The result: Ship designs are more fluid; there are more differences
between ships built from the same basic blueprint, and older ships are
sent into dry dock to be retrofitted with features from newer ships.
Among
the features on the last class of ships that seem to be keepers are
more elaborate water parks and sports decks, Norwegian's cabins for the
solo traveler, spa-linked staterooms, exclusive luxury areas on
non-luxury ships, more niche bars and ever-more-specialized restaurants.
"One thing they all have in common is increasing options,
especially for dining and drinking," said Carolyn Spencer Brown,
editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic. "Norwegian Cruise Line has been the
innovator here, and now others are following suit in significant ways.
It's recognizing that travelers don't want to be limited to set dining
hours.
"Definitely the increasing use of outdoor spaces during
the night as well as the day is a really great new innovation, a nice
change from the days when people went inside at sundown. Princess
Cruises gets a lot of credit for jump-starting this; its Movies Under
the Stars has led to other really cool uses, from Celebrity's Lawn Club
(where live jazz under the stars is a highlight) to Royal Caribbean's
high dive acrobatics and its Central Park."
Ship design changes
reflect the lifestyle that passengers have on shore, Del Rio said. Just
as homes are bigger than they were a generation or two ago,Quickparts
builds injection molds
using aluminum or steel to meet your program. his line's ships are
bigger and so are staterooms. Dining is healthier and has more of a
gourmet flair, the ambience and dress are more casual, and the stateroom
has more amenities.
Carnival already has a larger ship with a
new design under construction. So do Princess,We mainly supply
professional craftspeople with wholesale agate beads
from china, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. Not all the
old blueprints are being thrown out. In addition to its two new
"Project Sunshine" ships on order, Royal Caribbean is negotiating for
construction of a third Oasis-class ship, the mega-ship that carries
5,400 passengers, to be delivered in 2016.
"We're always looking
at how to improve," said Gus Antorcha, Carnival's senior vice president
for guest commerce. "Guests are expecting more. They expect more
choices, and they expect more value from their vacation. That has really
forced us to think a lot about the product,The term 'hands free access
control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a
pocket or handbag. how to keep pace with consumer preferences. With Fun
Ship 2.0, that's what we have been doing. We have been focused on
improving the dining experience,The term 'hands free access
control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a
pocket or handbag. bars, entertainment, and the outer decks."
"Our
product is very 'fun in the sun,' " Antorcha said. "Our guests want to
be in the pool and in the sun." So Carnival beefed up the experience
around the pool deck with Fun Ship 2.0, expanding the water park, adding
outdoor seating on a lower deck, bars and eateries, including Guy
Fieri's Burger Joint, interactive Hasbro game shows and new
entertainment. The line is also retrofitting more than a dozen older
ships with some of the amenities.
Or consider the Celebrity
Solstice-class ships, a design so popular that most of the line's older
ships have been retrofitted - "Solsticized" - with some of its features,
including spa staterooms, several new bars and restaurants, and the
iLounge, a computer center. Even within the Solstice class, the ships
continued to evolve. On the last two, the Corning glass-blowing shop was
replaced by the Lawn Club, a grassy area on the top deck with alcoves,
and the Lawn Club Grill.
Celebrity wanted more high-end suites
on its newest ship, said Harri Kulovaara, executive vice president of
Maritime & Newbuilding, so it added a deck. That allowed the company
to add 42 suites, including 34 AquaClass spa suites (a new category)
and Celebrity's first two-bedroom suite, which also has a glass-enclosed
shower cantilevered out from Deck 14 and a tub on the veranda.
But
there's not necessarily consensus about the changes. One of next year's
two new ships, the Royal Princess, will have a larger, three-deck
atrium that will hold a pizzeria, wine bar, coffee bar and other
features designed to turn it into the ship's central hangout.
Norwegian's new Breakaway, on the other hand, will put its hangout space
outside on new promenades that have waterfront restaurant seating
intended to increase the passengers' connection with the sea, said Kevin
Sheehan, Norwegian's CEO.
The line will continue to build
cabins for singles that were introduced on the Norwegian Epic - smaller
inside cabins designed for one, with portholes looking out on the
corridor and access to a lounge exclusively for guests in those cabins.
"To
me, that (solo stateroom) was a very important thing," Sheehan. "As in
the rest of the industry ... there is a large market of people who want
to travel alone and we didn't have an alternative for them."
Now,
he said, Norwegian is adding solo cabins on the Pride of America while
it's in dry dock and will add them to other ships, although older ships
won't have the lounge.
At the same time, he said, the standard
balcony stateroom that debuted on Norwegian Epic has been redesigned
after widespread complaints about the bathroom, which had been
deconstructed into separate parts - toilet, shower, sink - and offered
minimal privacy.
The company has already done away with another
feature that debuted on Norwegian Epic, a faux ice skating rink that no
one used, but that took a lot of labor to set up and take down every
day. Sheehan learned about the problem from a co-worker who didn't
recognize him when he spent two weeks posing as a crew member for the
CBS reality TV series "Undercover Boss." He immediately got rid of the
rink.
In the aftermath of the horrific tragedy in Newtown,
Conn., many are calling for a ban on rifles such as the Bushmaster AR-15
assault rifle used in the shootings. I am not a member of the NRA, but I
do believe that guns do not kill people per se, people use guns to kill
people. If Adam Lanza hadn’t had access to the AR-15 assault rifle he
could have used the hand guns he carried to commit his massacre. That
does not mean we shouldn’t close the loop hole in gun control by not
allowing people to buy guns at trade shows without background checks and
registration.
I believe one aspect of recent attacks in the U.S. on innocent people in malls,High quality stone mosaic
tiles. a mosque, and movie theater, etc., is partly due to 10 years of
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and video games. Hollywood and the 24-hour
television news media have graphically highlighted aspects of these
wars. The raid on Osama bin Laden was covered in extensive detail,
including the White House involvement, and similar actions in recent
movies. Years ago this would have been kept secret and certainly the
deadly details of who shot when and how. In essence, we properly honor
and highlight our military warriors, but at the same time deplore random
civilian violence.
I don’t believe it is coincidental that the
perpetrators of these crimes have been dressed with military vests and
other gear as well as using an assault weapon. In their own minds I
suspect they are mimicking combat scenes, but when confronted by law
enforcement they take their own lives. Also, many action video games
children can play are extremely realistic and gory.
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