Tag Archives: ports

Cruise Trends in 2018: What Your Waistline Has Been Waiting For

One of the best things about chronicling cruise travel over the past 20 years has been watching the industry morph from a sedate and somewhat sedentary form of travel—in which dining times were assigned and bus tours were about the limit of sightseeing—to there’s-a-cruise-for-every-traveler-out-there. Seriously, there really is, no matter if you’re more inclined to chill on a beach in the Caribbean, mix with locals in the Mediterranean, or go mountaineering along the ridges of Antarctica.

Of all the changes that have occurred in cruise travel, the one I love the most is this: Cruises have become one of the most healthy and active ways to travel.

Does that surprise you? Whether they offer ocean-going and family-friendly ships, riverboats, or expedition vessels, cruise lines have worked hard to focus on a balanced approach to travel, and I’m sharing some of my favorite ways they’re doing this, below. But by no means has the industry taken away the fun of indulging on your vacation. Sure, you can take a decadent cruise and return home with the freshman 15 lb. weight gain—but you no longer have to.

New wave dining

acai bowl from AquaSpa Cafe on a Celebrity Cruises cruise ship

The menu items at cruise ship restaurants, like açai bowls at Celebrity’s AquaSpa Café, are getting healthier. Photo: Celebrity Cruises

Cruise lines, from big ships to small, are increasingly focusing on fresh cuisine by adding lots of fruit and vegetable items—at all meals— and creating menus for followers of heart-healthy, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan (and even raw food, at least on one cruise line) regimens. They are also developing menus based on the regions their ships are cruising in, and using local ingredients whenever possible.

Look for: Buffets on cruise lines like Crystal, Viking Ocean, and Holland America make it easy to nosh strategically, with lots of fresh fruits, sushi, and salads. I love Celebrity’s AquaSpa Café not just because it’s good for you, but also because its menus are so delicious (Carnival and Royal Caribbean also have their own takes on spa cafés). At lunch and dinner, Viking Ocean is featuring local menu items inspired by itineraries. And some lines even go beyond—plating a meal to actually help you find a regimen that you can take home with you. Interested? Check out Oceania Cruises’ Culinary Center, which offers courses on healthy cooking, and Seabourn, via its partnership with noted mind-body guru Dr. Andrew Weil, for lessons on inflammatory foods.

Maintaining fitness regimes

cruise ship gym Quantum of the Seas Royal Caribbean

Cruise ships now offer large gyms with up-to-date equipment. Photo: Royal Caribbean

If you’re like a lot of us, you don’t want to wreck all the hard work you’ve done at home to get and stay fit, just because you’ve gone off on vacation for a little while.

Look for: When Viking Ocean Cruises (the line aimed at passengers 55 years of age and up) debuted in 2015, it figured that not so many of its “older” passengers cared about working out. Four ships later, the line has gone back and reconfigured its small gyms to be much larger, a sign that all generations want to maintain some level of fitness while traveling. Indeed, just about every ocean line has a gym with free weights, exercise bikes, TRX Suspension systems, tai chi, boot camp, and more. They offer fitness classes too, in yoga, Pilates, stretching and spinning. You can even book time with personal trainers to develop your own new fitness regimen. Typically, the bigger the ship, the larger the fitness facility; Royal Caribbean’s Oasis and Quantum classes of ships have masses of space for all the usual equipment, and then some.

River cruising’s unique fitness challenges and solutions

bicycles Danube AmaWaterways river cruise1

AmaWaterways was the first river cruise line to offer passengers bikes to use in ports. Photo: AmaWaterways

On riverboats, which rarely carry more than 200 passengers, room for fitness is necessarily limited. As a result, companies have gotten a bit more creative about incorporating fitness into the cruise experience. Some, it’s true, have small fitness centers tucked away in a couple of cabins that have been converted for the job, others have tiny pools. But the real success has been creating opportunities to be active either onboard—or in port.

Look for: AmaWaterways, which was the first line to stock bikes onboard that passengers could use for treks in port, has been a river pioneer. It’s teamed up with Backroads, the tour operator that specializes in hiking, walking, and cycling travel, to provide intensive active trips along Europe’s rivers. Many other lines have followed AmaWaterways’s lead, and now stock bikes on board; these include Uniworld and Crystal. On Avalon’s Active Discovery on the Rhine itinerary, you can choose a hiking, cycling, or jogging tour in every port of call. Scenic was the first line to offer electric bikes for use in ports, and Uniworld started the Nordic walking stick craze.

