The Avid Cruiser

Royal Caribbean has announced two new “neighborhoods” to be featured on Oasis of the Seas: a Pool and Sports Zone and a Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center. Continue Reading »

Though 40 percent larger than the current record-holders, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas will not be just a larger cruise ship, but a whole new breed of ship.

An architectural marvel, Oasis of the Seas will span 16 decks, carry 5,400 guests at double occupancy, and feature 2,700 staterooms, including several new categories. She will be the first ship to tout the cruise line’s new neighborhood concept of seven distinct themed areas.

As the company slowly divulges details about the new ship during the next several months, travel agents have already started taking reservations for 2009/2010 sailings.
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Click here to read a special report featuring Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas in digital format.

Freedom begins in the Personal Karaoke Booth. At least it did for me. That’s where I was freed from my inhibitions to loudly belt out the lyrics being displayed on a screen in front of me. I had always wanted to perform karaoke but had never mustered the courage to do so in front of an audience. One of two intimate karaoke booths on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas (one of the line’s “Freedom class” vessels) was the perfect compromise for a closet crooner who would be mortified should anyone hear him. The experience was not unlike singing in the shower, using a bar of soap for the microphone, but without the discomfort of having to undress to perform.

To get the most from your experience, just click on this link, flip through the digital guide or use the “toolbar” at the top of the page to navigate and print articles you want to read at your leisure.

Click here to read the summer issue of Avid Cruiser magazine in digital format.

The digital issue is GREEN, immediate, up-to-date, portable, features embedded video, spans 100 pages and has no international borders. Anyone, anywhere, can read it, print it, pass it along and archive it for future reference.

To get the most from your experience, just click on this link, flip through the magazine or use the “toolbar” at the top of the page to navigate the magazine or print articles you want to read at your leisure.

Archives: allows you to access past issues of Avid Cruiser digital edition.

Thumbs: displays small icons of each page in the digital issue so that you can quickly find the article you want to read. Just click on the thumbnail to get to that page.

Print: possibly the most useful feature, allowing you to print the pages you want so that you can curl up on your couch and read.

When he was but a nine-year-old boy, my son Alex reached into the Windex-blue waters on a sandy Bahamian beach and quickly withdrew his hand to proclaim, “Dad, I touched a stingray.” He furrowed his tender brow and added thoughtfully, “They’re nice.”

In doing so, he had ascribed a sweet, if somewhat inaccurate, characteristic to the stingray. Yes, the stingray was nice indeed, particularly with its barb blunted for safety. None of tragedy that befell animal lover Steve Irwin here. Off the coast of Australia, a ray’s barb had pierced his heart and stunned the world.

Alex, my daughter and I were in a friendlier place, a paradise really, free of danger and removed from the real world, an idyllic island created for us by a cruise line.

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Freedom begins in the Personal Karaoke Booth. At least it did for me. That’s where I was freed from my inhibitions to loudly belt out the lyrics being displayed on a screen in front of me. I had always wanted to perform karaoke but had never mustered the courage to do so in front of an audience. One of two intimate karaoke booths on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas (one of the line’s “Freedom class” vessels) was the perfect compromise for a closet crooner who would be mortified should anyone hear him. The experience was not unlike singing in the shower, using a bar of soap for the microphone, but without the discomfort of having to undress to perform.

Continue Reading »