Cheers magazine has awarded Royal Caribbean the "Best Chain Hotel Beverage Program" award in its 2011 Cheers Beverage Excellence Awards.

Cheers magazine is the only beverage business publication devoted to full-service restaurants, bars and hotels. The awards will be presented to the winners at the annual Cheers Beverage Conference, held on January 25-26, 2011 at the Marriott Hotel in New Orleans.

The awards program is open to all chain restaurants. A chain is defined as an operation with five or more locations in two or more markets. The chain must be in existence for at least three years. The criteria for these awards are a particular program's creativity, originality and impact on the sales and profitability of a full-service restaurant operation. Other factors considered are the level of marketing support, staff training and overall operator commitment to the initiative that lead to its success. Entries were evaluated by a judging panel that includes previous Beverage Excellence Award winners and Cheers staff.

Tom Graboski's firm, TGA Design,  is responsible for 40,000 of the new signs found all over Royal Caribbean's latest ship, Allure of the Seas.  Graboski, working from his Coral Gables, Florida office, is no newcomer to cruise ship work.  His firm has worked on 60 ships over the past 30 years and Allure of the Seas is the latest in a long line of work.

Materials for signs can include marble, granite, stainless steel and glass, but the biggest challenge for creating the signs is ensuring they can endure a good cleaning from the ships' cleaners, "Sometimes they do it so well that I have had them literally polish chrome off a chrome-plated sign".

Information Week recently profiled Royal Caribbean's CIO Bill Martin.  Here are some highlights from the run down.

Top Initiatives: 

• Allure of the Seas: Delivery of the newest ship in the our international fleet and sister ship to Oasis of the Seas. Allure is our fifth ship to utilize a fully converged IP network that delivers in-stateroom entertainment and Wi-Fi throughout the vessel. It also uses VoIP for a wide range of wireless applications.
• Celebrity Eclipse: Delivery of the newest ship in the Celebrity Cruises fleet and the third Solstice-class ship. The Solstice class also features a fully converged network.

The next big thing for my industry will be ... consumer-facing technology. Our Oasis class of ships had a dramatic impact on how we could leverage technology to improve the guest experience with back-of-the-house automation. Further development of BI also will be big.

CNN interviewed Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein to talk about where Royal Caribbean is right now and its future.  Topics of the interview included the state of the cruise industry, the arrival of the Allure of the Seas and an unusual debate over which really is the largest cruise ship.  Here are some highlights of the interview from Adam.

There will always be some percentage of the business that comes in the form of discount. It's the nature of the business that there will be some of that, but I think it's fair to say that while there still are attractive offers and discounts available on the marketplace today, they're not as broad or as deep as what we were doing in the midst of the recession or in the deepest part of the recession.

Goldstein on adding Starbucks to other ships in the fleet: We need to see what happens here because this is a test case.  We're focused on Allure of the Seas and then if it is a big success we'll look at other possibilities.

Goldstein on adding ships larger than Allure: In the near term, no. We don't have any current plans to go beyond Oasis class. In fact, we've said that we're not currently thinking of adding to Oasis class.

The CleanSea Shipboard Wastewater Treatment System that can be found onboard Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and the soon to ship out, Allure of the Seas, has received certification from Det Norske Veritas (DNV).

This certification follows successful testing of the CleanSea system to verify that the effluent produced by the system meets MEPC 159(55) regulations. These regulations stipulate that the effluent has met or exceeded certain characteristics, verified over a 10 day period. The Headworks Bio CleanSea system produces excellent quality effluent with all parameters under the maximums by 30-90%.

These water systems handle all of the all black water, hotel grey water, laundry grey water, galley grey water, and decanted bioresidue wastewater produced during operation. The system, which is 100% redundant, is rated to handle 3,000 m³/day (790,000 GPD).

Jamil Murni, from Houston, Texas has been sentenced to four years in jail for defrauding Royal Caribbean.  Murnii was a fuel buyer for Royal Caribbean who concocted a scheme to defraud the cruise line of more than $600,000, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

Murni created a fake fuel purchasing company called "Sea Fuels Trading" and applied to have it become a fuel provider for Royal Caribbean. He then used his position with the cruise line to secure contracts with his company.  He then purchased fuel from competitors and sold it back to Royal Caribbean for a higher price.

As part of his punishment, Murni will have to pay back $610,228 in restitution to Royal Caribbean.

Two Royal Caribbean passengers were arrested last week by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers for allegedly smuggling heroin in a bag of shoes.

When Serenade of the Seas arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico, custom officers seized 3.5 kilograms of cocaine and 6.48 kilograms of heroin in two unrelated incidents.  Officials nabbed Diana Hortencia Latigua-Lorenzo, 32, a U.S. citizen, and her brother, Breidy Latigua-Lorenzo, 20, a citizen of the Dominican Republic.

The estimated street value of the heroin is $324,000 and the estimated value of the seized cocaine is $84,000.

Royal Caribbean took delivery of its newest ship, Allure of the Seas, sister ship to the much touted Oasis of the Seas from the STX Europe shipyard in Turku, Finland.

After nearly two years of construction, STX handed over Allure of the Seas to Royal Caribbean, who will now begin the process of readying Allure of the Seas for her inaugural cruise later this year. Allure is scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on November 11. It's maiden voyage is set for Dec. 1.

Among new offerings on Allure is the first Starbucks at sea, the first GUESS store at sea, a Brazilian churrascaria restaurant, a Mexican cantina and a hot dog stand. The ship also will be the first to feature DreamWorks Animation characters such as Shrek, part of a new partnership between DreamWorks and Royal Caribbean.

Guests cruising aboard Royal Caribbean's new Allure of the Seas will have the opportunity to have their usual morning coffee as Starbucks will launch its first coffee shop at sea. 

“We are always looking for unique ways and places to connect with our customers and deliver the Starbucks Experience,” said Chris Carr, senior vice president and general manager of Starbucks Licensed Stores. “Starbucks presence aboard Allure of the Seas is another place where our customers want and expect us to be.”

Starbucks will serve it's usual line of coffee drinks on the Royal Promenade from 7am to 11pm each day.  The Seattle's Best Coffee will remain on the ship (Seattle's Best Coffee is a subsidary of Starbucks) and be served in the Adagio main dining room, conference rooms and the ship's signature specialty restaurants.

“We are passionate about delivering the WOW,” said Lisa Bauer, senior vice president of Hotel Operations, Royal Caribbean International. “Opening the first ever Starbucks at sea is another example of how Royal Caribbean is delivering distinctive beverage and dining options to our guests and exceeding their expectations. We are offering something that no other cruise brand can.”

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., one of Haiti's largest foreign investors for almost 30 years, today announced the completion of the L'Ecole Nouvelle Royal Caribbean – one of the first schools to be built in Haiti after the earthquake.  The strategically located 6,500 square foot school complex is in northern Haiti near nine towns and villages: Labadie, Cormier, Ducroix, Fort Bourgeois, Marchegalles, Cimetiere-Juif, Champ de Mars, Port Francais and Cap Haitien.  The campus consists of six buildings, with 12 classrooms, administrative offices, a computer lab and bathrooms. The school will provide children from the area an education, including classes in English and environmental stewardship. In the evenings adults will attend vocational training.