Royal Caribbean Marketing Directory in Italy, Robert Pirrera, thinks the year of 2012 will bring its own set of obstacles for the cruise giant to overcome, "The year 2012 promises a year full of new challenges.  With enthusiasm, we will promptly respond to growing demand from the market with the opening of new ports of embarkation in Bari and Messina, extending the seasonal cruise from Genoa, the introduction of 7 nights cruises aboard Brilliance of the Seas in Northern Europe, new promotions, and especially the strengthening of our brand in Italy".

Mariner of the Seas is ready to celebrate its debut in Genoa on July 22, when an event is scheduled for members of the press and other cruise industry figures.  On that day, Mariner will sail from Civitavecchia to reach Genoa, new home port for Mariner of the Seas. Friday Night Fever, the name given to the event, will involve more than 500 travel agents and journalists who will spend the night before the first call  in Genoa. The next day, in Genoa, Mariner of the Seas will be welcomed by local authorities and port with the press conference and ceremony "Plaque & Keys", the exchange of crest and plaques from local authorities to the officers on board.

Meanwhile Pirrera confirmed that Royal Caribbean is doing quite well in Italy, with 100% growth since last year, "We have grown over 100% compared to last year, with excellent returns on advertising investments. Without forgetting the excellent performance of the website, which last January after redesign has more than doubled visits. "

Every year Fortune Magazine publishes its list of the ten best stocks for the rest of 2011 and Royal Caribbean has made their list.  Fortune Magazine describes the list as stocks that are "expected to bolster their profits an average of 61% next year -- vs. 14% for the S&P -- and yet they trade at an average 12 times next year's earnings, vs. 13 times for the S&P."

Coming in at number 9 is Royal Caribbean and Fortune Magazine seems to like how well the stock has done in the recent past, "After a stormy period, the sailing has lately been -- dare we say it? -- smooth for Royal Caribbean. The cruise company was pounded by the Great Recession, with earnings dipping from $2.68 to 75¢ per share between 2008 and 2009. Now leisure spending is recovering, and Royal Caribbean is benefiting from the fact that cruises have always cost less than comparable land vacations. The company's earnings are on pace to rise 168% in 2010. By comparison, operating earnings at Disney's theme parks and resorts fell 7% during Walt Disney Co.'s fiscal year that ended Oct. 2.".

Royal Caribbean's stock is trading at about $40 a share right now, but Ken Kuhrt, an analyst and fund manager at Ariel Investments, believes Royal Caribbean stock deserves a P/E closer to 17, which was Royal Caribbean's average valuation from 1997 to 2007. That translates to a stock price of $54 -- just the sort of gain that could fund a nice little vacation.

A popular Western Caribbean port of call for Royal Caribbean, Cozumel is an island located on the eastern shore of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.  The island offers plenty of beach and sun fun along with some cultural heritage.

Cozumel Benefits

• Beaches: Cozumel has some great beaches to choose from in and around the city of San Miguel de Cozumel.  While not the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean, they are plentiful and make great options for beach days.  Most of the well-known beaches are within 10-15 minutes of where Royal Caribbean docks via taxi.
  • Best private beach: Paradise Beach (beach is free but activities and water toys cost extra)
• Shopping: There's a lot of shopping options to be found in Cozumel's city of San Miguel de Cozumel.  Most of the shops along the main road (Rafael E. Melgar) are riddled with tourist trap stores but stores found further into the city (within 3-4 blocks) offer more original options and better deals.  Cozumel boasts silver jewelry from other parts of Mexico as well as a wide selection of crafts.  Furthermore, being that this is Mexico, prices for goods tend to be cheaper here than in the United States.
• Excursions close to the ship:  There's a lot to do in Cozumel if you're looking for an excursion and most are within an hour of where Royal Caribbean docks.  Most excursions, both from Royal Caribbean or via third party, are within a 15 minute taxi ride of the dock, with a few excursions across the Yucatan Channel in nearby Playa del Carmen.
  • Favorite excursion: Tulum Mayan Ruins Excursion
• Diving: Cozumel is well known around the world for its scuba diving and snorkeling.  The nearby Palancar Reef was well documented by Jacques Cousteau in the 1960s and since has been publicized as one of the best places to go scuba diving in the world.
  • Best scuba locations: Reefs at Palancar, Tormentos, San Francisco, Santa Rosa & Paraiso North.

