After growing 20% annually over the past ten years and reaching a level of 800,000 tourists per year, the pace of cruise expansion in Brazil is expected to encounter a sharp slowdown in the 2011-2012 season.

The estimated expansion in the supply of beds is only 1.6%. The main reason is the infrastructure deficiencies in Brazilian ports, which have no more room for receiving large ships. Given this scenario, the will mark the  first time a cruise season will have fewer vessels than the last.

Industry executives say that the trend, if the port infrastructure remains the same, the industry is to rearrange its size, because it may have grown more than the capacity of ports includes . 'The sector's growth will curb. There is no investment in ports. The system is at the limit, "says the president of the Association of Marine Cruises (open), Ricardo Amaral, also director-general of the Royal Caribbean in Brazil.

On Wednesday morning, representatives from Royal Caribbean met with officials from the Brazilian state of Alagoas to discuss a possible cruise terminal in the state capital.

The visit aimed to examine the possibility of sending Royal Caribbean ships to Alagoas, and consider the application of investment for building a passenger terminal.

According to Danielle Novis, Secretary of State for Tourism, Royal Caribbean does work with the authorities, public and private, to promote the port infrastructure for the development of tourism in several states.

Also according to Danielle Novis, other visits will be scheduled. "Royal Caribbean is one of the largest cruise ship in the world, Brazil has two operating cruises in the Northeast and only Savior receives this demand. Our goal is to create a route to enter and exit through the Northeast, so we will continue growing the state, "says Danielle.

In August, representatives from Royal Caribbean and the Secretaries of Tourism will hold a tour of the Northeast at all ports of the region to expand the route of the cruise company's northeastern coast.

During the visit, were present: Secretary of State for Tourism, Danielle Novis, Municipal Tourism Secretary of Maceio, Cláudia Pessoa, superintendent of Investment Setur-AL, Mark Pradines, representatives from the Port of Miami, Domitius Silva and Roberto Leoni, and director and product manager of port operations for Royal Caribbean, Diego Dantas and vice president of Royal Caribbean, John Tercek.

Royal Caribbean continues its project of promoting social lunches for organizations located in ports where its ships make stops, this time in Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

About 70 senior citizens attended with social worker Sister Dulce.  They came aboard Vision of the Seas in El Salvador and were excited to board the ship for the first time. In Rio de Janeiro, almost 60 children from the NGO Viva Cazuza and Child Health also had lunch on the ship.

This program of social outreach started in December and continues today, "The action represents a way found by the company to contribute to the work done by these entities and offer a chance, unknown to many, to meet a ship and live an unforgettable holiday experience," says the CEO of Royal Caribbean in Brazil, Ricardo Amaral.

The The Brazilian Association of Representatives of shipping companies (of which Royal Caribbean is a member) estimates that the six destinations of the state of Rio in Brazil that are scheduled to receive ships (Rio de Janeiro, Buzios, Angra dos Reis, Jaguanum Island, Big Island and Cabo Frio) will receive a total of almost 1.210 million of visits in the 2010/2011 season, which begins in Brazil in October.

Royal Caribbean announced that during the next tourist season, several of its ships will make stops between Montevideo and Punta del Este in Uruguay. The announcement was made this past week by Michael Ronan, Royal Caribbean's Vice President of Government Relations, Caribbean, Latin America & Asia, in a meeting with national authorities that included President of the PNA Engineer Alberto Díaz, Vice-President Juan José Domínguez, Fernando Repremar Penalty SA, Uruguay agents of Royal Caribbean Cruises, Mr. Osvaldo Tabacchi ANP general manager, Captain Daniel De Leon, Luis Fontes Head of the Port of Colonia, Schubert Arq Gonzalo Mendez and Baranda.

Mr. Ronan spoke to the National Port Administration where he highlighted the main objectives of his trip, which were to exchange ideas about adapting the existing port infrastructure to the needs of tourism enterprises.  But he also warned of the need for new infrastructure to provide adequate comfort facilities for hosting thousands of travelers in each of these huge cruise ships. 

Also at this meeting Michael Ronan announced that this upcoming cruise season will feature fourteen stops in the port of Montevideo and Punta del Este. The first cruise which will visit Uruguay this season is the Splendour of the Seas, due to arrive in Montevideo on Dec. 23 at 9:00 in the morning.

The Brazilian Cruise Associaton has announced that the port of Rio de Janeiro is expected to welcome almost 500,000 cruisers for the 2010-2011 season, which begins in October. About 17 ships will make a stop in Rio and according to the Brazilian Cruise Association, 479 000 cruisers will disembark in Rio de Janeiro. This number represents a 7% increase compared to the quota registered last season.

Along with many other cruise lines, Royal Caribbean will have two of it's ships visiting Rio.  These ships include Mariner of the Seas and Vision of the Seas.

The Brazilian season of 2010/2011 Cruise will have 20 ships, two more than in 2009/2010, which will sail along the coast of Brazil until May 2011. In 2008/2009, Rio de Janeiro received 112 cruises, which took almost 270 000 cruisers, and in the 2009/2010 season were 448,000 tourists on 193 routes.