On July 16, the company officially took delivery of our newest addition to the fleet. Celebrity Equinox, the second ship in the Solstice Class. From left aare Captain Apostolos Bouzakis, Celebrity Equinox; Bernard Meyer, CEO of Meyer Werft Shipbuilders; and Richard Fain, Chairman and CEO, Royal Carribbean Cruises

Like so many, we are keeping a weather eye on the economy during this global recession. For us, that means continuing to manage costs while taking prudent steps to grow our Company.

Our brightest spot so far is how our people have been able to reduce expenses and deliver better-than-expected results. Our continued fuel consumption reduction initiatives are helping offset some of the cost of rising oil prices.

While it is still early, our measures of vacation booking rate and sales volume – especially for the newer ships – give us high hopes for improving revenues in 2010.

Of course, our Company is continuing to be cautious. We recently sold public bonds to raise cash to pay down newbuild loans and to invest in money markets.

However, notice that we havekept all our new ship orders. Our new Solstice-class ships are doing extremely well and Oasis of the Seas is generating great excitement even before delivery. We are also investing in our Azamara cruise line by bringing in a separate president to focus exclusively on its success. We have continued our heavy investment in international markets including establishing new offices in China, Brazil and Australia. And we are focused on continuous improvement in safety, security, health and the environment. All of these investments are essential to position us for the future.

And as always, our new ships are marvels that amaze and delight our passengers. Our passenger ratings are at their highest levels ever. When you have the most innovative ships in the industry, and employees who deliver the best vacation experience to our guests, you are in a good position to weather even the most difficult of economic storms.

The bottom line is we are keeping our brands’ momentum. Our business has been resilient – even in this dreadful recession. Imagine how well we will do when the recession is over!

Pimentel will have responsibility for the strategic direction and leadership of the deluxe brand to ensure its continuous growth and success. He will report directly to Richard D. Fain, RCL chairman and chief executive officer.

“It is time for Azamara to stand on its own, after a successful two years of operation,” said Fain. “The onboard experience and brand recognition of Azamara is due to the leadership, dedication and commitment of Dan Hanrahan and his Celebrity Cruises team.”

Celebrity Cruises President and CEO Dan Hanrahan said, “I’m very proud of my management team here in Miami and onboard our ships, and thank them for their accomplishments in successfully launching and developing Azamara Cruises. I welcome Larry to the Company and look forward to partnering with him to build on the success this brand has already achieved, and to capitalize on its great promise.”  

Pimentel has more than 25 years of travel industry experience catering to the high-end consumer. Most recently, he served as president, chief executive officer and co-owner of Seadream Yacht Club, designed to provide an intimate luxury yachting experience on itineraries primarily in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.

Browse Photos
Gallery photos by Michel Verdur

Oasis of the Seas: Meet Her Coming-Out Crew

Oasis of the Seas launched her inaugural cruise November 30 with 2,160 crew members, many from the existing fleet, who bring more than 8,000 years of shipboard experience among them.

The naming celebration included company officers, board members, seven godmothers, the cast of the HBO television series Entourage, singer Rihanna, travel agents and press and was by all accounts, an outstanding party for groundbreaking ship.

When she entered service in December, Oasis of the Seas was renowned as the largest and most revolutionary cruise ship in the world. An architectural marvel at sea, she spans 16 decks, encompasses 225,282 gross registered tons, carries up to 5,400 guests at double occupancy, and features 2,700 staterooms.

Staffing the ship hasn’t been too difficult, as home comforts for the crew have been a key focus. The many upgrades include a significantly higher number of single crew cabins, flatscreen TV’s with wireless keyboards, full Wi-Fi access for every crew berth onboard, and crew facilities such as a 24-hour crew Windjammer, crew coffee shop and retail services furnished and finished to guest area quality.
Crew boarded 30 days before guests for intense training and lots of preparation.

Read on to learn more about the neighborhoods and the crew that make her so special.

After all the planning, deadlines and long hours, Davies finally has some time to admire what he helped engineer. “I’ve watched the park come together: from stone, steel and wood to seeing it come to life – and now I get to enjoy watching the reactions from our guests,” he said.

Central Park

Associate Hotel Director Gary Davies was a chef at one of the top five hotels in the United Kingdom. Then he decided he needed a break for six months to do something completely different, to get away from hotels for a while.

