sUMMER 2010
celebratedliving.com
72
l
CRUISES
T
Planninganadventureat sea?Set sail
ononeof thesestandout ships that earned
ourreaders’ raves thisyear.
BYROBERTW.BONE
Thecruise industry issailing full
speedahead into thecentury’ssecond
decade.TheReaders’ChoicePlatinum
Awardwinnersareprimeexamplesof
how thebest fleetshave responded to
cruisers’ demands forstill-better facili-
tiesandmoreamenities.
Leading the field thisyearare the
21vesselsguidedby
ROYAL CARIBBEAN
INTERNATIONAL
.Despite itsname,Royal
Caribbean International hasexpanded
beyondsteel bandsand limbocontests
tomake thewholeworld itsoyster, in-
cludingsophisticatedoperations in
Asiaand thePacificaswell as tradi-
tional itineraries inAlaska,Europe,
and, yes, theCaribbean.Coming this
December is the
Allureof theSeas
, sis-
tershipof 2009’sspectacular18-deck
Oasisof theSeas
, currentlyknownas
theworld’s largest cruiseship.
Under thesamecorporateumbrella,
CELEBRITYCRUISES
keeps toequallyhigh
standards.New to the fleet is the
Celeb-
rityEclipse
, soon tobe followedby two
moreships.Celebrity featuresmanyon-
boardexperiences, includingculinary
demonstrationsandenrichment lec-
tures.staff-to-guest ratio isabout2-to-1.
NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE
continues to
winaccolades for its“FreestyleCruis-
ing,”allowingguests tomakedecisions
notalwaysavailableonothercruises.
NCL’snew
NorwegianEpic
will soon
offerstillmoreelaboratechoices, in-
cludinggroundbreakingonboarden-
tertainment suchasBlueManGroup
andNickelodeon’sslimeTimeLive.
PRINCESSCRUISES
and
HOLLANDAMERICA
LINE
competevigorouslyon theirAlaska
programs,where theyhave longbeen
considered the leaders.AsTV’sorigi-
nal “LoveBoat,”Princess isstill out-
standingamong the traditional cruises
to theMexicanRiviera, popularports
Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas
Windstar Cruises