Cozumel Detractions

• Safety:  Mexico isn't known for being the safest country in the world.  While most of the violence is in north west Mexico, there are still elements of crime to be concerned with while in Cozumel.  Like many ports of call, it's important to be aware of your surroundings.  We've also heard plenty of stories from tourists who rented a car, got into a minor accident and had to deal with settling the matter on the spot.

What to do in Cozumel

There's a lot to see and do in Cozumel but some of our favorite activities include

• Visiting the Tulum Mayan Ruins
• Eating authentic Mexican food
• Paradise Beach
• Exploring the east coast of the island via taxi or rental car
• Scuba diving

Royal Caribbean ships stopping in Cozumel: Liberty of the Seas, Jewel of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas

Photo by Vicente Martinez

Australian cruise specialist Cruiseabout listed their top 10 cruise innovations and Royal Caribbean made their list in four of the spots.

• Bigger and better
  The largest cruise ships ever constructed are now on active routes throughout the world including Royal Caribbean International’s world record holder, Allure of the Seas, at 1187ft (362 metres) it can carrying more than 6000 passengers.
• 4D cinemas with vibrating seats
  With Hollywood’s latest blockbusters now being presented in 3D, cruise ship operators including Royal Caribbean have revamped onboard cinemas to deliver passengers a 3D experience.
• New wave of recreational options
  Royal Caribbean passengers can show off their surfing skills at the Flowrider, a purpose built, man-made wave on its Oasis and Freedom class vessels.
• Onboard shows
  Licensed works of Andrew Lloyd Webber and critically acclaimed productions of Hairspray and Chicago have featured on P&O and Royal Caribbean liners.

Royal Caribbean in the United Kingdom is offering its passengers an extra layer of luxury service with chauffeur serviceto and from UK ports and London airports.

For those sailing on Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas out of Southampton and Jewel of the Seas out of Harwich or those flying from London airports can book a chauffer driven service with partner Tristar Chauffeur Services to and from their address to their port or airport of departure.

Royal Caribbean Associate VIce President and General Manager of United Kingdom of Ireland, Jo Rzymowska,  commented on the new service, "This is a great addition to the list of optional extras we offer our guests.  Having the opportunity to transfer in luxury is the perfect way to make the most of your holiday time and a fantastic treat.”

Peak time transfers cost approximately £65 for first 15 miles and £1.40 per mile thereafter. Off-peak transfers cost approximately £55 for first 15 miles and £1 per mile thereafter. Costs will vary depending on where the guest is being picked up from.

Royal Caribbean General Manager of Nordic and Baltic region, Roar Meidal,  reports that 86 percent more Nordic tourists go on Mediterranean Sea cruises this year, of which 58 per cent more Norwegians

"We are very pleased that the Nordic people finally seem to realize the great benefits of the cruise has to offer as a holiday. We like to think that cruise offers the best of two worlds: on the one hand, an all-inclusive, relaxing holiday in the sun, on the other hand, a cultural experience with stops at ports such as Rome, Sicily, Athens, Santorini, Rhodes, Istanbul and Jerusalem," says Meidal.

Statistics show that Norwegian passengers account for the largest increase, by as much as 58 percent of the total increase.  Swedes are in second place with 23 percent increase, while both the Danes and the Finns can boast of a 10 percent increase. The preferred holiday is a 7-day cruise with some of Royal Caribbean's largest and most innovative ships, such as the Liberty of the Seas. 

El Salvador has been trying to position itself as an attractive destination for cruise tourism and that dream is about to become a reality according to Jose Napoleon Duarte, Minister of Tourism.

Duarte said that El Salvador has been in negotations with Royal Caribbean to include El Salvador in their cruise routes and are in the advanced stages of planning.

"We are very close to achieving the first cruise route to El Salvador in history through the arrival of Royal Caribbean country," she confirmed.

Although no exact date has been revealed when the project could become official, it's estimated that in 2012 El Salvador could receive the first  cruise ship stop.

This project, according to Duarte, will bring great economic benefits for the country, mainly to small tourism businesses.

He noted that cruise passengers have a high purchasing power, such as the MS Europa cruise that docked last April in Acajutla, created revenues of over $ 60,000.

"I always thought that cruising is an excellent business opportunity for El Salvador. Anything that creates opportunities for people is a great benefit, "he said.

