Royal Caribbean announced at a Miami-Dade County committee meeting yesterday that they have negotiated an agreement with Miami-Dade County and Port to keep its corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida. Royal Caribbean also struck a deal to continue using a cruise terminal there as well.

Prior to the announcement, some speculated about Royal Caribbean's plan to keep its headquarters in Miami with the building lease coming to an end in 2011 and 2014.  Back in 2010, Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain declined to comment on on future plans about the headquarters or future sailings from Miami.

Royal Caribbean senior vice president of land operations, Craig Milan, talked about the negotiations to keep Royal Caribbean in Miami, “We’ve been going through this negotiation process for many months now, and like any long-term relationship, you have your ups and downs.  Fort there’s been a lot more ups than downs, so we’re really thrilled we’ve come to this agreement and we’re going to be here for a long time to come.”

Considering Royal Caribbean had placed its largest and newest ships (Oasis and Allure of the Seas) in nearby, and competitor, Fort Lauderdale, it made sense perhaps for Royal Caribbean to move its headquarters north as well.

Classic rockers ZZ Top, Foghat, George Thorogood and other classic rock stars are set to headline a Royal Caribbean cruise in December.

Liberty of the Seas will host the Rock Legends Cruise for a 4-night cruise leaving December 1.  The rockers are also joining in on this gig raise money for the Native American Heritage Association.

The full list of acts include

• ZZ Top
• George Thorogood and the Destroyers
• John Kay and Steppenwolf
• The Marshall Tucker Band
• Dickey Betts & Great Southern
• Foghat
• Molly Hatchet
• Johnny Winter
• The Edgar Winter Band
• The Outlaws
• Artimus Pyle
• Blackfoot
• Pat Travers
• Devon Allman’s Honeytribe
• SwampDaWamp
• The Chris Hicks Band
• Preacher Stone
• Ryan Balthrop
• Whiskey Myers
• Crossfyre

The cruise will stop in Nassau, Bahamas and Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas.

If you're interested in booking, you can get more information on the Rock Legends Cruise site.

Just like your favorite airline or hotel chain, Royal Caribbean has its own customer loyalty program called the Crown and Anchor Society.  But what is it? And why should you join?  Let's answer some questions about this club.

What is Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor Society?

The Crown and Anchor Society is a free customer loyalty and rewards program that Royal Caribbean has offered to its guest for many years.  While the programs exact details have changed over the years, the basic premise remains: the more you cruise with Royal Caribbean, the better the rewards you receive.

Can I join the Crown and Anchor Society?

The only eligibility requirement to join the Crown and Anchor Society is you must have completed one cruise with Royal Caribbean.  So if you're brand new to Royal Caribbean, you will need to wait until you finish your first cruise.  But once you return from your trip, you can enroll online or via the phone.

How does the Crown and Anchor Society work?

Royal Caribbean has created different levels of levels in the Crown and Anchor Society.  Each  level is separated by points and you earn a specific amount of points for each cruise you take.  Shorter cruises get less points than longer cruises, with the idea that longer cruises cost more and therefore are worth more.  

You earn one cruise point for every night you cruise with Royal Caribbean and if you stay in a suite cabin, then you accumulate double or two points per night of your cruise.

The levels of the Crown and Anchor Society are as follows with the points required to achieve that level in parenthesis...

1. Gold (3)
2. Platinum (30)
3. Emerald (55)
4. Diamond (80)
5. Diamond Plus (175) 
6. Pinnacle Club (700)

What do you the levels of the Crown and Anchor Society get me?

The exact perks vary from level to level but in general, Crown and Anchor Society members receive coupon books in their staterooms upon embarkation on their cruises, a members only welcome back party, and onboard booking bonuses.  In addition, from time to time Royal Caribbean offers complimentary stateroom upgrades to its members with those with the highest points offered first.

There are many more benefits such as your own robe, gifts, tours, lounges and more for those in the higher levels of the Crown and Anchor Society.    You may view a full list of benefits on the Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor Society members benefits page.

How do I get to the higher levels faster?

