In response to an increased demand in the area and as part of Royal Caribbean’s worldwide growth plans, the company has decided to open a corporate office in Paris from the middle of July 2011.

The Managing Director of the new office will be Frederic Martinez. He joins Royal Caribbean after a distinguished career in commercial, marketing and management at Air France and American Express.

Martinez graduated from the Sciences-Po Paris ESSEC Business School. He was also awarded a Doctorate from the Sorbonne University. Previously he was American Express’ Vice President for Large Market in Europe. He also held similar positions at Air France-KLM.

Martinez is fluent in six languages.

The company’s new office will be on Boulevard Haussman in the heart of the Paris business district. It will handle all commercial, marketing and sales activities for Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises. The head of Latitude Sud, which represented Royal Caribbean in France up to now, will become Royal Caribbean’s new Commercial Director for France.

All the company’s brands (Azamara Club Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean International) have ships regularly calling on French ports. Azamara concentrates on the French Riviera, while Celebrity’s Equinox, Solstice and Eclipse call at Toulon and Nice.

In 2012 Royal Caribbean will add a total of 23 new ports in seven different countries to their European itineraries. New sailings include departures from LeHavre, Marseille and Toulon and transfers to Genoa in Italy.