Photo by Hector Barron

For the second time in two months, a Royal Caribbean shipped rescued a group of people on a raft adrift in the ocean.  Oasis of the Seas came across seven people suspected to be Cubans on a raft while Oasis was on its way back to Port Everglades.

The rafters were spotted by passengers at 3pm on Friday, who quickly notified the ship's Captain and the ship engaged in a rescue.

In a statement by Royal Caribbean, the group consisted of six men and one woman.

Oasis contacted the United States Coast Guard who took the rafters into their custody.

Back in May, Allure of the Seas rescued a group of Cuban rafters as well.

Royal Caribbean is celebrating the second anniversary of the opening of its office in Brazil this July. To celebrate, Royal Caribbean created a contest in their social media networks, in which participants sent photos of special moments onboard Royal Caribbean ships. The contest had over 2000 participants, which sent almost 10 000 photos. The winning photo was the theme of the campaign to commemorate the company.

In these two years, Royal Caribbean was a major player in the growing cruise market in Brazil, brought the largest ship of last season, Mariner of the Seas, and continued investing in the Brazilian market with other ships, Splendour of the Seas and Vision of the Seas. For the 2011/2012 season , Royal Caribbean will try to continue its success, with a new, Splendour of the Seas back completely revitalized with new dining options and more cabins with balconies.

The chief executive of the company in Brazil, Ricardo Amaral, was recently announced as the new director for Latin America and the Caribbean, in a move that demonstrates the company's focus on international markets and especially in Brazil.

Italian ship builder Fincantieri has for years occupied the top of the top spot as the builder of cruise ships in the world, but Meyer Werft, its direct competitor just robbed them of that distinction. 

German ship builder Meyer Werft leaves Fincantieri and STX behind them as the biggest ship builder in the world. This transfer of power came when Royal Caribbean signed an order with the German builder in April.

Meyer Werft will be very busy until 2015 with the construction of a cruise Norwegian Cruise Lines 2000 cabin ship and a sister ship of the AIDAmar line in 2013, and then  the 2050 cabin ship of the new class of Royal Caribbean and onemore for NCL in 2014.

Following that, another order for Royal Caribbean will take place in 2015. 

In an effort to attract more foreign tourists, the South Korean Justice Ministry proposed a measure to allow foreigners visiting on cruises to disembark without a visa for short stays.

The “tour landing permit” system will allow those on cruise ships to disembark in South Korea and stay for up to three days without a visa, if the cruise company or the ship’s captain applies for and receives the permit beforehand, officials said.

The move is good news for Royal Caribbean because they had about 55,000 tourists from China to Busan, South Korea in 2010 and have always complained about the lengthy visa problem.

Lisa Yun, Head of Royal Caribbean's marketing team in South Korea, is excited about the proposal, “Our cruise runs from China to Busan, so the majority of our customers are Chinese, but visas for entering Korea causes a lot of woes, as the application is a time-consuming and complicated process".

"It will be a huge help for us to expand in the Chinese market."

The city council in Savannah, Georgia agreed last night to expand the cruise ship task force.  Alderman Tony Thomas claims several cruise lines are interested in cruising down the Savannah river and Royal Caribbean is on that list.

Royal Caribbean spoke with Thomas several weeks ago about the prospect of having a ship stop in Savannah.

The increased cruise ship task force will help answer some lingering questions for the city council such as how much a cruise terminal would cost, and how much business would cruise ships bring to downtown Savannah.

The key to any cruise business coming to Savannah will be the creation of a cruise terminal, even a temporary one.  There are three locations being considered, such asthe Georgia Ports Authority Ocean Terminals 1 and 2, which already dock large ships and cruise lines who stop in Savannah.  Another idea is across the river in Hutchinson Island or the Savannah River Landing next to the Marriott off River Street.  None of the options are perfect and all would require a fair amount of work to get them ready.

Thomas indicated that it could take 12-24 months before the city council could come to an agreement and real work could begin.

A message on Royal Caribbean's website is warning those scheduled to sail on Monarch of the Seas on July 8th that the anticipated launch of the last space shuttle flight on the same day is expected to create major traffic delays.

Royal Caribbean is recommending its passengers provide ample time to get to the port prior to the 4:30pm departure time.

