Princess Entertainer of the Year Competition Continuing

Passengers aboard Ruby Princess this week are continuing to enjoy the line's best entertainers who are being showcased on this week's Caribbean sailing. At the end of the week, passengers will be asked to chose Princess' Entertainer of the Year from five finalists they are seeing performing multiple times this week.

In this video, you get a chance to meet three of the finalists: Bert Stratton, The Beatlemaniacs and Steve Moris.



In this one, you meet the other two: Carlos Oscar and David Cats.

Ruby Princess Hosting "Entertainer of the Year" Finals This Week

Let the competition entertainment begin!

Princess' Entertainer of the Year, is being chosen aboard Ruby Princess this week. The ship left Ft. Lauderdale April 8 (2012), and the lucky passengers aboard this week are having Princess' "best of the best" entertain them. They will vote, and by the end of the week, a new Entertainer of the Year will be named.

This is the first in a series of reports we have this week from aboard Ruby Princess.

Go Behind the Scenes on Your Royal Caribbean Cruise

Now all passengers aboard Royal Caribbean ships can go behind the scenes with the line's "All Access Tour," because it is now available fleetwide.

Space is very limited, so it should be booked as early in the cruise as possible with the Guest Services Desk. The cost is $150 per person.

Azamara Journey Arrives at New York

The 30,000-ton Azamara Journey had its maiden arrival in New York this morning (April 9, 2012) and proceeded up the Hudson River to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal. The ship is shown here passing the Statue of Liberty.

The ship was in New York to embark passengers for the Titanic Memorial Voyage. The charter marks the 100th anniversary of that voyage, and Azamara Journey will be above the site of the wreckage on the actual anniversary.

Leaving in Style

Have you ever wondered how the crew would leave a ship in an emergency, once the lifeboats with passengers are deployed? In larger ships, they would use something like the Marine Evacuation System shown in this video from MSC Cruises. It shows their crews training to use the system aboard a Fantasia-class ship.

Technical training has already begun by crew members aboard MSC Divina, the next ship in the class, which is under construction at the STX France yard in Saint Nazaire (France). That includes the deployment of the MES, and what they learn is practiced every week.



There are two of the systems aboard each of the Fantasia-class ships. They would normally be used to evacuate crew members in liferafts after passengers have filled the lifeboats. Each system deploys four of the giant, enclosed, inflatable liferafts, meaning that together they will accommodate 1,514 people beyond the capacity of the lifeboats.

Marine Evacuation Systems are found aboard MSC Divina, MSC Fantasia and MSC Splendida. MSC Divina will be christened in Marseille on May 26, 2012.