New Ships and trends in cruising

New Destinations

Interested in cruising and what new ships offer?  This is a nice article on trends for both ocean and river cruising.

Here's some quick highlights:

• A new demographic:  "Skip-gen" - Grandparent cruising with grandkids (skipping the parents) is becoming more popular arrangement
• Expanding demographic:  Cruise ship operators are looking to entice the millennial generation with shorter length ocean cruises. Even river cruises are reaching out with U by Uniworld for example.
• Continued strong growth:  There will be 27 new ships coming out in 2018 (10 river cruise ships and 17 ocean ships)

New ships and features

• Royal Caribbean will launch the world's largest cruise ship and will feature:  laser tag,a 10 story racing slide, a production of the Broadway musical "Hairspray" and a luxury family suite for eight with a private movie theater.
• Norwegian Cruise line's features 180 degree observation lounge, laser tag, electric go-karts, a Beatles club and a spa with both a snow room and salt room
• Holland America's new ship will feature a 270 degree wrap around LED screen, a blending station for wines and will continue their successful partnership with Oprah magazine.
• Celebrity brings out it's Edge, a novel concept ship with a movable deck and new open concept rooms
• MSC Cruise launches Seaside a beautiful new ship featuring an aqua-park, zip lines and spa.  MSC is investing heavily in the North American market.   Their Yacht Club area is particularly nice.

Where to next?

But wait there's more.....

The article touched on a few highlights but there's so much more that's new in cruising.

• New ports and destinations (more Cuba, more Japan, more Iceland, more South America, wish list desintations).
• There's new ships not even mentioned in the article
• There's food and drink venues on many of the ships. Best yet there's some great deals that include dining and/or beverage packages.

Resources

How to decide when, where, with whom and how much?  Contact a great travel agent and talk it through.  In the mean time, consider the following posts right here at Go Astro Travel:

• Travel Ideas for your next vacation
• New ships, new destinations
• 2018 Travel Trends - somewhere new
• New destinations await in 2018 and beyond