Steve Sibley, a partner at Cruise Holidays of Woodinville just returned from an inspection cruise on Royal Caribbean’s, newest mega-ship the Allure of the Seas. At the same time, Marybeth Bryant a cruise counselor at the same store, was also in South Florida taking a two-night cruise on Celebrity’s new ultra sophisticated Eclipse. Both of them were treated to a grand show highlighting the glam and excitement that new ships bring to cruising.
Steve even got to see where Adam Sandler and Katie Holmes were filming a new comedy called “Jack and Jill,” which includes a segment filmed on the Allure. Steve and his wife Diane also had the opportunity to stay in a stateroom which had a balcony overlooking the Central Park Neighborhood on the ship. His review was that this stateroom was a nice and different experience from your regular balcony room.
Both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have invested enormous sums of capital to build state of the art cruise ships designed to appeal to an even wider ranger of potential cruise passengers. One of the strategies they employ is to bring as much “wow” as they can with their new ships. In fact, the Allure and its sister ship the Oasis of the Seas have established an entirely new niche in cruising—the super-sized mega-ship. And, Celebrity, with its Solstice class ships has a real grass lawn and hot glass blowing studio as signature elements unique to them.
At one time, cruising was for only an elite group. The joke 25 years ago was that cruising was for the “newly wed,” or the “nearly dead.” Today, active seniors often run their younger counterpart passengers into the ground when it comes to participating in the cruise vacation experience. And, more than 12 million people will take a cruise from North America, not such a small group any more.
The great news is that the value of a cruise vacation remains in the forefront of any vacation choice. And, the industry has come light years from the days of “The Love Boat.” Now, everyone can experience vacations onboard cruise ships from the most opulent suites to an economical inside stateroom and be assured they can have all of the glamour at whatever level they might choose. No other vacation can make the same claim.
Tags: caribbean at it's best, caribbean luxury, contemporary cruise ship upgrades, cruise ship categories, cruising, family cruising, luxury versus contempary ships, nuts and bolts of cruising, travel rewards
