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Royal Caribbean International, owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is a cruise line brand founded in Norway and based in Miami, Florida in the United States of America. , with 23 ships in service and 3 on order, it controls a 17 percent share of the world cruise market. All ships under the Royal Caribbean International brand have had names ending in "of the Seas" since 1991. Sister brands owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. are Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises and CDF Croisières de France. ==Company and brand history== Royal Caribbean International was founded as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 1968 by Anders Wilhelmsen & Company, I.M. Skaugen & Company, and Gotaas Larsen, Norwegian shipping companies. The newly created line put its first ship, the ''Song of Norway'', into service two years later. The next year, the line's capacity was doubled with the addition of the ''Nordic Prince'' to the fleet. Continuing to expand, the line added the ''Sun Viking'' in 1972. After four years of successful operation, Royal Caribbean's ''Song of Norway'' became their first passenger ship to be lengthened. This was accomplished via the insertion of an section to the vessel's severed center. Following the success of this procedure, ''Nordic Prince'' was stretched in 1980. Royal Caribbean finally received widespread global recognition when in 1982 it launched the ''Song of America'', over twice the size of ''Sun Viking'' and at the time the third largest passenger vessel afloat (after the ''Norway'' and the ). Royal Caribbean innovated once again with its 1986 lease of a coastal property in Haiti for use as a private destination for its guests. This destination is now called Labadee. After a corporate restructuring in 1988, the line launched , the largest passenger vessel afloat at the time. Two years later, ''Nordic Empress'' and ''Viking Serenade'' entered service for the line, continuing a rapid growth trend within the company. In the same year Royal Caribbean purchased its second private destination, Little Stirrup Cay, an island in the Bahamas, which they rechristened "Coco Cay." , the second ship of the ''Sovereign'' class, entered service the next year. The third ship of the Sovereign class, , was delivered one year later. With a large passenger capacity and a growing market share, Royal Caribbean finally went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1993. Over the next two years the company experienced extreme growth. A new corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida was completed, and the ''Nordic Prince'' replaced by a new vessel, the . The next year brought more growth. Two more Vision-class vessels entered service, the and . Also in 1996, the company finalized its contracts for 130,000-ton vessels with Aker Finnyards in Finland. The trend of growth and change continued into 1997. The line's oldest ship, ''Song of Norway'', was sold, and two new Vision-class ships entered service as and . The company also merged with the Greek cruise line Celebrity Cruises and changed its name from "Royal Caribbean Cruise Line" to "Royal Caribbean International." The next year marked a transition to a more "strictly modern line", when the last of the company's older vessels, ''Song of America'' and ''Sun Viking'', were retired. In 1998, came into service, the last of the Vision-class ships. In 1999, the , the line's newest and world's largest cruise ship entered service with much attention from the news media. The next two years saw the delivery of a second ''Voyager''-class ship, , and the first of a new ''Radiance'' class of more environmentally friendly cruise liners, . In 2000, Royal Caribbean debuted a series of land-and-sea based "cruise tours" in Alaska, featuring glass-domed train cars to scenic destinations within the state and Canada. Over the next two years, they introduced more cruise tours to destinations throughout Europe. 2002 saw the debut of the ''Voyager''-class , as well as the ''Radiance''-class . and , another pair of ''Voyager'' and ''Radiance''-class ships, were introduced the next year, and rock-climbing walls were made a feature of every Royal Caribbean ship. A fourth ''Radiance''-class ship, , followed in 2004, and the line's ship ''Nordic Empress'' was refurbished and re-christened as ''Empress of the Seas'', which was later sold to ''Pullmantur Cruises'' in 2008. In 2005, ''Enchantment of the Seas'' underwent a massive refurbishment, cutting the ship in half and adding a midsection. Construction commenced on , the line's newest ship, at Aker Finnyards in 2005, and the vessel launched the next year as the largest passenger vessel in the world. ''Freedom of the Seas An even larger class, the ''''Oasis'' class'', featuring and , was launched in 2009 and 2010, guaranteeing Royal Caribbean the ship size lead for years to come. In December 2012, Royal Caribbean announced that they had ordered a third ''Oasis''-class cruise ship from STX France, which would be larger than the previous ships in the class.〔(Royal Caribbean Orders Third Oasis-Class Ship from STX France ). Cruise Industry News, 27 December 2012. 〕 In March 2014 Royal Caribbean announced that they had ordered a fourth Oasis-Class ship from STX France. In February 2013, Royal Caribbean announced the first two ships of their newest ''Quantum'' class, and , which were being built at the Meyer Werft shipyard.〔(Royal Caribbean announces names for new cruise ships ), baltimoresun.com〕 In May of that year, Royal Caribbean announced that they had signed a contract for a third ''Quantum''-class ship for delivery in mid-2016. In September 2014, Royal Caribbean announced that the third ''Quantum''-class ship would be named ,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=THREE OF A KIND: OVATION OF THE SEAS TO JOIN QUANTUM CLASS AS THIRD SMARTSHIP )〕 and in February 2015 they announced that the third ''Oasis''-class ship would be named .〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NEW GENERATION OASIS-CLASS SHIP HARMONY OF THE SEAS UNVEILS NEW THRILLS AND ADVENTURES )〕 In March 2015, Royal Caribbean announced that they had agreed to sell to TUI Cruises in the second quarter of 2016.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. to Sell Splendour of the Seas )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Royal Caribbean International」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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