotion, including, but not limited to, Interline, Travel Agent, and Net Rates, Crown & Anchor Discounts, Shareholder Benefits or Next Cruise offers, promotions, or benefits. Offer is available to US and Canada residents only.

Royal Caribbean announced that Explorer of the Seas will depart Cape Liberty, Bayonne, NJ earlier than expected this weekend.  The Saturday, August 27 sailing will depart at 4pm EST, one hour earlier than originally scheduled.

All guests are asked to arrive at the pier no later than 3:00pm EST.

The change is due to the impending arrival of hurricane Irene and Royal Caribbean wants to get the ship out of the path of the storm.  No other changes have been announced but Royal Caribbean is monitoring the situation.