Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas will go into dry dock in November as the next the target of a near fleet-wide revitalization at the shipyards in Setúbal, Portugal.  The news comes from Royal Caribbean director Francisco Teixeira.

Work on Splendour of the Seas will take 20 days and fall under the fleet modernization plan that the company has launched this year.

The improvements in the fleet are designed to introduce some of the improvements that were developed for the Oasis and Allure of the Seas.

Work on the Splendour of the Seas will be include

• integrating a hundred cabins with balcony
• upgrade all remaining cabins
• renovation of the pool deck with the integration of a screen giant projection of films
• the introduction of the Park Café in the Solarium area
• addition of new restaurants such as, Izumi of The Hot Dog House
• Addition of the Royal Babies and Tots Nursery for the little ones
• Diamond Club and Club Concierge

After leaving the Portuguese shipyards, Splendour of the Seas will head to Brazil to go back into service.
 

Today in Milan, Royal Caribbean's CEO Adam Goldstein met with the Chairman of Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Luca Cordero Di Montezemolo, to support DTI's work in researching cures for genetic diseases.  Royal Caribbean donated 70,000 euros to DTI at the ceremony.

"Our commitment in Italy wants to be global," said Goldstein, "And this means also investing in social responsibility. Meet with President Montezemolo was a time of sharing of common visions, in the common desire to continue to work together. " 

The willingness to invest in social responsibility and the presence of Adam Goldstein in Italy confirmed that Royal Caribbean's attention turns to the Italian market, along with France and Spain, in 2012 will be the focus of the European strategy with more ships, new ports of embarkation and investments in communication.

The growth in Italy Royal Caribbean's stated clearly in the numbers: in 2006 there were 4 ships were calling at Italian ports but in 2012, there will be 11, with the number of passengers more than tripled.

Recently there was a dispute between the local vendors on Royal Caribbean's private island of CocoCay and the cruise line after Royal Caribbean announced plans to open a store on the island that would sell Royal Caribbean goods.

It now seems the locals are okay with the plan after the store opened and the only merchandise being sold is branded Royal Caribbean gifts.  

Our friends at Cruise Radio submitted this on-location report confirming that the locals have come to terms with Royal Caribbean's decision.

Officials from the New Mangalore Port Trust say Royal Caribbean is likely to send 13 cruise ships to its port in one year.

Traffic Manager for the New Mangalore Port Trust, S. Gopalakrishna, claimed that Royal Caribbean sent a team to the city to visit the port on Tuesday.  While at the port, Royal Caribbean also held discussions with the Chairman of the New Mangalore Port Trust, Mr P. Tamilvanan.

Royal Caribbean Italy is planning on rolling out a new program that packages flights with their cruises, which will be called "Flight + Cruise" for the 2012-2013 cruise season.

Roberto Pirrera, marketing manager for Royal Caribbean Italy explained the new program, "In addition to new promotions and strengthening assistance in Italian, we propose, for the first time, cruise packages that include flights and which will enable us to meet the growing demand for this type of formula. "

Royal Caribbean also promises promotions and offers for families, those over 55 and married. A separate chapter is devoted to the Royal services, in particular Italian and assistance to the Crown & Anchor customer loyalty program which rewards loyal customers with discounts and exclusive services.

Investment Firm Raymond James surveyed travel agents to gauge cruise interest and European cruises look the weakest, which is bad news for Royal Caribbean.

In a note today, Raymond James said that Europe is likely to continue underperforming through the end of the year compared to other regions.  Contributing to the weakness is the dollar's relative weakness to the euro as well as higher air fares, all of which has resulted in much less demand by consumers in the United States to take a cruise to Europe.  Cruise passengers frequently have to take planes to connect with ships and to return home. European cruises tend to be more expensive than those in other areas.

In addition, recent political unrest was also cited by a few travel agents as another reason for less demand in cruising.

Raymond James is skeptical about cruise demand rebounding in the Mediterranean region until the end of the year. And consumers' economic anxiety is holding down cruise demand.

With the busy fall and winter cruise seasons approaching, Miami, Florida is typically a hub of cruise line activity but this year Royal Caribbean's global plans have left Miami with less ships than it's used to.

Royal Caribbean has 11 ships in Europe this summer but only two will be sailing out of South Florida this winter and both are in Port Everglades.  Instead of mooring in Miami, Royal Caribbean is basing them out of pots such as Baltimore, Port Canaveral, Tampa, San Juan, Dubai and Brazil. And Royal Caribbean’s two ships based in Alaska during the summer are going to Australia for the winter, not Miami.

So what's left in Miami this winter?  Just one ship will be sailing out Miami and that's Majesty of the Seas, which is offering three- and four-night cruises to the Bahamas.

The City of New Orleans has been hard at work refurbishing and expanding its Julia Street Cruise Terminal so that New Orleans can put itself back on the map as a cruise line hub and give The Crescent City a shot in the arm after Hurricane Katrina decimated the cruise business here.

The good news is officials working on the project expect the work to be complete just in time to welcome Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas.

Port of New Orleans spokesman Chris Bonura is excited to welcome one of Royal Caribbean's massive liners to New Orleans, "It's the largest ship that we've ever home-ported here in New Orleans.  It's 1,020 feet and it holds approximately 3,110 passengers."

Australia's cruise season kicks off in the month of September as ships like Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas call the land down under home for the summer season.

Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas will debut in Australia this season on October 15 and it will be the first time she's come to Australia since her major revitalization that took place earlier this year.  Radiance will sail in Australia until April 5, 2012.

Joining Radiance will be Rhapsody of the Seas on November 13, marking her fifth season in Australia. Radiance will remain in Australia until April 13, 2012 and offer 17 different itineraries, such as seven to 18-night South Pacific trips, Queensland voyages and weekend "sampler" trips.

For those cruising on Radiance of the Seas, her maiden Australia itineraries offer cruises as short as two nights or as long as 18, and depart from Sydney and Fremantle.  There's also five 14 and 16-night cruises to New Zealand or a 12-night sailing to the South Pacific.

A new two-night "weekend getaway" itinerary, sailing on November 18, will offer Australians a chance to sample a Radiance-class cruise, while a seven-night Tasmania itinerary, sailing on February 12 next year, will overnight at Melbourne and Hobart.

Radiance will also make a 34-night circumnavigation of Australia.