MSNBC posted a column lamenting the decline in the amount of food that is included on cruise ships these days and used Royal Caribbean as an example. Citing the increasing cost of specialty restaurants, author Sean O'Neill pointed out how cruise lines like Royal Caribbean are emphasizing more and more the specialty restaurants that cost extra.

The large part of O'Neill's point was centered around Rita's Cantina and the Seafood Shack, found on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas (among other ships not mentioned). 

Passengers used to pay $8 for meals at Rita's Cantina, for instance. They'll now pay a fee of $3 to dine at the restaurant and then pay a price for each item ordered a la carte, too. The 15 percent gratuity isn't included either. 

O'Neill feels that neither Rita's nor the Seafood Shack constitute "premium restaurants" and the quality of the food is low enough that it ought to be included in the price of the cruise.  Adding insult to injury, O'Neill points out that the prices have gone up too with Royal Caribbean's recent decision to charge a restaurant fee and an a la carte charge.

What really concerns O'Neill is the path he thinks the cruise lines are going down of serving worse and worse food in the main dining rooms so that guests will feel more inclined to pay extra for the good food.

Yet the danger here is that all cruise lines will begin to serve sub-standard food in their main dining rooms. After all, by making the dining hall experience less attractive, a company can make more money by upselling customers on fee-based meals elsewhere on-board.

O'Neill was sure to point out that this trend isn't limited to Royal Caribbean, he was simply using it as an example of a trend happening all over the cruise industry.

According to a Wikileaks message released by the site, the Bahamas government attempted to convince Royal Caribbean to build a cruise port on the island of Great Inagua, exploiting that island's 50,000 pink flamingos.

The message from February 23, 2004 indicates former Bahemian Prime Minister Perry Christie met with United States Ambassador Robert Witajewski and discussed the plans.  Christie was hoping Inagua's flamingo population would give the island a competitive advantage in attracting cruise ship passengers.

Witajewski's report to Washington also mentioned, "The Prime Minister also revealed that he was in negotiations to conclude an agreement with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line to build a deep water port at Great Inagua".

The report continued, "Though the island is currently barren, it is home to more than 50,000 pink flamingos, a huge Morton Salt plant and at least one nice beach. He was hoping that the flamingo national park would provide cruise ship passengers with an interesting diversion to the normal Caribbean port of call.

"Christie took on board charge's suggestion that costs of constructing a base on Great Inagua could effectively be reduced if any Royal Caribbean construction were to be made part of the Government of the Bahamas' plans."

That refers to plans also unveiled by Prime Minister Christie to construct a strategic Defence Force base at Inagua, in an attempt to combat drug and illegal immigrant trafficking, plus fisheries poaching.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain spoke with CruiseMates about the company's decision to move more of its ships to Australia and the reasons for the change.  

In 2012, 2 Royal Caribbean ships (Rhapsody of the Seas, Radiance of the Seas) and 2 Celebrity ships will call upon Australia for a number of cruises.

Asked about the potential for over-saturing the Australian cruise market, Fain seemed confident that Royal Caribbean could easily adjust, "Keep in mind the flexibility of our product. If something does not work out we can always change our plans and put our ships somewhere else."

Asked if Royal Caribbean considers what other competitors are doing or if the decision to move ships to an area is based purely on Royal Caribbean, Fain responded, "We really just look at our own brand."

A large group of senior policymakers from Liguria and Genoa, with the Mayor Marta Vincenzi, Claudio Burlando, President of the Region and President of the Port Louis Merlo, welcomed with great enthusiasm the first stop in Genoa of Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas.  Mariner of the Seas will make seven stops during this summer, while 14 are expected in 2012, for a total of 60,000 passengers.

In addition, as announced by Lina Mazzucco, general manager Royal Caribbean in Italy, "the company could become a shareholder of the passenger terminal of the Maritime Station, saw the new commitment of the port of Genoa."

At the first port of Genoa, Mariner of the Seas was also the scene of an opportunity to present the Royal Caribbean's partnership with the Telethon Foundation, a group that conducts research on genetic diseases.  Along with the testimonial of the initiative in Genoa - Olympic gold medalists Valentina Vezzali, Juri Chechi, Antonio Rossi. Royal Caribbean's Director of cruises in Italy, Lina  Mazzucco has provided details of the collaboration, which will be held with regular donations by Royal Caribbean, charity dinner on board ships arriving in Italy, and hospitality on board for the regular meetings of researchers from the Foundation.

