Royal Caribbean has entered into an alliance with Kingfisher Airlines to strengthen its presence in India.

The program will allow Royal Caribbean to offer cruise vacation packages through Kingfisher's membership program.  The airline hopes the new partnership will expand its loyalty program by offering its customers more options such as a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Michael Bayley, executive vice president of Royal Caribbean Cruises wants to get the cruise giant more involved in India, "India is a key market for us, and we look forward to expanding our brand presence there and introducing people to the world of cruising".

The deal is the first strategic alliance in the Asia-Pacific theater where Royal Caribbean has ships sailing out of Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Kingfisher Airlines flies to all three of these port cities throughout India and its tour division, Kingfisher Holidays, bundles vacation packages that include both a Royal Caribbean cruise and airfare for the Kingfisher Airlines passengers.

Royal Caribbean will utilize Finland-based Wärtsilä for a five-year maintenance support agreement.  

Wärtsilä, a provider of power systems to the marine industry, will provide its services to Royal Caribbean's fleet of ships including it's subsidiary brands.

The agreement between the two companies calls on Wärtsilä to perform a number of maintenance services including

• fuel consumption optimization
• spare parts logistics optimization
• maintenance planning
• development and testing of engine components
• Advisory service for overhauls an workshop services.

Royal Caribbean announced John Targaglia's Off-Broadway family musical "ImaginOcean" will debut on Freedom of the Seas starting in May 2011.

ImaginOcean will be the fourth Royal Caribbean ship to perform the show, joining Oasis, Allure and Liberty of the Seas.

Tartaglia was excited to bring his show to another Royal Caribbean ship, "ImaginOcean made its debut on Oasis of the Seas where it ran for several months prior to opening at New World Stages in New York in the spring of 2010. Our goal as the producers of this show continues to focus on making this universal family musical accessible to as many people as possible -- on land and at sea -- and we are thrilled to continue our relationship with Royal Caribbean and install our fourth production on Freedom of the Seas next month."

Royal Caribbean has decided to redeploy one of its cruise ships away from Europe.  Navigator of the Seas will head to the Caribbean for the 2011-2012 cruise season and sail out of Port Everglades, Florida.  Navigator will offer various five- to nine-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries beginning on Nov. 20.

Navigator had been scheduled to cruise in the Mediterranean and subsequently canceled a number of of 14-night Mediterranean cruises that had been scheduled between November and April out of Barcelona, Spain.

Before Navigator of the Seas can start its new deployment in the Caribbean, she will embark upon a 14-night trans-Atlantic journey from Rome, Italy to Port Everglades, Florida.

Navigator will return to Europe with an April 14, 2012 cruise that will send it back to Italy.

At the Sicily Travel Expo, Royal Caribbean announced that it will be in Sicily for the first time. In 2011, five vessels will be transitioning to Messina, Sicily which can bring nearly 160,000 passengers.

Palermo will be the first port of call for Grandeur of the Seas May 20, 2011. Mariner of the Seas, in her debut year in the Mediterranean Sea, will touch only once a Palermo October 1. On October 8, it will be Brilliance of the Seas' turn. The cruise season will close the Navigator of the Seas, for the first time in Palermo on October 24.

The Port of Valencia, Spain reached 37% of cruise passengers in 2009, putting it in fifth place in Spain's national ranking, after Barcelona, ​​Palma de Mallorca, Malaga and Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

With the arrival of Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas , the port receives 4,300 passengers and the Valencia Tourism Foundation has made ​​a special welcome, including on tastings of horchata.

The biggest cruise of the berth so far in Valencia, with 339 meters (more than three football fields in length), contains inside all sorts of attractions for passengers, suites, cabins three types, restaurants, swimming pools, pubs, nightclubs, shopping mall, casino and several sporting facilities, mini golf and boxing rings included.

Royal Caribbean won a 2011 RFID Journal Award for Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service.  The award was for Royal Caribbean's use of RFID technology to enable guests to prepay for unlimited soft drinks, and to then serve themselves fountain beverages without having to wait on a service bar line.

Royal Caribbean's RFID readers are built into the soda fountains that have antennas installed in the drip trays. 

Royal Caribbean's director of fleet beverage operations Bob Midyette claims each beverage container has a built-in near-field EPC Gen 2 RFID inlay from Alien Technology.  Back-end software confirms the guest's ID number and allows the fountain to dispense a 16-ounce drink.

"The system allows us to improve service to our guests," Midyette explains, "and enhance sales with something that feels like magic."

Royal Caribbean Associate Vice President & General Manager Jo Rzymowska said that booking trends in the United Kingdom are the slowest in the six years since she joined the company.  Rzymowska believes Britons are waiting longer than usual to book their summer holidays.

Speaking at the launch of a new travel agent training website in London last night, Rzymowska thinks people are just waiting until it's closer to their vacations to book, “This year the booking trends have been the latest in my six years in tenure,” she said. “There are definitely people who haven’t booked their summer holiday yet who are holding out.”

So why the slow down?  Rzymowska believes it's a combination of recent global events and concerns of economic uncertainty.

The good news for Royal Caribbean is that despite the reluctance of some to book, sales for 2011 are still up and Rzymowska thinks the rest of the year will be good as well.

The port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain was graced today with the first visit of Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in Europe.  Liberty has come to the Island from Miami as a stopover before the start of its summer season in the Mediterranean.

A statement released by the Port Authority ensures that the ship is two inches longer than its sister ship, Independence of the Seas, which is 339 feet long and 154,407 gross registered tons, with capacity to 4,375 cruisers.

Liberty of the Seas is served by 1,300 crew, 730 of them dedicated to ensuring safety on board.

The ship, built in Finland in 2007 at a cost of $ 800 million, remain in port until 18:00 pm and depart in the direction of Cadiz to continue to cover a voyage of fourteen days that end in Barcelona, ​​home port of their routes for the Mediterranean. 

Royal Caribbean is launching a new honeymoon registry so that friends and family can purchase gifts for a newly wed couple on their cruise honeymoon vacation.

Some of the options available include paying for dinner at a specialty restaurant onboard their ship, a couple's massage, purchasing an excursion, or just helping pay for the cost of the cruise.

The new honeymoon registry can be reached at http://www.RoyalCaribbeanHoneymoon.com