We usually only have one photo of the day for each day but this photo was just too cool to pass up.

Photo by Ramón

Oasis of the Seas has been in service since December 2009 and it has taken the world by storm with it's impressive assortment of onboard amenities such as the bigger rock wall, Flowrider, carousel and even a zip line.  It's hard to imagine that Royal Caribbean could have put anything else on it but in fact, at one point there were plans to include a roller coaster and a ferris wheel!

Cruisersconnect cites in a recent article from VG by Rune Thomas Ege, CEO of Royal Caribbean Adam Goldstein mentioned the idea for some of these additions. "Imagine the experience (of riding a roller coaster at sea). You are pulled to the top of the ship, and then the roller coaster takes you along the outside of the ship and down towards the ocean as the ship is moving, it would be really spectacular.”

Sounds pretty cool, but after further review, Royal Caribbean nixed the idea because, "Both the Ferris wheel and the roller coaster would probably turn out really expensive, so for the time being we have not moved on with the ideas.”

Photo by Hacienda Cocina

Another finalist for Royal Caribbean's Culinary Challenge, which looks who will be the next Chef de Cuisine of 150 Central Park, the signature restaurant onboard Allure of the Seas, has been profiled by their hometown newspaper.  Anthony Burd, a chef from Belvidere, Pennsylvania, is one of the six finalists for the competition.

Voting ends on Sunday, July 18 at 11:59 p.m. ET and you can vote once per day.

Royal Caribbean has scheduled its second quarter earnings report for 2010 for July 22, 2010 at 10am eastern. If you're interested in hearing the report live, the call will be available at Royal Caribbean's investor relations web site, www.rclinvestor.com.

If you want to listen to the call by phone, please dial (877) 663-9606 in the US and Canada. International phone calls should be made to (706) 758-4628. There is no passcode or meeting number. A replay of the webcast will be available at the same site for a month following the call.

Earlier this week we profiled Maureen Brandt, one of the contestants in the Culinary Challenge to be the next Chef de Cuisine of 150 Central Park, the signature restaurant onboard Allure of the Seas.  Today we have another profile from one of the contestants, Beth LittleJohn of Durham, North Carolina.   Each chef has a signature dish they are working on and LittleJohn's is preparing an arugula frisée topped with a tempora-fried poached egg.

LittleJohn has been sous chef at Coquette Brasserie, a French restaurant in Raleigh, for a little more than a month. She also has worked at The Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. She graduated from The Culinary Institute of American in 2006.

Voting ends on Sunday, July 18 at 11:59 p.m. ET and you can vote once per day.

For our readers in the United Kingdom, check out the National Geographic Channel tonight at 9pm, err... 21:00, for a show about Oasis of the Seas called "World Record Cruise Ship". 

Like an entire water-going city, the Oasis of the Seas is the largest cruise ship ever built. But this colossal vessel started on a humble drawing board, when a group of international architects were given a simple brief: to design something completely new. 

Photo by Mike

Azamara Cruises, a Royal Caribbean subsidiary and specialty cruise line has released its 2011-2012 brochure which features 57 new ports of call. There are lots of new itineraries and options to choose from, but Royal Caribbean seems to have high hopes from its cruise business in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Royal Caribbean Associate Vice President and General Manager for the UK & Ireland, Jo Rzymowska said: “The UK and Irish Market is demonstrating great affinity to the revamped boutique cruise experience and we’re looking to grow the volume of guests from this market sailing with Azamara Club Cruises throughout 2011.”

Royal Caribbean has already been sending lots of its ships to Europe and given the potential in growth that Rzymowska cited, more could be on the way.

Cruise vacations can be great opportunities to see the world and do a lot of interesting and new things, but for some people, they may just simply want a break from the "daily grind" and look to get away from it all.  

Smarter Travel has ranked the best ships for getting away from it all and Royal Caribbean can be found in the list.  Chief among them, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas is ranked as the "Best Ship to Get Lost In".

Why: The biggest ships are roomy enough to disappear into, with entertainment, sightseeing, sports, and activities to suit every sort of personality. Celebrity Cruises, Cunard, Royal Caribbean, MSC Cruises, Princess, Carnival, and Costa all boast ships measuring more than 100,000 tons that carry thousands of passengers. But, of course, none beats the world's largest passenger vessel, with its capacity for 6,296 passengers and 2,394 crew, seven neighborhoods, 16 passenger decks, nearly two dozen restaurants and bars, plus shops, theatres, and a myriad of other public spaces. The ambience on Oasis of the Seas is cordially anonymous: As one Cruise Critic reviewer put it, it's "simply too vast to inspire connections." You can be introduced to someone early on and never cross paths again—and that really is a plus for the loner. Sister ship Allure of the Seas, whose maiden sailing is December 1, 2010, promises more of the same.