Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's newest ship, utilizes an extensive network of security networks for both public areas and even some not-so-public regions.  Allure and its sister ship Oasis of the Seas, use more than 300 Oncam IP 360° 5-megapixel cameras. Many of these cameras are positioned in public areas of the ship that have multiple entrances, enabling simultaneous monitoring of all those entrances.

"A well-designed video surveillance system is an important tool for the safety and protection of everyone," said James Ionson, CEO, Oncam Global Inc. "It provides invaluable assistance to security personnel in resolving incidents, such as helping to identify a noise in the engine room, responding to passenger medical emergencies and determining liability issues, for just a few examples. With the right information, they can appropriately react."

The benefit of these cameras is it can do what traditional security cameras could not.  One camera in the ceiling in a hallway with elevators on both sides can be monitored at the same time along with the traffic in the hallway.  One of these Oncam IP 360° cameras replaces four traditional CCTV cameras.

In addition to Oasis and Allure, Royal Caribbean has been retrofitting these new security cameras into the security system of older cruise ships since 2006.

Royal Caribbean is reporting travel agents and consumers in Australia have become more familiar with the Royal Caribbean brand in recent time, but there are still challenges ahead as the cruise line looks to gain an even larger share of the cruise market down under.

Royal Caribbean Cruises managing director, Gavin Smith, said the increased capacity planned over the next 12 months, including the return of Celebrity Cruises and the debut of Radiance of the Seas, will coincide with Royal Caribbean putting on more field sales staff to drive its message home to agents.

Just how far has Royal Caribbean come?  One year ago, there were about 40,000 beds available but today that number is closer to 100,000 beds to sell.

Helping increase the inventory is Radiance of the Seas, which features 50% of its cabins having a balcony, which is important to the Australian cruise market.  Gavin Smith cites that Americans and British cruisers that go to Australia demand the balconies.

Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas rescued six people adrift at sea on a raft during a recent cruise.

Monarch of the Seas was on its way out of the Bahamas when a passenger onboard the ship spotted the raft near Freeport, Bahamas.  The Coast Guard reports that the rescued people on the raft did not appear to have any life-threatening issues.  Officials estimate the group of six was floating for 15 days, but there was no way to know exactly how long.

Investigators said they think the people on the raft are migrants from Cuba. If they are, officials said the group will be sent back to their country.

The Palm Beach Post posted an overview of the newly launched Allure of the Seas and here are some highlights.

Overall, the ship exudes an air of elegance, without being stuffy.

While the suites are lavish as you might expect, the rooms for the mere mortals among us are pretty good, too. Tastefully appointed, they feature the latest technology, including flat-screen TVs and iPod docking stations. They do a remarkable job of maximizing the space with shelves, cabinets and cubbyholes for all your belongings.

Imagine exiting an elevator in the middle of a cruise ship and walking out into the bright sunshine amid thousands of trees and plants, complete with chirping birds and upscale restaurants. It's called Central Park, and, like its New York namesake, it's the perfect place to rest and unwind amid walls of plants five decks high.

According to Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein, Royal Caribbean will begin adding cabins for single cruisers to some of its older ships.

"We are going to be revitalizing our older ships such as Radiance of the Seas and Grandeur of the Seas, and so we will have opportunity to create spaces for single travelers then. It is definitely something that we are looking at.”

For those looking to get a single cabin on a newer ship, such as Allure of the Seas or Oasis of the Seas, you're going to have to keep waiting as Goldstein mentioned these and other newer Royal Caribbean ships will not receive this update.

So why the change? Royal Caribbean is considering adding single cabins because of the increased demand from people who travel alone. Most ships are designed with cabins for 2 or more people; single travelers have to pay a single more if they want to go on a cruise.

During Allure of the Seas' naming ceremony on Sunday, none other than Dreamworks' famed character Princess Fiona (from the Shrek films) was named the godmother.

“It’s never easy choosing the right godmother, but we realized we had the perfect candidate right in front of us. Princess Fiona is not only a Royal, but we felt such a unique ship deserved a unique godmother and Princess Fiona symbolizes the fun and entertainment that is so extraordinary on Allure of the Seas,” said Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO.

The decision to have Fiona be the godmother is another part of the tightly knit deal between Royal Caribbean and Dreamworks to integrate the characters into the ships of the Royal Caribbean fleet.

The naming ceremony also included a bagpipe-and-drums procession, the U.S. national anthem performed by Broadway star MiG Ayesa and a scene from Allure's Blue Planet aerial show. The event culminated with the traditional breaking of a Champagne bottle featuring a label created by pop artist Romero Britto, who has a gallery on the ship. The bottle breaking was activated by a karate chop by Princess Fiona.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein, speaking to Travel Weekly on Allure of the Seas's debut, says that the performance of the United Kingdom market is now a vital factor in the overall success of Royal Caribbean.

“The market must come through for us on these types of initiatives.  It’s not like 25 years ago when we were interested in the UK but in the final analysis the US performance would determine the company’s performance. We are now reliant on the UK to perform overall. When you must perform for the company to perform it’s a very different environment that it just being something nice to talk about."

Royal Caribbean will become the biggest cruise ship operator in Europe in 2011, in terms of the number of beds available.  Royal Caribbean will pass Italian-style Carnival brand Costa Cruises.  Royal Caribbean believes the international nature of its product is unrivalled and it will soon have 50% of guests sourced outside of the core US cruise market from 40 different nationalities.

“Royal Caribbean’s versatility is unmatched in the world of cruising. Anywhere we go with our 22 ships, it’s identifiably a Royal Caribbean experience and only we are able to flex our product so consumers of all nationalities are really pleased by what they are experiencing,” said Goldstein.

The city of Fort Lauderdale, home to Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, is seeing increasingly large growth in terms of the amount of passengers that pass through the city on their way to a cruise and the city is looking to capitalize on the big business.

In just two years, Port Everglades will become the busiest cruise port in the world and city officials want to get as many of those millions of cruise passengers to stay in their city and spend money locally.

To get things going, city officials agreed in principle earlier this week to start a new bus service to take people from cruise ships into Fort Lauderdale before they take their flights home from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.  Routes would run to downtown and the beach.

How big of a number are we talking here?  It's expected to exceed 3.5 million passengers per year once Allure of the Seas starts regular cruises and many more will follow as a result of a recent deal with Carnival cruise line that will bring an additional 25.5 million cruise passengers over the next 15 years.

Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida has extended its deal with Royal Caribbean that allows Universal to sell its customers on an extended vacation option that includes a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Royal Caribbean allows Universal to continue selling land-and-sea vacation packages that combine three or four night stays at a Universal Studios resort with a three or four night Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas.

Dubbed the "Way More than a Cruise" package, the deal is Universal's response to the popular similar offering that Walt Disney World has used with Disney Cruise Line.

Cruise Critic, a world reknown cruise resource site, has announced the winners of its 2010 Editors' Picks Awards winners today and Royal Caribbean took home a few honors.

The annual awards evaluates cruise lines and ships according to the types of passengers to whom they cater. Then they compared, like-for-like, aiming to honor the very best cruise companies and highlight their particular strengths.

Royal Caribbean had the distinction of winning a few of these awards, such as...

• Best for Families – Royal Caribbean
• Best New Ship – Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas
• Best Pool Scene – Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas