Tropical Storm Irene has caused Royal Caribbean to change a few cruise itineraries.  Oasis of the Seas will reverse its itinerary and now visit Cozumel first on Monday, Tuesday is a sea day, stop at Falmouth, Jamaica on Wednesday, stop at Labadee on Thursday, sea day again on Friday and return to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday

Freedom of the Seas will also reverse its itinerary and left port today to go to Cozumel first on Tuesday, followed by Grand Cayman on Wednesday, Falmouth on Thursday and Labadee on Friday.

Allure of the Seas will now stop at Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday instead of Monday. The rest of her scheduled stops at St. Thomas (Wednesday) and St. Maarten (Thursday) will take place as planned.

Finally, Serenade of the Seas will have its cruise order changed as well. It left from San Juan, Puerto Rico today and will  visit Aruba on Tuesday, Curacao on Wednesday, St. Kitts  on Friday and St. Thomas on Saturday.

The port of Barcelona, Spain yesterday again left a record for its history: more than 31,000 cruise passengers embarked or disembarked in any of its terminals, a new record for the largest cruise port in Europe. Eight tall ships docked in Barcelona yesterday including Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas, which can carry more than 4,500 passengers.

Astronomical figures for a booming tourism sector in Barcelona and monthly figures are unstoppable. 31,000 passengers yesterday must be added the 1.3 million who have already passed through the port until the month of July, a figure that represents 16% of cruise passengers during the same period last year. Also the number of ships has been larger: 451 cruise accumulated during the first seven months of the year, representing more than 21 scales in 2010. A figure that will join the nearly 120 scales this August. One month, the most powerful of the year, they recorded another record: the contingent of ships docked in the same day. This new historical value will occur on Friday, August 26, when the port awaiting the arrival of nine ships, albeit smaller-capacity, move some 26,000 cruise passengers.

Royal Caribbean sources certify the pace of sales is having the latest ship: "While there are still some places, it is expected to go at full occupancy this summer," said Marc Pedrol, director of marketing and communication Royal Caribbean. According Pedrol, the ship is currently above the forecasts made for this year and estimate that volume will grow by 40% compared to 2010. "We see a clear upward trend in the Spanish market to the cruise product, and found that Northern Europe and the Greek islands begin to awaken the interest of all those cruisers who have done a cruise with us from Spanish ports."

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein has returned from a trip aboard Oasis of the Seas for an on-site evaluation of what's happening not only aboard the ship but he took a careful look at the operations at Labadee (Royal Caribbean's private island) and Falmouth, Jamaica.

Adam seemed pleased with how Oasis of the Seas was running and thought things were going well.   He did seem to have an issue with the art program aboard Oasis of the Seas, presumably related to the art auctions, "I did state in no uncertain terms that I was less than pleased with certain aspects of our art program."

While on Labadee Adam felt that things went exceedingly well and found the operation at Royal Caribbean's private beach to be top notch.  That being said, he thinks Royal Caribbean can do more to market Labadee and prepare its guests for what's waiting for them, "My takeaway is we need to do an even better job of marketing what Labadee is. I spoke to someone who had visited a number of the cruise industry’s private destinations prior to coming to Labadee. He said he and his people were just not prepared for how much there is at Labadee."

At Falmouth, Adam characterized the progress at the port as "90% done".  He mentioned that the most important task left to do here is to complete construction of the arrival/departure terminal building, which should have been done by now but Adam says it will be done in September.

In terms of merchants, Adam says Royal Caribbean expects 70% of the available retail space to be occupied in the next few weeks.  He also hinted that some new restaurants will be added in the near-future.

Despite the sluggish economy, Royal Caribbean wants to hire 100 new employees by the years end at their Springfield, Oregon center.

Managers at the facility say the cruise industry is still growing and they want people in the area to come work for Royal Caribbean.  The three areas of expertise Royal Caribbean is looking for are new cruise representatives that work with travel agencies, direct sales and customer service. 

