Cruise News
by Candyce H. Stapen
No wonder the cruise industry is booming. Ships are getting better and better, providing passengers with more options. Depending on the ship, onboard you can splash in water parks, climb rock walls, go bowling, try surfing, skate on ice rinks, play basketball, and swing through mini-golf. On shore, you can zip down cables strung through rainforests, kayak mangrove sanctuaries, explore Maya ruins, snorkel and dive reefs teeming with rainbow colored fish, or simply snooze in the sun on a sandy, white beach.
The up-front price covers lodging, more food than you or even your teenager could ever eat, entertainment, transportation to a variety of ports, plus kids’ and teens’ activities. The vast majority of vacationers pull into their home port praising their trip. Both Royal Caribbean International and Holland America provide memorable, but very different cruise experiences. Here are reviews of two voyages.
RCI’s Liberty of the Seas
With the April 2007 launch of Liberty of the Seas, the second of RCI’s Freedom class ships, the world’s largest passenger vessels, RCI makes an exciting product even better. How? RCI improved the cuisine and the service as well as tweaked the scheduling to minimize onboard crowds, no small feat on a behemoth weighing 160,000 gross tons and carrying 3,634 guests, double-occupancy.
For the first time in more than 15 years of sailing aboard RCI, we liked the food. Previously, we endured mediocre meals in order to climb the rock walls, take advantage of the well-thought-out children’s activities, play basketball, enjoy the lively entertainment and, on some ships, ice skate. On our August Caribbean cruise even the lunchtime buffet, which always offered plenty of choices, now served tasty ones, including moist fish and good burgers you didn’t have to wait for.
Lines, sometimes an issue on the initial departures of Liberty’s sister ship, the Freedom, remained minimal. Except for the predictable post-show exit for the elevators, we didn’t endure backups, even when tendering at ports, and not because we grabbed numbered tickets. The constant tenders, at times departing from two gangways, made going ashore painless. That’s especially remarkable because our particular sailing floated 4,226 passengers, including 1,200 children under the age of 18, plus more than 1,400 crew.
 And don’t worry about roaming gangs of grade-schoolers and teens. The kids were too busy creating cartoons, doing science experiments and playing games at the children’s programs. Ages 12 to 14 and 15 to 17, when not meeting in the Living Room, their teen-only hang-out, or dancing at Fuel, their private disco, surfed or tried to on the FlowRider, a clever contraption that generates waves, making hanging ten or boogie boarding on deck possible.
Younger kids and their parents especially liked splashing through the whimsically shaped spurting fountains, sprays and bucket dumps at the H2O Zone, a water fun park. Where we did feel the masses was at Labadee, RCI’s private, sand getaway. Even with five beaches and plenty of acreage, the beach day, with hundreds in the water at once and lounge chairs laid out in long rows, seemed more like a stadium event than an island escape. The kids, however, swam happily in the calm, teal Caribbean.
One gripe: the $3.95 cover charge to eat at Johnny Rockets, the chain diner, on top of an additional fee for the shakes, burgers and other menu items. Previously, cruisers paid only for what they ordered.
In May 2008 RCI debuts the Independence of the Seas, its third mammoth ship. The vessel, slated to sail Europe, will make it easy for families to combine museum and castle visits ashore with lots of water fun onboard (800-327-6700; www.royalcaribbean.com).
Holland America Line’s Westerdam
Our cruise aboard Holland America’s Westerdam surprised us. We expected a blasé voyage peopled by scores of white-haired couples. Although sixty- and seventy-year-olds predominated on our February Caribbean voyage, many headed family groups with grade-schoolers, teens and even college kids. Baby boomers like us rounded out the list.
Our favorite thing about the cruise was the food. We liked the attentive staff, especially in the dining room, as well as the mostly very good dinners that included memorable appetizers such as mussels with garlic and tasty fish cakes. We looked forward to the special French toast on the daily breakfast buffet, especially the banana or the zucchini bread variety as well as the lunch buffet’s fresh-grilled salmon.
Celebrity chefs frequently demonstrate at the fleet-wide, showcase kitchens of the Culinary Arts Center. Even kids can sign up for cooking classes, a program rolled out in June 2007.
In July 2007, Holland American began As You Wish dining aboard the Noordam. For the entire voyage, passengers select either early or main seating dining or opt for a flexible schedule, showing up for meals between 5:15 p.m. and 9 p.m. By the summer 2008 delivery of the line’s new Eurodam, these choices will be standard on all ships.
At the Club HAL children’s program, ages three to seven and eight to 12 play games, create crafts and go on treasure hunts. Teens 13 to 17 try Karaoke, team up for volleyball, go for moonlight pool swims and hang out the Loft, their own space.
The entertainment is good, but targets different eras. During the first production show, singers belted out “Hernando’s Hideaway,” “Clang, Clang, Clang Goes the Trolley” and other way-before-our-time tunes. Another night an Elton John impersonator rocked the Vista Lounge.
Two minor complaints: charging $20 a day extra to soak in the hydropool and .65 or .75 cents a minute for Internet access. Other than that, we really enjoyed the cruise (877-SAIL-HAL; www.hollandamerica.com).
| |
|
Great Places, Great Deals |
| |
|
—Houston, TX:
 Some can run on water, or look in two directions at once or snap their tongues so fast they catch a fly moving at 16 feet per second. "Lizards and Snakes: Alive!" at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, offers an up-close look at 26 species of these critters, called squamates. Play a video game to find out how a snake hunts by smell, assemble lizard skeletons and see a fossil cast of a Megalania, the largest-known land-based squamate. Alive 1.6 million to 40,000 years ago, this mammoth creature grew to lengths of 30 feet. Through January 6, 2008 (713-639-4629; www.hmns.org).
—Kennett Square, PA:
A water curtain, a dragon fountain and a bamboo maze entice young kids to learn about the world of growing things at Longwood Gardens’ expanded and renovated Children’s Garden, scheduled to open October 27 (610-388-1000; www.longwoodgardens.org).
|
|
| |
|
*****
– Candyce H. Stapen is the author of
27 books, including National Geographic Guide to Caribbean Family
Vacations.
|
