Royal Caribbean Fans

Royal Caribbean has released the 2014-2015 schedule for the summer Caribbean and northeast itineraries for Allure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas.

In summer 2014, Allure of the Seas will offer 7-night eastern Caribbean itineraries on June 8, 22; July 6, 20; August 3, 17, 2014. Allure will also sail 7-night western Caribbean itineraries on June 1, 15, 29; July 13, 27; August 10, 24, 2014.

Oasis of the Seas will also offer 7-night eastern Caribbean itineraries on June 14, 28; July 12, 26; August 9, 23, 2014. The 7-night western Caribbean sailings aboard Oasis will occur on June 7, 21; July 5, 19; August 2, 16, 2014.

Explorer of the Seas will sail out of Bayonne, New Jersey in Summer 2014 and offer 5-night Bermuda cruises on May 3, 17, 31; June 14, 28; July 12, 26; August 9, 23, 2014. Explorer will also offer 9-night Bermuda and Caribbean itineraries on May 8, 22; June 5, 19; July 3, 17, 31; August 14, 2014.

Grandeur of the Seas will cruise out Baltimore, Maryland and offer 6-night Bermuda cruises on April 26, 2014. Grandeur will also offer 7-night Bahamas cruises on May 2, 16, 30; June 13, 27; July 11, 25; August 8, 22, 2014. Slightly different 7-night Bermuda itineraries will be available on Grandeur of the Seas on May 9, 23; June 6, 20; July 4, 18; August 1, 15, 2014.

Freedom of the Seas will continue to offer 7-night eastern Caribbean cruises out of Port Canaveral on May 4, 18; June 1, 15, 29; July 13, 27; August 10, 24, 2014. Freedom will also offer 7-night western Caribbean itineraries on May 11, 25; June 8, 22; July 6, 20; August 3, 17, 2014.

Royal Caribbean will roll out the rest of its 2014-2015 deployment schedule as follows

Fall Bermuda & Canada: March 6, 2013

Alaska: March 13, 2013

Europe & Transatlantics: March 14-28, 2013

Australia and Hawaii: April 10, 2013

Winter Caribbean and Northeast: April 18, 2013

Short Caribbean and Bahamas: April 23, 2013

Brazil, Asia and Panama: Coming soon

A female passenger on the worlds largest cruise ship, Allure of the Seas, went overboard Sunday night as the 5,400-passenger ship was sailing to Nassau.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean said another passenger witnessed the 21-year-old American, who was alone in her cabin at the time, go overboard at about 9:25 p.m. EDT. "The ship's Captain immediately stopped the ship, turned around, and alerted the U.S. and Bahamian Coast Guard," read the statement.

The line said a review of Allure's closed-circuit camera footage also showed the passenger going over the side. The location of the ship at the time the passenger went overboard was marked on the ship's GPS system. Two other ships in the area, Carnival Fascination and Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas, assisted Allure with the search.

At 3:30 a.m., the U.S. Coast Guard assumed control of the search and released the cruise ships. The passenger has not been found.

Because of the time spent searching, Allure was unable to make its scheduled port of call to Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday, September 17. The ship will instead spend the day at sea and will arrive in St. Maarten on Wednesday, September 19, as scheduled.

Allure is sailing a seven-night Caribbean itinerary that departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on September 16, with ports of call at Nassau; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; and Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

This is not the first reported overboard on Allure. In February, Kenneth Gemmell jumped over the side while the ship was sailing off the coast of Cozumel. 

Royal Caribbean is partnering with Barbados Port and SMI Infrastructure Solutions to build a brand new state-of-the-art cruise terminal in Barbados that will cost over $300 million. The new facility will allow some of the world's biggest cruise ships to dock at the island.

George Hutson, Barbados Minister of International Transport and International Business, announced the two year project at the recent Barbados Port Inc.’s 50th anniversary staff awards ceremony.

“If we are going to remain relevant, if we are going to capitalize on the opportunities available from cruise tourism, we must renew our plant from the basic infrastructure currently existing to one which will accommodate and service the increasingly large cruise ships."

Barbados is hoping the new cruise terminal will attract more cruise ships to the island, which in turn will lead to increasing revenue generated by cruise passengers on the island.

