A 51 year old woman from the United States died yesterday after suffering complications related to a pre-existing heart condition while on a diving excursion in Bermuda.

The woman was traveling on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas when the ship stopped in Bermuda on a tour with Hartley's Bell Diving.  She had come back to the surface after a helmet dive, which is a passive form of diving in shallow water where divers wear an airtight helmet to view underwater, and complained about being short of breath.

Excursion staff gave her oxygen and called for EMTs to attend to her.

Staff gave her oxygen and called Harbour Radio, who arranged for EMTs to meet the boat at Sandy's Boat Club.  When the EMT's arrived, they attended to her but she lost consciousness and later passed away at the King Edward VII Hospital in Bermuda.

Royal Caribbean has offered ice skating entertainment for ten years now and here is a look back at the spectacular ice shows we've enjoyed in that time.

The big news today is Voyager of the Seas is going to China in 2012 but after she is done in China, Royal Caribbean is sending Voyager of the Seas to Australia for a while, where she will dwarf any other cruise ship that has ever been based in that country.

Voyager of the Seas will offer cruises for five months that will sail out of Sydney and Fremantle, Australia beginning in November 2012.  Cruises will offer itineraries that will visit destinations in the South Pacific including New Zealand and Australia.

Royal Caribbean's addition of Voyager of the Seas will add another ship to Radiance of the Seas and Rhapsody of the Seas, which has been offering cruises in Australia for a number of years already.

Speaking at the Shanghai International Conference Center in China, Royal Caribbean executives announced that Voyager of the Seas will be going to China in June of 2012.

The 3,114-guest mega cruise ship is double the size of any other cruise ship in the Asia-Pacific region and will offer itineraries ranging in length from four to ten nights and will address the burgeoning cruise industry in the country. Voyager of the Seas will serve to also attract cruise guests from around the world to visit China as they sail around Asia.

Royal Caribbean's CEO Adam Goldstein is excited about the move, "Our brand's strategy for China is to leverage Royal Caribbean International's leading position in the market by offering innovative ships and customized services. And we look forward to working with our travel partners and helping to grow the cruise economy in China."

In addition to Voyager of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas will return to China and homeport in Shanghai in March of 2012.  Both ships will be worked on to offer products tailored to Chinese guests such as more Chinese language services, authentic Chinese food and culturally appropriate recreational activities and duty-free items.

Voyager of the Seas will depart for Sydney, Australia in October.

A guest posted a brochure from a new cabana program that is set to launch on Royal Caribbean's private island of CocoCay that would be similar to the cabanas that are available on Labadee.

The cabanas on CocoCay come in two varieties: Bamboo Cabana and Caba-Nettes

Included in the Bamboo Cabana package:

· Island CocoLimo at your service for transport to Coco Cay locations
· Enjoy your made to order lunch created by your private chef
· 1 bottle of chilled Korbel champagne
· 4 x 1L bottles of Spring Water
· 2 floating mats and 2 snorkelling sets
· Beach towels
· Personalized Service
· Photo opportunity with professional photographer (one 6x8 photo included in pkg)
· Priority for Island Spa Appointments with 15% discount
· Fruit plate

$100 per single cabana $150 Family Cabana

Caba-Nettes include:

· Island CocoLimo at your service for transport to Coco Cay locations
· Enjoy your made to order lunch created by your private chef
· 2 x 1L bottles of Spring Water
· 1 floating mat
· Beach towels
· Personalized Service
· Photo opportunity with professional photographer (one 6x8 photo included in pkg)
· Priority for Island Spa Appointments with 15% discount
· Fruit plate

$35 per Caba-nette

It appears that like Labadee, these cabana options are available first to guests staying in a suite aboard their ship and any excess inventory is then offered to members of Royal Caribbean's Crown and Anchor society based on their seniority in the program.

Network: Planet Green

9:00pm: Ultimate Cruise Ship: Building of Freedom of the Seas (60 minutes)
The creation of the world's largest ocean liner.

10:00pm: Extreme Cruise Ship (60 minutes)
The largest passenger ship in the world; Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas is undergoing upgrades and enhancements at Victoria Shipyards in British Columbia, Canada and will be ready to sail out on Thursday.  The choice Royal Caribbean made of these shipyards has a lot to do with the competitive options offered by Victoria Shipyards.

Royal Caribbean's vice-president of technical projects, Kevin Douglas, believes that Victoria Shipyards was the right choice to handle Radiance of the Seas' upgrades, "It’s not just an economic argument, it’s whether the shipyard has the capability to do all the work we need, is there the infrastructure around the shipyard.  We want to get in and out quickly.  On the West Coast of Canada and the U.S., this would be our choice, no question about it.".

In just three weeks, the shipyard will have Radiance of the Seas back into service to begin the Alaska cruise season.  Radiance is scheduled to leave Esquimalt Harbour on Thursday, bound for Vancouver to pick up passengers.

During it's time in the shipyards, 1700 workers have been working on upgrading, replacing and enhancing many aspects of Radiance of the Seas.  The ship's overhaul is meant to keep her a competitive option in a cruise market where the newer and bigger ships can cause customers to overlook the older ships in the fleet.

Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, the largest cruise ships that sail the Mediterranean, for the first time has docked at the Port of Alicante from Palma de Mallorca before going back to England via Lisbon, according to reported in a statement the Port Authority of Alicante.

The arrival of Independence of the Seas to the Port of Alicante has had a special welcome event that fused traditional and new technologies. Specifically, an exhibition of traditional crafts of the province - pottery, white palm, rolls, cobblers and basket weaving teachers - combined with the use of the latest technology to interact with passengers.

The technological tools developed, a pioneer in the cruise industry, has allowed passengers Independence of the Seas the application instant download of Puerto de Alicante tourist for next generation mobile phones by scanning QR codes.

The chairman of the Port Authority of Alicante, Miguel Campoy, with this technology is available to cruise passengers "all available information regarding the cultural, culinary products and services in the province."

A QR Code (Quick Response Barcode) is a system for storing information in a two-dimensional bar code. Such codes, whose use is already widespread in countries like the U.S. or Japan, gradually replace the current barcode.

The recent inclusion of totally free software that reads QR codes in physical smartphones allows a wide range of new services aimed at tourists. Amenities generated by this new technological application highlights the ease of use by not having to manually enter data on the phones.

Thus, users with capture devices and programs can access content without typing a URL, or access through a browser.

Photo by Jarrod Parker