Royal Caribbean: Cruise ship pulled from Alaska will go to Puerto Rico

mercedes · April 17, 2009

Alaska's loss is Puerto Rico's gain.

That's the word from Royal Caribbean, which says the 2,501-passenger Serenade of the Seas will sail year-round out of San Juan, Puerto Rico starting in 2010.

The five-year-old vessel is one of three Royal Caribbean ships the line has been sending to Alaska for the summer in recent years, but last month the line announced it will pull the ship from the state in 2010 due to rising passenger taxes and regulation in the region.

The withdrawal will leave Royal Caribbean with just two ships in Alaska.

The Serenade of the Seas is no stranger to San Juan, having sailed out of the port seasonally in recent years when not in Alaska.

The announcement of the Serenade's new deployment came late Thursday as the line unveiled its plans for year-round service in the Caribbean for 2010-2011. In all, Royal Caribbean plans to have five ships sailing year-round in the region on 24 distinct itineraries ranging from five to nine nights. In addition to Serenade of the Seas:

-- The 3,654-passenger Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas will continue regular sailings from Port Canaveral and Miami, respectively.

-- The much-awaited, 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas (debuting in December) and Allure of the Seas (arriving in 2010) will sail weeklong voyages out of Fort Lauderdale.

The Serenade will sail alternating seven-night Southern Caribbean itineraries. One itinerary will call at Curacao, Aruba, Dominica and St. Thomas; the other at Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Maarten and St. Croix.

Royal Caribbean says it will announce additional season deployments in the region at a later date.

JoeyandDavid · April 17, 2009

I had a feeling the new passenger taxes would move ships out of the region... the questin for me now becxomes .. what will Alaska do when more cruiselines follow the lead