Nearly 90% of the residents of Placencia Village in Belize passed a petition that they are opposed to the proposed introduction of cruise tourism.The petition is in opposition of Royal Caribbean's recent purchase of land in the area for the intention of building a tourism village.

The petition was started by an area resident and was designed to give more proof that opposition to the proposed plan to bring Royal Caribbean ships to the area aren't limited to a "few residents".

On the petition, 330 registered voters agreed that they are opposed to cruises coming to their area, which is out of 367 registered voters in the village.

The villagers are opposed to the plan because of the chaos tourists bring as well as the environmental impact the ships and people will have on the area's ecosystem.

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas was involved in a big storm in the Mediterranean earlier last week and the story of injuries, large waves and upset guests has made its way around the world, but according to Seatrade Insider, injuries to cruise guests onboard were more than we were lead to believe.

A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman claims that the number of injured guests onboard Brilliance of the Seas has risen to 105 people now. This is in contrast to early reports of just 30 people being injured with 2 people suffering a bone fracture.

Royal Caribbean has already announced it will refund the cost of the cruise to passengers onboard the ship.

Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean's newest ship and the largest cruise ship in the world, made its first stop ever at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands earlier this week.

To commemorate the occasion, Allure of the Seas Captain Herman Zini told those in attendance "Thank you once again for the continuous focus you have on making the destination better and better.".  A plaque commemorated the event as well.

Royal Caribbean vice president of government relations was excited about the stop in St. Thomas, "The passengers want to take the greatest ship in the world to the greatest destination in the world".

The people of St. Thomas and every port Allure stops at have very good reason to be excited.  Both Allure and her sister ship, Oasis of the Seas, are expected to bring $1.5 million in revenues to the territory during each port call - $78 million a year.  In addition, the Florida Caribbean Cruise Associatian reports the average cruise passenger spends $193 while in the U.S. Virgin islands and crew members spend about $150.  Adding to the potential riches, the ship itself brings revenue through taxes and fees that Royal Caribbean is responsible for in accordance with docking and berthing the ship.

By 2012, Royal Caribbean estimates about 875,000 passengers will visit St. Thomas on an annual basis.

In the United Kingdom, Royal Caribbean is trying to make pricing a cruise easier for its customers. Royal Caribbean will now adopt a "what you see is what you get" approach to pricing its cruises in an attempt to foster earlier bookings.

Mark Walter, Head of field sales for Royal Caribbean, thinks this move is a step in the right direction, "he new ‘what you see is what you get’ campaign from Royal Caribbean International marks a step-change in the promotion of cruising.  All the prices and campaign elements are aimed towards making it easy for first-timer cruisers who will be comparing a holiday at sea with traditional land resorts options. We’ve scraped the traditional cruise jargon and focused on the incredible value that a cruise represents."

We've had I Love Lucy themed cruises, heavy metal music cruises and now a cruise honoring a family favorite film, The Christmas Story.  You remember the film, right? It's the one that tells the story of Ralphie and his family's Christmas in Ohio where he tries desperately to get a Red Rider B.B. gun and double dog dares his friend to stick his tongue to a flag pole on a cold winter day.

If that movie really resonated with you, you can join the cast for a cruise during the holidays of 2011. Casting New Lives and Academy Travel present a 4 night western Caribbean cruise on board Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas with the cast members of the The Christmas Story, December, 15 - 19, 2011.

The cast of the film scheduled to be on the ship include

• Scott Schwartz-Flick
• Zack Ward- Scut Farkus
• Yano Anaya- Grover Dill
• Tedde Moore- Miss Shields

Cruise events include

• Best Essay contest “What I want for Christmas”--Judged by “ Miss Shields”
• Decode a “Secret Message” with Little Orphan Annie Decoder Pin
• Mommy’s Little Piggy eating contest
• Kids help Decorate the Christmas Tree
• Special movie screening with the stars
• Autograph sessions
• An opportunity to get all your questions answered from the stars themselves
• Memorabilia Christmas Story Store
• Scavenger hunt on board the ship
• Even a visit from Santa! 