Mind-body matters too

Sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus and HGTV’s Candice Olson designed the Princess Luxury Bed. By 2019 every stateroom in the Princess fleet will have one. Photo: Princess Cruises

Spas have been an integral part of the cruise industry for well more than a decade now. What’s new is that cruise lines are going beyond the facility and its treatments (facials, massages and the like) to incorporate lifestyle activities that help you stay balanced long after your vacation.

Look for: I love AmaWaterways’ new Wellness Program. Offered on select river voyages, the program is meant for travelers who want a pretty active regimen and appreciate the camaraderie that comes with being with like-minded enthusiasts—discussion groups, on topics ranging from eating to relaxation, are also part of the experience. Seabourn’s partnership with Dr. Andrew Weil blends active workouts with experiences that emphasize wellness from physical, social, and spiritual environments. Princess Cruises is betting big that simply getting a good night’s rest is a great path to health; it has unveiled its Princess Luxury Bed across the fleet (I tried it, and it was so great I bought two for home).

And here’s possibly my favorite way to cruise: Being active in ports

sea dream cruise ship offers watersports off the back of the boat in Hvar Croatia

SeaDream cruises offer water sports right off the back of the ship when it’s in a port like Hvar, Croatia. Photo: Sea Dream

Choose your itinerary wisely. If your idea of a great way to explore a port of call is via bicycle, kayak, snorkeling, scuba diving, cross-country skiing, zip-lining, hiking, or sailing, exciting itineraries often focus on regions such as Hawaii, Alaska, Central America, Antarctica, the Mediterranean, French Polynesia, Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean, and the Galapagos. If you particularly enjoy watersports, look for cruise lines whose ships feature watersports platforms, allowing you to access all the key toys, including WaveRunners, right from the aft of your ship. Lines that excel include SeaDream, Crystal Esprit, Windstar and Ponant.

For more on staying active at sea, see Cruise Critic’s list of the Best Cruises for Fitness and these Tips for Eating Healthy on a Cruise.

Carolyn Spencer Brown is Editor at Large for Cruise Critic, the leading site for cruise reviews and information, as well as the largest forum for cruise fans. She’s been taking cruises for decades and has amassed an extensive and impressive knowledge of the specifics of ships, lines, itineraries, policies, and ports. You can follow Cruise Critic on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and also follow Carolyn herself on Instagram (@carolynspencerbrown) and Twitter (@CruiseEditor).

The Perfect Cruise Shore Excursion in Barcelona

Is a Small-Ship Cruise Right for You? These Photos Will Help You Decide

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If you’ve never cruised before, it can be hard to deduce which size ship will best suit you and your travel companions. I’ve taken more than 30 cruises—on everything from 6,000-passenger megaships to 120-guest river boats—so I’m happy to point you in the right direction. Just write to Ask Wendy. And enjoy the article below, which my husband, Tim, wrote after an especially fun cruise on a 212-passenger ship—one that I christened!

As the husband of the godmother of a cruise ship (no official title for me; I looked it up), I got to experience the inaugural sailing of Windstar Cruises’ Star Breeze on the French and Italian rivieras. I had no official duties so, unlike my wife, I was free to just hang out. And take photos.

The last time I’d sailed on Windstar was 15 years ago, right after Wendy and I got married. With young kids, we’ve had to limit ourselves to large ships with child-friendly programs and features. I’ve appreciated the large ships—they’ve kept everyone in the family busy with their sports decks, ice bars, and activities from sunrise to midnight—but, given my druthers, I’d choose a small ship, with small ports to match: There are no long walks to your stateroom or anywhere on the ship. You’re with like-minded passengers. The crew remembers your name and your favorite drink in the evenings. There are no long tender lines snaking through the bowels of the ship just to get from ship to shore. Everything’s easier.

These snapshots from our trip should give you a feel for the benefits of a small ship and small ports.

Portoferraio, Elba: Only small ships can dock here.

In Portoferraio, on the island of Elba, we loved that we were the only cruise ship in town.

