Water Slides, Zip Lines, Outdoor Aqua Theatres and Rooms for Five

18 November 2009

The new Carnival Dream has a 300 foot long waterslide in its onboard Aqua Park, the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas features both a bow to stern zip line along the top of the ship and the first outdoor performance aqua theatre in cruise history. But, even with these amazing bells and whistles, more mundane improvements such as staterooms holding five people and two bathroom staterooms may have a bigger impact on customer preference for the future.

Ever since Ted Arison, founder of Carnival Cruise Line pioneered the “build it and they will come” theory of cruise line expansion in the 1980s, the industry has invested billions of dollars in new and exciting ships, as well as a slightly lesser amount in the retrofitting of older ships with updates and improvements. And, while the big boys like Carnival and Royal Caribbean are bringing out their latest mega-ships, top-end luxury cruise lines such as Silversea Cruises and Seabourn Cruises have also upped the ante with new and exciting additions to their own fleets.

Bottom line is that the consumer today has more choice and value than ever before and the cruising industry is banking on that strategy for the long-term. What’s next, who can say, but it will probably be pretty exciting if the past is any indication.

Anybody in the Woodinville home area of Cruise Holidays of Woodinville is invited to hear more about Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas debut in a special story event on December 8th from 6-7:30 PM. Vikki Knudsen, regional sales manager for Royal Caribbean will bring her first-hand account of the inaugural activities for the world’s largest cruise ship. Please RSVP if you’d like to attend.