The new terminal will be completed in two phases, the first phase will cost $300 million and will include two cruise piers, arrival and departure facilities, along with parking lots. The development will take involve reclaiming 15 acres of land from the sea, 100,000 square feet of which will be provided for commercial activity. Dredging is slated to begin in November.

Cruise tourism in Barbados has grown from 127,000 in 1985 to 726,543 last year. The best year ever for cruise passenger traffic to the island was 2004 when 812,863 people visited the island.

Royal Caribbean's CEO Adam Goldstein, posted on his blog that Royal Caribbean will increase the number of cabanas offered for rent on its private island of Labadee, Haiti.

Goldstein says the increase is due to the warm reception its guests have shown the option and will go from the initial 20 cabanas currently on the island's Barefoot Beach club area to construct four more water cabanas there.

Royal Caribbean will also add 16 new cabanas at Nellie's Beach for a total of 40 cabanas for rental at Labadee.

In addition, Royal Caribbean now offers 3 wheelchair accessible cabanas in Labadee.

Allure of the Seas will now arrive back to Port Everglades 2 days later than expected due to Tropical Storm Isaac. Instead of returning to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday as scheduled, she will now stay out at sea to avoid the storm until Tuesday. 

This will bring Allure of the Seas back to port two days later than scheduled, thus affecting Allure's next sailing which will be reduced from a 7 night voyage to a 5 night cruise.

Allure will set sail on Tuesday August 28 instead of Sunday August 26 as a result of the storm. As a result, the ship will skip scheduled calls in Falmouth, Jamaica and Labadee, Haiti and add a call in Nassau, Bahamas.

Royal Caribbean is making up the delay to those on the now five-night cruise by offering them onboard credit for the missing days as well as a future cruise certificate worth 10% of the fare they paid for the cruise.

Royal Caribbean is asking guests who are scheduled to sail on Allure of the Seas on Sunday, August 26, not to arrive at the port until 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 28 for check-in and boarding.

If you are scheduled to sail on the August 26 Allure of the Seas cruise and cannot make the new Tuesday departure, you should call Royal Caribbean at 888-829-4050 in the U.S., and 408-926-9002 internationally.

Tropical Storm Isaac has also caused cruise chaos in Miami. The Port of Miami has announced it will close at 11pm this evening and plans to reopen on Monday August 27th. Because of this, there is a possibility that Majesty of the Seas boarding on Monday will be delayed. 

Port Everglades and the Port of Tampa is also expected to close because of Tropical Storm Isaac.

Royal Caribbean urges passengers sailing on either Allure or Majesty of the Seas to regularly monitor their website for any additional updates. 

The Allure of the Seas has rescued 58 Haitian citizens stranded at sea in the Caribbean and has taken them to the Mexican island of Cozumel.

Royal Caribbean International spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez says a guest spotted a boat and alerted the crew Thursday afternoon as they were heading from St. Maarten to Cozumel.

On Friday, Martinez said the Haitians indicated they didn't need any assistance and the cruise ship continued on its voyage. The captain informed the U.S. Coast Guard, which later asked him to go back and help them.

She said the ship rescued the 47 men, 7 women and four teenagers and gave them food, water and medical treatment.

They were turned over to the Mexican Navy Friday when the ship arrived in Mexico.

Royal Caribbean has announced that two more of its ships have been affected by Tropical Storm Isaac.

Both Majesty of the Seas and Monarch of the Seas will not stop at Royal Caribbean's private island of Coco Cay this weekend due to concerns of the storm.

This change is in addition to the previous announcement that Allure of the Seas will change from an eastern Caribbean itinerary to a western Caribbean itinerary.

As of 11 a.m. ET, Isaac was 165 miles south-southwest of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and moving to the west-northwest at 14 miles per hour. The storm has maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour.

Tropical storm Isaac has forced Royal Caribbean to change Allure of the Seas' itinerary from an Eastern Caribbean to a Western Caribbean itinerary to avoid the storm, which is gaining strength.

Allure of the Seas will call at Falmouth, Jamaica and Cozumel, Mexico instead of St. Thomas and St, Maarten.

