Royal Caribbean making fitness at sea a quiet priority

by Chris Owen on

They don’t talk about it much. On board, they have all the usual decadent food delights we associate with a cruise and it’s still possible to do absolutely nothing for your entire vacation. But in the background, just a step or two away from the spotlight, Royal Caribbean is offering guests more healthy, active lifestyle options than ever before.

A special program called “Royal Life”, is being offered on an upcoming sailing of Vision of the Seas. The program features an intense schedule of sports and fitness activities with a focus on nutrition. Sailing February 5, the program features activities such as spinning classes, rhythms, hydro bike and pilates. Yoga, both on the ship and on the beach is featured plus kids yoga and contests for families.

A featuring fitness is nothing new for Royal Caribbean who last month hosted a 5K run on St Maarten aboard Allure of the Seas. Rainy weather kept that one out of the headlines but the line keeps offering active options for guests.

On-board fitness programming is highlighted by their signature rock-climbing wall on all ships. Ice skating rinks, Flow-rider surf simulators and full-size basketball courts on some ships grab the attention of guests too. But the line’s keen interest in fitness and a health runs much deeper, weaving its way through everything from their Adventure Ocean kids program to on-board culinary options.

In the dining room, Healthy spa menus, Vegetarian Meals (including Indian-style vegetarian) are available as well as in the Windjammer Cafe buffet every day. Lactose-free/soy milk and other special dietary request meals are available with advance notice prior to sailing.

Also included on all ships is a fitness center that rivals membership-only facilities on land with all the latest equipment and knowledgeable crew members standing by to help. Classes typically offered include aerobics, resistance training, cycling, an aqua program water-workout and more.

It’s almost as though all these options have been secretly planted in all they do. They’re just waiting for much of the world to wake up from fast-food meals, couch-potato evenings and a general lack of interest in healthy choices. When they do, Royal Caribbean will be there with programs in place for just about everyone.

Flickr photo by naama

Cruise ship delayed due to illness outbreak

by Chris Owen on

Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas returned to the Port of Tampa today with a ship full of passengers and a little something extra, an outbreak of intestinal flu.

“During Radiance of the Seas’ last sailing, a number of guests experienced some gastrointestinal illness,” Royal Caribbean said in a statement. “In an abundance of caution, we will conduct some enhanced sanitizing on board the ship and within the cruise terminal to help prevent any illness from affecting the next sailing”

The ship is expected to be delayed by about five hours said Doug Parker of CruiseRadio.net who has been in contact with guests preparing to board the ship for it’s next sailing. “Those guests have been told to be at the pier at 5PM for boarding at 6PM, departing at 9:30PM” Parker said.

The cruise line is asking guests who might be sick to reschedule their cruise instead of boarding too. “If you have experienced any gastrointestinal symptoms during the past three days” the company told passengers reports Reuters.2,110-passenger Radiance of the Seas had been on a five-day cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico and was scheduled to leave Saturday night on the same itinerary

Flickr photo by prayitno

A couple things you do not want to do on a cruise

by Chris Owen on

Cruise lines want you to have a good time and offer lots of activities and events to make that happen. They talk a lot about how this is “your cruise” and want you to do whatever you want to in order to enjoy it.

There are limits though.

Don’t just go visit the bridge: It was New Years Eve when Alex Sokolov, a passenger on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas supposedly wandered on to the bridge, a restricted high security area and ended up being thrown off the ship. “He was accused of violating safety rules, and for that he was held for days in detention in the cabin, and then left on the shore in the Athenian harbor of Piraeus.” reports the Royal Caribbean blog Bridge tours can be arranged and are often a part of special celebration packages. Just stopping by? Not so much.

Don’t do it in the hot tub: Surveillance cameras cover pretty much all public areas of the ship, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Need I say more?

Flickr photo by Bruce Tuten

Cruise lines offer dining options, for a price

by Chris Owen on

If there is one thing cruise lines are it’s responsive to giving passengers what they want. A big part of the cruise experience has always been the food and these days there are more options than ever before. It’s been an evolution as cruise lines look for just the right mix of dining options to be everything to everyone. For the most part, cruise line dining options have been evolving well but not without moving a bit farther away from the all-inclusive nature cruise vacations are known for.

It wasn’t all that long ago that everybody on a cruise ship piled into the main dining room for dinner. They may have chosen an early or late dining time but that was about it in the way of options. Still, considering the all-inclusive nature of a cruise, it made sense and everyone was happy for the most part. Dancing waiters in the dining room and top-notch banquet-style service pleased pretty much everyone.

Then cruise lines started adding what were called “alternative dining options” to ships. Initially they were a single restaurant in addition to the main dining room where one might go for a super extra special occasion, pay a little more and get even better service and even better food than the already great stuff in main dining room.

I remember sailing on Carnival Legend when this concept first came out. We paid $20 extra for a steak that would have been called a roast back home able to feed a family of four along with a dining experience like no other. In the small venue there was live entertainment, waiters always within arms reach and they did a really good job in a different way than the main dining room. It made sense. It was worth the nominal fee and quite an experience. Not that the main dining room wasn’t, this was different and obviously something they couldn’t just throw in for everyone as part of the deal.

Fast forward to now and Allure of the Seas, Norwegian Epic or any one of a number of other ships where the main dining room experience is almost secondary and not the star of the show as it once was. Today there are more options than ever before for dining at any time of the day or night, for a price.

%Gallery-112282%”Oasis of the Seas features 24 distinct dining experiences, ranging from an exclusive signature restaurant, to neighborhood-specific themed venues, and new twists on Royal Caribbean’s traditional dining areas.” says cruise expert Linda Garrison.

