Royal Caribbean will cease home porting its ships in Malaga, Spain in 2013.  Currently Adventure of the Seas is there and will complete its 28 cruises but by 2013, she will move to be ported out of Southampton, England.

The move by Royal Caribbean to leave Malaga isn't permanent.  Royal Caribbean describes the change as "transitional" and anticipates reassessing the possibility of returning to Malaga in 2014, "given the interest of the company for the city".

Royal Caribbean has spent three years operating out of Malaga, near Valencia, as a base port for the western Mediterranean. The Adventure of the Seas, with capacity for 3,840 passengers, currently covers the route Málaga, Valencia, Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno (Pisa and Florence) and Ajaccio (Corsica). 

The change was characterized by a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman as "reprogramming of the ships to meet new demand" and she also indicated that Malaga has received very high results in passenger satisfaction surveys.

Sebastian Camps, the Malaga port manager, insists Royal Caribbean's departure is "temporary" and blames the economic situation in the Mediterranena area.

Royal Caribbean announced it is planning on doubling its presence in the UK next year.

Coming to the UK in the summer of 2013 will be Adventure of the Seas, which will join Independence of the Seas.  Independence is returning for its fifth season in the UK.

Adventure of the Seas will offer seven-night cruises to France and Spain, and include stops in ports such as Vigo, Gijon and Le Havre (Paris).  In addition, Adventure of the Seas will offer 12-night Baltic cruises to ports like Oslo, Copenhagen, Talinn and Helsinki.  Royal Caribbean is also planning to send Adventure of the Seas on 14-night Mediterranean cruises.

Royal Caribbean's Vice President and Group Managing Director in Europe, Dominic Paul, commented on the addition, "The UK cruise market has long been a success story for Royal Caribbean International and doubling the number of ships sailing from Southampton is another great milestone."

During the month of August, the city of Malaga, Spain will celebrate August Fair City, which begins on August 13 and ends the 20th, and the annual celebration will see more than  18,000 cruise passengers pass through.

Specifically, expected to arrive at the port of Malaga is Royal Caribbean's  Adventure of the Seas, which has a maximum capacity of 3838 passengers and 1,185 crew, and it will be based out of Malaga. So will both Saturday August 13th and 20th at 06.00am from Ajaccio ( France ) to Malaga and depart the premises, both days at 17.00 bound for Valencia.

The second ship with more capacity - 2446 passengers - will arrive these days at the port of Malaga is the Grandeur of the Seas, on August 18 at 07.00 hours. Its earlier stop Ibiza and Malaga depart at 20.00 hours that same day towards Gibraltar.

Royal Caribbean is planning a spending spree to upgrade its fleet of cruise ships over the next three years to help keeps its older ships competitive in the cruise market.  

This $300 million revitalization called "Royal Advantage", will allow most of its Vision, Voyager and Radiance class vessels to get a series of upgrades including

• Restaurants from Oasis Class of ships
  • Chops Grille steakhouse
  • Rita's Cantina Mexican restaurants
  • Izumi Restaurant (sushi)
  • Chops Grille (Steak house)
  • Park Café (sandwiches and salads)
  • Boardwalk Doghouse (brats and wieners)
• New cabin designs
• Royal Babies and Tots Nursery
• Wi-fi throughout ship
• Digital Wayfinding Systems
• Oversized LED video screens on pool decks

There's more planned but no details are available quite yet.  These changes sound quite similar to the changes that have already been made to ships such as Radiance of the Seas mostly recently.

These overhauls will require each ship to enter into a lengthy drydock process where the ship will get its upgrades.  The schedule of upgrades are as follows

1. Splendour of the Seas - November 2011
2. Rhapsody of the Seas - March 2012
3. Grandeur of the Seas - May 2012
4. Serenade of the Seas - November 2012
5. Legend of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
6. Vision of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
7. Navigator of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
8. Voyager of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
9. Explorer of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
10. Adventure of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
11. Brilliance of the Seas - 2013 or 2014

We know that the overhaul for Splendour, Grandeur and Serenade of the Seas will take place in Cadiz, Spain after Royal Caribbean signed a deal to have those ships rehauled there last month.

Royal Caribbean also mentioned that Independence of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas and Enchantment of the Seas will receive smaller, less significant upgrades.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein is excited about the changes that will help keep the cruise line competitive, "The Royal Advantage revitalizations takes many of the best features that we have created in recent years and introduces them across our fleet, offering our guests enhanced vacation choices around the world."

Royal Caribbean is launching a new art program dubbed, Art on Royal, on all 22 of its cruise ships.

