Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein said in a recent interview that Royal Caribbean's newest megaships, Allure and Oasis of the Seas, are drawing a much younger age group than traditionally seen. 

On an overall basis the average age of an RCI cruiser is 44. ... But on Oasis and Allure, the average age of people booking and taking trips is 39 or 40. We're seeing a much heavier family involvement on these ships. I believe the family vacation experience on these ships is competitive with anything that exists on land.

In addition to younger people going on a cruise, Goldstein was convinced that overseas cruising (outside the United States) is a place of tremendous growth for the company.  In fact, next summer, Royal Caribbean will have 11 of their 22 ships in Europe.

The biggest trend in the cruise industry right now is globalization. That is what's happening. For the first 30 years of the cruise industry as we know it, the American market was very dominant, and although marketing took place in other countries, particularly the U.K., it was limited. For the most part, people had to travel long distances to get on cruise ships and they were mostly occupied by U.S. customers. In the last 10 years, that has started to change in a meaningful way.

Allure of the Seas is almost ready to arrive in the United States at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla and you can catch a glimpse of her as she comes into port.  Allure will be welcomed by a flotilla of fireboats, private watercraft and other maritime escorts.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

• 8:00 am – Allure is visible from the shore line
• 8:30 am – Allure arrives at mouth of inlet (photo opportunity)
• 9:00 am – Berthing at Terminal 18, Port Everglades

WHERE: * John U. Lloyd Beach State Park, 6503 N. Ocean Dr., Dania Beach, FL 33004

If you're in the area, this is a free public welcome event. Jetty Pavilion opens at 7:00 am; Roadside parking for broadcast vehicles.

An even cooler photo opportunity will happen on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 5:30 pm whenAllure of the Seas will be joined by her sister ship Oasis of the Seas for a one-of-a-kind visual of the world's largest ships together for the first time.

Ambius, the world's leading provider of plants for the workplace, is bringing the Central Park neighborhood to life aboard Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas, which shares the title of the world's largest and most revolutionary cruise ship with sister-ship Oasis of the Seas. Central Park is an open-air atrium as long as a football field, offering guests an idyllic environment filled with live plants and trees and flanked by upscale shopping and dining venues. Ambius's award-winning team of landscaping designers, led by Denise Eichmann, were awarded the contract as landscape specialists responsible for organizing and implementing all of the landscaping aboard Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.

Tom Graboski's firm, TGA Design,  is responsible for 40,000 of the new signs found all over Royal Caribbean's latest ship, Allure of the Seas.  Graboski, working from his Coral Gables, Florida office, is no newcomer to cruise ship work.  His firm has worked on 60 ships over the past 30 years and Allure of the Seas is the latest in a long line of work.

Materials for signs can include marble, granite, stainless steel and glass, but the biggest challenge for creating the signs is ensuring they can endure a good cleaning from the ships' cleaners, "Sometimes they do it so well that I have had them literally polish chrome off a chrome-plated sign".

The CleanSea Shipboard Wastewater Treatment System that can be found onboard Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and the soon to ship out, Allure of the Seas, has received certification from Det Norske Veritas (DNV).

This certification follows successful testing of the CleanSea system to verify that the effluent produced by the system meets MEPC 159(55) regulations. These regulations stipulate that the effluent has met or exceeded certain characteristics, verified over a 10 day period. The Headworks Bio CleanSea system produces excellent quality effluent with all parameters under the maximums by 30-90%.

These water systems handle all of the all black water, hotel grey water, laundry grey water, galley grey water, and decanted bioresidue wastewater produced during operation. The system, which is 100% redundant, is rated to handle 3,000 m³/day (790,000 GPD).

Allure of the Seas is primed to make her maiden voyage later this month and the Wärtsilä engines that are installed in Allure of the Seas, are what power Royal Caribbean's newest ship.  In addition, the Wärtsilä engines have common-rail systems, which provide lower fuel consumption and reduced emissions, giving smokeless operation at various engine loads.

The brand new largest cruise ship in the world sports six Wärtsilä 46 engines, including three 12-cylinder and three 16-cylinder Wärtsilä 46 engines in V-configuration, and Wärtsilä 7500-horsepower bow thrusters with a combined power output of some 20 MW that make the vessel easy to maneuver.

Royal Caribbean and Wärtsilä have a history of cooperation going back 40 years and the last ship in Royal Caribbean's line to feature the enginers is Allure of the Seas' sister ship, Oasis of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean took delivery of its newest ship, Allure of the Seas, sister ship to the much touted Oasis of the Seas from the STX Europe shipyard in Turku, Finland.

After nearly two years of construction, STX handed over Allure of the Seas to Royal Caribbean, who will now begin the process of readying Allure of the Seas for her inaugural cruise later this year. Allure is scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on November 11. It's maiden voyage is set for Dec. 1.

Among new offerings on Allure is the first Starbucks at sea, the first GUESS store at sea, a Brazilian churrascaria restaurant, a Mexican cantina and a hot dog stand. The ship also will be the first to feature DreamWorks Animation characters such as Shrek, part of a new partnership between DreamWorks and Royal Caribbean.

Guests cruising aboard Royal Caribbean's new Allure of the Seas will have the opportunity to have their usual morning coffee as Starbucks will launch its first coffee shop at sea. 

“We are always looking for unique ways and places to connect with our customers and deliver the Starbucks Experience,” said Chris Carr, senior vice president and general manager of Starbucks Licensed Stores. “Starbucks presence aboard Allure of the Seas is another place where our customers want and expect us to be.”

Starbucks will serve it's usual line of coffee drinks on the Royal Promenade from 7am to 11pm each day.  The Seattle's Best Coffee will remain on the ship (Seattle's Best Coffee is a subsidary of Starbucks) and be served in the Adagio main dining room, conference rooms and the ship's signature specialty restaurants.

“We are passionate about delivering the WOW,” said Lisa Bauer, senior vice president of Hotel Operations, Royal Caribbean International. “Opening the first ever Starbucks at sea is another example of how Royal Caribbean is delivering distinctive beverage and dining options to our guests and exceeding their expectations. We are offering something that no other cruise brand can.”

Royal Caribbean has announced that country music star Taylor Swift will perform on the Jan. 16 sailing of its soon-to-debut, 5,400-passenger Allure of the Seas.  Taylor Swift will perform in the Aqua Theater, which has a capacity of 735 people.

In addition, Royal Caribbean is giving away 100 cabins for that cruise in a contest it is running with Clear Channel Radio, Big Machine records adn Pop2Life.  Those cabins that are being given away on the cruise also include passes to the Swift concert.

To enter the contest, simply go to http://www.theallureoftaylor.com/

Allure of the Seas is booked to be the set for a few scenes of a new film starring Adam Sandler, Al Pacino and Katie Homles.  When Allure of the Seas arrives in Florida in November, the cast will board the ship to shoot scenes for the film "Jack and Jill".  Filming will take place on the ship from November 12 to 23, during which time final preparations to Allure of the Seas will be underway.

The crew of Allure of the Seas will be in some of the scenes of the movie as extras.

An internal memo invites staff to send a photograph of themselves to the extras casting department, and says: "The movie production is looking for people between 30-60 years of age of all ethnicities, plus kids between the ages of 6-14. They also are looking for couples or pairs that can share staterooms."

Don't worry, the movie shoot will not affect your planned cruise on Allure of the Seas as her maiden voyage wont happen until December 1, 2010.