Starting from May 1, 2016 Royal Caribbean International will increase the guest’s gratuities for 55 cents per person, per day. The new daily gratuity rates will be $13.50 per guest, per day for Junior Suite, Balcony, Ocean View, and $16.50 per guest, per day for the Suites. 

Guests with existing reservations can pre-pay their gratuities before April 14 on the current rate which is $12.95 per person, per day for regular staterooms and $15.95 for the suites.

World's Largest Ship presented in 3D rendering video: Royal Caribbean Created a Virtual Tour for Harmony of the Seas experience. Royal Caribbean uses virtual reality as a tool to showcase their newest state-of-the-art ship, Harmony of the Seas at STX Shipyard. 

Indonesian media report that today the militants of a known Islamic terrorist group Abu Sayyaf, have hijacked the tugboat Brahma 12 with ten crew members on board, near the Sulu islands. 

The hijacking was revealed after one of the crew members contacted his supervisor saying that they were kidnapped and the kidnappers demanded a ransom.

Reportedly the terrorists are demanding a ransom of $ 1,000,000. 

The largest ship ever built for the Carnival Cruise Line fleet "Carnival Vista"  is conducting sea trials. Starting from today Carnival Vista will spend a few days at sea to test the performance and the general seaworthiness. The tests will cover the propulsion system, speed, maneuverability, stabilizers, and the safety features (fire and rescue). One of the tests that will be performed is the Crash stop. The ship is driven at full speed and then the propulsion system is switched off to see the distance and the time needed for the ship to stop completely.

A 65 years-old English woman was rescued yesterday about 500 meters from the coast of Santa Cruz. She arrived on Saturday in Madeira, accompanied by her husband, on the cruise ship Marco Polo. After failing to get back on board, the ship set sail without her at 8:00 p.m.

The woman decided to return to England by plane, and went to the district of Santa Cruz, east of Funchal, to Madeira International Airport.

Holland America Line released "Countdown to Koningsdam" video, highlighting arrival of the officers and crew in Fincantieri shipyard. Hosted by MS Koningsdam cruise director, Johnathan Rogers, the video features Stan Kuppens - Hotel Director, who talks about the crew arriving at the shipyard in Marghera, for loading supplies and preparing the cruise ship for delivery as engine, deck, and hotel officers make their way to Italy.

The Portuguese player for Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo promoted on his social networks, his home island Madeira, highlighting the Cruise tourism. With more than 110 million Facebook followers, Ronaldo posted the following message on his account: 

Jamrock Productions announced their fourth annual Jamrock Reggae Cruise setting sail on November 14, 2016, from Ft Lauderdale to Montego Bay and Ocho Rios on Independence of the Sea. The artist lineup is impressive starting from the superstar Sean Paul, Bob Marley sons Damian Marley and Stephen Marley, the legendary Tarrus Riley and 23 other reggae artists. 

Iroshka Lindaly Elvir, Miss Honduras Universe for 2015 together with her husband Salvador Nasralla set sail on Celebrity Constellation. They are currently on a six days honey moon Caribbean cruise departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, visiting Key West, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico.

Three cruise ship crew members were arrested in Ocho Rios, Jamaica for possession of 5 pounds of cocaine. The news was released by Jamaica Observer stating that all three crew members were St Vincent nationals.