Cruise trends

What’s new in the cruise industry is like playing “Can you top this?”

In case you missed it, ice skating rinks, giant trampolines and rock-climbing walls on board ships are old news, along with wine cellars and menus from celebrity chefs.

The latest innovations include a bowling alley aboard Norwegian Pearl, and a Flowrider, which lets you ride an artificial wave, on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas.

In addition to an industrywide emphasis on gee-whiz features, other trends in the cruise industry include the continued popularity of family cruising and European ports of call, along with overall growth, with a record number of guests last year and 30 cruise ships under construction through 2010.

As for destinations, Mediterranean and European ports make up 20 percent of the cruise market, second only to Caribbean itineraries, according to Cruise Lines International Association.

Interest among families is part of that trend. This summer marks the first time that a Disney cruise will hit European ports when the Magic ship launches a series of Mediterranean trips. The 10- and 11-night itineraries include eight stops with 190 choices for excursions, from traditional sightseeing in places such as Pompeii and the Coliseum, to a Ferrari test-drive and a visit to Narni, Italy, the town said to have inspired “The Chronicles of Narnia.”

More than 1 million children age 17 and younger now cruise each year, according to CLIA. While Disney’s cruise ships, which launched in 1998, led the way in making cruising fun for kids, today there is hardly a big ship that doesn’t try to appeal to families. It’s not just children’s menus and glorified baby-sitting; it’s video arcades, spa treatments for teenagers, kids’ karaoke competitions and scavenger hunts, not to mention basketball courts, teen nightclubs and on-board water parks.

If the explosion in family cruising hasn’t destroyed the stereotype of cruises as a vacation choice for older travelers, perhaps this will: Sixty-eight percent of Gen-Xers, those born roughly from 1965-78, say they intend to take a cruise. That compares with 65 percent of baby boomers and 59 percent of seniors. The data comes from market research conducted online for CLIA last year among 2,000 people.

Nine newly built vessels are scheduled to launch in 2007: Carnival Freedom, Emerald Princess, MSC Orchestra, Costa Serena, Liberty of the Seas, American Star, Norwegian Gem, Queen Victoria, and Fram, under construction for Norwegian Coastal Voyage. Fram is being built for exclusive use in Greenland, and is named for a ship used by a Norwegian explorer, Fridtjof Nansen, who took a three-year trip around Greenland in the late 1800s.

Flowers & sports

Disney World events for the first half of 2007 range from themed children’s parties to annual events showcasing flowers and sports.

The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival unfolds over two months, from April 5-June 3, with topiaries, flower beds, water gardens and many other exhibits, along with seminars on gardening and crafts, a children’s garden, a butterfly garden, nightly “Flower Power” concerts and themed festival weekends celebrating bugs, art and Mother’s Day. Details are at www.disneyworld.com/flower.

The Atlanta Braves begin spring training at The Ballpark at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex following the start of workouts this month. Tickets are on sale; for information and prices, go to www.disneyworldsports.com.

Sports fans will also want to check out the fourth annual “ESPN the Weekend” March 2-4 at Disney-MGM Studios, with on-site ESPN telecasts, star motorcades, interactive sports activities and Q&A sessions with athletes and ESPN commentators.

Disney’s Pirate & Princess Party takes place in the Magic Kingdom on 13 evenings through March 8 and includes fireworks, a parade and a treasure hunt. You may want to attend in costume. Tickets are $36.95 plus tax for age 10 and older, $29.95 plus tax for ages 3-9, and can be obtained by calling 407-934-7639 or visiting www.disneyworld.com/pirateandprincess.

Also this year, as part of Disney’s “Year of a Million Dreams” celebration, guests will be randomly chosen while visiting the park to spend the night in Cinderella’s Castle. The suite accommodates up to six and includes a bedchamber, salon and bath off a private marble-floored lobby four stories above the Magic Kingdom.

Steinbeck on map

A new tourism map of Monterey County, Calif., can help you plan a literary pilgrimage to places associated with John Steinbeck, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and many other writers.

The “Scenes for Your Senses Literary & Film Map,” produced by the Monterey County Convention & Visitors Bureau, is free and can be obtained at www.montereyinfo.-org or by calling 888-221-1010.

Steinbeck’s connections to the area are many. The National Steinbeck Center, the Steinbeck House (his birthplace and childhood home) and Garden of Memories Cemetery, where the author’s ashes are interred, are all in Salinas. His novel, “East of Eden,” was set in Salinas Valley. In Monterey, you’ll find the Lara Soto Adobe, which he bought and lived in for a year, and at 800 Cannery Row, you’ll find the home and lab of Ed Ricketts, a scientist who was the model for Steinbeck’s “Doc” character in “Cannery Row.”

The map includes Point Sur, referenced in the title of a Robinson Jeffers’ poem, “The Women at Point Sur”; a drive through the Laureles Grade en route to Carmel Valley, depicted in Steinbeck’s “Pastures of Heaven”; and the Cypress Grove Trail at Point Lobos State Reserve, which may have inspired Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” Stevenson lived in the area after marrying a California woman; you can also visit the Stevenson House in Monterey, along with Jeffers’ Tor House and Hawk Tower overlooking Carmel Beach. Part of Jack London’s “Valley of the Moon” is also set in Carmel River State Beach.

Big Sur is another spot for soaking up literary vibes. Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Henry Miller, Hunter S. Thompson and Richard Brautigan are among the many writers who visited and lived there over the years. The Henry Miller Memorial Library is here, near the author’s Partington Ridge home.

The map also serves as a guide for film buffs. The area has been used as a backdrop for movies ranging from “Vertigo” and “National Velvet” to “Rebecca” and “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”

Compiled from wire reports

source : www.recordonline.com