Russian tourist Alex Skokov claims that he was illegally removed from a cruise in the Mediterranean under the pretext of security breaches. He intends to sue the cruise company Royal Caribbean Cruises.

According to Skokov, while onboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas on a New Years cruise, he was accused of violating safety rules, and for that he was held for days in detention in the cabin, and then left on the shore in the Athenian harbor of Piraeus.

A Royal Caribbean statement describes the incident, "Skokov was filmed by surveillance camera at the Royal Carribean Brilliance Of The Seas at about 3.50 am 1 January 2011 at a time when he tried to go to the bridge through the door, where it was clearly written:" no entry ". Shortly before, he had twice, between 3.00 and 3.30, visited the Information Desk for the passengers and asked if he could immediately get to the bridge"

Skokov claims it was a mistake, "I knocked - I discovered", - explained the tourist, as he was there, where he was not supposed to be provided.

The Royal Caribbean document states that when Skokov was on the bridge, he was asked to leave, carried to the door and told to return to the cabin. After that Russian safety officers interrogated him twice.

"In both cases, Mr. Skokov admitted that he clearly understands the seriousness of the situation and the reasons for his removal from the vessel. Skokov violated rules of conduct for guests that he signed when boarding the cruise "

The Jamaica Observer is reporting that Royal Caribbean is pushing back the first cruise ship stop at it's soon-to-be-opened cruise port facility at Falmouth, Jamaica.  Originally Navigator of the Seas was scheduled to stop here on January 7th but now Navigator of the Seas has been rescheduled to arrive on February 17th.

The new date was selected to "ensure that both the port and the town were ready to offer the ship's approximately 4,000 passengers and 1,200 crew a positive experience".

A brand new cruise port in Falmouth, Jamaica is set to open this month, which has been a major project for Royal Caribbean but reports are coming in that the billion dollar port isn't quite ready yet.

A visit by a reporter for the Jamaica Observer newspaper reports the port looks "more like a bomb went off on the site than a high-class tourist trap".

Massive cranes were still dumping debris scraped from the sea-bottom along the shoreline at the foot of the giant double pier. Heavy earth-movers slipped deftly between scurrying hard-hatted workers, some drilling, some tamping down earth, some disappearing into the catacombs of maintenance access points beneath the earth, like hundreds of worker ants.

Royal Caribbean's first ship, Navigator of the Seas, is set to dock at Falmouth on January 7th,

Agilysys, Inc has announced that Royal Caribbean will use its InfoGenesis Point of Sales (POS) system on seven of its cruise ships.

Allure of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas, Azamara Journey, Celebrity Infinity, Celebrity Millennium and Celebrity Summit will all utilize the system.

The Travel Weekly Lifetime Achievement Award is given to an individual whose efforts have led to extraordinary results within an enterprise and who also has made significant contributions to the industry as a whole," said Arnie Weissmann, vice president, editor-in-chief, Travel Weekly. "Richard Fain's career has provided a model of vision and accomplishment to inspire tomorrow's leaders."

"I am humbled and honored to be the recipient of this award especially because it was awarded by Travel Weekly's readers, most of whom are travel agents. The growth of our industry and its many exciting changes would not have been possible without the biggest driver of Royal Caribbean's overall success - our people - our shipboard teams, as well as our shoreside employees. Accepting this award is especially meaningful as our company is being recognized by the travel agent community with nine awards overall," said Fain. "For 30 years, I've had the privilege to participate in the travel industry, working with talented people while helping travelers experience the world. The legacy of the recipients of the Travel Weekly Lifetime Achievement Award collectively defines the environment that the travel industry operates in today and it is an honor to join such a distinguished group of recipients."

Fain first joined Royal Caribbean in 1979 as an outside director on the company's Board of Directors. He became Chairman and CEO in 1988, and now oversees the global cruise company operating 40 ships under the Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisières de France brands. Prior to joining Royal Caribbean, Fain spent 13 years as treasurer, chief financial officer and joint managing director of Gotaas-Larsen Shipping Corp., a London-based owner and operator of cargo ships.

