Royal Caribbean Associate Vice President & General Manager Jo Rzymowska said that booking trends in the United Kingdom are the slowest in the six years since she joined the company.  Rzymowska believes Britons are waiting longer than usual to book their summer holidays.

Speaking at the launch of a new travel agent training website in London last night, Rzymowska thinks people are just waiting until it's closer to their vacations to book, “This year the booking trends have been the latest in my six years in tenure,” she said. “There are definitely people who haven’t booked their summer holiday yet who are holding out.”

So why the slow down?  Rzymowska believes it's a combination of recent global events and concerns of economic uncertainty.

The good news for Royal Caribbean is that despite the reluctance of some to book, sales for 2011 are still up and Rzymowska thinks the rest of the year will be good as well.

Photo by Baltimore Sun

Itineraries for Royal Caribbean cruises to Alaska in 2012 were announced yesterday of 10 to 18 nights.

Cruises include sailings aboard Radiance of the Seas that sail north and south between Vancouver and Seward as well as Rhapsody of the Seas offering round trip cruises out of Seattle, Washington.

Royal Caribbean also announced 20 new land tours including a 12 night offer for families that include a trip to Fox Island and excursions to the Anchorage Museum and Imaginarium.  There are also six-night Canadian Rocky Mountain cruise tours that include an overnight train journey.

Adam Armstrong, commercial manager, Royal Caribbean Cruises Australia loves the new Alaska itineraries, “Not only do we have great cruise itineraries on offer, but they can also be packaged with land tours in Alaska and the Canadian Rockies. We call them ‘cruisetours’ and they offer something for everyone – fun, adventure or relaxation – plus once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to see the region’s dramatic cliffs, Alpine glaciers, unique marine life and expansive wilderness.”

Other interesting offerings include

• An 18-night Ultimate Cruisetour couples the Canadian Rockies pre-cruise with a five-night post-cruise escorted Alaska land tour
• A six night Canadian Rockies cruisetour that combines Calgary, Banff, Jasper, Vancouver and Victoria with an overnight train journey aboard VIA Rail and accommodations throughout at world-renowned Fairmont hotels.

The port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain was graced today with the first visit of Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in Europe.  Liberty has come to the Island from Miami as a stopover before the start of its summer season in the Mediterranean.

A statement released by the Port Authority ensures that the ship is two inches longer than its sister ship, Independence of the Seas, which is 339 feet long and 154,407 gross registered tons, with capacity to 4,375 cruisers.

Liberty of the Seas is served by 1,300 crew, 730 of them dedicated to ensuring safety on board.

The ship, built in Finland in 2007 at a cost of $ 800 million, remain in port until 18:00 pm and depart in the direction of Cadiz to continue to cover a voyage of fourteen days that end in Barcelona, ​​home port of their routes for the Mediterranean. 

Royal Caribbean is launching a new honeymoon registry so that friends and family can purchase gifts for a newly wed couple on their cruise honeymoon vacation.

Some of the options available include paying for dinner at a specialty restaurant onboard their ship, a couple's massage, purchasing an excursion, or just helping pay for the cost of the cruise.

The new honeymoon registry can be reached at http://www.RoyalCaribbeanHoneymoon.com

Photo by Vladimir Nikanorov

Last month Royal Caribbean rolled out All-You-Can-Drink packages aboard three Royal Caribbean ships based in the United Kingdom as a test.  Cruise Critic is reporting that the package has been temporarily suspended on the April 5 sailing of Independence of the Seas, "in order to make some changes based on guest feedback."

The change is only temporary and the package will return for the April 16th sailing of Independence of the Seas.

 The all-you-can-drink packages are a multi-tier system where for starting at $29 per day, you can drink as much alcohol onboard the ship as you like.  Currently the packages are only available on UK based cruises on Grandeur of the Seas, Independence of the Seas and Legend of the Seas.

More than 1,000 volunteers associated with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will spend this Saturday painting and landscaping their South Florida community as part of the company's 14th annual G.I.V.E. Day.

G.I.V.E., which stands for "Get Involved Volunteer Everywhere," is a community service event that brings together Royal Caribbean employees, their families, friends, vendors and business partners to assist non-profit organizations and improve the quality of life in their local communities. The volunteers will be painting and landscaping three South Florida locations - Covenant House in Fort Lauderdale, Children's Harbor in Pembroke Pines and the Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach.

"As one of the largest employers in South Florida, we are committed to supporting and helping our local communities. It is part of our Corporate Social Responsibility," said Michele Nadeem, vice president of Global Corporate Communications, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "We believe that the personal satisfaction and fun of assisting our neighbors on G.I.V.E. Day will help inspire our employees to pursue volunteer and public service opportunities throughout the year."

Covenant House Florida serves runaway, homeless and at-risk youth under 21, including teen parents and their children in South Florida. Without a fresh coat of paint in over 15 years, this facility is a perfect location for G.I.V.E. Day volunteers. Since there is also a dire need for shade on the property, volunteers will be landscaping the site as well.

Children's Harbor in Pembroke Pines provides residential services for foster children in a family-style setting, and community based services for the prevention and intervention of abuse and neglect. The five homes on site are in need of painting, and volunteers will also assist in cleaning up and landscaping the children's playground area.

The Holocaust Memorial on Miami Beach was dedicated and opened to the public in 1990. The Memorial is composed of a large plaza of Jerusalem stone and a large lily pond set against a backdrop of green forest. Volunteers will landscape the area around the educational center, as well as paint the memorial's lamp posts.

Now in its 14th year, G.I.V.E. Day is an example of how the more than 40,000 Royal Caribbean employees give back to their communities around the world, by donating thousands of volunteer hours to assist their communities with neighborhood development, civic drives, environmental improvement and disaster recovery. Similar G.I.V.E. Day events are also being planned for and will take place in Wichita, Kansas; Anchorage, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; and Springfield, Oregon.