For me, the beauty of a cruise is that I can have my cake and eat it too. There’s plenty of opportunity for family togetherness and much-needed time apart as well. If you’ve got little ones, it’s key of course to know the cruise lines’ age policies for kids programming. You don’t want to show up at the gangway only to realize yours are too young for the drop-off playroom (nightmare!). For those of you with older teens, it’s equally as important to know when your young adults can (and can’t) drink and gamble. Read on for the skinny. Read more...(1243 words, estimated 4:58 mins reading time)
More innovation: Oasis introduces digital signage, which looks like a giant iPhone (actually it’s a Samsung flat-panel monitor turned on its side). The system makes it easy for guests to find their way around the ship or browse what’s going on as well as restaurant occupancies.
The 225,282-ton, 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas made waves as she entered US waters this week as the newest and certainly the biggest cruise ship in the world. Families are a large market for Royal Caribbean and naturally their new flagship has some amazing stuff for children.
Now, where to start? Read more...(886 words, 6 images, estimated 3:33 mins reading time)
Surfing the FlowRider is easier than it looks, but at least you get a helping hand to get you up and going. After that, you’re on your own, free to make a big splash in the end.
The Avid Cruiser visits Gammelstad, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that represents the best-preserved example of a “church village.” Villages like Gammelstad were once found throughout northern Scandinavia. The 424 wooden houses that radiate from the early 15th-century stone church, were used only on Sundays and at religious festivals to house worshippers from the surrounding countryside who lived too far away from home to return on the same day. Gammelstad is fewer than 20 minutes by car or bus from where the cruise ships dock in Luleå.
Oasis of the Seas launches an innovative new program that uses Apple’s popular iPhone as the technology platform. The program, known as Royal Connect, allows guests to rent modified iPhones to stay connected while on board. The cost for unlimited usage, which includes phone and chat functions, is $17.50 per device for the duration of the voyage. Read more...(179 words, 1 image, estimated 43 secs reading time)
Hi kids, My flight has landed in Miami, and I am boarding a bus to transfer to Fort Lauderdale, where I will step aboard Oasis of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, for the second time. You’ll remember that dad went to Turku, Finland, to board Oasis when it was still under construction a couple of months ago. It will be great to see it complete. You’ve been anticipating Oasis ever since its inception was made public. I wish that you two were with me, but this an industry function with business meetings and much work – and I am only on board two nights. Would that be fair? To drag you kids off after only two nights? I don’t think so. Anyway, I’ll send regular updates, photos and possibly a video. That’s it for now. I am off to Oasis. Love, Dad
Welcome to Toscana, one of two specialty restaurants on Oceania’s ships. There’s no additional charge to dine here, although there is a limit to the number of times you can dine at Toscana on a single cruise, not always rigidly enforced, depending on which category cabin you booked. Read more...(178 words, 8 images, estimated 43 secs reading time)
Normally, stablizers are used to test the stability of a ship during sea trials. But earlier this year, when Oasis underwent its sea trials, the stablizers were used to deliberately make the ship roll.
Often, a pitch of 11 to 12 degrees can be achieved, according to Oasis’ Captain Bill Wright. But on the word’s largest cruise ship, “we couldn’t even get three degrees,” he says. Read more...(126 words, 1 image, estimated 30 secs reading time)
The Avid Cruiser visits Swedish Lappland, where reindeer and elk (called “moose” in North America) are still herded by the local Sami people (also known as Lapps).