He serves as a member of the Florida 100, the national board of the Posse Foundation and the University of Miami's Board of Trustees. Fain also is former chair of the United Way of Miami-Dade, the Miami Business Forum, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau.

He also is a past chair of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), and industry trade association representing nearly 17,000 affiliated travel agencies and the bulk of the world's cruise lines. He holds a B.S. degree in economics from the University of California Berkeley and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Previous recipients of the Travel Weekly Lifetime Achievement Award have included: Bill Marriott, Gordon Bethune, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Arthur Tauck, Tim and Nina Zagat and Bob Dickinson.

Travel Weekly named Royal Caribbean the Best Cruise Line in its eighth annual Travel Weekly Readers' Choice Awards.  Royal Caribbean picked up numerous honors, chief among them best Best Cruise Line Overall.

In addition, Royal Caribbean won the following awards

• Cruise Line, Domestic
• Cruise line, Caribbean
• Cruise ship, rookie: Oasis of the Seas
• Cruise ship, overall: Oasis of the Seas
• Cruise line, sales and service

Winners were determined first by Travel Weekly readers who wrote in names of companies they believed best exemplified a particular category.  The leader vote getters were selected from the bunch and voting on finalists took place this fall.

Nearly 90% of the residents of Placencia Village in Belize passed a petition that they are opposed to the proposed introduction of cruise tourism.The petition is in opposition of Royal Caribbean's recent purchase of land in the area for the intention of building a tourism village.

The petition was started by an area resident and was designed to give more proof that opposition to the proposed plan to bring Royal Caribbean ships to the area aren't limited to a "few residents".

On the petition, 330 registered voters agreed that they are opposed to cruises coming to their area, which is out of 367 registered voters in the village.

The villagers are opposed to the plan because of the chaos tourists bring as well as the environmental impact the ships and people will have on the area's ecosystem.

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas was involved in a big storm in the Mediterranean earlier last week and the story of injuries, large waves and upset guests has made its way around the world, but according to Seatrade Insider, injuries to cruise guests onboard were more than we were lead to believe.

A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman claims that the number of injured guests onboard Brilliance of the Seas has risen to 105 people now. This is in contrast to early reports of just 30 people being injured with 2 people suffering a bone fracture.

Royal Caribbean has already announced it will refund the cost of the cruise to passengers onboard the ship.

Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's newest ship and the largest cruise ship in the world, made its first stop ever at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands earlier this week.

To commemorate the occasion, Allure of the Seas Captain Herman Zini told those in attendance "Thank you once again for the continuous focus you have on making the destination better and better.".  A plaque commemorated the event as well.

Royal Caribbean vice president of government relations was excited about the stop in St. Thomas, "The passengers want to take the greatest ship in the world to the greatest destination in the world".

The people of St. Thomas and every port Allure stops at have very good reason to be excited.  Both Allure and her sister ship, Oasis of the Seas, are expected to bring $1.5 million in revenues to the territory during each port call - $78 million a year.  In addition, the Florida Caribbean Cruise Associatian reports the average cruise passenger spends $193 while in the U.S. Virgin islands and crew members spend about $150.  Adding to the potential riches, the ship itself brings revenue through taxes and fees that Royal Caribbean is responsible for in accordance with docking and berthing the ship.

By 2012, Royal Caribbean estimates about 875,000 passengers will visit St. Thomas on an annual basis.

In the United Kingdom, Royal Caribbean is trying to make pricing a cruise easier for its customers. Royal Caribbean will now adopt a "what you see is what you get" approach to pricing its cruises in an attempt to foster earlier bookings.

Mark Walter, Head of field sales for Royal Caribbean, thinks this move is a step in the right direction, "he new ‘what you see is what you get’ campaign from Royal Caribbean International marks a step-change in the promotion of cruising.  All the prices and campaign elements are aimed towards making it easy for first-timer cruisers who will be comparing a holiday at sea with traditional land resorts options. We’ve scraped the traditional cruise jargon and focused on the incredible value that a cruise represents."