Royal Caribbean International announced that CruCon Cruise Outlet Plus in Moultonborough, N.H., was named its top travel partner for 2008 and will receive the President’s Award in recognition for Overall Outstanding Achievement. Cruise.com in Fort Lauderdale and Cruise Planners in Coral Springs, Fla., were awarded the Online Partner of the Year and the Home-Based Partner of the Year awards, respectively. Royal Caribbean International’s annual Travel Partners of the Year awards recognize top performing travel agencies in the United States and Canada. “Congratulations to all the 2008 Partners of the Year,” said Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales, trade and support services. The President’s Award winner, CruCon Cruise Outlet Plus, has consecutively generated significant annual growth by employing innovative marketing strategies to drive bookings among a loyal customer base. Cruise.com, a Vacation.com affiliated agency, was honored for generating growth in sales and aggressively marketing products that drove bookings via the Internet. The agency’s cruise specialists provide exceptional personal service, which also resulted in a high level of repeat client business, Royal Caribbean said. For the second consecutive year, Cruise Planners, an American Express-affiliated franchise network, won the home-based award. The agency has generated consecutive growth in annual sales, developed and marketed to new clienteles, and use innovative sales techniques to drive business to its franchised network of more than 700 travel professionals. Other travel partners recognized by Royal Caribbean include Corporate and Incentives Partner of the Year, Buy the Sea, Plantation, Fla.; Southeast Regional Partner of the Year, WMPH, Delray Beach, Fla.; Northeast Regional Partner of the Year, Largay Travel, Waterbury, Conn.; Mid-Atlantic Regional Partner of the Year, AAA Carolinas, Charlotte, N.C.; Midwest Regional Partner of the Year, Gateway Travel, Farmington Hill, Mich.; West Regional Partner of the Year, Cruise and Travel Masters, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Canada Regional Partner of the Year, Transat Distribution Canada, Montreal.

Carnival Cruise Lines has introduced a new online pre-purchase system for guests interested in booking spa treatments prior to their “Fun Ship” cruise. With the advanced reservations system, available on all 22 “Fun Ships,” guests who have a fully-deposited cruise can log onto Carnival’s website and designate a specific spa treatment and appointment time and submit payment information.

Norwegian Epic is the final name of Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) newest ship, which is currently being built at the STX Europe shipyard in France and scheduled to debut in summer 2010.

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has reached a resolution with two cruise lines over a retroactively-imposed fuel surcharge on cruise passengers. Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises have separately agreed to refund more than $3 million to consumers nationwide who were charged the fuel surcharge after they had booked their cruises. The agreements were reached after the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division received several hundred complaints from around the country because cruise lines were retroactively charging a fuel supplement after cruises had been booked and deposited. Under the agreements signed Feb. 4, all consumers who were retroactively charged a fuel supplement will be refunded the surcharge. In the future, the cruise lines must also ensure clear and conspicuous disclosure of any fuel supplement charges at the time the reservations are made, as well as in their advertisements. Oceania will pay over $2.1 million in restitution and Classic Cruise Holdings will pay more than $1 million in restitution, a small portion of which may be in the form of onboard credits for consumers who have not yet sailed. The two companies –both of which fully cooperated with the investigation- will contact consumers eligible for refunds and must report to the Attorney General’s Office on the status of refunds within 30 days. Similar settlements were reached last year with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and Carnival Corp. and its subsidiary cruise lines, resulting in another $61 million in consumer reimbursement.

The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) is offering preferred partnerships and new training and certification programs in 2009, including 85 in-market training events in the first quarter. The Association’s agents report that training and certification help generate an average increase in sales of 261 percent.

Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Star answered a mayday call lately from the U.S. Coast Guard, indicating a nearby 45-foot sailboat, the Carpe Diem, was taking on water approximately 60 nautical miles off the coast of Cabo San Lucas.