J.D. Power released their inaugural J.D. Power 2013 Cruise Line Satisfaction Report and Royal Caribbean ranked second among all cruise lines.

The inaugural report measures cruise line customer satisfaction based on seven key factors (in order of importance): service; stateroom; food; embark/debark; entertainment; cost; and excursions.

In the survey, Disney Cruise Line ranked first with a score of 871 (out of 1,000) with Royal Caribbean just behind them with a score of 838.  Royal Caribbean ranked particularly well for their service.

Other key findings of the survey were respondents ranked price (53%) and experience with the brand (38%) as the two main reasons why they select a particular cruise line.  Also, the average price paid for one person is $1,628 and $2,330 for a group of two to four.

Rounding out the top 5 were Holland America, Celebrity Cruises (sister company to Royal Caribbean) and Princess Cruises.

"Many cruise lines in the report have very high levels of passenger satisfaction, well above the report average; however, for more than a year, the overall industry has been dealing with a lot of negative news affecting customer perceptions, expectations and trust," said Ramez Faza, senior account manager of the global travel and hospitality practice at J.D. Power. "To raise the bar, the industry must focus on meeting the needs of the nearly 20 percent of passengers who experience a problem with their cruise line experience. Cruise lines need to understand the causes of customer dissatisfaction and determine what will motivate them to come back."

The 2013 Cruise Line Satisfaction Report is based on responses from 3,003 customers who traveled on a cruise line in the past 12 months. The study was fielded from May 29, 2013, through June 14, 2013. 

Royal Caribbean will be honored with the ’2013 Invest Caribbean Now Corporate Leadership ‘award on Wednesday, June 5th at the Radisson Martinique Hotel, for its substantial commitment in serving the Caribbean region’s tourism sector, the current lifeblood of many nations.

The award is being presented by the Avalon Invest Caribbean Now forum and is presented annually in conjunction with the Caribbean Tourism Organization, (CTO), the governmental arm of tourism; and digital media company, Hard Beat Communications.

ICN officials are honoring Royal Caribbean International this year for generously investing in the region and developing partnerships with governments and local businesses in twenty countries.

Royal Caribbean has invested over $200,000,000 over the last ten years in the Caribbean, including the cruise port of Falmouth, Jamaica; Roatan Honduras Town Center and the cruise port in Belize City. In addition, Royal Caribbean operates its private destinations of CocoCay in The Bahamas and Labadee in Haiti.

Royal Caribbean International’s CEO and President, Adam Goldstein and Mike Ronan, the company’s vice president of government relations for the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia, will accept the award on behalf of Royal Caribbean.

Goldstein commented on Royal Caribbean being recognized, “The Caribbean has been the heart and soul of who we are and where we go for over 40 years, and we are honored to receive the 2013 ‘Invest Caribbean Now Corporate Leadership Award.’ At Royal Caribbean, our goal is to continue to work closely with the Caribbean so that their ability to retain and attract cruise ships remains as strong and robust as ever and we look forward to being a leader and working to help recognize the region’s value.”

Royal Caribbean was awarded "Middle East's Leading Cruise Line" at the World Travel Awards, an honor it has won in the past. In fact, Royal Caribbean has won this award four consecutive times.

The 20th annual World Travel Awards gala event took place on May 5, 2013 at the Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa in Dubai, and was attended by hundreds of travel executives from around the world.

Helen Beck, Royal Caribbean's Regional Director, accepted the award and commented on the win, "This prestigious award is a testament to Royal Caribbean International's ongoing commitment to creating the unforgettable memories for our guests onboard our ships through the personalized service they receive from our dedicated staff. Royal Caribbean International's experience is delivered according to the standards of the 'Gold Anchor Service' programme, which was established more than a decade ago and contributes to the building customer loyalty."

The award comes as Royal Caribbean ends its fourth season in the Gulf on a positive note with all of its sailings fully booked aboard Serenade of the Seas out of Dubai. 

Serenade of the Seas completed her gulf season in April 2013 and is based in Europe for summer, where she will be sailing 12-night roundtrip Mediterranean cruises starting from Barcelona.

Royal Caribbean received yesterday an award from the CruiseNews Media Group for "Best entertainment onboard"  in the Excellence Awards ceremony held at the Museo Picasso in Malaga, Spain. The event brought together more than 200 professionals between shippers, carriers, ports and destinations in the Mediterranean. 

Wangüemert Bethlehem, CEO of Royal Caribbean in Spain said: " At Royal Caribbean, we constantly strive to provide the most innovative ships and a very important part of this lies in the leisure and entertainment on board. The company continues relentless seeking agreements with exclusive partners who make a cruise an unforgettable experience.'s one of the premises of the company."

This is not the first time that Royal Caribbean has won an award in Excellence.  In previous years, Royal Caribbean has won awards for "Best Popular-Family Company" as well as several awards for its cruise ships, such as Liberty of the Seas being selected "Best Ship"..

Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas, CocoCay, was awarded the Sustainable Tourism Education Program (STEP) Gold-Level Eco-Certification for its attractions and tour operations.

