OSLO, Norway, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- AWILHELMSEN AS ("AWIL") Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s  (NYSE: RCL) largest shareholder announced today that it would vote its shares in favor of a shareholder proposal to eliminate classification of the Royal Caribbean Board of Directors and in accordance with a recommendation of Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS").  AWIL said it would cast its votes at the May 22, 2013 RCL annual meeting.

AWIL is a founding shareholder of Royal Caribbean and owns approximately 19.1% of the company's shares. The proposal reflects a growing corporate-governance trend away from classification of Boards of Directors. AWIL believes that Royal Caribbean shareholders would be better served by a board whose members are elected annually.

To quote the supporting statement in the Proxy Statement: "Having directors stand for elections annually makes directors more accountable to shareholders, and could thereby contribute to improving performance and increasing firm value."

SOURCE AWILHELMSEN AS ("AWIL")