Small ports are easy to explore on your own. And it’s easier to talk to locals such as this fisherman, whose boat was docked next to ours in Portoferraio.

Some of the catch of this commercial fishing boat is reserved for selling to the locals.

Only small ships can get into small ports, such as the harbor of Nice, France.

A sailing class at the entrance to Nice’s harbor, photographed from our room aboard Star Breeze.

In Nice we were docked next to traditional fishing boats.

In small ports you can dock within walking distance of the sights you’ve come to see. In Nice we could walk from the harbor to the Cours Saleya, which holds an antiques market on Mondays, a flower market on Tuesdays, etc.

Posters for sale at the Cours Saleya antiques market. The prices were high, and I’ve seen enough “Roadshow” to be leery of reproductions masquerading as the real thing.

We checked out Maison Auer, the ultimate sweets shop in Nice’s Old Town.

Candied fruits in the window of Maison Auer.

We found a rainbow of salts from around the world (including the Himalayas, Morocco, and Hawaii) in a shop called Lou Pantai in Nice, France.

Another advantage of small ships: In small ports they can dock at the pier, whereas larger ships need to anchor out in the harbor. Docking means you can walk off the ship and get right into town. Anchoring means taking a tender from ship to shore—which swallows up time. The larger the ship, the longer the line for the tenders—which swallows up more time.

In Monte Carlo, Star Breeze docked at the marina, whereas a larger Royal Caribbean ship anchored.

On a small ship, you’re closer to other boats.

A VanDutch 55 in Monte Carlo’s harbor, as viewed from aboard Star Breeze. The day cruiser carries a price tag of about $1.5 million (water skiis not included).

It’s an easy (uphill) walk from Monte Carlo’s marina to the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.

The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco’s exhibition on sharks.

Antique diving gear at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco.

Spotted: An ancient Fiat in a garage across from the Oceanographic Museum.

In Monte Carlo, at cocktail hour, Windstar brought local dancers onboard the ship.

More of those dancers

Each Windstar sailing includes a “Private Event” just for the ship’s passengers. In Monte Carlo the event was a cocktail party atop the Café de Paris, overlooking the Casino de Monte-Carlo.

Fellow passengers posed for a photo with the Casino as the backdrop.

Wendy kidded around with some of the folks who run Windstar.

In Portofino one of Windstar’s shore excursions was a wine-and-cheese tasting at Castello Brown, in the hills above town. We learned about and tasted all the locally sourced ingredients.

Here Chef Guido offers us a whiff of basil.

When Chef Guido asked for volunteers to learn how to make pesto, I jumped at the chance. How could anyone pass up the opportunity to make pesto in Liguria instructed by a local chef?

Grinding pesto is harder than you think, but I brought a mortar and pestle home with me to practice.

Next time I’ll cut back on the garlic.

Walking from Castello Brown back down into town, we passed the Museo del Parco, a colorful sculpture garden.

In Portofino’s sculpture garden, the meerkats look like giant Peeps.

The smaller a ship, the better you get to know the officers and crew. The crew aboard Star Breeze is super-friendly. They went out of their way to be helpful.

Chehab took us for a spin in the zodiac.

Richmond: bread baker by day, lead dancer by night.

The Village People (a.k.a. the Star Breeze crew) performs YMCA at the deck barbeque.

Viking Star: The Ship That Downton Abbey Built

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Viking Ocean Cruise line isn’t for everyone. But it doesn’t want to be. At a press conference last week—held aboard the two-month-old Viking Star in her home port of Bergen, Norway—the company’s chairman and one of its founders, Torstein Hagen, said that his ocean liners, like his fleet of wildly successful European river ships, are meant to appeal to travelers much like him: older (55-plus), intellectually curious, interested in the world, and somewhat demanding.

“If they [cruise passengers] want to be in the sun, get drunk, or hang out in casinos, then they’re in the wrong place,” said Hagen. Viking Cruises are for the “thinking man,” he added, “not the drinking man.” The focus will be on the destination first, rather than the ship, he announced, pointing out that their sailings, which are currently in the Baltics and the Mediterranean, will allow for much longer port visits than the competition. In other words, Torstein Hagen is bringing river cruises to oceans.

Setting sail on the Viking Star. Photo from Viking Cruises.

The Viking Star at its christening ceremony, May 2015. Photo from Viking Cruises.