Crown and Anchor Society membership favors those that take longer cruises and spend more on their cabins.  Taking cruises longer than seven nights and staying in a suite will get you to the top of the Crown and Anchor Society fastest.  While the perks of the higher levels are nice, they are simple that - perks.  They're nice incentives to staying loyal to Royal Caribbean but these perks aren't really major cost savers or amazing opportunities.  They're simply a nice way to thank Royal Caribbean's customers for returning aboard.

Should I join the Crown and Anchor Society?

There's really no reason not to join once you've cruised with Royal Caribbean before.  The club is free and does offer some nice benefits once you amass enough credits.  Basically, you're only missing out on benefits that you would otherwise pass up by not joining.  In simpler words, you've got nothing to lose by joining.

Photo by April Dash

Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas made a stop today in Taichung, Taiwan. The city's deputy mayor characterized the passengers as mostly from Europe, China and Australia.

To welcome the passengers, Taichung City Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun greeted them at the port and gave the tourists an aboriginal-style welcome, offering them Taichung's famous sun cakes and seasonal fruits such as lychees.

In addition, the city provided ground transportation services for the Chinese tourists on board, who were visiting Taiwan under the recently introduced individual traveler program.

Legend of the Seas is scheduled to depart Taichung for Keelung Port later in the day. It was its eighth call at Taichung Port, the most recent being in March 2009.

Royal Caribbean is looking for help naming a new cupcake in its Cupcake Cupboard restaurant that can be found on Oasis class sized ships as well as some other ships after recent upgrades.

Here are the cupcake ingredients

Cupcakes
2 cups (465 g) gluten-free flour
½ cup (115 g) brown sugar
2 teaspoons (10 g) baking powder
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) baking soda
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) salt
1 egg
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon (2.5 g) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
½ cup pumpkin purée, canned
¾ cup milk or buttermilk or soy milk
1/3 cup (90 ml) vegetable oil
½ cup (115 g) dried cranberries

Frosting
1 batch of light buttercream frosting mixed with ½ teaspoon nutmeg

If after reading this (and drooling), you have an idea of what this cupcake should be called, you can post your answer on this Royal Caribbean Facebook post.  Submissions must be sent by July 25th and the winning name for the new cupcake will be available on Oasis, Allure, Freedom of the Seas & Liberty of the Seas starting in October.

Four cruise ships are visiting Portland, Maine this week and Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas will be the largest ship of the group to visit the New England city.

Enchantment of the Seas arrives in Portland on Saturday, July 16 with its 2,250 passengers.  It will stop for the day before leaving later in the evening for Bar Habor, Maine.

Royal Caribbean is asking its guests to name its new lifestyle magazine that will be found aboard its ships in passenger staterooms.

You may nominate 5 names per person.  The winning magazine name will be used for Royal Caribbean's onboard Lifestyle Magazine.  In addition  the winner will recognized in the Crown & Anchor Society newsletter as well as in the magazine.

This contest has a wide range of impact because the winning name will be in every stateroom, on every ship, showcasing destinations, dining, behind the scenes coverage and more. 

Entries must be made by July 22, 2011.  You can enter the contest here.

At the recent Latam Summit, Royal Caribbean's Manager Global Marketing & Communications, Rebecca Barba, was a speaker on the panel “Panregional marketing approaches”.  Royal Caribbean's prominent role in Latin American tourism has made them an important panregional advertiser.

During the panel's discussion, Barba took the audience through a Royal Caribbean marketing campaign that they ran last May and June called  “Integrated Pan Regional Campaign-Grandeur of the Seas”.   The Spanish advertising campaign was based on the theme “¿Sabias que existe un mundo donde tu familia puede ahorrar?” (“Did you know that there is a place where your family can save?”).

This promotion for Grandeur of the Seas promoted a sale offer to buy a cruise package with Royal Caribbean.  The advertising campaign was comprised of

• Television
• Print Ads in Spanish
• E-mail marketing to Crown & Anchor members
• Online Advertising
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Barba spoke about how Royal Caribbean was looking at media to partner with and how it was critical that the media properties generate its own high quality content.  Barba also made the distinction that a balance between local and panregional advertising is very important.