Following the announcement head of Royal Caribbean Entertainment Peter Compton was leaving last week, Royal Caribbean formally introduced their new head of entertainment, Nick Weir.  Weir is the new Vice President of Entertainment and will oversee the cruise line’s onboard entertainment and guest activities programming, as well as Royal Caribbean Productions.

Weir has more than 25 years experience in both the entertainment and cruise industries.  Nick also hosted and presented a number of major network television shows in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He is best known for hosting a re-launch of the primetime network-television show "Catchphrase," where he succeeded in the mission of markedly improving the ratings in the critical 18-54 target demographic.

For the past 10 years, Nick owned and operated an entertainment consulting company with projects that included television and live event production services, speech and script writing, entertainment program analysis and solution development, charity event/live auction production, corporate video production, cruise industry start-up projects and Cruise Director services. Additionally, he has served in many capacities in the cruise industry, including as Entertainment Consultant and Cruise Director for Celebrity Cruises and Costa Cruises, and consulted extensively for Star Clippers Tall Ship Cruises.

Ok, I have my stuff together today, vacay day 5. Cruise day 4 Labadee

We arrived early into Labadee this morning. The forecast today? 92, humid with a uv index of 10.

As the first island day & the place being Royal's private destination, people were ready to see what this gorgeous place had to offer. Sean & I are going relaxing in a big way. We reserved an over the water cabana for the day.

If you've read anything about the cabanas offered at the private destinations, you know then they're in high demand & lower quantity & a bit in the pricey side.

We met our friends for bfast in the windjammer on the earlier side. Headed down to the island right after. The long hot walk to the gates of Labadee & to our waiting island cabana transport and away to our slice of paradise we went.

Upon arrival we were greeted by our cabana steward, Ronald, who showed us to our cabana & told us about everything it had to offer. An ice chest filled with large bottles of ice water, complimentary of course. Our floating beach mats, snorkel gear & towels.

I'm sure some of you when you hear 'over the water cabana' are picturing the four seasons Bora Bora. Not exactly the same thing. These are built into the rocks on the water, but have super convenient water access stairs and in some cases ladders to get to the water quick.

The cabanas for us were adjacent to Barefoot Beach, the suite section, Nellie's beach. The beach get quite busy during the day,. Nellie's beach is where the kayak tours leave from ad it's the not rocky beach under the dragon flight line, so it's more pleasant on fresh pedicures. No waves though.

Even though its a busy beach. It's a great beach day beach.

Another perk of your cabana fee is getting to have the upgraded lunch buffet BBQ. We hoofed it over to barefoot beach for lunch. It was a quick walk in all honesty. The buffet offered real china & silverware compared to the WJ melamine & plastic ware. A huge salad selection, hot dogs, burgers, rice & beans, grilled chicken, steak w/herb butter, shrimp kabobs, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and a dessert selection. Plus iced tea & fruit punch.

In the barefoot beach section I saw the difference between suite section & everybody else. Quiet beach, same amount of cabanas for fewer people to rent. Lots of peace & quiet. And no kayakers, paddle boats or boarders.

We spent the the entire day on Labadee while in port. The horn of the freedom called us back at 3 & we sailed away promptly at 4.

Back onboard, we headed to the pool deck for the sail away party & then to a late afternoon nacho snack in the WJ.

Back to the room for showers & naps the off to dinner.

Battle of the sexes, a wine flight at vintages later & we are off to bed!

We're in Jamaica tomorrow. We're staying on board tomorrow, we've never done it before so, we'll see if its as great as people say.

Cyndi Lauper may have had it right with her famous song, "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" and onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise, there's a lot for girls to do.  Here's our take on the top five activities for girls to try on their next Royal Caribbean cruise.

1. Barbie Experience

Royal Caribbean rolled out this new immersive package for fans of the Barbie brand of dolls last year and it's perfect for girls who just cant get enough Barbie.  To be honest, the Barbie Experience is less about the doll itself and more about letting girls "glam out" and do the sort of grown up things they usually can only pretend to do with their dolls.