Furthermore, Royal Caribbean warned it would not delay the departure of Monarch of the Seas due to traffic congestion.  If you're scheduled to be on this cruise, it would be wise to arrive many hours before the required time.

Monarch of the Seas is scheduled to sail out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday, July 8. The final space shuttle launch is also scheduled for Friday, July 8. Port Canaveral historically experiences heavy traffic volume before and after the shuttle launch. Since the shuttle launch on July 8 is the last launch, the Port is expecting extremely heavy traffic in the area.

We ask that guests who are scheduled to sail on Monarch of the Seas on July 8, provide ample time to arrive at the port for boarding. The ship's 4:30 p.m. departure will not be delayed due to the launch traffic. As a reminder, all guests must be checked in and onboard the ship 60 minutes prior to sail time.

Royal Caribbean Vice President of Commercial Development John Tercek and Chairman of Adjara's government Levan Varshalomidze signed a memorandum of cooperation in the development of the Batumi port to allow the port to accomodate large cruise ships.

Batumi is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia.

Varshalomidze told reporters that together with Royal Caribbean International will do everything to Batumi became more attractive for passengers of cruise ships.

"We will work together to build this port city to international standards and will return the old traditions. Together we are working on putting Batumi in the Black Sea region as the most attractive city for cruise ships," - said President of the Government of Adjara.

According to John Tercek, they familiarized themselves with the tourism potential of the city and the pace of development. "The memorandum creates the possibility of launching the first phase of work. We fully explore the perimeter of the port, the arrangement will provide the infrastructure. We will hold talks with the major cruise companies, to one of the stops of their ships was Batumi," - said a representative of Royal Caribbean International.

This spring, a delegation of Government of Adjara participated in the largest travel trade show in Miami, where they had preliminary discussions.

South African web site IOL took a behind scenes look at Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas to get an idea of how this mega ship operates on a day-to-day basis.

Voyager of the Seas Captain Frank Martensen characterized the ship as, "We're a small town. Well, we're not quite that small. We have employees from 60 countries around the world. Every culture, every religion, every one of the major languages is represented here.”

In terms of the food served, sous-chef Martin Jordan has opinions on what people like, "Americans like large portions with a lot of meat. Germans need to have vegetables. Spaniards only take very little, but go to the buffet half a dozen times. With them, the meal lasts forever."

Stocking Voyager of the Seas for longer cruises can be a challenge according to Simon Wiig, “On trans-Atlantic trips it is a challenge. On the Mediterranean we have at most one full day at sea, but if we run out of cheese in the middle of the Atlantic, who is to get some more?”

Wiig did jest about what could be the biggest problem to run out of, “It would be a small catastrophe to run out of beer or wine in the middle of the Atlantic. That never happened so far though".

Voyager of the Seas stocks 16 tons of beef and almost as much chicken for trans-Atlantic cruises, along with 70 tons of pork. In addition, more than 3 tons of lobster, 10 tonnes of mussels and oysters and 3 tons of salmon are needed.

Esther Nagel is responsible for the laundry needs of the staterooms on Voyager of the Seas and claims "About 15,000 pieces of clothing, everyday,” are laundered by her staff.

Wondering how much a server makes on Voyager of the Seas?  Captain Martensen says, “A good waiter makes $4,000 a month. Tax free!”

If you're looking to get away this summer on a Royal Caribbean cruise, there may be a cruise on sale for you.

The "Bring a Friend" offer allows curent Crown & Anchor Society members to bring guests new to Royal Caribbean with them on a cruise and receive $25 onboard credit per stateroom, up to five rooms per sailing.  You must book by July 31.

Royal Caribbean has placed select ships on sale as well, most notably Voyager of the Seas' Adriatic Sea sailings where the 7-night itineraries in July and August 2011 can get you  $2,000 of ChoiceAir credit for a Suite stateroom, $500 for a Balcony stateroom, $400 for an Ocean View stateroom, and $300 for an Interior stateroom.

In addition, there are deals on four, five and seven night sailings in the Western Caribbean on Jewel of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Mariner of the Seas.  These ships sail out of Tampa, New Orleans and Galveston and prices start at $896 per quad-occupancy stateroom from November 2011 through April 2012.

Seven night cruises to Alaska on the Radiance of the Seas are also available at $649 per guest from August 5 through September 9, 2011.