Each year brings so many new cruise ships and innovative new tweaks,  it’s hard to summarize in a brief post what makes a cruise vacation so exciting and vibrant.  Going back a few years, everyone was amazed at the concept of a ship with an outdoor rock climbing wall (let alone an ice-skating rink or a pool table or bowling alley.)

Now there are huge aqua parks, onboard surfing, ziplining, and more — and all this from just one cruise line company (Royal Caribbean).  Last year Celebrity Cruises introduced the outdoor lawn with bocce ball, picnics and glass-blowing demonstrations. With everyone interested in food and wine, dining onboard cruise ships keeps getting ratcheted up.  So what’s in store for 2010?

River Cruises
European River cruises have had a hot streak, and will continue to in 2010. New ships are offering more innvotive and luxurious features, like wi-fi access onboard and bicycles. But the popularity of river cruises is now expanding to Asia beyond China’s Yangtze. While Yangtze River Cruises have their following, newer boats offer more comforts and larger suites. The up and coming newcomer is the Mekong River Cruise, between Vietnam and Cambodia.  There are a few companies operating these trips, including AMA Waterways, and new ships just introduced are finding a strong audience. As destinations, Vietnam and Cambodia are also “hot”. Finally, don’t forget about Nile River Cruises. Uniworld is introducing a new cruise boat, Tosca,  that will deliver a premium experience in Egypt.

Luxury Cruises
While cruising is all the rage in travel, mainstream cruise lines have certainly struggled during the recession. Luxury lines like Crystal and Regent Seven Seas are offering tremendous value in offering pricing that’s inclusive of  two-for-one fares, roundtrip airfare, and either free shore excursions (Regent) or significant onboard credits to cover much of your onboard expeses (Crystal). Silversea and Seabourn have also  been offering cruises at 50% – 60% off retail. (Not to mention the additional exclusive offers TravelStore provides.) There’s hardly been  better values in the luxury cruise sector, and as a result, we’ve seen the strongest sales growth here, and with these two lines in particular. 

New Ships
Cruising has become so popular, that travelers are expecting, and getting, more and more from the latest new builds. Luxury lines Silversea and Seabourn recently launched new ships, representing the cutting edge of luxury at sea. Oceania Cruise Line is launching it’s first newbuild and largest ship to date that’s bound to be extremely popular. The Marina debuts in January. Cunard launched the Queen Victoria and now building a new Queen Elizabeth. Norwegian Cruise Line, always an innovator, is launching the Epic later this year, which will feature some studio staterooms for single travelers. (Anyone for bowling at sea?) Disney Cruises, popular for family cruise vacations, is building its first of two new ships in a long while, which will be innovative wonders in their own right (see earlier post on this blog).

Warranting special mention is Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, currently the largest cruise ship afloat. Launched at the tail end of 2009, the reviews are in, and overall they’re very positive, and you can read a few on this blog. (search: Oasis of the Seas.)

Dan Ilves
dan.i@travelstoreusa.com

Tags: cruise ships, cruise vacation, Luxury Cruises, River Cruises

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Cruise Industry Topics, Luxury Cruises, River Cruises, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.