I boarded the Viking Star, the company’s first ocean-going vessel, in London (Greenwich, technically) and sailed it up to Bergen (long-ago settlement of the ancient Vikings, appropriately enough), on one of the last legs of her 50-day maiden voyage from Istanbul to Stockholm. She carries 930 passengers, making it one of the smaller big ships around. (By comparison, Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, which debuted around the same time, carries more than 4,000 passengers). Two sister ships, the Viking Sea and Viking Sky, are scheduled to roll out of the shipyard in spring 2016 and winter 2017, respectively. Hagen says he’s planning on ten ships in total over the next several years. Ambitious, yes, especially when you consider that Viking is the first ocean cruise line to launch with newly built ships in 17 years, since Disney went to sea, in 1998. Ordinarily, that’d be big news in itself, but what really has travel industry insiders abuzz is that Hagen is looking to revolutionize ocean cruises much the same way he did with river cruises—by giving sophisticated travelers a sophisticated cruise at a reasonable price.

The Wintergarden and tea salon. Photo from Viking Cruises.

We have Lord and Lady Grantham to thank. Viking River Cruises has been around since 1997, but it wasn’t until 2011, when the company became the one-and-only sponsor of PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre and its breakout hit, Downton Abbey—by strokes of luck and genius—that the cruise line shifted into rapid expansion mode. “We realized that the people who watch Masterpiece Theatre are our kind of passengers,” said Richard Marnell, Viking’s Senior Vice President of Marketing. Viking had been chugging along with some 20 fairly standard river ships up until then, but after millions of Downton Abbey fans were exposed to the Viking ads, bookings soared, and the company sped up construction of its “longships,” a roomier, sleeker, and more modern take on the old river-ship model. Since 2012, Viking has built more than 40 new longships, establishing itself as the biggest player in the field, by far.

Capitalizing on the high demand for their river cruises, Hagen and his team plunged into the ocean-cruise market, applying their same winning formula to the new venture. Along with more time in ports, they offer a more streamlined approach to cruising (no onboard casinos, no sushi bars, no rock walls). They also offer remarkable value: The base cruise fare includes one shore excursion in every port, as well as wine, beer, and soft drinks with meals, and WiFi access. All passengers also have access to the (very nice) onboard spa, and if you’re in one of the higher cruise categories, you get complimentary dry cleaning and laundry. What might cost you hundreds of dollars extra per day on most other cruise lines is essentially free on Viking.

Norwegian-style waffles, fluffier than Swedish ones, are up for grabs morning and afternoon in the little Norwegian deli on deck 7.

Despite the fact that Hagen is careful not to bill his ships as luxury vessels (“You will just disappoint people,” he said), the onboard experience is hardly bare bones. The Viking Star has only outside staterooms, all with balconies, and the décor throughout is so refreshingly modern that I found myself constantly (window) shopping for furniture—something I never thought I’d do on a cruise ship. A fabulously curated selection of books are found in every nook and cranny, many tied to the destinations, others about great explorers throughout history.

Then there are the delightful Scandinavian-themed touches, in keeping with Torstein Hagen’s Norwegian heritage. A Norwegian deli serves three kinds of herring, gravlax on rye bread, and traditional apple and almond cakes. The artwork displayed throughout the ship is almost predominately Norwegian, including an Edvard Munch lithograph. The onboard spa, which impressed even the most jaded cruise-ship connoisseurs, staffs only Swedish masseuses, offers a “luxury beard treatment,” and has an onboard snow room, to be visited in between sauna sessions in true Nordic tradition. The owner’s suite, which is up for grabs on most sailings, has its own sauna, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the sea.

The onboard spa, which all passengers are free to use without paying an additional fee. Along with a heated pool and whirlpool, the spa also has saunas, plunge pools, and a snow room. The treatments, which costa extra and are typically pricey, have a Scandinavian theme (Swedish massages only!). Photo from Viking Cruises.