Aimed at girls between the ages of 4 and 11, the Barbie Experience begins with a very pink stateroom overlay and then offers decorations, parties, fashion shows, movies, interactive events and more.  If your daughter likes playing with Barbie dolls or even just the idea of dressing up, painting nails and fashion, then this is a must-do for her.

2. H2O Zone

Girls love playing in pools and the H20 Zone that is available on Freedom and Oasis class ships is the perfect playground for them.  The H2O Zone is basically a huge aquatic obstacle course, with plenty of sprays, buckets and nozzles spraying water everywhere.

A pool is fun and all, but being able to run around and stay cool in the water is what makes the H2O Zone so appealing to girls.  It's more than just a "sit and soak" experience for them with a number of different water toys to play with.

3. Ice skating

It's hard to find a girl that doesn't want to at least try ice skating and with an ice skating rink on Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class ships, this may be the right time to introduce your daughter to ice skating or take your little pro to see how she does while skating at sea.

The ice skating rink is open to girls of all abilities and for those that do not have easy access to an ice rink or frozen pond at home, going for an ice skate on a Royal Caribbean ship could be a really fun and unique opportunity.

4. Movies by the pool

When you combine popular movies on a massive outdoor LCD screen and swimming in a pool, what you get is the perfect place for nearly any girl.  Watching their favorite movies like Grease, the Wizard of Oz, or the latest Dreamworks release while they go for a swim is something lots of girls would consider perfect evening.

5. Breakfast with Dreamworks characters

The Dreamworks Experience on select Royal Caribbean ships has become a real hit with kids and girls will love the opportunity to have breakfast with some of their favorite characters.  

Meeting characters from popular movies like Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda as they stop by each table for some playful shenanigans. And of course the girls can take their photos with the characters to remember it all by.  Oh and did we mention this experience is free? Now the parents will be looking forward to it too!

Bonus: Hanging out with other girls in Adventure Ocean kids club

You know what most girls like to do perhaps more than anything else? Hang out with other girls their age and socialize! Royal Caribbean's Adventure Ocean is the perfect supervised venue for this.

Girls get a chance to meet other girls their age, do various activities together and well, spend time together doing girly things!  All these activities we listed are fun enough for any girl but doing it with newly made friends can be the icing on the cake and amount to what any girl would consider to be the perfect vacation.

Next year, Royal Caribbean will offer cruises out of the capital of Norway, Oslo, once again with 4 stops planned on Legend of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein commented on why Royal Caribbean is returning, "Norway is a wonderful country and an amazing destination, as people from all over the world want to visit. We have offered cruises often to Oslo in the past, and look forward to being here again."

Goldstein also pointed out cruises out of Oslo have the ability to sail to other ports in Norway, Sweden, Estonia, St. Petersburg and so on. In addition, ord are very special.

Royal Caribbean cruises from Norway will also have stops in Stavanger, Geiranger and Aalesund. There will be a 14-night transatlantic cruise that ends up in the United States

Part of the reason why Royal Caribbean may be offering Northern European cruises once more is because of the Euro crisis in Southern Europe.  In addition, Norway's popularity among tourists is on the rise from 1.9 million in 2011 to 2.5 million last year. This year it is expected that there will be 3 million passengers, according Visit Norway.

Royal Caribbean's public relations team is at the Meyer Werft ship yard this week to take a peek at the progress being made on Royal Caribbean's newest cruise ship, Quantum of the Seas.  Royal Caribbean Senior Account Executive Lyan Sierra-Caro posted a photo of the steel laser cutting process, which will likely be part of an upcoming preview for the new ship.

@ Meyer Werft ship yard ready to take a peek at #QuantumoftheSeas @RoyalCaribPR #buildingacruiseship pic.twitter.com/Keu3ZuUDEw

— Lyan Sierra-Caro (@lyan10) September 17, 2013

Quantum of the Seas is Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship that will be built and will have her first official cruise in November 2014.

