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

Carnival Pride Photo Tour and Commentary

Carnival Pride and her three Spirit-class sister ships are like the high performance sports cars of the Carnival fleet. Longer but yet smaller than Carnival’s Destiny-class megacruise ships, Pride can whip through the water at 24 knots. Her azipod propulsion system makes her highly maneuverable although I must admit that the Destiny-class ships are surprisingly maneuverable with their traditional propeller system. In any event, her technological prowess carries over and gives the ship something of the same feeling of superiority that comes with owning a performance car.

While Pride is smaller than the Destiny-class ships, especially the latest evolutions of that design such as Carnival Splendor, she offers many of the passenger choices that Carnival features. Indeed, there is even a specialty steakhouse and a flexible dining option in the main restaurant.

Inside, Pride is flamboyant. Carnival designer Joe Farcus has made use of numerous reproductions of Old Master artworks in a tribute to the “icons of beauty.” There is probably not another ship afloat that makes such extensive use of the works of Raphael, Van Gough, Michelangelo, and other renowned painters. These are not lined up one after another as in a museum but rather are blown-up to giant proportions or blended into the décor in interesting ways. Not only does it create a fun, Pop-style environment but it leads one to look around at the detail work and say “Hey, isn’t that from . . . .”

Aside from the hardware, I was impressed by the friendliness of the crew during my recent voyage on Pride. Everyone was friendly and confident in what they were doing.

My profile of Carnival Pride is at: http://beyondships.com/CarnivalPride-Profile.html and the multi-page photo tour and commentary begins at: http://beyondships.com/CarnivalPride-Tour-1.html.

Pride is the 50th ship that I have profiled on Beyondships.com including 10 other Carnival ships, 8 Royal Caribbean ships, 8 Holland America ships, 7 Princess ships, four NCL ships, three each from Cunard, P&O Cruises, and Celebrity Cruises as well as individual ships from three other lines. There is a dedicated section on the website for each ship with a photo tour, copies of menus and daily programs and in many cases interviews with the captain and/or other officers.

Inside Emerald Princess --Talking with the Hotel Director

The senior officer with the most direct responsibility for the things that most directly affect a passenger’s cruise experience is the hotel director (also called the hotel manager or passenger services director). He has responsibility for the accommodations, the dining, the entertainment, the activities, the shore excursions and much more. Therefore, the hotel manager is in a unique position to discuss the type of cruise experience that one will encounter on a particular ship.

Tony Becker is a Passenger Services Director for Princess Cruises. He is from Australia and has had experience with major land-based hotels as well as with other cruise lines, NCL being one of them. Thus, he is able to see the style of vacation experience that Princess offers in perspective.

When I spoke with Tony, he was Passenger Services Director of Emerald Princess. She is one of Princess’ newest ships (2007) and is practically identical to Princess’ newest ship. As Tony said, she is “a beautiful piece of hardware.” But a cruise is not just about interacting with the hardware. What type of cruise experience does a passenger encounter on Emerald Princess? Who does the ship attract? What enables Emerald Princess to sail full even in difficult economic times?

Tony is a very straightforward person and he answered these questions. In addition, he pointed out some features of Emerald Princess that often fail to appear on guest’s radar screens. My conversation with Tony Becker appears at: http://beyondships.com/Princess-EP-art-Becker.html

Photo Tour of Holland America's Prinsendam

In the mid to late 1990s, the one irrefutable question what else is there to Cunard besides Queen Elizabeth 2 was Royal Viking Sun. Yes, Cunard had several other ships, some of which were well-loved by their regular passengers and crew, but Royal Viking Sun was the only one recognized throughout the induistry and the cruising public as a first-class cruise ship.

Acquired from Royal Viking Line in 1994, Royal Viking Sun had little in common with QE2. She was half the size, she was a cruise ship and her officers and cruising style were preimarily Norwegian rather than British. Still she was successful offering luxurious long voyages to destinations around the world.

Proof that Royal Viking Sun was a cut above her contemporaries is the fact that she is still sailing for a major cruise line today as Holland Americ's Prinsendam. Built in 1988, many ships of that era are now serving the secondary market or are now Asian gambling ships. However, Prinsendam coontinues to do long voyages to exotic locales providing intimate, elegant cruises in keeping with Holland America's premium standards.

