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Splendour of the Seas to enter dry dock next week for upgrades

In:
26 Oct 2011

Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas is the next ship in its fleet to receive a "Revitalization" upgrade.  Splendour will begin a five-week upgrade process when she docks at the Navantia ship yard in Cadiz, Spain where $35 million in changes will occur.

Splendour of the Seas will receive

  • New dining venues
    • Chops Grille
    • Izumi
    • the Boardwalk Dog House
    • Chef's Table
    • Park Café
  • Royal Babies and Tots Nursery
  • Diamond lounge for Crown and Anchor guests
  • Concierge lounge for suite guests
  • Technology upgrades throughout the ship
  • 123 new balconies
  • Stateroom flat planel television upgrades
  • Ship-wide WiFi access
  • Digitial wayfinder system
  • Electronic mustering
  • Outdoor movie sceen

Splendour of the Seas will wrap up her upgrades on November 25, when she will sail to Brazil to her seasonal homeport of Sao Paulo.

Oasis of the Seas is voted best cruise ship for the Travel and Tourism

In:
21 Oct 2011

Royal Caribbean is celebrating again and this time double dose. In the voting of the 2011 Best of Travel and Tourism, the Oasis of the Seas was voted by readers of the magazine as the best cruise ship.

Besides the choice of Oasis of the Seas, Royal Caribbean also received the award given to the Splendour of the Seas, the Top of Mind award, which means recognition for a large number of awards received by the ship.

"We are very proud of the result," celebrates Ricardo Amaral, director of Royal Caribbean to Brazil, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Oasis of the Seas, opened in 2009 was voted by readers who have traveled this year and could check the structure offered by the ship. Already Splendour of the Seas received the Top of Mind award after being voted the best cruise ship for six times.  

Splendour of the Seas will make stops in Maceio, Brazil

In:
26 Sep 2011

Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas, which arrives on December 9 on the Brazilian coast, will have two routes in the northeast of Brazil. The new destination of choice is the city of Maceio.

With seven-night and out of Santos, the Splendour of the Seas will make stops in Salvador and in the capital Alagona. There is also an itinerary for seven or eight nights, with stops in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Punta del Este, and also mini-cruises of three, four and five nights, with esclas Buzios, Ilhabela, Porto Belo, Ilha Grande and Cabo Frio.

During the season in Brazil, Splendour of the Seas will conduct a total of 21 cruises.

Splendour of the Seas will have its revitalization work done in Portugal

In:
20 Sep 2011

Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas will go into dry dock in November as the next the target of a near fleet-wide revitalization at the shipyards in Setúbal, Portugal.  The news comes from Royal Caribbean director Francisco Teixeira.

Work on Splendour of the Seas will take 20 days and fall under the fleet modernization plan that the company has launched this year.

The improvements in the fleet are designed to introduce some of the improvements that were developed for the Oasis and Allure of the Seas.

Work on the Splendour of the Seas will be include

  • integrating a hundred cabins with balcony
  • upgrade all remaining cabins
  • renovation of the pool deck with the integration of a screen giant projection of films
  • the introduction of the Park Café in the Solarium area
  • addition of new restaurants such as, Izumi of The Hot Dog House
  • Addition of the Royal Babies and Tots Nursery for the little ones
  • Diamond Club and Club Concierge

After leaving the Portuguese shipyards, Splendour of the Seas will head to Brazil to go back into service.
 

Ship building firm Navantia to work on Splendour of the Seas upgrades

In:
02 Sep 2011

Spanish ship building company Navantia will use its Cadiz shipyard for Royal Caribbean's modernization program known as "Revitalization Advantage Program" for the Splendour of the Seas during the month of November.

Navantia's work will include the installation of a 'ducktail' to increase stability, modification of more than a hundred cabins to install new balconies, wings spread bridge, as well as a complete renovation of all cabins, restaurants, spa and shopping areas.

As a result of these works "will increase significantly the standard of accommodation of the ship."

In addition to the work of remodeling the qualification, work is carried out regular stranding improvement works including rudders, propeller shafts and tail.

The work ensures "a high level of workload" for the template for four weeks and is "a major logistical effort" by the shipyard, which will manage more than 400 containers of material in a short period of time.

Royal Caribbean plans to assign similar programs for four other ships, two of which are already signed to the Cadiz shipyard for the next year.

Royal Caribbean offers wedding packages for Brazilian cruises

In:
23 Aug 2011

Royal Caribbean will offer options in the 2011/2012 season to perform weddings onboard their ships that sail from Brazil. The bride and groom may hold the marriage ceremony on the Splendour of the Seas or Vision of the Seas, with three different package options: the Royal Happiness, the Royal and Royal Romance Eternity.

The symbolic ceremony lasts approximately one hour and is performed by one of the officers while the ship is moored in one of the authorized ports - Santos, Rio de Janeiro or Salvador. In addition to the guests who may accompany them on the cruise, the couple can invite up to 40 guests not to attend the celebration and reservations must be made up to two months in advance.

The partners Bedaque Marina Barbosa and Tamara were responsible for all training of the crew that will perform the symbolic ceremony.  There is also the choice of suppliers - as a band, cake and favors - enclosed in the package.  

Splendour of the Seas rerouted to Crete due to Greek taxi strike

In:
20 Jul 2011

Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas could not dock in Piraeus, Greece as a result of the continuing strike among taxi drivers in Athens, Greece.  

Instead, Splendour of the Seas made a stop in Heraklion, Crete after making a port call in Chania, Greece.

Splendour is the second Royal Caribbean ship in a row not able to dock in Piraeus after Voyager of the Seas skipped the port on Monday.

Royal Caribbean planning major cruise fleet upgrade

In:
11 Jul 2011

Royal Caribbean is planning a spending spree to upgrade its fleet of cruise ships over the next three years to help keeps its older ships competitive in the cruise market.  

This $300 million revitalization called "Royal Advantage", will allow most of its Vision, Voyager and Radiance class vessels to get a series of upgrades including

  • Restaurants from Oasis Class of ships
    • Chops Grille steakhouse
    • Rita's Cantina Mexican restaurants
    • Izumi Restaurant (sushi)
    • Chops Grille (Steak house)
    • Park Café (sandwiches and salads)
    • Boardwalk Doghouse (brats and wieners)
  • New cabin designs
  • Royal Babies and Tots Nursery
  • Wi-fi throughout ship
  • Digital Wayfinding Systems
  • Oversized LED video screens on pool decks

There's more planned but no details are available quite yet.  These changes sound quite similar to the changes that have already been made to ships such as Radiance of the Seas mostly recently.

These overhauls will require each ship to enter into a lengthy drydock process where the ship will get its upgrades.  The schedule of upgrades are as follows

  1. Splendour of the Seas - November 2011
  2. Rhapsody of the Seas - March 2012
  3. Grandeur of the Seas - May 2012
  4. Serenade of the Seas - November 2012
  5. Legend of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
  6. Vision of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
  7. Navigator of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
  8. Voyager of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
  9. Explorer of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
  10. Adventure of the Seas - 2013 or 2014
  11. Brilliance of the Seas - 2013 or 2014

We know that the overhaul for Splendour, Grandeur and Serenade of the Seas will take place in Cadiz, Spain after Royal Caribbean signed a deal to have those ships rehauled there last month.

Royal Caribbean also mentioned that Independence of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas and Enchantment of the Seas will receive smaller, less significant upgrades.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein is excited about the changes that will help keep the cruise line competitive, "The Royal Advantage revitalizations takes many of the best features that we have created in recent years and introduces them across our fleet, offering our guests enhanced vacation choices around the world."

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