Art on Royal integrates art-inspired events with tours, seminars, and auctions and features selected artists from the Royal Caribbean Art Collection.  There will also an opportunity to view and purchase a one-of-a-kind piece of their choice featured in the gallery.  This includes signature Royal Caribbean artsits such as Romero Britto and Thomas Kinkade.

This new art program was developed originally for Oasis of the Seas with partner Art Actually.  Art on Royal is currently available on Adventure of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas, and will be on more ships by the end of the year.

Royal Caribbean has just embarked on becoming the largest operator at the cruise port in Malaga with a challenge on the horizon of moving 75,000 passengers.

The company opened its third season in Manchester and the second with the ship Adventure of the Seas , a veritable floating city where passengers enjoy experiences such as skating on an ice rink, climbing or attend a show worthy of the billboard Broadway.

This ship was activated an operation that provides up to 28 outputs from the port of Malaga cruise one week until the end of next October.  Malaga thus constitutes the second most important point of embarkation for Spain for Royal Caribbean, behind Barcelona.

The ship Adventure of the Seas has planned seven-night cruise sailing the Mediterranean and visiting cities such as Rome, Pisa / Florence, Ajaccio in Corsica, Malaga and Valencia.  The novelty of the season is that in autumn, the ship carried four-night short breaks from Manchester visiting Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands.

Marc Pedrol, communications director for Royal Caribbean's goal this year is to consolidate Málaga a product that is working well and that has permeated the force.  Pedrol reported that in 2010 the ship moved 63,000 passengers in Malaga, of which 38,000 were Spanish. This year the challenge will reach 75,000 passengers in Malaga, of which half will be Spanish.

An important market in which Royal Caribbean wants to focus this year, with reinforcement of personnel and marketing activities, is the capital of Spain. The idea is to turn the port of Malaga from Madrid who love cruise travel.

Thus, the ship keeps the agreement reached with the railway operator Renfe that allows them to check their luggage at Madrid's Atocha station before boarding the AVE Malaga direction and find the bags in their cabins.

According Pedrol, 'this year we have ahead of departures from Manchester compared to last year and have changed the itineraries in the fall season. We are delighted with the response and hope to continue growing in this city. "

Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, the sister ship of the third and final Freedom class ship, is calling the port of Livorno, Italy home for the second time during the 2011 cruise season.  Independence will alternate eastern and western Mediterranean cruises, sailing from Southampton in the UK.

In the 2011 season, there are 12 ships calling at Livorno. After Independence of the Seas, will support in the Tuscan port the other ships of the fleet, the first stop will be to Liberty of the Seas April 27, will then be the turn of Brilliance of the Seas May 9, Voyager of the Seas 17 May, Adventure of the Seas May 18, Grandeur of the Seas July 27, and Navigator of the Seas November 7 and Navigator of the Seas November 7. 

"Always the port of Livorno, the company has for a role of primary importance - says Lina Mazzucco, general manager of Royal Caribbean Italy. "We were able to significantly increase the scale of the fleet which become 91 against 79 last year. Similarly, increases the flow of passengers, who went from 227,000 in 2010 to over 323,000 in 2011. "

The Cruise Passenger Ratings Survey, by www.cruise.co.uk, has awarded Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas the best service award.  Adventure of the Seas has the distinction of being the only award winner not to sail from the UK.

Adventure of the Seas is a Voyager Class ship built in 2001 and is currently sailing out of San Juan, Puerto Rico before it moves to Malaga, Spain later this year to begin a Mediterranean itinterary.

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.

Adventure of the Seas has made its debut in the Spanish port of Malaga and the city couldn't be happier.  After a series of short cruises out of Barcelona earlier this spring, Adventure of the Seas has moved to Malaga, along with its 3000 passengers, becoming the largest cruise ship in the Mediterranean.  Officials expect about 72,000 passengers to pass through this summer.  

To commemorate the special occasion, a special ceremony was held in port that was attended by representatives of Royal Caribbean in Spain. Emmanuel Joly, the Director of Marketing and Sales of Royal Caribbean in Spain, highlighted the "commitment" of the company with Spain and the south and said "Proof of this is that we are the only shipping company that has a ship in Malaga the size of the Adventure of the Seas to sail and landed more than 3,000 passengers on each output having an important direct benefit to the region. "

Joly also highlighted the fact that the city of Malaga is a city "high prepared for tourism and interesting options that make it an interesting attraction for passengers from the cruise line" and that thanks to "Puerto de Atocha", the agreement signed between Royal Caribbean and Renfe, "is even closer to the center of Spain."

The Adventure of the Seas will be offering seven-night cruises from Malaga during the summer, with stops in Sardinia, Rome, Corsica and Palma De Mallorca.