My profile of Prinsendam appears at http://beyondships.com/HAL-Prinsendam.html and the extensive photo tour and commentary begins at http://beyondships.com/HAL-Prinsendam-Tour1.html .

Talking with the Cruise Director of Carnival Triumph

One of the best things about cruising is the interesting people that you meet. Jorge Salano is the cruise director on Carnival Triumph. He is popular with the guests and is an excellent onstage performer. However, what makes Salano particularly interesting is that he is a man who is following his dream.

After years of hard work, Salano had achieved what most people would consider a successful management-level position in the fast food industry. It was good money but it did not make him happy. Then, he experienced a life-threatening illness.

While he was ill, he realized that what he wanted to be was a stand-up comedian. So, when he recovered, he left the fast food industry and started over at the bottom as a comedian. This took him across the country playing comedy clubs and eventually onto cruise ships as a visiting entertainer.

He found that he particularly enjoyed playing the Carnival cruise ships and so when an opening appeared for a cruise director, he applied and was given the job. Now, he combines his love of comedy with a life at sea.

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Salano about his career, how he is able to use his comedic skills in his work as a cruise director and about the role of a cruise director on Carnival Triumph. My conversation with Mr. Salano appears at: http://beyondships.com/CarnivalTriumph-art-Salano.html.

Emerald Princess Photo Tour and Commentary

Emerald Princess is one of three virtually identical ships. I am not speaking here about the fact that she is a member of the Grand-class, all of which stem from the design of the Grand Princess - - there are about a dozen such ships now in service. Rather, I am speaking of the fact that she has the same layout, amenities and décor as Crown Princess and Ruby Princess.

The three ships entered service over a period of three and a half years beginning in May 2006. They reflect all that Princess Cruises had learned about the highly successful Grand-class over the course of decade. Thus, it is not surprising that they are so similar - - why change a winning formula?

So, if the three ships are identical, it follows that they must be fungible, right? Not exactly. While on a superficial level the ships may seem the same, the atmosphere on each is subtlety different. Different sets of people have manned the different ships, leaving their marks which persist even after they have gone on to other things. Also, like people, the ships’ characters have been molded by their different life experiences.

Crown Princess was the first of three and sent a shock wave through the industry with her beautiful Italian-influenced décor. She was also an innovator with the adult-spa retreat called “The Sanctuary” and the sophisticated New York-style steakhouse “The Crown Grill.” Also, the fact that she spent her first two summer seasons based in New York helped to hone her more cosmopolitan atmosphere.

Ruby Princess is the latest of the three. When she emerged on the market in November 2008, it was with a great deal of energy and a “can-do” attitude. Her reviews and high scores on the guest comment cards demonstrated that this was not just bluster. Her innovations such as the “Ultimate Ship Tour” proved successful and have been passed on to her sisters. A schedule of seven-day cruises added to her more fast-paced atmosphere.

Emerald Princess is the middle child. She did not emerge with as much fanfare as her sisters. However, she has all the same features that they do. Moreover, she goes about performing her job extremely well - - just quietly. Perhaps because she does relatively longer cruises, the atmosphere is more relaxed. Perhaps it has something to do with beginning her career in the sunny Mediterranean. It certainly has something to do with the friendliness of her crew.

My profile of Emerald Princess is posted at: http://beyondships.com/Princess-EP-Profile.html The photo tour and commentary begins at: http://beyondships.com/Princess-EP-Tour-1.html

Talking with the Cruise Director of Celebrity Solstice

The cruise director is probably the best known member of the crew. He is on stage, on the television and on the public address system. He is part comedian, part showman and part newsman. However, this public role is only part of what a cruise director does.

When I was aboard Celebrity Solstice, I had the opportunity to talk with veteran Celebrity cruise director Dru Pavlov who was able to give me some insights into the cruise director’s role.

In addition, we spoke about how the design of Celebrity Solstice allows the cruise director to present new types of entertainment.

Finally, Dru commented on balancing the need to introduce new forms of entertainment but yet preserving the things that made Celebrity a success in the first place.

My interview with Dru is posted at: http://beyondships.com/Celebrity-Solstice-art-pavlov.html