If you happen to be one of the first 10 families to sign up, you will be entered into a drawing to win an autographed Leg Lamp! You can sign up here

Due to weather, the Nassau/Royal Caribbean Fun Run in Paradise that was being put on by Royal Caribbean and ESPN, has been cancelled.  The run was scheduled to take place yesterday morning but Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas could not dock in Nassau due to high seas and windy conditions.

Prior to the race being cancelled, over 100 Royal Caribbean passengers were scheduled to participate, including several competitive running celebrities.  

The Fun Run in Paradise was scheduled to be part of the inaugural Royal 5K St Maarten Lifestyle, Running and Fitness Show which will air January 27 and 28 on the ESPN Caribbean Networks.

There is still a possibility that Allure of the Seas will be able to dock at Nassau later in the cruise itinerary.

While the Brilliance of the Seas was coming to Alexandria, faced extreme weather conditions as strong waves and winds of 70 knots, about twice what was previously forecast. The combination of winds and waves resulted in the ship suffered intense movements.

Injuries were reported in some guests, two of whom suffered serious fractures. The medical facility on board is functioning optimally, and our medical team is diligently attending to the guests involved.

The intense movement of the boat damaged some public areas and caused blackouts in some rooms. Cosmetic damage inside the ship have caused the closing of three public places for the rest of the trip: the beauty salon, the arcade and disco. There was no impact on operating systems or engines, and the vessel maintains its full navigation capability.
Due to inclement weather, the Brilliance of the Seas could not get in Alexandria, going to the next harbor, Valetta, Malta, which will arrive next Tuesday at 7:00 am The ship completed its journey in Barcelona, Spain , on Friday as is scheduled. The subsequent cruises were carried out as scheduled, the ship will not need to go into dry dock, and are already making repairs.

As a gesture of goodwill, and to thank guests Brilliance of the Seas for your understanding during this difficult time, Royal Caribbean International has provided a shipboard credit and a refund of the fee paid for the trip

Royal Caribbean known to have been a terrifying experience for guests and crew, and our officers on board the Brilliance of the Seas will make every effort to ensure that the rest of the journey as pleasant as possible.

The Brilliance of the Seas is conducting a 12-night itinerary departing from Barcelona, Spain, with visits to ports in Sicily (Palermo), Italy, Athens (Piraeus) and Rhodes, Greece, Alexandria, Egypt and Valletta, Malta.  

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas, the ship that had been struck by a terrible winter storm in the Mediterranean over the weekend, limped to port in Malta on Tuesday morning.

Brilliance of the Seas ran into a nasty storm of the weekend that caused rough seas, something Royal Caribbean called a "serious incident." The 90,000-ton ship swayed as far as 15 degrees in either direction several times. Several passengers reported minor injuries such as bumps and bruises and at least two people suffered broken bones.

Royal Caribbean offered cruisers a $200 credit because of the situation but some cruisers protested the offer and Royal Caribbean caved in, offering a full refund for the value of the cruise.

Rough seas caused minor injuries and some damage to Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas over the weekend.  A winter storm sent 30 foot waves against the cruise ship and caused some minor problems.

The ship rolled violently as the storm's huge waves crashed into the hull, throwing furniture, passengers and the ship's christmas tree around and breaking some interior glass.

The Brilliance of the Seas was supposed to be on a  12 day cruise that took it from Spain to Italy, then on to Greece, and finally Egypt. Due to the storm, Brilliance will now head back toward Malta.

File this story in the "Hard to be believe it's true" category.  Finland's National Board of Customs is reporting that the delivery of Allure of the Seas from STX's Turku Shipyard to Royal Caribbean helped contribute to Finland's trade balance ending up about a billion euros in the black.

STX claims that Allure of the Seas is the most valuable individual export product ever delivered from Finland.  The improvement in the trade balance is the first time Finland's trade balance has been in the black for the first 10 months of this year.

At the end of the third quarter, the trade balance was still 225 million euros in the red but the delivery of Allure helped fix that imbalance.