He ended up on Royal Caribbean International ships, and six months turned into 19 years. So far, he’s worked as an assistant purser, a purser, and in food and beverage before his current role. “I’ve never been bored in my time with this company,” said Davies.

As project manager for installing Central Park on Oasis, he had unique challenges that no one in his line of work has ever faced before. (See the related story for more details.)

And wouldn’t you know, great work often gets rewarded by more of the same.

“I get to install Central Park all over again on Allure,” said Davies.

“Oasis has exceeded all of my expectations!” said Aishling McCarthy, Spa & Salon Manager.

Vitality at Sea

Aishling McCarthy is the Spa & Salon Manager for the Vitality At Sea Spa and Fitness Center.

“When I was asked to do Oasis, I jumped at the chance as I knew that this was going to be something very special,” she said. Originally from Cork City, Ireland, she trained at Cork College of Commerce in beauty and massage therapy and has worked for the company for 10 years.

McCarthy describes the Vitality at Sea neighborhood as a sanctuary to relieve the stresses of everyday life through traditional and Eastern spa therapies.

“While we were still in the yard in Turku, we noticed a noise coming from the gym which was affecting the treatment rooms,” McCarthy said. “This would have really affected the service that we provided to our guests.”

In what she describes as a WOW moment, a group of Marketing and Revenue managers, dive and casino staff worked tirelessly in Turku to come up with a solution.

“Now we have a quiet and tranquil spa area on Deck Five forward and it’s all down to amazing teamwork!” she said.

“I love watching the looks on our guests’ faces when they’re watching the fountain under the Rising Tide Bar – it’s is enough to let me know we have got it right,” said Marketing & Revenue Manager Dean Bailey.

Royal Promenade 

Seventeen years ago, Marketing & Revenue Manager Dean Bailey gambled on a career in the cruise industry.

Hailing from Birmingham, England, he picked Royal Caribbean International because his friends and colleagues at home told him it was the best cruise company to work for, and he wanted to travel.

He started out as a casino dealer.

These days, his location has changed but the energy is similar. His assigned neighborhood? The Royal Promenade — the hub of the ship.

“It’s unique among the seven neighborhoods, because there is always activity going on, as it is not affected by the elements,” he said.

“I chose to be part of Oasis of the Seas, so that I could be a part of history and gain hands-on experience with all the new technology and concepts,” he added.

Entertainment Place 

The centrally located Entertainment Place is the destination for guests to laugh, dance, party, and generally be amazed by the talent Oasis has onboard.

Located down the stairs from Deck 5′s Royal Promenade, the neighborhood features a main plaza with entrance to a variety of nighttime venues: dancing, dance lessons and competitions, comedy, live jazz and blues, aerial acrobatics, ice shows and of course, the Casino Royale.

Activities Manager Anna Bass of Eastbourne, England, says she is truly proud of the area. “Our guests will be blown away with the incredible entertainment onboard,” she promised.

She studied dance and drama in college, and has been with the company five years.

“The guests loved the new ice show,” she said. “And the opening of Hairspray was definitely a WOW moment.”

“Having been a part of the Liberty take-out, I knew that Oasis was going to be big and even more incredible,” said Adventure Ocean Manager Jenny Beaudoin. “I wanted to be part of something new, and take the Adventure Ocean, Youth and Family programming to new levels.”

Youth Zone 

Jennifer Boon dreamed of being a pirate when she was a child. Today, she lives a colorful life at sea as assistant ocean adventure manager on Oasis.

From her hometown in Solihull, England, her training included a Bachelor of Arts in education and dance, as well as diploma work with children and families. It was the perfect training for her new role.

She began working on projects for Kids’ Avenue, especially the nursery, for over a year before the launch of Oasis. She’s been with the company two and a half years now.

“Our Adventure Ocean Team has worked so hard and come up with new, exciting and crazy activities for our young cruisers,” said Boon. “The program they have put together makes me so proud to be part of the Youth Staff take-out team.”

She enthused about the many firsts for her neighborhood, including the opening night of the Imaginocean show, to signing the very first infant into the nursery, to having the honor of being the first nursery supervisor on Oasis.

“I don’t think I will ever get a chance to a part of something as big as this again,” said Boon. “It’s been and will continue to be an amazing experience.”

“Boardwalk is the first of its kind in the industry, and has so many new and interesting features to offer the guests,” says Jenny Beaudoin, Adventure Ocean manager for Oasis.

