Photo by Andre Harris

Royal Caribbean sponsored a study of "Study on the Royal Caribbean Cruise Market in Spain" and announced the results, which were prepared by the market research institute IPSOS Marketing.  The goal of the study was to analyze the current situation of the cruise market in Spain.  

The study indicates that 75.4% of people who have taken a cruise are quite or very satisfied with their cruising experience.  In addition, the study listed profiles of most cruise passengers, with families and couples with children topping the list of potential cruisers, with an average age of 35-50 years old.  The study also revealed that 25% of the population plans on taking a cruise in the future.

Royal Caribbean CEO in Spain, Belén Wangüemert, commented, "The growing number of families on cruise ships is a phenomenon that, in the case of Royal Caribbean, is mainly due to the fun and excitement of the program for children and young people, Ocean Adventure, as well as the agreement we have recently signed with Dreamworks".

It appears cruising is becoming very popular in Spain as 33.5% of respondents of respondents that have taken a cruise before do not want to do something else on their vacation. This surprising data "supports the high levels of loyalty and satisfaction between cruisers' admits Wangüemert Bethlehem.  "Once a person chooses this type holiday, the chances are high that you return to make another cruise."

The study also revealed that the 70% of Spanish people prefer Mediterranean cruises, followed by Northern Europe (8.1%) and the Caribbean (6.4%) . While there was a large majority preferring where they cruise, respondents were less clear when they like to cruise with 56% of them choosing the summer, 23.9% prefer the autumn and only 17.8% and 2.3% prefer the spring and winter, respectively.

Interestingly, 42% say they have not completed a cruise yet because of price "Obviously this is a false belief and we have to explain everything that is obtained at a reasonable price. The price-quality ratio is excellent cruise, "says Wangüemert.

A mechanical problem today caused Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas to miss a port on its scheduled itinerary.  Jewel of the Seas was scheduled to stop in Stockholm, Sweden but had to skip the port after a problem with the ship's propulsion.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez, stated that it was a problem with “one of the four hydraulic motors on the starboard propulsion system”.  Martinez confirmed that the problem is expected to be fixed within a matter of days.

"We carried out preliminary repairs in Harwich (England) on Saturday," Martinez tells USA TODAY. "However, we are awaiting a replacement hydraulic motor and will conduct (further) repairs while the ship is in St. Petersburg, Russia."

Martinez added that the Jewel of the Seas today is skipping Stockhold and instead stopping at Visby, Sweden, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. On Wednesday, she will arrive at Helsinki, Finland and remain there from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. By Thursday the ship will arrive in St. Petersburg at 7:30 a.m. and depart on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Royal Caribbean Vice President Michael Bayley visited the new Royal Caribbean headquarters in Italy, the second largest in the world, that had opened in 2010 to announce that Royal Caribbean will handle 60% more passengers in 2011.  Next year will see 2.5 million passengers, airports will grow by 35% to a total of 671 calls at 17 ports.

With Royal Caribbean's addition of 3 Voyager class ships to Italy, about 3,300 passengers will now sail in and out of Italy. Navigator of the Seas docks at Civitavecchia, Voyager of the Seas for the first time in Venice and Mariner of the Seas for the first time will dock in Genoa.

Royal Caribbean is planning on its ships visiting a number of Italian ports, including Civitavecchia, Venice, Livorno, Naples, Messina, Ravenna, Bari, Cagliari, Palermo, La Spezia, Sorrento Salerno, Portofino, Genoa, Portoferraio, Santa Margherita and Trieste.

Royal Caribbean has moved a lot of its ships to Europe, primarily from the Caribbean, and in a recent Royal Caribbean blog post, there was an interesting tidbit about what changes Royal Caribbean made to it's Voyager class Adventure of the Seas ship to be more accommodating for the European clientèle.

Adventure of the Seas had spent nine years in Puerto Rico, serving the south Caribbean since 2001 but was moved to Europe and the Mediterranean to help with greater demand in the area.  Because the ship was going from the Caribbean, where its customers spoke primarily English, to the Mediterranean, where a greater variety of languages were spoken, changes were necessary.  The biggest changes included ensuring Adventure of the Seas had "the appropriate language skills".

Other changes were made as well, such as changing the entertainment so it was less about language and more about the visual story being presented.  This ensured a greater percentage of guests onboard the ship could enjoy the entertainment.  To accomodate guests even further, dining times were adjust to allow for the greater demand for later dinner seatings.

Anyone with a special dietary restriction knows that traveling and sticking to your diet is never easy but Charu Suri posted about her experience on a three night Royal Caribbean cruise that she took to the Bahamas and shared her experience of eating vegan while on Royal Caribbean.

