Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas will homeport in Messina this summer and the mayor officially welcomed the new ship.  At a ceremony this morning, Messina Mayor Giuseppe Buzzanca celebrated the occasion along with the Commissioner of the Port Authority, Dario Lo Bosco, and the Director General of Royal Caribbean Cruises John Rotondo.

The choice by Royal Caribbean of Messina confirmed the strengthening of the commitment on the peninsula and the eye towards the markets of southern Italy, allowing Royal Caribbean to serve 14 ports in Italy.

Navigator of the Seas will visit Messina each week for 27 times between May and October, transporting 84,000 passengers during its  7-night itineraries in the Eastern Mediterranean

Royal Caribbean is getting ready to kick off the summer season in Italy. Among these there are two Voyager Class ships including Navigator of the Seas and Mariner of the Seas. 

Navigator of the Seas will offer cruises of 7 nights between May and October from Civitavecchia and the new home port of Messina. Mariner of the Seas will offer cruises from June to September, with a new route of 7 nights in the Western Mediterranean from Genoa and Civitavecchia, from May to October, 12-night cruises to the Holy Land from Civitavecchia.

Another novelty of the season will be cruises of 6, 7 and 8 nights from Venice and the new home of the re-port of Bari with Spendour of the Seas, which completed a dry-dock refit in November 2011, and is ready to return to Italy with some of the most exclusive of the upgrades including more technology, more rooms with balcony, new restaurants and entertainment options. 

Fans of Italian television cooking star Alessandro Borghese will have the perfect Royal Caribbean cruise for them in May 2012.  Aboard Navigator of the Seas, Borghese will host a cruise that sails out of Civitavecchia on May 7, 2012 and will visit Messina, Kusadasi (Turkey), Athens (Greece) and Chania (Greece).

The cruise will feature cooking classes, cooking tips and cooking shows for those aboard.

After debuting in Italy earlier this year, Mariner of the Seas will return to Italy in the summer of 2012.

From June to September of next year, Royal Caribbean will offer will offer a new itinerary of 7 nights in the Western Mediterranean. The cruise, leaving from Civitavecchia and Genoa will include stops in the Mare Nostrum in Cannes, Barcelona, ​​Palma de Mallorca and Valencia.

On September 9, there will be a stop in Provence Ajaccio, Corsica. 

Voyager of the Seas made her last stop in Bari, Italy this season before she heads west to Caribbean.  In 2012, however, Bari will become the new port of embarkation for Royal Caribbean, according to Royal Caribbean Italy's General Manager John Rotondo.

"To confirm the growing interest in Royal Caribbean towards the Italian market and the role very strategic city of Bari, it has been announced that next year Bari will become the port of embarkation for ships of the group, with significant benefits for tourism in the city, natural gateway to discover the beauty and culture of Puglia. "

Voyager of the Seas' Adriatic cruise season has come to a close after her stop in Ravenna, Italy. Voyager of the Seas has wrapped up its inaugural season in the region, after debuting in the city of Ravenna back on May 30, culminating in 20 stops to Ravenna from May to October, for a total of nearly 77,000 passengers.

For the winter season, Voyager of the Seas will move back  to the Caribbean from November to March 2012, where she will do 7-night itineraries.

Royal Caribbean will also debut another ship in 2012, Serenade of the Seas between May to October 2012 and will stop in Ravenna five times during her  12-night itineraries in Spain, Italy and Croatia.

Royal Caribbean is betting on the Mediterranean by announcing that they plan on expanding their presence in the region.  Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein on a trip to Milan, Italy talked about the cruise line's plans,  "In 2012 we will double our presence in Italy, France and Spain. The economic crisis is certainly not hurting our industry, but the margins for growth in the Mediterranean are still sensitive and so we want to be players to play this game. "

Just to support the development plans, Royal Caribbean is upgrading its fleet. Two new ships are scheduled to start operation in the coming years, being built in German shipyards instead of the Italian Fincantieri Meyer Wert shipyards. Goldstein, however, ultimately did not not close the door to future ships being built in Italy, "We know the value and experience of Fincantieri .  So, as we say, we are 'open minded' and will reevaluate when the opportunity for new orders we will certainly take into account also the opportunities that may come from Italy. "

What seemed like a gamble, when Royal Caribbean ordered and built two ships 220 thousand gross tons, but has been a success. "But this is our strategy," Goldstein says "The customer has any kind of offer to choose independently. So it is the same with ships, with a range of very different size."

Royal Caribbean Italy is planning on rolling out a new program that packages flights with their cruises, which will be called "Flight + Cruise" for the 2012-2013 cruise season.

Roberto Pirrera, marketing manager for Royal Caribbean Italy explained the new program, "In addition to new promotions and strengthening assistance in Italian, we propose, for the first time, cruise packages that include flights and which will enable us to meet the growing demand for this type of formula. "

Royal Caribbean also promises promotions and offers for families, those over 55 and married. A separate chapter is devoted to the Royal services, in particular Italian and assistance to the Crown & Anchor customer loyalty program which rewards loyal customers with discounts and exclusive services.

Royal Caribbean has launched two new marketing campaigns in Europe.  

In France, Royal Caribbean has published brochures advertising cruise departures from France.  Royal Caribbean released two new brochures "Cruise in Europe 2012" and "International Cruises 2012".  Available at all the tourism partners or on request, they include for the first time cruises from three French ports (Marseille, Toulon and Le Havre). 

In Italy, starting September 18, Royal Caribbean's new TV campaign will start,  "A vacation or a cruise any Royal?" planned for the TV networks of Mec La7 and the main Sky channels and Discovery.

It 'the first time that Royal Caribbean plans to run a TV campaign during the fall.

"After a successful summer campaign, back on TV in order to consolidate our brand awarenss has been increasing steadily, and push not only the next departures of winter, but summer 2012, the company will open the banner of novelties, with the opening of the home port of Bari and Messina, in addition to strengthening those of Genoa, Venice and Civitavecchia - Pirrera" says Roberto, marketing manager for Royal Caribbean Italy, "The campaign gives a nod to the typical customer of Royal Caribbean, the so-called active Socializer, or a person aged between 25 and 55 years of age, attentive to new, living life in an active and loves to socialize with people from other nationalities. "

With a market share in Italy of 7%, Royal Caribbean is still looking to grow thanks to the numerous initiatives planned. The company has just appointed a new general manager for Italy, John Rotondo.

Rotondo, who replaces Lina Mazzucco, intends to continue the development already started by his predecessor. "The size of the group in Italy are not comparable to those of other big names. Therefore the objective is to grow, however, carving out a different role. "

Among the strengths of the group, which includes the three brands Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises Club, surely the product. "To develop the Italian market is appropriate to increase the ports of embarkation. This is why we launched in 2011 with Genoa seven starts. In 2012 the departures from Genoa, and also propose to double Messina and Bari, without losing sight of the new routes and the desire to score. "

In 2013, Royal Caribbean will leave from Naples too, to balance the best value for the ports / routes.