Not everything onboard was so innovative. Muzak plays not-too-softly on the otherwise pleasant pool deck, and the nighttime entertainment was less Scandinavian than good-old-American-cruise-ship cliché—the “Rat Pack Revisited” cabaret show and a Broadway-style Mamma Mia medley may have been designed for the older demographic, but passengers of all ages seemed bored stiff. Luckily, at the Explorer’s Lounge—a beautiful space at the front of the ship, with cozy faux-fur pelts on the sofas and the night sky’s constellations lit up on the ceiling after dark—you can sip on Aquavit until the wee hours. The Viking Star may not be for everyone—kids under 16 aren’t allowed, for one thing, and it isn’t small enough to sail into the off-the-beaten-path ports that 200-passenger ships can access—but for a high-quality, high-value cruise with some wonderfully idiosyncratic elements, it seems hard to beat.

*Disclosure: Viking Cruises provided me with a six-night stay free of charge. In keeping with WendyPerrin.com standard practice, there was no request for or expectation of coverage on Viking Cruises’ part, nor was anything promised on ours. You can read the signed agreement between WendyPerrin.com and Viking Cruises here.

How I Became a Cruise Ship’s Godmother

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I’ve been a travel reporter for 25 years, and never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be named godmother of a cruise ship. But last week I christened the newest addition to Windstar Cruises’ fleet, the 212-passenger Star Breeze, in a ceremony on the French Riviera, and then hosted the inaugural voyage to Rome.

Star Breeze christening ceremony in Nice, France, on May 6, 2015

It’s a longstanding maritime tradition for cruise ships to have godmothers—they bless the ship and historically have been entrusted with the safe passage of the vessel—and I’m told I’m the first journalist to receive this honor. Usually it’s reserved for people like Sophia Loren and Princess Kate. Here’s why Windstar chose me.

Star Breeze captain Krasimir Ivanov, priest Father Jean Marie, Windstar CEO Hans Birkholz, and Wendy

Hans Birkholz introducing Wendy as the ship’s godmother

The ship’s crew—and a Jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot

The ship’s crew watching the ceremony—and a Jeroboam of Veuve Clicquot waiting to be smashed against the bow

The moment before the champagne bottle hit the ship

Being named godmother is a tremendous honor. It’s also one that some people might view as a conflict of interest for a journalist. You might be wondering whether I’ll show bias toward Windstar. You might question how I can report impartially on Star Breeze when my portrait hangs in one of its hallways.

So let me explain why I accepted this honor. First, as I’ve said before, it’s meaningful to me personally. The Windstar sailings I took with my dad two decades ago are among my favorite memories of our time together. And my husband and I still keep in touch with friends we made on our Windstar honeymoon voyage 15 years ago.

Moreover, I want to do what I can to support small ships. Some would say they’re endangered. Most of the new ships that cruise lines build nowadays are behemoths. And while a vacation in a 4,000-passenger floating city may make sense for some people, it’s certainly not the best way to explore foreign countries. So I’m relieved that there are still a few small ships taking travelers to those off-the-beaten-path islands and hidden-gem harbors that might otherwise be too logistically difficult or prohibitively expensive to get to any other way. Anything I can do to help small ships continue to help sophisticated travelers see the world better, I’ll do.

I want to assure anyone who might be concerned about a conflict of interest that my godmother role will have zero influence on my travel reportage or the advice I give travelers. I remain the same unbiased truth teller and honest adviser I’ve always been. Just because Windstar’s style of small-ship travel suits me personally, that does not mean it’s for everyone. We all have different travel tastes, interests, and needs, and my mission is the same as it’s been for 25 years: To point you toward the right travel experience for your goals, whether that’s a small ship, a big ship, or no ship at all.

If you’re hoping for a review of Star Breeze, though, I’m going to recuse myself—not because I can’t write about the ship impartially, but because there was nothing typical about the voyage I just experienced. I was showered with special treatment (as you’ll see in the photos below), and while there were a number of regular passengers onboard—and I spent as much time as I could chatting with them—I was mainly with the media and travel-industry execs who were being wined and dined (as they are on nearly every new cruise ship’s inaugural voyage). In other words, it was not a normal cruise like one that my readers would experience, and therefore it would be a disservice to them to pretend that it was.

So I will leave the reviews of Star Breeze to exceptional cruise reporters such as Cruise Critic’s Carolyn Spencer Brown and USA Today’s Gene Sloan. You can read their accounts of the christening ceremony here on Cruise Critic and here in USA Today. My husband Tim (who shot the photos here) also plans to weigh in (I’m not sure how, but I’m sure it will involve more photos). Stay tuned.