During Allure of the Seas' naming ceremony on Sunday, none other than Dreamworks' famed character Princess Fiona (from the Shrek films) was named the godmother.

“It’s never easy choosing the right godmother, but we realized we had the perfect candidate right in front of us. Princess Fiona is not only a Royal, but we felt such a unique ship deserved a unique godmother and Princess Fiona symbolizes the fun and entertainment that is so extraordinary on Allure of the Seas,” said Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO.

The decision to have Fiona be the godmother is another part of the tightly knit deal between Royal Caribbean and Dreamworks to integrate the characters into the ships of the Royal Caribbean fleet.

The naming ceremony also included a bagpipe-and-drums procession, the U.S. national anthem performed by Broadway star MiG Ayesa and a scene from Allure's Blue Planet aerial show. The event culminated with the traditional breaking of a Champagne bottle featuring a label created by pop artist Romero Britto, who has a gallery on the ship. The bottle breaking was activated by a karate chop by Princess Fiona.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein, speaking to Travel Weekly on Allure of the Seas's debut, says that the performance of the United Kingdom market is now a vital factor in the overall success of Royal Caribbean.

“The market must come through for us on these types of initiatives.  It’s not like 25 years ago when we were interested in the UK but in the final analysis the US performance would determine the company’s performance. We are now reliant on the UK to perform overall. When you must perform for the company to perform it’s a very different environment that it just being something nice to talk about."

Royal Caribbean will become the biggest cruise ship operator in Europe in 2011, in terms of the number of beds available.  Royal Caribbean will pass Italian-style Carnival brand Costa Cruises.  Royal Caribbean believes the international nature of its product is unrivalled and it will soon have 50% of guests sourced outside of the core US cruise market from 40 different nationalities.

“Royal Caribbean’s versatility is unmatched in the world of cruising. Anywhere we go with our 22 ships, it’s identifiably a Royal Caribbean experience and only we are able to flex our product so consumers of all nationalities are really pleased by what they are experiencing,” said Goldstein.

With Allure of the Seas having made her debut,t he next logical question is what will be the next ship for Royal Caribbean.  Royal Caribbean executives have been tight lipped on the issue but the next order could be sooner than we think.

Wells Fargo Securities analyst Tim Conder thinks that based on a recent analyst meeting with executives earlier this week about Allure of the Seas, that Royal Caribbean is likely to order a new ship sometime in early 2011, with delivery in 2014.

Conder speculates that the new vessel would be in the 4,000 to 4,200 berth range.  This figure is significantly smaller than Oasis and Allure of the Seas, which can accommodate 5,400 passengers.

Allure of the Seas' Central Park 150 restaurant's top chef, Maureen Brandt, has the task of running a high end restaurant on Royal Caribbean's newest ship and she'll be the first to admit it isn't easy.

"It's very different than at a restaurant on land," says Brandt, who won her position during an eight-week contest held this summer at the Culinary Institute of America. "Obviously if you run out of something (at sea) you can't just jump in the car and run to the grocery store."

Central Park 150 will officially debut in December 2010 during Allure of the Seas' maiden voyage.  The restaurant has been service meals in preview mode, but when the restaurant does open officially, everyone will be served the same six-course tasting menu. There are no a la carte choices.

Guests sailing aboard Royal Caribbean's brand new Allure of the Seas are coming from the United Kingdom and in many cases, they aren't going for the cheapest cabins either.  Royal Caribbean announced that most British passengers booking voyages on Allure of the Seas are opting for the most expensive accommodation.

About 66% of Brits that booked one of Allure's sailings thus far have gone with a balcony, deluxe or suite accommodation according to Royal Caribbean.  In addition, the Crown Loft Suites (glass-fronted loft apartment style rooms) are already sold out for the sailing that will celebrate New Years Eve at sea.

