If classic rock bands such as ZZ Top or George Thorogood are your thing, then there's a cruise perfect for you.  The "Rock Legends Cruise" is planning a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas that leaves on December 1, 2011.  Among the acts booked for the cruise...

• John Kay & Steppenwolf
• The Marshall Tucker Band
• Dickey Betts & Great Southern
• Foghat
• George Thorogood & The Destroyers
• Molly Hatchet
• Johnny Winter
• The Outlaws
• Blackfoot
• Pat Travers and Swampdawamp
• ZZ Top

The cruise will feature performances on four different on-board venues.

Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas is building upon its success in 2010-2011 by promising a bigger and better season in 2011-12 with double the number of port visits

The port of Newcastle in Australia has been a very popular destination with Royal Caribbean guests as the season has sold out on cruises that have stopped in the New South Wales town.

Royal Caribbean Australia Commercial Manager Adam Armstrong is happy to know their guests are finding what they want, “Royal Caribbean Cruises searches the world for amazing destinations to give our guests a truly memorable holiday experience. Newcastle has it all: beautiful beaches, a buzzing harbour and city life with plenty to see and do, and most of all - friendly, welcoming residents. It is no wonder Lonely Planet voted Newcastle one of the top ten cities in the world. It is a popular stop with most of our guests disembarking to explore the city and beyond to the Hunter Valley, returning with only good things to report. It is why Royal Caribbean has doubled the port visits to Newcastle when Rhapsody of the Seas returns for the next cruising season."

When she returns in November, there will be four port calls in total in her 2011-12 season.  THe popular Newcastle stop is part of the 11 night Queensland itinerary.

Earlier this week Royal Caribbean launched an iPhone app for Spanish and Portuguese languages and in just 3 days, the app has been downloaded 18,000 times from the iTunes store.

The software allows for checking out Royal Caribbean's ships, destinations and itineraries available, and present prices in the currency of the country. Through one of the tools we can track in real time what happens inside the two largest ships in the world - Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas - which come with a camera installed on board.

Royal Caribbean is also planning now to add a version of the app for the Android operating system. 

Soon Royal Caribbean shall make an application version for the Android operating system.  You can download the Royal Caribbean iPhone apps on the iTunes music store.

Shane Nelson, of Kennett, Missouri, won a cruise vacation for two aboard a Royal Caribbean ship after buying a $5 "Missouri Lottery's 25th Anniversary Cruise" Scratchers ticket.

Nelson plans on taking his girlfriend on the cruise and was excited to spread the news of his winnings.

"I had to tell someone; I couldn't contain myself," he laughed, sharing that he next called his mother, who was "beside herself she was so happy" about his win.

Interestingly enough, Nelson had never been on a cruise before but will now have the chance to. His winnings are valued at more than $19,000 and include an ocean-view balcony stateroom, round-trip first-class airfare, deluxe hotel accommodations the night prior to the cruise, ground transportation to and from the ship, a new set of luggage, $1,000 onboard spending credit and $500 cash.

At the cruise industry conference and trade show Cruise Shipping Miami 2011, Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein indicated that the recession has forced Royal Caribbean to send more ships to markets outside of the United States, such as Europe, to seek higher revenue.

Before the recession, cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean got most of their customers from North America but the economic quagmire pushed the cruise giant to look abroad and encourage new source markets.  It's a strategy that Goldstein indicated would not be changing any time soon.

Europe, in particular, has been a target of Royal Caribbean as Goldstein sees it as a market that can provide much of the growth needed for Royal Caribbean to continue to grow.

A record 15 million people worldwide cruised in 2010 and 2011 is expected to exceed that number, thanks to higher demand outside of North America as well as a largely untapped market of potential cruisers in North America of which only 3 percent of the population has cruised.

Royal Caribbean announced new itineraries for 2012 that will sail from Baltimore, Maryland to Bermuda aboard Enchantment of the Seas.

The announcement adds a new set of six-night cruises to Bermuda as well as eight-night Bermuda and Northeast United States cruises that will sail out of Baltimore in the spring and summer of 2012.  Enchantment's new six-night itinerary will make 3-day calls to Kings Wharf, Bermuda

In addition, Royal Caribbean is also planning to send Explorer of the Seas, which is based out of Bayonne, NJ, on a new seven-night round trip cruise in September and October of 2012 that will feature three days in Bermuda.  The new itineraries will include five and nine-night Bermuda & Caribbean itineraries through the spring and summer of 2012.

Adding to the news, Jewel of the Seas will continue its ninth season of sailings out of Boston, MA of roundtrip seven-night Canadian cruises.

The Alicante Port Authority announced today that Royal Caribbean has agreed to have Independence of the Seas make six stops at Alicante, Spain in 2012 after an agreement was reached between the two entities.

This agreement has been announced in the course of the exhibition "Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention, which since yesterday and tomorrow is held in Miami, and where the APA participated as part of the Spanish delegation.

Through this collaboration, the Independence of the Sea will arrive at the port of Alicante on six occasions between the months of June, July and August 2012.

Independence of the Seas was considered the world's largest until the construction of "Oasis of the Seas" in November 2009.

Royal Caribbean has decided to  cancel all stops in Japan due to the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit the country last week.

Its Legend of the Seas ship will forgo stops at Fukuoka, Japan and will instead skip ahead in its itinerary to Busan, South Korea.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean explained the motivation behind the change, "We are aware that several countries have issued advisories discouraging travel to Japan, and many of our guests have expressed concern about whether it is safe to call there. Although the areas of concern are far from Fukuoka, Japan, there is no doubt that the situation remains fluid and continues to deteriorate. Therefore, we have decided to cancel Legend of the Seas' port call."

With a maximum number of passengers by 3436 guests, Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas will arrive for the first time in Europe and will add another large cruise ship to that side of the Atlantic. Between April and October of this year, Liberty of the Seas will offer a selection of cruises with a length of four to seven nights in the western Mediterranean from its homeport of Barcelona, Spain.

At the beginning of the season is a series of short cruises on the program. On April 16, 2011 the first route leads to a 5-night trip to Villefranche (Nice), Civitavecchia (Rome) and Cagliari on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. This route is booked for other departure dates between April 2011 and May 2011 from 479 EUR per person in twin inside cabin. 

Cruise Critic reports Royal Caribbean is planning on rolling out All-You-Can-Drink Packages to its customers in the near future onboard some of its ships.

There are three packages that will be offered

• $29 per day per person: the beer and wine package includes all brews, house wine by the glass and a 25 percent discount on other liquors and wines
• $39 per day per person: includes the above package and includes ll cocktails and premium and specialty liquor.
• $49 per day per person: Premium Package builds on the second tier, but also offers wines by the glass up to $10 and more premium liquors

Currently the packages will start with UK based cruises with it available from March 13 on Grandeur of the Seas and from March 14 on Independence of the Seas and Legend of the Seas