Going into the cruise, Suri was worried that the options for her on board would be very limited, to the point that she'd have to eat the same boring meals every day.  Moreover, she wondered if they'd even have vegan friendly alternatives, such as soy milk instead of regular milk.

As soon as Suri was onboard, her fears were dismissed after seeing how closely the Royal Caribbean chefs were not only monitoring her dietary needs but responding to them, "The chefs on board were more aware of my dietary needs than I had given them credit for. Before long, I was feasting on Indian dishes, delicately-flavored al dente pasta and crisp, almost "farm to table" quality salads."

Suri did run into a "problem" with dessert.  Before long she was getting sick of the usual offerings and decided to ask to see if there was anything else available. She asked the Head Waiter and the very next day, she had a special dessert prepared for her based on her vegan needs.

According to a 2008 Vegetarian Times survey, around 3.8% of the American population was vegetarian, and around 0.5% was vegan.  Based on her experience, it seems eating vegan on a Royal Caribbean cruise is a very practical possibility.

Beautiful beaches in Cozumel Mexico are seemingly a dime a dozen, but every beach offers something a little different and Playa Palancar on the leeward side of the Cozumel island offers beach goers a secluded white sand beach for those who are looking for a simple beach retreat.

Description

Playa Palancar is located on the leeward (bay side) side of the island of Cozumel.  It features a white sand beach, adorned by beach chairs and palapas.  The beach features a full service bar and restaurant that will deliver food and beverages to beachgoers. There is also services offered on the beach such as massages.

The ocean offerings are clear blue water with a simple and small floating dock to sunbathe on and/or dive into the water from.  Unlike other beaches, Playa Palancar doesn't offer a lot of water toys.  Rather, they focus on customers looking for a relaxing day at the beach.

There are other options available for an additional fee, such as snorkeling and parasailing.

Comments

Playa Palancar is perfect for those looking for a quiet beach and don't care or want the water toys that other area beaches offer.  That isn't to say that Playa Palancar is perfect for those looking for an adults only beach, but it given its lack of water toys, there's sure to be less kids than other beaches with those sort of offerings.

While the beach is white sand, we did find the area of the water closest to the shore to be rather rocky.  It isn't rocky enough to need water shoes, but it is rocky nonetheless and isn't ideal.  Interestingly enough, you will not find many lounge chairs, but the ones you do find, are all in direct sunlight.  There aren't any beach chairs that have umbrellas or palapas to shade yourself from the sun.  The palapas and umbrellas are located to the rear of the beach and cover the tables and plastic chairs that are good for eating under, but those looking to sit out by the water with some shade will be out of luck.

Access to the beach is free, but the restaurant and bar servers will hound you for orders.  They aren't pushy, in fact, they speak good English and are courteous, but they will stop by often to see if you need anything. Speaking of the food, the prices here are a little expensive for Mexico but good for America.  So you'll find most entrees in the $10 range and drinks costing around $5.  We hear the fish tacos are very good, but haven't tried them ourselves.

Location: 15 miles south of San Miguel Parque National Palancar Cozumel 77600 Mexico

Website: http://playapalancar.com/

Cost: $0 + additional cost for activities and food

Guests aboard the Splendour of the Seas received a letter in their cabins last week warning them to be extra careful if they were getting off the ship in Turkey to be extra careful because Turkey is experiencing "an increase in threats of terrorist actions" and "It is not recommended that guests travel alone, or visit any remote locations".  The warning was signed by the ship's Captain, Tommy Nyseter.

Splendour of the Seas distributed these letters at the port of Piraeus in Greece to a ship which had a majority of its cruising guests as Americans.  The letter hopes to warn its guests about potential risks found in the country that can be overlooked due Turkey's "warm and welcoming" residents.

The U.S. Department of State issued a warning to American tourists "to be alert to the potential for these types of incidents in urban and tourist areas" and Royal Caribbean's letter echoes the sentiment of this warning bu making in no uncertain terms a firm warning to be vigilant.

The port of Roatan in Honduras, whose major shareholder is Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, announced a new investment of $45 million for work on the second phase of its Town Center, as an extension of existing facilities at the destination of Islands Bay, on the Caribbean coast of this country.

According to El Heraldo de Honduras, the additional investment provides a new and wonderful atmosphere of entertainment and offers first-class commercial facilities to accommodate more and more cruise passengers who will be visiting Roatan.  Currently, Roatan covers 6% of the market share of Caribbean and this year is about 800,000 cruise passengers. The Roatan cruise industry generated about $ 50 million in foreign exchange in 2009 and should amount to roughly $ 80 million in 2010, according to estimates by the authorities.

According to a study by the Cruise Association of Florida and the Caribbean, Honduras is in fifth place in the ranking of 29 cruise destinations in the world.