Oasis of the Seas intro videos

This is from the Oasis of the Seas website.

NCL reveals more info on F3 ships

Yesterday, the same day that Royal Caribbean revealed more info on their Oasis of the Seas, NCL decided to also reveal additional info on their upcoming ships codenamed F3. Unfortunate for them. There are however, some interesting features coming on these new ships. NCL is certainly making a play at becoming an industry influencing line, like Royal Caribbean, when it comes to amenities and features on their ships.

NCL already released info on their new cabin design that will be employed on these 150,000 ton 4,200 passenger ships. They will feature unconventional non box shaped design with open bathroom areas.

Yesterday's event revealed features like the POSH beach club, a private area with a pool, waterfall, beds and cabanas. Early mornings feature yoga classes and other health treatments. Also during mornings, you can "rehab" from partying the night before with bloody marys, mimosas, and salty dogs. Afternoons are pool time and late nights it becomes an outdoor night club.

Halo will be an exclusive bar and lounge for VIPs and passengers in the Garden Villas. It will feature private gaming tables and there will be a fee for "regular" passengers.

Spice H2O will be the pool area which will also serve as a dining location and outdoor theater. It will be Asian themed and at nights there will be music and dancing. The pool floor will be able to rise as a cover allowing it to be used as a dance floor. The concept sounds sort of like Royal Caribbean's AquaTheatre on Oasis of the Seas.

Most interesting is the inclusion of a frozen bar like what you might find somewhere in Scandinavia. The Ice Bar will be an actual frozen bar contained in a vault maintained at 17F degrees. Passengers will be wearing fur coats and mittens to enter. Should be nice after a hot day.

In a controversial move, NCL also announced that there will be admission fees for all of the venues aside from Spice H2O. They claim that it will be for crowd control since most of the venues have limited seating. We'll see how that goes over.

Here is the link to the full story from CruiseCritic.

Royal Caribbean releases more Oasis of the Seas info.

Oasis of the Seas

Royal Caribbean hosted a media event today in New York to announce the latest details regarding the upcoming Oasis of the Seas. Among the highlights are the Boardwalk featuring places to eat, shop and play carnival games. The centerpiece will be a handcrafted carousel, obviously the first at sea.


Boardwalk

Also announced was the AquaTheatre, the first amphitheatre at sea, featuring the largest fresh water pool afloat. The kidney shaped pool will be popular as will the sunbathing areas located on tiered platforms surrounding it. At night it will turn to a place for theatrics, dramatic performances of acrobatics, synchronized swimming, water ballet, and high diving along with light and fountain shows synchronized to music.


AquaTheatre

The Royal Promenade has also undergone a makeover. Situated under the Central Park area, it will be filled with natural light from above. There will also be a mezzanine level overlooking the lower promenade. The Rising Tide Bar will rise from the Royal Promenade up three decks to the Central Park.


Central Park

Out on deck there will be two rock climbing walls along with the first zip line at sea suspended nine decks over the Boardwalk. Inside there will be 28 two level loft style suites featuring floor to ceiling views with what are sure to be amazing views.


Royal Promenade

Unbelievable stuff they are packing into this ship. I can't imagine how amazing this ship is going to be. Once again Royal Caribbean is creating a ship that will change the cruise industry. I can't wait to see what's next.

Here is a link to the entire press release.

Check out more photo renderings here.

Bermuda Desperate For New Business

Bermuda, once a darling of the cruise industry, has seen a rapid decline in business from the cruise industry. At one time they could dictate who could dock there and for how long. Those days are over and the Bermudian government has just passed regulations reversing their long time ban on operation of ship's casinos while in port as well as suspending the cabin tax on ships calling on the island.

Cruise lines will now be allowed to open their casinos after 10PM while in port which some locals say will hurt the local nightlife scene. I doubt they will be complaining much if this actually succeeds in bringing more ships to the island though. Currently only NCL and Royal Caribbean have itineraries to Bermuda that include multiple day stays, something that the local government used to require of visiting ships.

I'd like to see a resurgence in the Bermuda cruise market. It's a beautiful island and I've been there several times. They're going to have to live with these concessions and possibly add a few others to draw people back to the island. They absolutely need to concentrate more on catering to the tourists like most of the Caribbean islands do. In my visits to Bermuda, I got more of an impression that they merely tolerated the tourists instead.

There is a full article on the story here.

Oasis of the Seas update coming June 18

According to Cruise Critic, Royal Caribbean is having a media event on June 18 to reveal additional info about the upcoming Oasis of the Seas. The article I read has some interesting speculation regarding some of the photo "hints" contained within their e-invitation.

Here is a link to the article.