Royal Caribbean's associate vice president and general manager of Royal Caribbean in UK and Ireland Jo Rzymowska spoke at the Association of Women Travel Executive’s  Sunset Cruise and she emphasized the importance of diversity in the workplace.

When Rzymowska says diversity, she's talking about age, gender and experience diversity as the key tools to make a business successful and not gender quotas for the board.

“I feel strongly that women should earn their way onto the board, rather than through quotas. It’s not about how many women or men there are but about the diversity of the team.Too much of one thing isn’t good for you. Diversity of team, age, experience and new blood – that’s what makes a business.”

“There are lots of women in senior roles in cruise. Being a woman hasn’t hindered or helped me. Age and gender don’t matter. It depends how valuable you are to the company you work for.”

Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas will sail out of Xiamen, China as its homeport for the first time with its maiden voyage on Oct 19, 2011.  The cruise will feature five days and four nights itineraries.

Xiamen will become the fourth Chinese city Royal Caribbean has chosen to be a homeport once it conducts its cruises in October.  For its first cruise, Legend of the Seas will visit Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Royal Caribbean will continue to serve China with regular service in 2012 and will also add Voyager of the Seas to the mix as well later in the year.

A list of speakers for the TTA Worldchoice conference has been announced, which will take place at PortAventura from September 23-25.

Among the list of speakers, Royal Caribbean's associate vice-president and general manager UK & Ireland, Jo Rzymowska, will be part of the conference as a speaker.

Simon Hargreaves, managing director of TTA Worldchoice said: "We have a robust agenda with a number of excellent speakers both from within the trade and outside.

"The agenda has been designed to ensure that those attending get as much practical and tangible output as possible, and I am confident that they will leave PortAventura feeling inspired to use new marketing techniques to reach new customers, whilst building even stronger relationships with existing ones."

About 9,000 Romanians will travel this year on cruise ships worldwide, up significantly from a year earlier, when they were about 8,000 tourists. This translates to an estimated spending spree on cruises of over 8 million euros, versus 6.5 million last year, "said Nicholas Demetriade, World Travel travel agency owner.

According to Nicholas Demetriade, World Travel travel agency owner, the increase is due to large cruise ships that Royal Caribeann introduced to destinations in Europe, and the launch of he world's largest ship, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, with a capacity of 5400 passengers and 3,000 crew members.

On two vessels, launched two years ago, last year during ​​more than 100 Romanian holidays, Romains spent an average of 1000-1200 euros. Those in charge of cruise tourism say this has always been on an upward trend, not only in Romania but throughout the world. The proof is the large number of ships launched every year, becoming larger and with more features. John Base, croaziere.net company owner, said the most expensive holiday sold last year was a combination of three cruises to the torque, which lasted two months and cost 60,000 euros. 

If you've been cruising for a little bit of time, you probably remember a time when during the safety drills having to wear your lifejackets on your way to your station.  But Royal Caribbean has done away with the life jackets after confirming with the United States Coast Guard that a demonstration of how to use a lifejacket is all that's needed and actually wearing a life jacket is up to the cruise line.

Royal Caribbean's director of Maritime Safety & Compliance Christiaan Van Raalten discusses the change, “We started with the idea that if guests can proceed directly to their assembly stations without having to go back to their cabins to collect their lifejackets, it would greatly reduce congestion and help guests reach their assembly station much quicker.  We also were able to decrease the amount of time it takes to conduct a muster-drill".

Once Royal Caribbean stopped forcing guests to wear the lifejackets to the must-drills, other cruise lines including Celebrity, Carnival, Holland America and Norwegian followed along.

Bermuda’s Brazilian Football School and Bermuda’s Sports Management Group have formed a partnership called Soccer@Sea thanks to an agreement with Royal Caribbean.  The Soccer@Sea group board Royal Caribbean ships where they train to better their soccer skills as well as play local teams 5-a-side games and beach soccer tournaments.

Soccer@Sea founders Steve & Karen Everitt are excited for the group to begin, “We will be bringing teams of soccer players to Bermuda on Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships to play local teams. This will give all the kids a taste of international soccer. Also with us will be international soccer coaches giving Bermuda’s local players the opportunity to meet and talk with them about soccer in other parts of the world".