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Thomson Cruises to add Royal Caribbean ship to fleet

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Thomson Cruises’ fleet is to be boosted next year with the addition of a Royal Caribbean International ship.

The US cruise line is to sell 1,830-passenger Splendour of the Seas to Tui Cruises for an undisclosed sum.

The 69,130-ton vessel, which first entered service in 1996, will then be leased to Thomson Cruises.

The deal will see Splendour of the Seas operate its last sailing for Royal Caribbean on April 4, 2016, before being transferred to Tui.

Royal Caribbean Cruises chairman and CEO Richard Fain said: “Splendour of the Seas debuted in 1996 and has served Royal Caribbean International extremely well.

“The ship’s sale is in line with our strategic objective of divesting ourselves of older hardware.”

The ship will complete its scheduled cruises before being transferred and no sailings will be altered or disrupted due to the sale, according to the company.

Royal Caribbean International president and CEO Michael Bayley said: “Splendour of the Seas has been a treasured member of the Royal Caribbean International family since she entered service.

“She has offered countless guests memorable vacation experiences and we look forward to continuing to provide the same Gold Anchor Service our brand is known for right up to the last sailing.”

All officers and crew will remain with the company and will be transferred to other vessels.

The ship will be the largest in the Thomson Cruises’ fleet, featuring a rock-climbing wall, nine hole mini golf course, indoor swimming pool, eight bars and lounges and multiple dining options.

Itineraries are due to go on sale at the end of next month.

Thomson Cruises managing director Helen Caron said: “We’re very excited to be welcoming the ship to our fleet next summer.

“This is the first step in our fleet modernisation and transformation strategy and will bring an enhanced offering to our customers with more balcony cabins than ever before, a wider choice of suites, an increased number of dining options and extra entertainment and activity facilities. We are confident that our customers will enjoy sailing on the new addition to our fleet.”

Tui Group strategic platforms chief executive Sebastian Ebel said: “Tui Group is pleased to have been able to secure the purchase of this ship.

“Following the recent announcement of our purchase of luxury cruise ship Europa 2 for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, this continues to demonstrate our long term strategy of investing in our cruise operations as one of our key product areas.”

A sea of changes await cruise passengers this year

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Quantum of the Seas

Royal Caribbean worked with O3B, a company that brings Wi-Fi to developing countries, to launch fast, cheap Internet access on Quantum of the Seas. (Jonathan Atkin / PR Newswire)

By Dave Jones

Cruises Royal Caribbean International Mamma Mia! (musical) Dining and Drinking Lifestyle and Leisure Blue Man Group

Those are just some of the improvements you’ll find at sea in 2015. Along with getting bigger, ships are getting better, ushering in a new era of cruise ship as resort.

The insistence on formal attire and assigned seatings for dining has faded on some cruise lines. Today, you’re more likely to pack khakis than a tux or a ball gown, and meals are often on your schedule, not the ship’s.

The biggest change for the plugged-in passenger (and who isn’t connected these days?) is improved Internet access. At sea, access has been slow, expensive and not always reliable. Its sluggishness has kept travelers from uploading pictures efficiently (ouch, if you’re joined at the hip with, say, Instagram) and streaming videos.

Royal Caribbean worked with O3B, a company that brings Wi-Fi to developing countries, to launch faster, cheaper Internet access on Quantum of the Seas when it debuted in November, and the cruise line is rolling it out to Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas. The line also worked with Harris CapRock in 2013 to improve the digital speed on the rest of the fleet as well as its Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises brands.

In the spring, Viking Cruises launches the Viking Star with complimentary Wi-Fi. Although a few lines have offered free Wi-Fi as a bonus for frequent cruisers or a benefit in certain suites, this oceangoing line will offer it to everyone. (Maybe hotels will take notice?) These developments should have a ripple effect throughout the industry.

As for a different kind of consumption, cruise lines are increasingly letting passengers enjoy outdoor dining. Most ships have long offered casual dining by the pool but, come night time, most options have been indoors, a missed opportunity for those who want to enjoy balmy evenings in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean.

In the last couple of years, Crystal Cruises has added outdoor dining venues to ships that were in dry dock, and Norwegian Cruise Line is offering open-air tables as part of the Ocean Blue restaurant. Viking also is creating open-air options.

Entertainment is changing too. On some ships, the curtain is coming down on variety shows. Stage shows on large cruise ships are more often defined by partnerships with land-based production companies. Norwegian, for instance, is working with Blue Man Group and Burn the Floor (ballroom dancing with a Broadway flair). Norwegian also has partnered with the Grammy Awards and offers performances by Grammy winners and nominees on some journeys.

