Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas makes stops in Busan, South Korea and that has meant a lot of money for the city. How much money?  Well, of the 1,800 passengers onboard the ship, all but 250 were foreign tourists and each foreign tourist represents on average $140 to $180.  That comes out to an economic impact for each ship stop of about $267,000.

Lee Gap-jun, head of Busan’s culture and tourism department talks about the value of cruise passengers, "According to research from the Korea Maritime Institute, the added value of one cruise ship passenger is equivalent to that of exporting one container box.  If there’s a constant increase in cruise ships entering the port of Busan, it will translate into economic growth for the city of Busan.”

Thanks to Busan's success, other South Korean cities are competing now to attract ships like Legend of the Seas, including Incheon, Jeju and Yeosu.

Jamaica is back in the top-10 fastest-growing cruise destinations in the region after not making the list for the last five years.  Jamaica posted double-digit growth between January and May 2011, growth that has coincided with the opening of the Falmouth cruise port in February of this year.

Since February, Falmouth has seen nearly 181,650 passengers and 65,400 crew arrive which translates to generating $15.8 million in passenger expenditure.  

Falmouth was developed by the Port Authority of Jamaica in partnership with Royal Caribbean Cruise Limited (RCCL), whose investments were estimated at $167 million and $102 million, respectively.  Royal Caribbean has promised to send eight million cruise passengers over the next 8 years into Falmouth.

Ahead of Jamaica is St Maarten with 21.5% growth, followed by the Bahamas at 16% and Jamaica in third with 12.6%.

Cruise Compare published its list of the top five family cruise liners and Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas made their list.  The list was compiled from input from the websites' social networking fans.

1. Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas
2. Carnival Magic
3. P&O Cruises Ventura
4. Disney Fantasy
5. Norweigian Epic

Oasis of the Seas was picked for having a lot for the family to do, including an ice rink, tropical gardens, Zip Line’s carousel, youth zone, DreamWorks Experience and water park.

Two Royal Caribbean workers from the West Indies appeared in a Bermuda court on August 12, charged with drug importation.  One of the men plead guilty while the other defendant pleaded not guilty. Both men were remanded into custody.

The two workers were charged with importing an estimated 200 grams of cocaine with an estimated street value of just over $52,000.  Crown Counsel Tawana Tannock told the court the drugs were found in the soles of the shoes worn by one of the men as he disembarked from the Royal Caribbean ship earlier this month. A search revealed a small brown package in each shoe.

North America has been the perennial leader in cruising for so many years now but Royal Caribbean's Chairman Richard Fain thinks that will change.  During the launch of Celebrity Cruise's newest ship (Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity Cruises), Fain made this profound prediction, "Next year, the rest of the world will book more cruises than North America".

Given how Royal Caribbean has distributed its fleet in recent years, it's really no surprise.  Half of Royal Caribbean's fleet is based in Europe.  In addition, Royal Caribbean is adding capacity  in Asia and Australia and they're also opening sales offices in the countries from which its ships will cruise.

With high airfares, many North Americans chose not to cruise in Europe this year, and many believe the strength in the Alaska market is a result of that reluctance.

It doesn't take much to convince fans of cruising to book another cruise but Royal Caribbean offers incentives for everyone to book another cruise with certain benefits by doing so. These booking incentives can help reduce the cost of our cruise overall or make booking another cruise a little easier to swallow financially.

Types of booking incentives

Onboard Credit

Onboard credit is perhaps the most common incentive there is and basically Royal Caribbean deposits a credit to your onboard account that you can use for purchases with your SeaPass card.  Onboard credit can be used for

• Spa Services
• Beverages
• Internet Café
• Photos
• Shore excursions
• Specialty Dining
• Onboard shopping
• Bingo
• Casino

How much onboard credit you get can depend on 

• Cabin category booked
• Length of cruise
• Time of season
• Crown and Anchor Society Status
• Extenuating circumstances

Typically we see onboard credit amounts starting at $25-$50 per cabin and going up to $200 or more.

