5 Star Cruise Ship Luxury on the High Seas
Escape to the sea in a 5 star cruise ship!
These luxury vessels are floating palaces offering the finest in accommodations. Featuring the best in entertainment and activities.Swimming Pools, Jacuzzi spas,Spa Centers, Fitness Center, Casinos, Bingo rooms, Shops, Beauty Salons, Multiple Dining Options, 24-hr Buffets, Lounges & Bars, Live Music, First Run Movies,Golf Simulators, Tennis Courts, Internet Cafes, Library,Teen & child programs and much more can be found on a 5 star cruise ship.
Virtually every ocean and attraction can be visited while cruising in style and comfort. Some 5 star cruise ships boost a crew equal to the amount of passengers to enable total pampering of their guests. A once in a life time adventure or many ships see returning passengers because of the fantastic experience they had while on board.State of the art technology and navigation make a 5 star cruise ship a very safe way to travel.
Cruise ships operate mostly on routes that return passengers
to their originating port. In contrast, dedicated transport oriented ocean liners do "line voyages" and typically transport passengers from one point to another, rather than on round trips. Cruise ships also engage in longer trips which may not lead back to the same port for many months. Traditionally, an ocean liner for the transoceanic trade will be built to a higher standard than a typical cruise ship, including stronger plating to withstand ocean voyages, most commonly crossing the North Atlantic.
The only dedicated transatlantic ocean liner in operation as a liner, as of February 2010, is the Queen Mary 2 of the Cunard fleet. The liner Queen Mary is in service as a hotel in Long Beach, USA, the Queen Elizabeth 2 is slated for similar duty in Cape Town, and the United States is currently stored in Philadelphia, USA.
Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, accounting for U.S.$27 billion with over 18 million passengers carried worldwide in 2010.
The worlds largest cruise liner is Royal Carribean Internationals, Oasis of the Seas. The industry's rapid growth has seen nine or more newly built ships catering to a North American clientele added every year since 2001, as well as others servicing European clientele. Smaller markets such as the Asia-Pacific region are generally serviced by older tonnage displaced by new ships introduced into the high growth areas.
MS Majesty of the Seas
The Caribbean cruising industry is a large and growing market, and currently the most popular. Cruising has grown from “an estimated 900,850 passengers in 1983 to 2.3 million passengers in 1993”.Cruise lines operating in the Caribbean include Royal Caribbean International, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Holland America, Cunard, Crystal Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line. There are also smaller cruise lines that cater to a more intimate feeling among their guests.
The three largest cruise operators are Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean International, and Star Cruises/Norwegian Cruise Lines.
Many of the American cruise lines in the Caribbean depart from ports in the United States, “nearly one-third of the cruises sailed out of Miami”. UK cruise lines base their ships out of Barbados for the Caribbean season, operating direct charter flights out of the UK and avoiding the sometimes lengthy delays at US immigration.
Cruises sailing in the Caribbean travel on itineraries depending on the port of departure and the length of the cruise. The busiest port of call is The Bahamas with “1.8 million cruise-ship arrivals in 1994”. This is because its short distance from Florida is very convenient for both short and long cruises. The next most popular ports of call were “the US Virgin Islands (1.2 million), St. Marten (718,553), Puerto Rico (680,195), the Cayman Islands (599,387), and Jamaica (595,036)”. Other ports of call include: Belize City, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Antigua, Aruba, Grand Turk and Key West. It is also worthy to note that these figures are from 1994 and highly outdated, so although the same ports are at the forefront today, the figures are very different. St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands is particularly popular with US passengers because they get a second duty-free allowance to use on goods purchased there. Many cruise lines also have stops at their own "private islands"—more truthfully, a private section of a Caribbean island. These private resorts are reserved exclusively for passengers of the respective cruise line using the location, and frequently offer features such as an Aqua Park, kayaking, snorkeling, para-sailing, music, and private reservable cabanas. Typically, these private islands are in the Bahamas, although Royal Caribbean uses a beach in Haiti.