Consumer Outreach Manager Anne-Jenell Williams says demand for the Royal Caribbean product is out there still, "Everybody's looking to do the best they can with what they have and one of the benefits of being in the cruise industry is Royal Caribbean continues to be an amazingly good value for vacations so we continue to see a lot of demand for our product and we are planning on continuing to see that grow."

Even better news for those looking for a job are the perks working for Royal Caribbean has to offer.  There's a free gym for employees as well as a a full cafeteria with healthy eating options. Managers say about 21 percent of their staff received promotions last year, which also left more entry level positions open. They plan to get all 100 positions filled by the end of the year

If you're a boxing fan that has always wanted to be able to meet current and former champs while on a Caribbean cruise, there's a perfect cruise for you.

The "Sail with the Champs Cruise" will take place on November 15-19, 2012 aboard Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas for a 4-night western Caribbean sailing.

The cruise will feature

• an exciting roster of boxing “hosts”
• a full night of boxing
• autograph signings
• a large array of classic boxing memorabilia for sale
• plenty of photo opportunities

Port Everglades, home to Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, saw its cruise passenger numbers jump 2.4% up in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.

Port Everglades Director Phil Allen is happy about the results, “These trends show the resilience of the nation’s cruise market and the importance of the cruise industry to South Florida.  In a tough economy, cruising offers guests affordable vacationing options."

Senator Dennis Meadows of Jamaica's Labor Party lashed out over the lack of development in Falmouth, Jamaica since the port opened to cruises in February 2011.  Falmouth's cruise port is a $7.5 billion endeavor that is a partnership between Jamaica and Royal Caribbean.

"The apparent abandonment of the town since the opening of the cruise ship pier demonstrates the perceived lack of commitment on the part of various government agencies in sustaining the focus on the development of Falmouth."

According to Meadows, businesses in Falmouth have experienced up to a 50 percent fall-off in their revenues since the implementation of the traffic management system in February.

When Falmouth was being planned, there were several projects that were to be included in the finished product including an artisan village, municipal market, and a transport center.

Meadows went on to claim that the people of Falmouth were feeling a sense of abandonment and urged the government agencies in the area to make plans to finish development of the area.

"There is a pervasive sense that the people are subjects of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines which seem to be the primary focus and the sole beneficiary of the development that has so far taken place, and this is unsustainable."

Photo by zildjian79590

Royal Caribbean has announced its promotion in Mexico through his Facebook page (Royal Caribbean Mexico) and supported by their Twitter account @royalmx.  Called "Remarks on board", fans can earn points in a Facebook game.  The game will last for 1 month, the idea is to click 'Like' on Royal Caribbean Mexico's Facebook page and once they do they display the instructions and game mechanics. The users or players must form words with letters that get 9 to score points. If the user wants a new set of 9 letters need to invite three friends to click on 'I like' so you can play again. This can be done three times a day. 

Thus, the person who generates the most points during the promotion will win a trip for 2 people in the Caribbean on board one of the ships of the shipping company. To participate in this contest, only have to make a fan of Royal Caribbean Mexico in Facebook, the player who accumulates the most points will win the perfect vacation in the Caribbean, and souvenirs. 

Twitter followers also have the chance to be winners of a trip to the Caribbean twice: @royalmx during the promotion will launch a series of questions over the trademark to correctly answer as many questions in the shortest time. 

Dubai has only been a cruise destination since the opening of its cruise terminal in July 2010 but already it's popularity continues to grow.

Royal Caribbean's General Manager for the UK and Ireland, Jo Rzymowska, sees the growth potential for cruises in and out of Dubai, "Dubai is really starting to boom on the cruising map - more than 325,000 people passed through the Cruise Terminal in 2010 and this is set to increase in 2011.”

Royal Caribbean should know exactly how well Dubai has been performing considering it's one of two cruise lines to home-port a ship in the Middle Eastern city.  

Dubai has been popular with Europeans, especially those in the UK, “Brilliance of the Seas is returning to Dubai in November 2011, two months earlier than her season in 2010, due to a really successful response to the Middle East cruises from UK travellers.”