The arrival of these luxury cruise is a regional initiative to promote the creation of the tourist route to the Pacific, landing in the main ports in the region. In the case of El Salvador, cruise ships arrive at the port of Acajutla and La Union Also do to.

Duarte estimated that a cruise could bring travelers from 750 to 7.000, which is measured independently of the arrival of tourists by traditional media (air or land).

While Royal Caribbean's deployment of nearly half their fleet to Europe has been the big story in the company as of late, the other big trend that is sweeping across all of Royal Caribbean's ships (and frankly other cruise lines too) is the food options onboard.

While on your cruise ship, there will ample food provided throughout the day.  In short, there's hardly ever a time where you can't find food that is complimentry.  Complimentry food comes from a variety of sources and options.

Complimentry Restaurants

Main Dining Room

Every evening dinner is served in the main dining room at assigned seating tables.  You may end up sitting with passengers who you don't know, but the servers work to make your dining experience here as personal as possible.  The main dining room offers appetizers, entrees and desserts to choose from each night and you may order as much (or as little) as you like and it's nearly all complimentry.

The exception for food that is not complimentry in the main dining room are steak filets, that often come at an extra cost.

You can also dine in the main dining room for breakfast every morning and for lunch when available.  For breakfast, it's sit down service although here seating is first come-first served and you will not have the same waiters as dinner.  Lunch offers similar set up.

There is often a dress code to the Main Dining Room, although it's mostly an issue for dinner and less so for other meals.

Quick Service Restaurants

Throughout your cruise ship you will find other restaurants you may grab something to eat for no additional cost.  The exact restaurants vary from ship to ship but you will find a good variety of food to choose from.  Examples of food here can include pizza, sandwiches, pastries, ice cream and more.  

There's usually some seating available at these restaurants although not a lot.  These types of restaurants are usually for the "grab and go" passenger, who may be wanting something quickly to eat on their way to somewhere else.

Windjammer

The defacto buffet on every Royal Caribbean ship is the Windjammer Cafe, which is an all you-can-eat buffet that serves meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  There's lots of seating and it's a great option  when you want a casual meal.  The Windjammer is also usually convenient to the pools on the ship.

Don't let the buffet setup fool you, the Windjammer offers good quality food and while you could argue the food quality isn't as high as you will find in the main dining room, it's still a restaurant many Royal Caribbean fans love to frequent.

As mentioned earlier, the Windjammer is open for dinner and can be a good alternative for those who do not want to get dressed up for dinner in the main dining room or simply want to have more pool time or some other activity.

Room Service

Yes, room service is complimentry on your Royal Caribbean cruise.  There is a menu in your stateroom to choose from and it's available 24 hours per day.

There is a catch to room service, while the food is complimentry, it's traditional to tip the person that delivers the food to your room.  In addition, Royal Caribbean changed their room service policy back in 2009, and there is now a $3.95 surcharge for any food ordered between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m.

Speciality Restaurants

The biggest trend among all Royal Caribbean ships is the addition of specialty restaurants to their ships that cost a nominal fee.  The prices vary from ship to ship and restaurant to restaurant.  These specialty restaurants tend to have a food theme (Italian, French, Steakhouse, etc) and are table service restaurants.

Most specialty restaurants have a dress code, and in some cases their dress code is more formal than the main dining room.  

Specialty restaurants recommend making a reservation in advance to ensure there is a seating available.  It's not to say you can't walk up ona  given night and dine there, but there may be a wait or no availability.  You can book speciality restaurants in advance of your cruise on the Royal Caribbean website up to 60 days before your cruise but no sooner than 4 days before your sail date.

Pricing can also vary from restaurant to restaurant.  Some restaurants have a cost per person and then nearly everything on the menu is included in the cost.  Other resaurants offer their menu items with a la carte pricing.  Others include a per-person fee and a la carte pricing.

The future

Royal Caribbean has been working on increasing the amount of specialty restaurants on their ships as they've proven to be great money makers.  Some guests are bothered by the amount of speciality restaurants onboard because it's come at the expense of the complimentry offerings as well as the principle of paying for food on a cruise ship.

No one knows what the future will entail exactly, but all signs point to more speciality restaurants than we've seen before on Royal Caribbean ships.  Even older ships are often receiving new restaurants when they are brought into dry dock for upgrades.

The bottom line is there's plenty of places on your Royal Caribbean ship to eat at.  Both complimentry and specialty restaurants offer a wide variety of food to choose from and there's almost always something to get regardless of time of day.