You’ll find abbreviated versions of Broadway musicals too: Norwegian offers “Legally Blonde” on Norwegian Getaway and “Rock of Ages” on Norwegian Breakaway; the line plans to launch “Priscilla: Queen of the Desert” in October on Norwegian Epic. Royal Caribbean stages “Chicago” on Allure of the Seas, “Cats” on Oasis of the Seas and “Mamma Mia!” on Quantum of the Seas; it will launch “We Will Rock You” on Anthem of the Seas in April.

As perhaps the ultimate in improvements, you now have a greater number of cabin choices. In days past, you could specify inside, outside, balcony or a suite. Nowadays, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Cunard offer special “studio” cabins for single travelers who previously would have been assessed a single supplement for a solo spot.

If you’re in a lower-category cabin where space can be snug, some cruise lines are using technology to create a more open feeling. Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean have LED screens designed to look like windows that show a view from the bridge so you can see what’s going on outside.

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Cruise Tip of the Week

Check on newest amenities before you book

If you’ve fallen in love with a cruise line’s newest features — say, the skydiving simulator or robot bartenders on Royal Caribbean or the Guy Fieri-branded burger bar on Carnival — be sure to confirm before you book that your ship has the latest and greatest. Sometimes — but not always — lines retroactively add the most popular new features to older vessels. Check before you pay your deposit.

Happy Sailing!

For cruise lines, weddings mean varying locales, regulations

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A bridal couple aboard the MSC Divina.
In 1998, Princess Cruises introduced weddings at sea to the cruise industry, with the captain tying the knot aboard the Grand Princess. Since then, weddings aboard cruise ships have become an industry unto themselves, with cruise lines offering three types of legal weddings, plus symbolic ceremonies.

And last year, Celebrity Cruises introduced civil unions at sea for same-sex couples.

Weddings at sea are actually the least common of the three cruise-related ceremonies, according to wedding expert Barbara Whitehill, managing director of Imagine Weddings and Events and the Wedding Experience. Whitehill’s company runs the wedding programs for Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Costa Cruises. She has also handled the wedding programs of Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess.

“Everybody does weddings when the ship is in the embarkation port or in one of the destinations or shore-side in the destination,” she said.

Cruise wedding products vary by cruise line.

For example, Celebrity, Cunard, Royal Caribbean and Princess do legal weddings at sea. But Carnival, which does about 2,600 weddings annually, does weddings only in ports or destinations. Seabourn does no weddings at all.

Some cruise lines do both symbolic ceremonies and weddings at sea, while other lines do only symbolic ceremonies at sea.

Weddings conducted in the port of embarkation or at a port of call on a ship’s itinerary are conducted under the auspices of local laws, while weddings at sea are conducted according to the laws of the country under which the ship is registered. Typically cruise ships are flagged by the Bahamas or Bermuda, but they can be flagged by other countries, as well.

Celebrity is registered in Malta, which legalized same-sex civil unions on April 14.

All this means that couples can get married in a variety of exotic locales that, depending on the cruise line and the itinerary, can range from the beach to glaciers.

Couples can get married in European castles, on a gondola in Venice or in a white-topped villa overlooking the Aegean. But there are limits and little standardization.

“It completely varies,” Whitehill said.

Couples on international itineraries can get married at sea as long as they’re on a cruise line that offers weddings at sea and the ship is in international waters.

While some countries and ports are easier than others, Whitehill said the experience varies not just from country to country but from port to port.

For example, Santorini weddings can only be on land, not on the ship. That is because the mayor of Santorini performs the wedding and he only does them on land. Some destinations require couples to spend a certain amount of time in the destination before the wedding and do paperwork on site, while others do not.

Laws vary from island to island in the Caribbean. As islands realized the potential of destination wedding products, many changed their laws to capitalize on the trend. Some islands revamped their laws so they’re the same for locals and visitors; others created laws to accommodate tourists that don’t apply to locals, Whitehill said.

Even symbolic ceremonies can vary from destination to destination. For example, in Grand Cayman, a same-sex couple can have a symbolic ceremony onboard the ship but not on shore.

Getting married in a U.S. port of embarkation offers the advantage of including guests who are not going to go on the cruise. They can attend the ceremony, then disembark before the ship sails.

In states in which same-sex marriage is legal, same-sex couples can be legally married onboard the ship in port under the laws of that state.