Boardwalk

Originally from Hamilton, Ontario in Canada, Jenny Beaudoin’s educational background includes Recreation and Leisure Studies, Speech Communications and Primary Education.

As Adventure Ocean manager, Beaudoin says she is honored to be the caretaker leader/mayor for her neighborhood, the Boardwalk Caretaking team (part of Kids Avenue Team and Sports Zone team.) She’s been with the company more than four years.

“This space is the first of its kind in the industry, and has so many new and interesting features to offer the guests,” Beaudoin reflected. “We are home to the first carousel at sea, an Aqua Theater, shops designated just for kids, and amazing food venues that offer sugar and spice and everything nice. We have the first-ever seafood shack, and an ice cream parlor, donut shop and a candy store.”

Her position as Adventure Ocean manager involves overseeing the family programming. While Oasis was being built, Beaudoin planned a daily carnival she named Family Festival using ship renderings and blueprints for reference.

“Once onboard, I was overwhelmed with the space that I would be overseeing,” she said. “It took my breath away.”

She saw the space transform from a massive construction site, to stress-testing the Carousel, to seeing the artwork installation, to watching as neighbors move in and finally, welcoming families to her first event.

“Watching this space come to life has been an amazing experience,” Beaudoin said.

“Everyday is a WOW factor on the pool decks,” said Russell Rhodes, Open Deck Manager. “There is so much going on that the guests sometimes do not know where they want to be.”

Pool and Sports Zone 

Russell Rhodes was working as a park maintenance manager in South Africa where there were two FlowRiders. When the FlowRider was put onto Freedom of The Seas, he was recruited to work onboard and jumped at the offer.

After almost four years with the company, the native of Durban, South Africa is now the Open Deck Manager for the Pool and Sports Zone.

“My neighborhood on Oasis is a place where the guests come to have some fun or just relax in the sun around one of four pools each with their own vibe,” said Rhodes.

The pool deck is unique by having different zones for different experiences. The Solarium is for adults only, with six whirlpools and a swimming pool, accompanied by soft music. The Beach Pool area has water lapping under the deck chairs and umbrellas for shade-lovers.

The Main Pool area is an area for the sun lovers with no shade at all. The Sports Pool features activities such as water polo, water volleyball, badminton and lap swimming.

The H2O Zone is the family water park, where spray cannons, and an assortment of spray loops and fountains entice kids to play. This area also has the Baby Splash Zone so babies and toddlers who are not yet potty trained can also enjoy the water. This is a shallow area that filtered through separate systems than the other pools.

“I chose to be on Oasis because I was looking for new challenges, and I have certainly met my match here onboard,” Rhodes said.

Indonesian crew at the party posed with Hotel Director Niyazi Korkmaz (at center with the hat.) From left are assistant waiters Nurwandi, Malvesa Angga, Rokhani Nunung and Firmansyan Willy.

Azamara Quest crew and staff took some time out to celebrate Indonesian Independence earlier this year. From left in the first row are HR Manager Shannon Conway, Hotel Director Niyazi Korkmaz and Executive Sous Chef Nurmaningsih Tejapermana.

Need copy

Need copy

Need copy

Maria Antonis (left) with shipboard friends says she enjoys her work as a crew welfare specialist. “I am very thankful for all the management and crew who work together in such a friendly and professional way.”

Maria Antonis started with the Celebrity Cruises more than eight years ago as a security guard. Three years ago, she switched to crew welfare specialist and may have found her calling.

Before joining Celebrity, she had a colorful career as a police sergeant for the Philippines national police, a bodyguard for the Philippine presidential family and a presidential incumbent, and an explosives and ordinance technician.

But then she decided to transfer her skills shipboard to develop new skills and abilities. She wanted to become competitive in the global work force, to support her family and to explore the world. So far, she’s worked on Zenith, Horizon, Summit, Constellation and is currently on Solstice.

As crew welfare specialist, she coordinates the Solstice Starring Crew program. With the HR team and the shipboard management, she develops and implements the program. “My goal is to increase and enhance the “Starring Crew” experience on board.

“I feel I am able to influence the life of the crew on board in a positive and constructive way through creating a better life experience in their home away from home,” said Antonis.

She says she really enjoys the ability and freedom to create and schedule events that enhance the crew experience onboard.

“I am passionate about being able to work in an environment where people get along well and respect each other,” said Antonis. “I want to continue to move forward and improve life and employment onboard our ship and within our organization.”

