Photo by Mike Harris

Travel+Leisure magazine has posted their annual awards for the best travel in the world, and Royal Caribbean made the list.

For the category of "Top Large Cruise Ships", Royal Caribbean made the #9 spot.

Here are the full results

1. Crystal Cruises 89.90
2. Regent Seven Seas 89.36
3. Azamara Club Cruises 87.31
4. Oceania Cruises 86.05
5. Disney Cruise Line 84.96
6. Cunard Line 83.26
7. Celebrity Cruises 81.61
8. Holland America Line 80.37
9. Royal Caribbean 79.40
10. Princess Cruises 79.08

Royal Caribbean's ninth spot finish was identical to last year's awards, although its score did dip slightly from last year.  Sister companies Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises placed in the list as well, with Azamara moving up one spot from last year.

The scores are results of reader surveys from the Travel+Leisure Magazine.

Royal Caribbean has announced that it will add Coca-Cola's Freestyle Machines aboard its ships.  These self-serve beverage dispensers will offer passengers 125 flavors of various Coke products in one machine.

The machines were customized for Royal Caribbean to allow for health code modifications in a marine environment as well as the addition of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) for use with the Royal Caribbean soda packages.

The new Freestyle Machines were installed aboard Majesty of the Seas in June and several other ships (all based in the United States) will receive their machines later this year.  Following that, the machines will be rolled out well into 2013 aboard other ships.

Royal Caribbean Director of Fleet Beverage Operations, Bob Midyette, described the new machine, "It was beyond sexy, it was über cool. Using medical micro dosing technology, flavor cartridges just slightly larger than those of the standard ink jet printer opened a world of flavors never available before (Orange Coke, anyone? or Peach Fanta Zero?). It was like going from an IBM series 700 mainframe to an iPhone 4, skipping everything in-between."

The agreement between Royal Caribbean and Coke is part of a multi-year effort by Royal Caribbean to bring some of Coke's newest advancements to Royal Caribbean's ships and therefore, Royal Caribbean will become the first cruise line to deploy the Freestyle machines.

More than 120 volunteers from Royal Caribbean will donate personal time this Saturday to help paint and landscape Centennial Elementary School in Springfield, Oregon as part of the company's 15th annual G.I.V.E. Day.

G.I.V.E., which stands for "Get Involved Volunteer Everywhere," is a community service event that brings together Royal Caribbean employees, their families, friends, vendors and business partners to assist non-profit organizations and improve the quality of life in their local communities.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain commented on the support Royal Caribbean is offering to the community, "As one of the largest non-Government employers in Springfield, we are committed to supporting and helping our local communities. We hope that the personal satisfaction and enjoyment of assisting our neighbors on G.I.V.E. Day will help inspire our employees to pursue volunteer and public service opportunities throughout the year."

Similar G.I.V.E. Day events took place in South Florida, Wichita, Kansas and Seattle, Washington and are planned for Anchorage, Alaska, United Kingdom, Germany and other International Offices.

Royal Caribbean sent new Public Relations Manager Allison Brennan and Royal Caribbean commercial manager Adam Armstrong to the Sydney Winter Festival to promote Royal Caribbean's own ice rink at sea aboard Voyager of the Seas.

The ice rink at Bondi Beach is a fun opportunity for Australians to ice skate, and Royal Caribbean is hoping to show that passengers aboard Voyager of the Seas can ice skate onboard for free in the Studio B ice rink.

Studio B is a 700-seat venue and offers 45-minutes ice skating sessions at scheduled times on selected sea days, along with evening events including disco skating and rock n’ roll skating.

Complimentary ‘Learn to Skate’ sessions will be offered for beginners while advanced skaters can take advantage of advice from the professional skate team who will be offering lessons for those more adept on the ice.

Twelve professional figure skaters from around the world will take to the ice in “Ice Odyssey”; the 45-minute show that features solo and pair performances. 

Royal Caribbean along with Carnival, Holland America and Princess cruises have informed the government of Panama that they want to invest $30 million to build a new cruise terminal on the Amador Causeway.

The proposal would be awarded for a period of 20 years, with the option to renew for another 20 years and would be built near the Balboa Yacht Club and storage tanks

Panama would use a plan similar to that used in 1997 when they leased the port of Colon in 2000.  

Representatives from the cruise companies visited the site in order to make technical recommendations for the specifications of the tender being prepared by the Panama Maritime Authority.

Economic issues such as the European debt crisis and uncertainty regarding the global economic picture as a whole has the potential to affect demand for the cruise market in Dubai, and that's something Royal Caribbean is keeping an eye on.

Royal Caribbean regional director Helen Beck is among those worried that international economic issues could negatively impact demand for Royal Caribbean's product in Dubai.  It has already been hampered with the government issuing visas but other issues like the European economy, unrest in other parts of the Middle East have all had impact on Royal Caribbean's bottom line.  

According to Beck, “We did not get the revenues we were looking for, as the global trading conditions have been quite tricky over the past 18 months.”

Royal Caribbean home ports in Dubai during the Gulf cruise season.

Khalid Bin Sulayem, the director-general of the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, spoke about the cruise ship market today, "The global cruise ship industry has had its difficulties of late, but here it is a growing business and one where we feel Dubai can play a larger role within the region. While we have already established ourselves as a hub, we realise that there are a number of things that we must focus on in order to fully capitalise on this burgeoning sector by developing our cruise ship terminal infrastructure and improving coordination with neighbouring countries.”

Royal Caribbean has announced the arrival of Serenade of the Seas in Dubai for the winter season of 2012-2013.  Serenade of the Seas will offer passengers 17 itineraries, with departures every Monday for seven-night cruises in the UAE and Oman, from December 2012 to April 2013.

Serenade of the Seas replaced Brilliance of the Seas in the region and will offer guests new cruise experiences that explore the culture of the Middle East. You can choose a combination cruise and land tour  such as the "Arabian Explorer", which combines a guided tour of four nights on the mainland to seven nights cruise onboard Serenade of the Seas. The stages of the cruise-tours are Dubai, Al Ain and Ras Al Khaimah. With Royal Caribbean cruise-tour guests are escorted and accompanied by tour guides and all transfers included in the price, the transportation and hotel accommodation with breakfast.

The seven night cruise Serenade of the Seas also makes a stop in Fujairah and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, with overnight in Muscat, Oman, Dubai and, at the conclusion of the cruise.

Guests can also choose a 15-night cruise in the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, departing January 14, 2013 from Malaga, Spain to Dubai, another alternative is the 15-night cruise from Barcelona to Dubai, April 15, 2013.

Royal Caribbean Australia and New Zealand has named Allison Brennan the new Public Relations Manager.

Brennan joins Royal Caribbean after working with Surf Line Saving Australia, where she was the media and communications manager.  Previously, she had worked in various media and public relation roles for over ten years.

Many members of the travel industry will remember Allison as the media and public relations manager for the Canadian Tourism Commission, where she worked for over four years promoting Canada to Australians. Throughout her career Allison has also worked as a senior publicist with Random House Australia and at some of Australia’s best known public relations agencies.

Royal Caribbean will continue to work with its two local PR agencies - The D'Arcy Partnership in Australia and Dockstreet Group in New Zealand.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Allison to our local team. Allison has great experience in the travel industry and is a perfect fit for our rapidly expanding business,” said Adam Armstrong, commercial manager, Royal Caribbean Australia and New Zealand.