Royal Caribbean has signed an agreement with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for a series of ex-Tokyo sailings on Voyager of the Seas in 2014.

The memorandum was signed by Royal Caribbean Regional Vice President for Asia Zinan Liu and Mitsuchika Tarao, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Director Deneral, Bureau of Port and Harbo while they were aboard Voyager of the Seas on Saturday during a Tokyo stopover on a 12-night cruise from Tianjin.

Voyager of the Seas' 2014 Tokyo season will start with a 10-night sailing from Singapore on April 10 with calls at Hong Kong (overnight), Kaohsiung, Taipei (Keelung) and Nagasaki, before arriving in Tokyo on April 20. From Tokyo, the ship will then feature a six-night round-trip South Korea and Nagoya cruise to Jeju Island, Busan and Nagoya on April 20, a nine-night round-trip cruise to Taipei (Keelung), Kaohsiung and Hong Kong on April 26 and a four-night Tokyo to Taipei cruise visiting Kobe and Naha, Okinawa on May 5.

Voyager of the Seas will also offer a seven-night round-trip itinerary from Taipei (Keelung) visiting Nagasaki, Beppu and Osaka departing May 9.

Vacation day 4? Lost count... Already so I'll let Royal count for me. Day 2 Aka at sea.

The rain that plagued us in port Canaveral apparently had friends. Who suck and notwithstanding Captain To's best efforts to get me some sunshine... At about 3pm...it was pouring cats. & dogs!

But we'll get to that.

On vacay I am an early riser. For instance on Allure, I legit wasnupnbetween 4 & 5 am even if I partied till 2 at twenty because I wanted a prime location at the beach pool & I wanted to see the ship with out interruption. Since I've been on the freedom before, 7 works & well I am on my honeymoon...:o/

Anyway, I had our pool chairs & sat & read my kindle till Hobbs came up for bfast. Typical WJ buffet. But always delish..

Off to the pool deck to get acquainted wi the sun & sea breeze. We registered for the cruise critic meet & mingle. Free gift in hand we scoped out the landscape. Ah ha, jackpot! Young people. (Read yesterday's entry about our dinner table). We asked a lovely young couple Lindsay & Russell if we could share their table. They said "of course". Or new friends hail from rural Georgia they honeymooned on Monarch (god rest her soul, hopefully Azamara treats her right.) We hit it off immediately.

Back at the pool deck, we discovered, there is a serious lack of courtesy by some cruisers. I won't go into details, but I will say, unless your shirt says 'pool patrol' do not touch another persons belongings.

Next up pool side activities. Belly flop competition, ice carving, line dancing oh my! Right around corner the heavens opened. This provided us the opportunity to get back to our room, clean up & go to our next social event.

We received a card yesterday, inviting us to vintages. Very little deets. We went, it was lame.

We went along to change our dinner table. To share our table with our new peeps & we met a wicked handsome father son duo, also from Georgia. Single ladies of the Atlanta area, there is a gentleman in Buford, who is general manager of a ginorm chain, who has a heart of gold, an adorable 21 year old son who loves to cook & take care of his lady. He's handsome, kind, warm, generous, of course I've only known him for 3.

Following dinner, we went off to the Honeymooners gathering. 67 honeymoon couples on this love boat. 67! We've had calm seas but the ships still rockin'.

We broke free of the honeymoon crowd & met up for show time in the Acadia theaters or "Marquee". It was good. Do not sit in the front row if you have problems with strangers sweat because it will get on you and potentially in your drink. I wish I was kidding.

Late night comedy followed & was amaze balls.

Off to bed. Labadee in the morning. We have a cabana.

I'm really sorry I can't get pictures o post but in my end of week 1 wrap up I promise to highlight & post them.

Smooches.

Stephanie & Sean

The number of cruise passengers that arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico increased 84% over the same month last year according to the executive director of the Tourism Company Puerto Rico (PRTC), Ingrid Rivera.