The award was presented by Sustainable Travel International, a leading nonprofit that support sustainable tourism development.  The certification is the top-tier program and  is among the first global standards to be formally recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), and CocoCay is the first operation of its kind to receive the certification.

All on-island tours and island operations, including workplace practices, guest communications, and environmental management policies were assessed by a third-party independent of Sustainable Travel International and Royal Caribbean. Royal Caribbean demonstrated an ability to successfully apply its outstanding on-board sustainability initiatives to its shore excursion operations.

Royal Caribbean met certain criteria to receive the award, among them were these distinctions

• Royal Caribbean performed extremely well on all policy and documentation criteria.
• The CocoCay team performed “above and beyond” in areas of guest communications, guest education, group-size policy and visitor code of conduct.
• All on-island vendors sell locally sourced and produced products from the Bahamas, such as artwork and locally-made crafts.

Royal Caribbean Associate Vice President for Safety and Environmental Stewardship, Rich Pruitt, commented on the award, "We are very proud of our CocoCay team and the incredible work they do every day. It is through their dedication to sustainability initiatives that CocoCay has been awarded this prestigious certification that further emphasizes our commitment to environmental stewardship. By working with organizations such as Sustainable Travel International, Royal Caribbean continues to focus on providing an incredible vacation experience both onboard its ships and its private destinations like CocoCay.”

In the 2012 readers poll for Best Large Cruise Ships in the world by Condé Nast Traveler, six Royal Caribbean cruise ships received recognition.

Of the top 20, the six Royal Caribbean ships to make list were (with rank in the poll next to it)

• Oasis of the Seas (9)
• Liberty of the Seas (10)
• Independence of the Seas (12)
• Freedom of the Seas (13)
• Allure of the Seas (16)
• Voyager of the Seas (20)

The Royal Caribbean ships to make the list are among the largest cruise ships in the world and also among the newest.  Nearly all of them are based in the United States with Independence of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas spending part of their time in Europe and Asia respectively.

Royal Caribbean was named Best Cruise Company by Norwegian's travel industry competition known as the Grand Travel Awards.  This award is the 18th consecutive time Royal Caribbean has won the award.

The award ceremony was held at the annual Grand Travel Awards at the Radisson BLU Scandinavia Hotel, where Royal Caribbean Generam Manager of Nordic Countries Roar Meidal accepted the award.

"We are very grateful to have received this award enough away. The fact that travel agents have voted us back to the best cruise company gives us the motivation to continue to offer the best cruise experiences.  We had not done it alone."

Meidal believes that the award has to be shared by both passengers and travel agents.

"We see that more and more people get their eyes opened to cruise as a holiday form. It is clear that the combination of relaxation, activity and adventure tempts many. Now we plan to take the prize home two more times, so that we can write us 20 straight victories."

At the 6th Annual Leisure Travel Leaders Awards, Royal Caribbean won two big awards for the cruise line.

Royal Caribbean won "Best Cruise Line Overall" and "Best Contemporary (Mass-Market) Line.

Leisure Travel Leaders awards are based on a survey sent to the more than 20,000 home-based travel agent readers of Agent@Home magazine, the more than 29,000 leisure-selling travel agent readers of Vacation Agent magazine, and the 65,000-plus travel agent readers of Travel Pulse Dailon TravelPulse.com. 

At the 19th World Travel Awards in Delhi, India, Royal Caribbean was honored with two awards for excellence in their cruise line.

Royal Caribbean won the World's Leading Cruise Brand and World's Leading Cruise Line awards.  Winners were determined by voting of accredited tourism professionals from around the world as well as readers of the World Travel Awards.

Accepting the awards was Royal Caribbean's Regional Director of Sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Helen Beck.  

Royal Caribbean has been honored with a number of awards by Cruise Critic for its 2012 Editors' Picks.

Royal Caribbean won awards for the United States and United Kingdom categorizations.  Royal Caribbean won the award in the following categories:

Best for Families (USA)

Royal Caribbean's appeal ranges from casual dining venues and cabins that sleep five or more to family-friendly recreational activities, such as ice-skating and simulated surfing. But its real gem is its kids programs, which are divided into five age classifications, entertaining kids from six months to 17 years old. 

Best Entertainment (USA)

While Royal Caribbean's already-iconic Oasis and Allure of the Seas -- with their comedy clubs, jazz bars, evening promenade parades, nighttime high-diving performances, ice-skating shows, pubs with folk music and actual Broadway productions -- deserve the nod, we also applaud the line for incorporating a similar variety of options on its (somewhat) smaller vessels. 

Best Suites (UK)

Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas set the bar high with their outstanding Loft Suites and Family Suites, but the three ships in Royal’s Freedom class -- Independence, Liberty and Freedom -- also boast some outstanding suite accommodations, including the Presidential Family Suite (1,215 square feet, balcony 810 square feet), which is unique in the industry. 

The Cruise Critic Editors' Picks Awards are selected by the team of editors at Cruise Critic.