Royal Caribbean  vice president and managing director for the United Kingdom and Ireland was happy with the statistics, “We are really pleased by the continued growth of the UK and Irish cruise market, and even during these tough economic times, we see our guests return time and again. We are confident that the launch of Allure of the Seas will continue to stimulate and drive further interest in the cruise holiday proposition, simply because we offer great ships with an incredible experience on-board”.

The city of Fort Lauderdale, home to Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, is seeing increasingly large growth in terms of the amount of passengers that pass through the city on their way to a cruise and the city is looking to capitalize on the big business.

In just two years, Port Everglades will become the busiest cruise port in the world and city officials want to get as many of those millions of cruise passengers to stay in their city and spend money locally.

To get things going, city officials agreed in principle earlier this week to start a new bus service to take people from cruise ships into Fort Lauderdale before they take their flights home from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.  Routes would run to downtown and the beach.

How big of a number are we talking here?  It's expected to exceed 3.5 million passengers per year once Allure of the Seas starts regular cruises and many more will follow as a result of a recent deal with Carnival cruise line that will bring an additional 25.5 million cruise passengers over the next 15 years.

The two biggest cruise ships in the world, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas have come stern to stern and met for the first time.  Royal Caribbean's newest ship, Allure of the Seas, received a warm welcome from more than 8,000 guests and crew members aboard sister-ship Oasis of the Seas on Saturday, November 13.

Allure of the Seas' captain, Hernan Zini, confirms that his ship is five centimeters longer than Oasis of the Seas.

In the next five years, Royal Caribbean is going to look to expand its itineraries to include stops in Africa, according to its UK and Ireland trade trainer.

At the recent Association of Cruise Experts cruise expo, Leon Hand admitted Africa remained an area which Royal Caribbean needed to “make a dent in”.

“It’s at the food for thought stage,” he said, “but we are certainly thinking about it. We know that Africa is an emerging market, and it’s somewhere we will be looking at adding [to our itineraries] in the next five years.”

While Africa is on the horizon, northern Europe is booming as a popular port stop with Russia and Scandinavia in particular growing in popularity among cruisers from the UK.  In addition the Mediterranean, non-European union countries continued to lead the way, such as Croatia, Egypt and Turkey.

Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein said in a recent interview that Royal Caribbean's newest megaships, Allure and Oasis of the Seas, are drawing a much younger age group than traditionally seen. 

On an overall basis the average age of an RCI cruiser is 44. ... But on Oasis and Allure, the average age of people booking and taking trips is 39 or 40. We're seeing a much heavier family involvement on these ships. I believe the family vacation experience on these ships is competitive with anything that exists on land.

In addition to younger people going on a cruise, Goldstein was convinced that overseas cruising (outside the United States) is a place of tremendous growth for the company.  In fact, next summer, Royal Caribbean will have 11 of their 22 ships in Europe.

The biggest trend in the cruise industry right now is globalization. That is what's happening. For the first 30 years of the cruise industry as we know it, the American market was very dominant, and although marketing took place in other countries, particularly the U.K., it was limited. For the most part, people had to travel long distances to get on cruise ships and they were mostly occupied by U.S. customers. In the last 10 years, that has started to change in a meaningful way.

Allure of the Seas is almost ready to arrive in the United States at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla and you can catch a glimpse of her as she comes into port.  Allure will be welcomed by a flotilla of fireboats, private watercraft and other maritime escorts.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

• 8:00 am – Allure is visible from the shore line
• 8:30 am – Allure arrives at mouth of inlet (photo opportunity)
• 9:00 am – Berthing at Terminal 18, Port Everglades

WHERE: * John U. Lloyd Beach State Park, 6503 N. Ocean Dr., Dania Beach, FL 33004

If you're in the area, this is a free public welcome event. Jetty Pavilion opens at 7:00 am; Roadside parking for broadcast vehicles.

An even cooler photo opportunity will happen on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 5:30 pm whenAllure of the Seas will be joined by her sister ship Oasis of the Seas for a one-of-a-kind visual of the world's largest ships together for the first time.