Photo by Michel Verdur

Browse Photos Watch Video or Click Here to watch on YouTube.

Bringing Central Park to life

Once upon a time, a cruise company came up with an innovative idea to put the first park on a ship.

And so in 2006, they hired a brilliant landscape design team to draw up an extraordinary plan and a world-class landscape installation company to organize and plant the park.

But it took more than that to bring the park to life.

The installation firm wanted three weeks to load and install the more than 12,000 tropical plants and trees in South Florida, not far from where they’d been growing in local nurseries.

Unfortunately, the ship wouldn’t be in Port Everglades for that long before her inauguration. With a cruise ship, time is money.

Enter Gary Davies, an associate hotel director from Liverpool, England, with 19 years with company under his belt.

“In March, I was asked to be the project manager, to put together a plan to install the park as fast as possible,” said Davies. “Management wanted someone with a shipboard operations mindset to lend a hand.”

After a lot of discussion between the installing company and the landscape design architects, Davies realized the fastest way to move plants onboard would be to use standard luggage carts with added shelves to bring them up on the service elevators.

He commissioned the ship’s cart manufacturer to build 340 metal shelves that could hold up to 500 pounds per cart.

That fall, a part of Oasis three years in the planning began to come together.

The carts and shelves from China were delivered to the staging nursery in Boynton Beach, Florida, as were custom aluminum planters from Finland.

Plants and trees were swapped from plastic nursery containers into planters. Planters, carts and shelves were carefully loaded in a specific order by planter bed. The ship’s decking and hallways were protected with plywood against damage from equipment, work boots and carts.

Over three days, 15 trucks carried the trees and plants to Port Everglades. Oasis of the Seas arrived Friday, Nov. 13, and Central Park installation began the next day at 7 a.m. sharp.

To move trees onboard, the installers used one of only three mobile cranes in the U.S. large enough to lift a tree from the dockside, up and over 18 decks with a 200-foot boom. It was so tall that they needed permission from the Federal Aviation Administration, because the port is so close to the West Palm Airport.

While the trees were being loaded aboard at the aft end of the park, the luggage carts were moving onboard through Deck Two’s mid-ship gangway via the service elevators to Deck Eight, where Central Park is located.

By 8:15 that night, all plants and trees were on the ship. By 11 p.m. the next day, everything was in place.

Over the following two days, workers removed all protective coverings from the pathways, stone walls and around the park. They installed the irrigation systems and put down mulch. By the end of day four, Central Park was done.

“I’m so grateful for the hard work and dedication of Oasis shipboard teams from the dining room and facilities,” said Davies. “Their labor helped us make our 100-hour installation deadline; we couldn’t have done it without them.”

After all the planning, deadlines and long hours, Davies finally has some time to admire what he helped engineer. “I’ve watched the park come together: from stone, steel and wood to seeing it come to life – and now I get to enjoy watching the reactions from our guests,” he said.

It has been an amazing year. While it is a year we are all happy to put behind us, it is also a year of great accomplishment against difficult challenges.
 
There have been so many significant successes that it is hard to list them.
 
The most dramatic events have naturally centered around our new ships. OASIS OF THE SEAS has been a truly historical milestone not only for our company but also for the cruise industry as a whole. In her inaugural voyage, she earned the highest ratings of any maiden voyage in our company’s history. That is a huge testament not only to the great design of the vessel, but to the even greater crew who worked tirelessly to make this amazing ship “sing”.
 
Earlier in the year, CELEBRITY EQUINOX helped produce an equally important transformation for Celebrity. SOLSTICE and EQUINOX may not have attracted quite as much press coverage, but their impact on the company and the industry also rate as historic. It is interesting to note that our investment in SOLSTICE class ships will actually be greater than our investment in OASIS class ships. And again, the response of our guests to the ship and the crew are simply unprecedented.
 
But new ships are only part of the story. Azamara Club Cruises was relaunched in December with a new identity and new programs, which will position her in the market to earn the kind of pricing that her outstanding product deserves. And at Pullmantur, the capability of the company to operate successfully and efficiently has also reached new heights. Faced with the hardest hit economy in the Western Hemisphere, Pullmantur has redirected its ships, strengthened its operations and upgraded its product so that its ability to operate successfully in the future looks stronger and brighter than ever before.
 
