Inside Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas

Independence of the Seas has a lot going for it. She is currently the largest cruise ship in the world, a title she holds along with her sister ships Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas. She is full of entertainment and dining venues and has both traditional and innovative outdoor facilities such as a surfing simulator. Just as importantly, the crew is engaged in a near constant effort to entertain the passengers with parades, singing and dancing waiters as well as the usual set of shipboard activities such as trivia contests and bingo.

The ship follows Royal Caribbean’s style of cruising. This style was developed serving the American market. Consequently, the décor, the informality and the emphasis on activity all reflect the country where Royal Caribbean first achieved success.

Recently, however, Royal Caribbean announced that Independence of the Seas’ first summer season sailing out of Southampton, England had been so successful that the ship would be homeported there all year in 2010. What makes this so surprising is that the vast majority of passengers traveling on Independence have not been vacationing Americans but rather British.

When I was onboard Independence, I had the opportunity to talk with Captain Arnolf Remo, Hotel Director Darren Budden and Cruise Director Allan Brooks about Independence and her success in Britain. The resulting article appears at: http://beyondships.com/RCI-IOS-article-UK.html Also, to see what Independence of the Seas looks like, there is the photo tour beginning at http://beyondships.com/RCI-IOS-tour.html

Ventura - - Designed to be British

For ten years, ships of the Grand Princess-class have been the mainstay of the Princess Cruises fleet. There are now eight Princess ships based on this design in service and another one will join the fleet in the fall. They have proved very popular and conducive to Princess’ objective of providing passengers with “American-style luxury.”

This year, for the first time, a ship built on the Grand Princess design went into service for a line other than Princess Cruises. The other line was Princess’ one time parent company and now sister company under the Carnival Corporation umbrella, P&O Cruises. Moreover, while the previous ships have been used to provide American style cruising, Ventura was built specifically for the British market.

What exactly does designing a ship for Britain mean? Is it posting a picture of the Queen in the atrium and having everything else remain the same as on the Princess ships? Is it decorating the public rooms in British cliches like an English gentleman’s club or a Cockney pub? Neither.

Instead, it means creating an atmosphere that appeals to British tastes. The interior design is done in a contemporary style but there is no neon or theme park-type decoration. Some seven thousand works of art done by British artists or artists living and working in Britain adorn the ship. Thus, the atmosphere is more restrained and intellectual.

The themes of the public rooms reflect places British people like to go. For example, many U.K. residents like to holiday in Spain. Accordingly, there is a large Spanish-style restaurant and bar. British cruisers are not as interested in casinos as their American cousins, so the casino is smaller and more low-key.

Differences in the climate are also taken into account. It is normally cooler and rainier in Britain than in America. Therefore, it makes sense for a cruise ship operating in British waters to have a retractable glass dome over one of the swimming pools. For the same reason, a large movies-under-the-stars screen is not as attractive for such a ship as for a ship operating in American waters.

Walking around Ventura, I was continually struck by the differences between this ship and her American sisters. Yes, the floor plan is much the same. However, P&O have successfully taken that floor plan and geared it toward the market it serves, i.e., the British cruise market. Thus, while Ventura is a sister to the other Grand class ships, she is not a mere clone. Rather, she is a ship with a distinct personality.

My photo tour of Ventura is at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Tour-1.html and the ship profile is at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Profile.html