Of those 24 dining options, 12 included in the price and 12 cost more, but prices are reasonable starting at $4.95 for Johnny Rockets, fun and casual indoor/outdoor diner to $35 for 150 Central Park, the ships premiere dining venue.

Other cruise lines and ships have up to a 50/50 split between complementary and extra charge dining options too. Norwegian Cruise Lines new Norwegian Epic has 9 complementary options and 10 extra charge choices.

A number of long-time cruise vacation fans recoil at the mere thought of paying a cover charge for, in their minds, what used to be included in the price. Surely, long ago when these options did not exist, that was true. But now pretty much all major cruise lines have dining options and doing so is consistent with what a cruise is all about

On a cruise, as opposed to other packaged vacation options, we can easily customize the experience to be pretty much what ever we want it to be. This is good news for travelers who are becoming more and more all about custom vacation options rather than a boiler-plate same experience for everyone.

Yes, you can still book a cruise, and have a good time without spending one penny more than the price of the cruise. The lines are well aware that it was the all-inclusive nature and extraordinary value of a cruise compared with other options, that got them where they are today. They are not going to turn their back on that.

Attractive dining options, at an extra charge, allow those who want more than the standard fare to get just that.

In 2011 and beyond, look for this trend to continue as cruise lines as well as other vacation options allow more customization. Those who want to debate the topic need to wake up and smell the coffee, this is not going away.

Royal Caribbean cracks down on booze smuggling

by Chris Owen on

It wasn’t all that long ago when guests booked on any given cruise line did not have too much trouble bringing a bottle of fine wine, some soft drinks or bottled water on to the ship at embarkation to enjoy in their stateroom. There was no “smuggling” needed and cruise lines, for the most part, allowed it. Today, rules are changing and being strictly enforced.

Cruise lines in general allowed guests to bring on one bottle of fine wine for a special occasion when they boarded the ship. The only caveat being that if consumed in the dining room the line would charge a “corkage fee” for serving it. Bottled water and soft drinks too were allowed. I have checked cases of bottled water with porters at the pier before and they were delivered to our stateroom right along with luggage later in the day. Soft drinks in 12-packs were easy to add to checked luggage too, also with no problem.
Hard liquor, beer, excessive amounts of wine (like in a box) have always been prohibited but common advice was to wrap it securely and put in checked luggage. One could almost bet on it making its way through security and on to the ship. No problem. Still, it was technically smuggling and it might as well have been gasoline. If caught, the cruise line would take it.

Today, we see more reports of cruise lines cracking down on booze smuggling with this recent report by a Royal Caribbean passenger just off Oasis of the Seas saying:

“We gave all our luggage to the porter. All our bags showed up around 2 PM, except for 3 bags that contained alcohol”

“Our cabin steward said if we had Irons (fire hazard) or alcohol in those missing bags, that we needed to go down to level 2 and claim them. We went down and were surprised to see this large room covered with luggage. I’m talking 100’s of bags”

“They greeted us by asking if we had alcohol or irons in the bag. They had 2 different sections of bags, one for the irons and one for the alcohol. After locating our bags, we had to take them to a table to be opened, inspected by security while you rummage through your bag and get out the alcohol that the cruise line somehow determined was in it it. They taped all the items together, marked our room # on it and said it would be returned the last night of the cruise. Our cabin steward did return it around 6 PM on our last night”.

“One in our party had a 4 pack of those small bottles of wine that they confiscated. She thought she had rummaged completely through her bag in front of security, but she missed one bottle so we had that one anyway.”

Moral of the story: Pack junk wine or decoy bottles on top with the good stuff deep down in the luggage? Be more creative, like Ziploc bags of booze taped to your body?

Probably not.Royal Caribbean’s rules are clear: “Guests are not allowed to bring alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages on-board for consumption or any other use.” Try and you’re just rolling the dice as to if your contraband makes it on the ship or not.

Better idea: Budget for liquor and other beverage purchases and have an idea of what you might spend on the sailing then just consider it part of the price OR cruise a line that has a more lenient policy.

Carnival Cruise Line’s policy also prohibits bringing alcoholic beverages on board but says “wine enthusiasts may bring fine wine or champagne on board only during embarkation at the beginning of the cruise” and that guests “may bring a small quantity of nonalcoholic beverages” but quickly points out that “All liquor, excessive quantities of wine and nonalcoholic beverages, to be determined at the discretion of security and/or embarkation personnel, will be confiscated and discarded without compensation.” Princess Cruises also has that exemption for a bottle of wine at embarkation. Other lines have their own policies and they change from time to time so be sure you know for sure what the policy of your line is.

Another part of Royal Caribbean’s policy that is probably overlooked, especially by passengers who drive rather than fly to the port of embarkation:

“Please Note: All guests must comply with TSA guidelines for transporting liquids.”

Uh oh!

That surely means they could confiscate bottles of shampoo, mouthwash, lotions, and other liquids in excess of the 3oz TSA limit. This one has a double whammy of trouble. First, (and probably why they added it) filling a large Listerine bottle with Scotch or an Evian bottle with Vodka is no longer a really security-proof option. Next, will 3oz of your favorite shampoo really be enough for a week? Odds are you can bring many little bottles of shampoo and really creative people will find a way to smuggle booze on to the ship anyway.

Better idea? TSA Compliant Travel Bottles and Kits for Liquids and Gels

Bad idea: The wine rack described as “Turn an A cup in to double Ds AND sport your favorite beverage for yourself and your friends! Better than a Boob Job and Cheaper Too! Not to mention the savings on over priced drinks.“

This is where we hope cruise lines don’t start TSA-style patdown’s any time soon.

Flickr photo by theimpulsive buy