Royal Caribbean has begun its seasonal "wave campaign" sale in the United Kingdom, with up to $1,000 on-board credits available.

The sale begins on December 10 and runs through February 28, 2013 and includes flights starting at £59 to connect to ships sailing from other European ports.

Those that book into the sale can find free balcony upgrades on select European and worldwide cruises. 

Head of trade sales Nicki Tempest-Mitchell said: “We are offering up to $1,000 for bookings made during the turn-of-year campaign, which is massive and the largest added-value booking incentive we’ve ever done.

Promotional cruise prices lead in at £1,149 for a 12-night Baltics cruise on Adventure of the Seas in June 2013, including up to $1,000 on-board credit per cabin.

Royal Caribbean has been honored with a number of awards by Cruise Critic for its 2012 Editors' Picks.

Royal Caribbean won awards for the United States and United Kingdom categorizations.  Royal Caribbean won the award in the following categories:

Best for Families (USA)

Royal Caribbean's appeal ranges from casual dining venues and cabins that sleep five or more to family-friendly recreational activities, such as ice-skating and simulated surfing. But its real gem is its kids programs, which are divided into five age classifications, entertaining kids from six months to 17 years old. 

Best Entertainment (USA)

While Royal Caribbean's already-iconic Oasis and Allure of the Seas -- with their comedy clubs, jazz bars, evening promenade parades, nighttime high-diving performances, ice-skating shows, pubs with folk music and actual Broadway productions -- deserve the nod, we also applaud the line for incorporating a similar variety of options on its (somewhat) smaller vessels. 

Best Suites (UK)

Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas set the bar high with their outstanding Loft Suites and Family Suites, but the three ships in Royal’s Freedom class -- Independence, Liberty and Freedom -- also boast some outstanding suite accommodations, including the Presidential Family Suite (1,215 square feet, balcony 810 square feet), which is unique in the industry. 

The Cruise Critic Editors' Picks Awards are selected by the team of editors at Cruise Critic.

Royal Caribbean announced today that it is expanding its relationship with DreamWorks Animation to include the DreamWorks Experience to a sixth-ship, Mariner of the Seas in May 2013.

Royal Caribbean first formed a partnership with DreamWorks in November 2010 to bring their characters to Royal Caribbean's ships.  These include Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and recently Voyager of the Seas.

The DreamWorks Experience offers passengers parades, themed activities and events based on DreamWorks Animation’s popular feature-film characters, including Po of “Kung Fu Panda;” Shrek, Fiona and Puss In Boots of “Shrek;” and Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo, and the Penguins from “Madagascar.” Each ship also is equipped with a 3-D movie theater playing the latest DreamWorks Animation films.

“Royal Caribbean is the only cruise line to offer the DreamWorks Experience to vacationers throughout the world and we are delighted to expand our partnership with DreamWorks,” said Lisa Bauer, executive vice president of Global Sales and Marketing, Royal Caribbean International. “The DreamWorks Experience really resonates with our guests since we launched it aboard Allure of the Seas. We worked with DreamWorks Animation to create an incomparable entertainment experience for our guests, no matter what their age, and their feedback has been nothing short of stellar.”
 

Royal Caribbean has confirmed that it is testing an an all-inclusive alcohol and unlimited internet packages.

Royal Caribbean confirmed packages are being tested but added, "We do not have final details on which ships would receive the packages at this time or what those packages would look like."

According to passengers aboard Allure of the Seas, the unlimited alcohol package is being offered currently for $55 per person plus 15% gratuity and both of the people in her cabin had to sign up for it.  

Reports are the package includes all house wine, beers under $6.25, fountain sodas, well/call or premium brands of liquor and frozen drinks. It does not include room service, specialty coffee, minibar items, canned sodas, bottled water or bottled juices.  

Another passenger reports that the unlimited internet usage package is available onboard Allure of the Seas for $149 a week.

Royal Caribbean confirmed Allure is testing such a package but wouldn't offer additional details on which ships are part of the trial, which ships might eventually get the package or what the package will ultimately cost. 

Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas is drawing crowds everywhere she sails "down under" and today, she sailed into Auckland, New Zealand.  Royal Caribbean Blog reader David O'Rourke stopped by the port to snap up these photos of Voyager docked in the city.  Enjoy!

Veteran shipbuilder Martin Saarikangas is confident that Royal Caribbean's third Oasis-class ship will be built at STX's Turku shipyard despite recent reports of an impasse between Royal Caribbean and the Finnish government in regard to financing the project.

Saarikangas commented, "I take the silence as a positive signal. If history is correct, there is sure to be something pending.  The situation is not hopeless."

Finnish Economic Minister Jan Free Mount and Defense Minister Carl Haglund refused to comment on the financing of the project by Finnish state-owned specialized credit institution Finnvera.

The newspaper Turun Sanomat reported on Friday that the Finnish government's economic policy rejected a proposal for funding.  Royal Caribbean is said not to have given up, but is still searching for a financial solution.

The funding for a ship like this is critical to getting the project a green light.  Ship building requires huge loans and in turn, guarantors for the line.  In most cases, the country foots the bill (and the risk) with Finnvera the lynchpin to the third Oasis-class ship being built or not.

Royal Caribbean announced in October that it was pursuing the possibility of ordering a third Oasis-class ship.

A really fun photo effect is called "tilt shift", where the camera is manipulated so that a life-sized location or subject looks like a miniature-scale model.  We've scoured the Internet to find some fun examples of this effect with Royal Caribbean ships!

Voyager of the Seas by cockneydave1980

Independence of the Seas by Mike Greatrex

Radiance of the Seas by Tyler Ingram

Voyager of the Seas promenade by Kristian Mollenborg

Labadee by CaMareo Waller

Royal Caribbean is seeing a slight drop in the number of cruise passengers from North America that are cruising their Australian cruises this season due to economic unease across the Pacific.  Royal Caribbean insists that passengers from Australia have made up the difference

Royal Caribbean commercial manager Adam Armstrong confirmed that initial demand from North America has been down because consumers in the United States and Canada are more cautious about spending money.

However, Armstrong said the cruise line was prepared for this and had already increased its marketing efforts in Australian markets in the last few months.

Armstrong commented on the numbers, "Overall, we’re carrying more Australians than ever on our local ships. But we’re still carrying about a quarter to a third, depending on the cruise, of our guests from overseas."

"Broadly speaking, we've booked the same load factor this week as we did this week last year so we've really managed to absorb that additional capacity quite nicely."

Armstrong is confident that as the Australian cruise market grows, capacity issues will become irrelevant.  Armstrong did warn that infrastructure constraints are a major hindrance to growing demand for cruises in Australia.

Armstrong also confirmed that Royal Caribbean is considering ports across Australia and New Zealand such as Brisbane, Melbourne, Auckland and Fremantle.  All of those ports could be alternatives for Royal Caribbean to Sydney, which has high costs and limited berths.

"Generally Australia is one of the most expensive countries to operate in,” he said. “So adding that extra cost is always going to be a challenge, particularly if you've got advantageous pricing in other countries where you can put your ships, like Asia."

"Nonetheless, Royal Caribbean remains committed to Australia, with the cruise line becoming “increasingly successful in the market."