AS MEGA SHIPS EXPAND Cruisers Want More Than Sun and Fun By Milan Korcok With many international ports barring super-large cruise ships for fear of reprisal from local citizens*, the world’s rapidly expanding fleet of small to medium-sized vessels is enabling cruise enthusiasts to go far beyond sun-and-fun locations, to explore and navigate expeditions where few others have been, and still be able to enjoy quiet repose on a calm sea with a pre-dinner drink prepared by a master bartender. *See CSANews spring issue. If spending five, seven or 14 days with 6,000 other “sail-mates” in regimented, albeit elaborate surroundings is not your cup of rum punch, rest assured that there are unlimited seaborne alternatives offering discreet personal services, imaginative/ exotic food selections, inducements to indulge in specialized interests (i.e. expeditions) or just plain relax with a book. All of the major cruise lines – Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Lines, MSC, Celebrity, Holland America and dozens of others about which most of us had never heard a decade ago – are offering variable price levels, itineraries, destinations, inducements and varieties of all-inclusive features. It’s not all “bigger is better.” Celebrity Cruises (a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean lines), for example, is considered a “big-ship brand” capable of carrying between 2,000 and 3,000 passengers, but it also has “tiny” ships carrying 16 to 100 passengers on highly curated, special-interest voyages with appropriate warnings – “No lawn club, no atrium, no martini bar, no kids’ clubs.” There is also Viking (universally known for its European river cruises), which is another top-tier quality brand that has expanded to ocean and expedition cruises around the world. It, too, is famous for what it doesn’t offer – “No umbrella drinks…No casinos…No charge for Wi-Fi…No children under 18.” It seems to work for Viking. This doesn’t mean that the day of mega ships is over. These behemoths are being built feverishly in shipyards around the world; the main ones are in Italy, Germany, France and Finland. Just for reference, when we say big, we mean BIG. Royal Caribbean’s newest – “Star of the Seas” – stationed in Port Canaveral, Florida is capable of carrying 7,600 passengers and 2,350 crew and, at 228,663 gross tonnes and 365 metres, is capable of swallowing up five Titanics (52,320 gross tonnes and 269 metres). The more maneuverable of the smaller “big to medium ships” now attracting various age groups can slip into waters smaller than the Atlantic Ocean, and that opens up a lot of territory. See the sidebar of comparative ship sizes on the last page of this article. 22 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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