Free Shore Excursions

Sometimes Royal Caribbean will offer free shore excursions, which means the cost of an excursion will be paid for.  These free shore excursion offers must be a Royal Caribbean shore excursion and often is limited to one per cabin.  We've also typically seen a limit to the price the excursion may cost of about $75.

Free Spa Treatments

For those that like to pamper themselves, free spa treatments may be the booking incentive for you.  There are some limitations, such as you cannot book the spa treatments in advance and must book them once you are onboard the cruise.  In addition, we've typically seen the free spa treatment offer limited to one per cabin, a limited amount of treatments to choose from and you must take the treatment on a port day.

Pre-paid Gratuities

A lucrative booking incentive is when Royal Caribbean pays the gratuities for the waiter, assistant waiter, head waiter and room attendant.  Usually pre-paid gratuities are only good for up to two people per cabin and the value of pre-paid gratuities depends on how long your cruise is.

Lower Deposit Amount

To help spur bookings, Royal Caribbean will lower the amount required for a deposit to book a cruise.  This allows you to spend less money up front to book a cabin, which can be a benefit for the more expensive cabins or when booking multiple cabins.  While this does not reduce the overall price of the cruise, it does help in not having to put up the money for the bookings in advance.  This can be important for someone booking a cruise years in advance who does not want to allocate a lot of money now for a cruise down the line.

Which booking incentive is the best?

Choosing the best booking incentive is a very subjective decision.  If you're not someone who enjoys the spa, then free spa treatments aren't a real incentive for you.  Likewise, if you're booking a 3 or 4 night cruise, a lower deposit amount isn't likely a big deal.  

When talking about pure value, we believe onboard credit is usually the best booking incentive because of the amount of money you can get and for the flexibility it allows.  There's few people who do not spend at least some money onboard their cruise and onboard credit can help take the sting out of that final bill you get when you cruise is over.  Pre-paid gratuities are a good second choice, although the value favors those going on longer cruises.

How are booking incentives determined?

How good an offer will be depends on how full the ship is, how close you are to your sail date and other factors.  Generally, the less popular the cruise sailing, the better the booking incentives are.  Royal Caribbean uses booking incentives to drive up demand for their cruises.

It should be noted that often booking incentives can be combined, and you may see an offer one week for lower deposit and onboard credit, while a different week will offer free spa treatments, onboard credit and lower deposit.  Again, which offer you get will depend on how full or empty the sailing is.  

After Royal Caribbean announced an accounting error during its Second Quarter 2011 fiscal results last month, the stock price dropped 13% that day and that's left one group upset to the point they are suing Royal Caribbean with making a series of materially false and misleading statements related to the Company’s business and operations in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Law firm Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC filed s class action suit against Royal Caribbean on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Royal Caribbean between January 27, 2011 and July 28, 2011 in a Miami court last week.  Other law firms are investing the matter, such as Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP and Pomerantz Haudek Grossman & Gross LLP.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain says he was “embarrassed” by the error, which was made in 2009 and discovered by the company’s internal accounting team. Royal Caribbean asserts it has revised its past financial statements, it did not restate its prior earnings, and claimed the statements are now valid.

Photo by Scarlet Marzuca

Royal Caribbean's newest marketing campaign in the United Kingdom will focus on the onboard activities found on its ships.  The new promotion that will debut this fall is named "Pack More into Your Holiday" and will feature activities and other things to do on Royal Caribban's fleet of ships.

Royal Caribbean's Associate Vice President and General Manager of Royal Caribbean International UK and Ireland Jo Rzymowska spoke a little about the new marketing strategy's goals, "Last year sales in late summer and autumn for Royal Caribbean International were healthy. As well as including tactical pricing offers to drive sales, we’re also gunning for improved agent and consumer awareness as to just what a holiday with Royal Caribbean International includes. The new ‘Pack More into Your Holiday’ campaign is designed to make agents reappraise their idea of who might choose a cruise, and encourage them to sell more holidays at sea”. .