During the month of August 2013, 65,101 cruise passengers arrived in San Juan thanks mostly to Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas.  That number compares to just 35,291 in August 2012.

The cruise industry has an economic impact of about $185 million annually to Puerto Rico, according to the PRTC.

"We are very pleased with this trend and are working for it to hold as Puerto Rico regains its standing as the largest port in the Eastern Caribbean," said Rivera.

As part of Royal Caribbean welcoming its 50 millionth guest this year, the cruise line is introducing, "Travel Agents Make the WOW Go Round", which is a month-long campaign to recognize how important travel agents are to the cruise line and its guests.

During the campain, Royal Caribbean business development managers will visit and call travel agents across the United States and Canada to personally thank them for supporting Royal Caribbean and sharing the Travel Agent Make the WOW Go Round message.

Royal Caribbean senior vice president of Sales & Trade Support and Services, Vicki Freed, commented on the new campaign, "The unwavering support and trusted business partnership with travel agents are things we value immensely and reciprocate daily through our personalized sales support and our Loyal to You commitment."

The new campaign also will have Royal Caribbean giving away 50 staterooms on the brand new Quantum of the Seas cruise ship's pre-inaugural sailing.  Travel partners in the U.S. and Canada who make a booking between now and September 30, 2013, on any 2013 and 2104 sailing will be automatically entered for a chance to win.  Those travel partners who make bookings on Oasis of the Seas or Allure of the Seas for 2013-2014 sailings will earn two entries per booking.

Hi everyone, I'm really excited to announce our next live-blog experience as we get ready for a cruise aboard Jewel of the Seas for a 7-night Southern Caribbean adventure.

It is my hope to provide to our readers a daily look at what this cruise will be like and share our experiences with you.  This means I will try to post photos every day along with a written report of how things are going (internet permitting).

If you're new to our live blogs, check out the live blog we did for Freedom of the Seas back in February for an idea of what you're in store for. I'm hoping to give you all a daily look into what we did that day, what was good/not good and what we have planned for the next day.  

For this cruise, we're flying from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico on Friday, September 20 to start our adventure.  We're flying in a day early because we want to be good little cruises and make sure we get to our port in plenty of time and we also want to explore San Juan a little bit.  We're travelling with another couple and their kid, so it will be quite the family adventure this time.  

Our flight leaves New York at 8:00am, so we will be arriving in San Juan with plenty of time to explore everything before staying a night at the Sheraton Old San Juan.  The next day, we will board Jewel of the Seas as early as humanly possible and start the real fun on September 21!

This is our first time on Jewel of the Seas and first time trying out the Southern Caribbean itinerary.  Our friends that are cruising with us are new to Royal Caribbean, so I'm hoping to get them hooked and Loyal to Royal as well.  We booked this cruise 18 months ago, so we are really excited that this vacation is finally here.

Another first for this cruise will be AT&T invited us to try out their new smartphone cell service package that is exclusively for Royal Caribbean.  Because staying connected while on vacation is so important these days, we thought it would be fun to give it a go.  We will be using the "AT&T Cruise Ship Calling, Messaging and Data" plan, which includes 50 minutes of talk time, 100 text messages and 100MB of data.  Essentially, it's a cell phone package for use only onboard the ship and it will be interesting to see how well it works.  More on this later!

What really drew us to this cruise is the port intensive nature of this itinerary and the fact it's a number of islands that are new to us.  We feel like we've done the eastern and western Caribbean routes enough and want to try something new.  Five out of six islands we are visiting will be new, so there should be a lot of first times for us.  

Who is going

Matt (me), Marissa (wife) & Gabriella (2 year old daughter).  Tim (husband), Sarah (wife) & Logan (1 year old son)

Our itinerary

Our Ship

Next update should be on our San Juan day, Friday, September 20.  Stay tuned for all of our live blog updates right here.