No other changes have been made to Royal Caribbean's other ships in the area. However they are recommending passengers on Majesty of the Seas, Monarch of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas to keep an eye on further updates.

36 passengers sailing on Freedom of the Seas were involved in a bus accident on the Island of St Maarten. The bus crashed into a ditch Thursday morning. No one was seriously injured, though several were taken to a local hospital.

The cruise passengers were on a Royal Caribbean excursion to a treetop ropes course and zipline adventure when the accident occurred. Though the ship docks in Philipsburg, St. Maarten, the excursion itself is located in St. Martin.

Six passengers (all from the U.S.), along with the bus driver, were injured, according to a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman. The majority of the injuries were minor, with the most serious being a broken wrist. Most of the injured sustained "bumps and bruises,"

All the injured "were immediately transported to the local Louis Constant Fleming Hospital for treatment." Guest care team members and a ship doctor remained with the passengers during their stay at the hospital. All passengers returned to the ship the same day. The guest care team and onboard medical team also continued to provide onboard treatment for passengers, including counseling, for those who asked for it.

A member on the Cruise Critic message boards TBtoronto was among the passengers on the bus and among those transported to the hospital. She posted about her experience on the forum: "I was on the bus sitting front row, directly behind the driver. My twin boys were sitting front row on the passenger side… It was the most frightening experience of our lives and one which will haunt us forever. I got seriously banged up and required stitches, as well as one of my sons. Had I not dove over to protect them and absorb their impact before we hit, they would have been much more seriously injured. How no one was killed is a miracle."

Royal Caribbean has given no indication that it will terminate its partnership with Dutch Tours Enterprises N.V., who were the operator of the tour.

"This was a traffic accident, a type of which can happen anywhere and is no reflection on the bus company," said the Royal Caribbean spokeswoman. "The bus driver had to take an evasive maneuver to avoid an oncoming vehicle."

According to Today, a St. Maarten newspaper, the bus driver lost control of the bus as it descended the steeply inclined road that leads onto the Loterie Farm property. The driver was trying to avoid a taxi that was heading up the incline at the same time. The bus hit the taxi causing it to overturn. The driver of that taxi suffered a broken foot; his passengers escaped with minor scrapes and bruises.

Matt Stead, a Freedom of the Seas passenger who was on the bus, told Today that he believed the brakes on the bus failed. "Just after we went through the Loterie Farm gate we felt the driver hit the brakes, but no brakes and then the bus just started careening down. About half way down we hit a speed bump and everyone hit the ceiling and then the bus just continued rolling down the hill. There was a guy driving coming up the hill while we were going down so we ran into him, flipped that vehicle over and then ran straight down into the ditch. Tree branches got into the bus and many people received whip lashes from the branches. Everyone was screaming manically, we thought we were plunging to our deaths but the tree saved us."

Freedom of the Seas was on a seven-night Caribbean cruise that departed from Port Canaveral on Sunday.

Royal Caribbean have announced the schedules for the 2013-14 winter Caribbean cruise itineraries and are now available to book.

Royal Caribbean plans to have Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Independence of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Navigator of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas in the Caribbean. This will bring a total of 140 sailings across 31 itineraries that will make stops at 20 different ports.

New to the schedule will be cruises out of New Orleans, Lousiana aboard Serenade of the Seas. The first cruise will be a 9-night Caribbean cruise on December 12, 2013 that will stop at Key West, Nassau, Labadee & Ocho Rios. Following that cruise, Serenade will alternate between 7-night cruises to the Bahamas and Western Caribbean.

Oasis and Allure of the Seas will continue with their popular 7-night western and eastern Caribbean cruises out of Port Everglades, Florida.

Also home porting in Port Everglades in the winter will be Independence of the Seas. She will offer 6-night cruises to the western and eastern Caribbean.

Freedom of the Seas will continue to operate out of Port Canaveral, Florida and alternate between 7-night eastern and western sailings.

Finally, Navigator of the Seas will debut in Galveston, Texas with two western Caribbean cruises. Both are 7-night sailings and one itinerary calling at Falmouth, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, while the other at Roatan (Honduras), Belize City (Belize) and Cozumel.