At the same time all this has been going on, the global economy has struggled through the worst recession in any of our memories. While some observers were predicting the collapse of our various economies, our people were rolling up their sleeves and making sure that we operated efficiently and effectively. Our cost cutting program has been painful for everyone, but it has also been amazingly successful and for that I am deeply grateful to each and every one of you.  Few companies can implement the level of cost-cutting we have had to adopt without major damage to their product. We have succeeded in realizing the required savings while actually improving our ratings – as my daughter would say: “awesome.” However, like a diet, the real trick is not just losing the weight, but keeping it off.
 
Interestingly, we even had some striking success in an area most observers had written off as hopeless. As everyone knows, a large part of the global economic problem has related to the banking system, both because of the huge losses these banks suffered, but also because of their resulting inability to lend to even good credits. It is therefore especially noteworthy that during 2009, we were able to arrange not only one but two financings of more than $1 billion at attractive interest rates.
 
Looking to the future also means that we have to invest in new areas even while we are tightening our belt everywhere. A key strategy for us continues to be expanding our international growth. In 2010, more than 40 percent of our company’s business came from outside the United States and we expect that figure to rise to more than 50 percent within the next few years. We also announced strategic ship deployments to the Middle East and Far East; and we will have a further increased presence in Europe.
 
Another strategic imperative is to ensure that we continuously improve our performance relating to “things that go bump in the night.” Safety and security remain our highest priority and demand the highest vigilance our ingenuity and dedication can muster. The health, safety and general well-being of our guests and our crew must remain uppermost in our consciousness at all times. And our responsibility as stewards of the environment in which we operate is a higher calling for which we must all take responsibility.

As we approach the holidays and year-end, I know that our officers, staff and crew are helping our guests create holiday memories to last a lifetime. I appreciate all you do for our company, and especially those of you who will be working during the holidays away from your own family and friends.

Happy holidays and may 2010 be a great year for all!

Watch Holiday Message or Click Here to watch on YouTube.

Photo by Michel Verdur

Environmental and Innovative Ship of the Year awards

In August, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises announced the winners of their 10th annual environmental awards.

For Royal Caribbean, Liberty of the Seas was selected as both the Environmental Ship of the Year and the Environmentally Innovative Ship of the Year.

For Celebrity Cruises, the Celebrity Mercury was named Environmental Ship of the Year, and the Celebrity Infinity was selected as the Environmentally Innovative Ship of the Year. For the first time, a panel of judges conducted the impartial evaluation for the award. The panel was comprised of leading oceanographic, marine biology, and policy experts, who reviewed the information provided by Royal Caribbean’s 20 ships, Celebrity Cruises’ nine ships and Azamara Cruises’ two ships to determine the award winners based on their comparative performance.

The ships were judged on five rigorous environmental criteria established by Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises. These included environmental performance, timeliness and effectiveness of corrective actions related to audit findings, reports of near incidents and nonconformities, submission of environmental status reports, performance of environmental equipment and innovative thinking.

For each of these criteria, ships were scored and then ranked against one another to determine the winning ships in each fleet.

This year, Royal Caribbean International’s Liberty of the Seas won both the Environmental Ship of the Year and Environmentally Innovative Ship of the Year Awards for its excellent overall performance, having one of the most thorough and wide-ranging environmental programs of the entire fleet.

Liberty of the Seas crew members showed an outstanding level of commitment to saving energy, reducing waste, and increasing their amount of recycled materials, said judges. They set up an ongoing water and energy savings team, as well as educating staff on how freshwater is produced onboard and how wastewaters are treated.

For Celebrity Cruises, Mercury won top honors in the Environmental Ship of the Year Award for its energy conservation, recycling efforts and reuse initiatives.

Mercury was praised for its compliance and waste management, especially in the face of a challenging itinerary. The ship’s staff worked to establish recycling in numerous countries along its cruise track.

Celebrity Infinity was awarded the Environmentally Innovative Ship of the Year Award for showing how day-to-day operational changes plus smart onboard insight and engineering can yield energy savings in cooling the ship. The ship was also noted for continued strong efforts in recycling, waste stream management, and environmental honors received.

The winning ships got to select a nonprofit organization to receive a cash donation on their behalf: Environmental Ships of the Year received $10,000, and Environmentally Innovative Ships of the Year received $5,000.

Christopher Bautista, fitter-welder, wearing protective equipment for welding a piece.

Docking and setting sail bring out the most intense moments in the engine room.

