Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas, which arrives on December 9 on the Brazilian coast, will have two routes in the northeast of Brazil. The new destination of choice is the city of Maceio.

With seven-night and out of Santos, the Splendour of the Seas will make stops in Salvador and in the capital Alagona. There is also an itinerary for seven or eight nights, with stops in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Punta del Este, and also mini-cruises of three, four and five nights, with esclas Buzios, Ilhabela, Porto Belo, Ilha Grande and Cabo Frio.

During the season in Brazil, Splendour of the Seas will conduct a total of 21 cruises.

Royal Caribbean and Port Canaveral reached an agreement that will keep Freedom of the Seas sailing out of Brevard County, Florida through 2015.

The deal was approved by the Canaveral Port Authority board unanimously.  The deal's specifics say Royal Caribbean will keep Freedom of the Seas, or another ship that size or larger, in the port through the end of 2015.

Freedom of the Seas was once the largest cruise ship in the world and remains in the top five, sailing out of Port Canaveral, Florida with 7-night sailings throughout the year to the Eastern and Western Caribbean.  

J. Stanley Payne, Canaveral Port Authority Chief Executive Officer, is happy the deal got done, "It has been a big day for us.  I think that's a vote of confidence for the port."

Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas will go into dry dock in November as the next the target of a near fleet-wide revitalization at the shipyards in Setúbal, Portugal.  The news comes from Royal Caribbean director Francisco Teixeira.

Work on Splendour of the Seas will take 20 days and fall under the fleet modernization plan that the company has launched this year.

The improvements in the fleet are designed to introduce some of the improvements that were developed for the Oasis and Allure of the Seas.

Work on the Splendour of the Seas will be include

• integrating a hundred cabins with balcony
• upgrade all remaining cabins
• renovation of the pool deck with the integration of a screen giant projection of films
• the introduction of the Park Café in the Solarium area
• addition of new restaurants such as, Izumi of The Hot Dog House
• Addition of the Royal Babies and Tots Nursery for the little ones
• Diamond Club and Club Concierge

After leaving the Portuguese shipyards, Splendour of the Seas will head to Brazil to go back into service.
 

Today in Milan, Royal Caribbean's CEO Adam Goldstein met with the Chairman of Dulbecco Telethon Institute, Luca Cordero Di Montezemolo, to support DTI's work in researching cures for genetic diseases.  Royal Caribbean donated 70,000 euros to DTI at the ceremony.

"Our commitment in Italy wants to be global," said Goldstein, "And this means also investing in social responsibility. Meet with President Montezemolo was a time of sharing of common visions, in the common desire to continue to work together. " 

The willingness to invest in social responsibility and the presence of Adam Goldstein in Italy confirmed that Royal Caribbean's attention turns to the Italian market, along with France and Spain, in 2012 will be the focus of the European strategy with more ships, new ports of embarkation and investments in communication.

The growth in Italy Royal Caribbean's stated clearly in the numbers: in 2006 there were 4 ships were calling at Italian ports but in 2012, there will be 11, with the number of passengers more than tripled.

Recently there was a dispute between the local vendors on Royal Caribbean's private island of CocoCay and the cruise line after Royal Caribbean announced plans to open a store on the island that would sell Royal Caribbean goods.

It now seems the locals are okay with the plan after the store opened and the only merchandise being sold is branded Royal Caribbean gifts.  

Our friends at Cruise Radio submitted this on-location report confirming that the locals have come to terms with Royal Caribbean's decision.

Officials from the New Mangalore Port Trust say Royal Caribbean is likely to send 13 cruise ships to its port in one year.

Traffic Manager for the New Mangalore Port Trust, S. Gopalakrishna, claimed that Royal Caribbean sent a team to the city to visit the port on Tuesday.  While at the port, Royal Caribbean also held discussions with the Chairman of the New Mangalore Port Trust, Mr P. Tamilvanan.

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.

Investment Firm Raymond James surveyed travel agents to gauge cruise interest and European cruises look the weakest, which is bad news for Royal Caribbean.

In a note today, Raymond James said that Europe is likely to continue underperforming through the end of the year compared to other regions.  Contributing to the weakness is the dollar's relative weakness to the euro as well as higher air fares, all of which has resulted in much less demand by consumers in the United States to take a cruise to Europe.  Cruise passengers frequently have to take planes to connect with ships and to return home. European cruises tend to be more expensive than those in other areas.

In addition, recent political unrest was also cited by a few travel agents as another reason for less demand in cruising.

Raymond James is skeptical about cruise demand rebounding in the Mediterranean region until the end of the year. And consumers' economic anxiety is holding down cruise demand.

With the busy fall and winter cruise seasons approaching, Miami, Florida is typically a hub of cruise line activity but this year Royal Caribbean's global plans have left Miami with less ships than it's used to.

Royal Caribbean has 11 ships in Europe this summer but only two will be sailing out of South Florida this winter and both are in Port Everglades.  Instead of mooring in Miami, Royal Caribbean is basing them out of pots such as Baltimore, Port Canaveral, Tampa, San Juan, Dubai and Brazil. And Royal Caribbean’s two ships based in Alaska during the summer are going to Australia for the winter, not Miami.

So what's left in Miami this winter?  Just one ship will be sailing out Miami and that's Majesty of the Seas, which is offering three- and four-night cruises to the Bahamas.