Two hours before the beginning of a ship’s maneuver, in the engine control room the chief engineer, staff engineer and first engineer are ready. The chief electrician and the second engineer on watch are present. Everyone is in constant communication with the bridge.

“On a cruise ship, it’s not enough just to make the ship move,” warned Juan Pablo Torino, staff engineer aboard Pullmantur’s Pacific Dream. “It is a sailing hotel, which means that from the engine area we control electricity, A/C, the generation of drinking water, and more,” he said. The Argentine engineer is the second-in-command in the Engine Department.

A ship of Pacific Dream´s size has four main propulsion engines (two for each propeller) and three energy-generator engines. If the route does not require the ship to go at full speed, the propellers can work only with the two biggest engines while two energy generator engines run.

Of course, the engine area never sleeps. Twenty-four hours a day, and in consecutive shifts of four hours, there is always a team on duty. A team made up of a second engineer, a third engineer and two motormen.

“The second engineer normally is in the Control Room, while the third engineer and the motormen patrol the whole engine area,” Glecerio Sudayan explains, a third engineer on the Pacific Dream.

Renato Bartholemé and Volney Gomendes cleaning the fuel purifier of the main engine on Sovereign.

“The work has to be supervised as a whole since the tasks change depending on the shift,” said Sudyan, a Filipino who started as a junior engineer in 2003.

Parallel to the watchkeeping shifts that take place all day, the engine area also has its work schedule more or less standardized, which affects engineers, cleaners, fitter-welders and motormen who are not on watch.

The first thing in the early morning is a meeting in which the Staff Engineer divides up the tasks that will be necessary that day and, except in cases of an emergency, these tasks will be the bulk of the working day.

“Tomorrow, for example, we are going to clean some of the main engine’s air coolers,” Torino says while checking his worksheet. “And this task will take some time because we need to strip one piece of the engine. I think we’ll be okay with three people,” he adds.

Those daily tasks involve continuous checking of certain parameters of the engines that has to be checked regularly and reported to the company. “An engine is the ship’s life and has to be super-controlled,” the Argentinian points out. “Preventive maintenance is fundamental.”

From left, motorman Yana Supriyatna and third engineer Radu Alexandru check the fuel purifier on Sovereign.

Dangers of Diabetes

A crew member reported to the ship hospital with an eye problem during a routine onboard wellness screening. While he waited, the crew nurse encouraged him to do the health check also.

As it turned out, his eye problem was a symptom of a severe illness. The nurse diagnosed him as having blood sugar over three times the normal level: the crew member was severely diabetic.

The company arranged medical care in Miami, including eye surgery due to his too-high blood sugar levels. He then spent several weeks under medical care before returning to work on ship.

Luckily, the crew member got medical care just in time to avoid further complications.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes means your blood glucose (often called blood sugar) is too high. Your blood always has some glucose in it because your body needs glucose for energy to keep you going. But too much glucose in the blood isn’t good for your health. 

How do you get high blood glucose? 

Glucose comes from the food you eat and is also made in your liver and muscles. Your blood carries the glucose to all the cells in your body.

Insulin is a chemical (a hormone) made by the pancreas. The pancreas releases insulin into the blood. Insulin helps the glucose from food get into your cells. If your body doesn’t make enough insulin, or if the insulin doesn’t work the way it should, glucose can’t get into your cells. It stays in your blood instead. Your blood glucose level then gets too high, causing pre-diabetes or diabetes.

What is pre-diabetes? 

Pre-diabetes is a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. People with pre-diabetes are at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes and for heart disease and stroke.

The good news is, if you have pre-diabetes, you can reduce your risk of getting diabetes. With a little weight loss and some physical activity, you can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes.

What are the signs of diabetes? 

• The signs of diabetes are 
•  being very thirsty 
•  urinating often 
•  feeling very hungry or tired 
•  losing weight without trying 
•  having sores that heal slowly 
•  having dry, itchy skin 
•  losing the feeling in your feet or having tingling in your feet 
•  having blurry eyesight 

You may have had one or more of these signs before you found out you had diabetes. Or you may have had no signs at all. A blood test to check your glucose levels will show if you have pre-diabetes or diabetes. 

Why do you need to take care of your diabetes?

After many years, diabetes can lead to serious problems with your eyes, kidneys, nerves, and gums and teeth. But the most serious problem caused by diabetes is heart disease. When you have diabetes, you are more than twice as likely as people without diabetes to have heart disease or a stroke.