{"id":321,"date":"2014-04-01T03:35:20","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T03:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/"},"modified":"2022-08-08T23:19:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-08T23:19:51","slug":"cruising-innovations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruising Innovations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, innovation. A lot of people still think cruising<\/a> is the past time of the older generation and that on board a cruise liner, it\u2019s the same old stuff they\u2019ve been serving since the Titanic. That is not the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

From artificial waves to Japanese bath houses, the global cruise companies are competing to wow their passengers in an increasingly competitive market. Aussies aren\u2019t missing out either. According to the 2013 Cruise Industry Source Report, the amount of Aussies hitting the high seas increased by 20% last year, with 833, 348 of us boarding a cruise. That\u2019s 3.6% of the population.<\/span><\/p>\n

The South Pacific is the most popular destination for Aussie cruisers and the big brands of the cruising world are sending their ships down under to island hop in the warmer months. Year round you can cruise out of Sydney, but in Summer the season really heats up.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what is new in the cruising world down under? Here\u2019s our guide to some of the latest and greatest gizmos hitting our shores.<\/p>\n

FlowRider, Voyager of the Seas<\/a><\/h2>\n

When you\u2019re on board a cruise ship, there\u2019s water all around but it\u2019s just out of reach. For kids (and big kids) who like to surf, it\u2019s torture to see waves and not be able to ride them. Royal Caribbean\u2019s bigger ships have been outfitted with the FlowRider for a few years now and the Voyager of the Seas will bring the first one down under. The simulated artificial wave pools are always popular, with lines down the deck. When the Voyager of the Seas returns this summer, she\u2019ll be fresh off a multi-million dollar renovation that includes the installation of the FlowRider. Watching little kids zip across the wave on a boogie board makes having a go a little daunting, especially when there\u2019s a crowd, but it\u2019ll all be over quickly. Most people stay on for just a few seconds \u2013 all part of the fun!<\/p>\n

Japanese Bath House, Diamond Princess<\/a><\/h2>\n

As the name suggests, the Diamond Princess is all about the finer things in life. Yes, there\u2019s still plenty of kids activities and good old trivia on board, but after a refurb, she\u2019s now looking even better. Now she\u2019s fitted out with the largest Japanese bath area to sail the seas. What does one need with a Japanese bath at sea you might ask? A spa is an important part of sea life \u2013 especially on sea days when a massage set to the gentle rocking of the ship will loosen those knots in minutes. Now you can pop into the Japanese stone bath with its hot water Utaseyu showers, try out the open-air hydrotherapy pool, watch the ocean pass by from one of the saunas or sit outside and have a soothing foot bath. There will be day beds and rock gardens, steam rooms with ocean views \u2013 everything you need at an onsen at sea.<\/p>\n

The P&OEdge, Pacific Jewel<\/a><\/h2>\n

Ok this isn\u2019t brand new this season, but P&O\u2019s ships will bring The Edge back to Australia this year. The P&OEdge activities are definitely for the more active cruisers among us. These activities will put shuffle board to shame \u2013 you can now cross the ship by zipline, climb up the Aft funnel (dotted with rock climbing wall handholds) and even scale the Bow of the ship on a ladder climb. You\u2019ll still be strapped into a harness, but the Titantic Moment is a little more sedate \u2013 lean out over the edge of the bow and do your best Kate Winslet impression. High ropes courses, cargo net races \u2013 this is just the beginning of adventure sports at sea. The P&OEdge is now aboard the Pacific Jewel, will be on the Pacific Dawn by the end of the year and is coming to the Pacific Pearl next year.<\/p>\n

SeaWalk, Royal Princess<\/a><\/h2>\n

This one is fun for all ages \u2013 the Royal Princess is home to the SeaWalk, an 18 metre walkway that extends over the edge of the ship\u2019s starboard side. What\u2019s the catch? The walkway has a glass-bottom so you\u2019ll look all the way down to the ocean. This might be a great opportunity to cure that fear of heights!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So what is new in the cruising world down under? Here\u2019s our guide to some of the latest and greatest gizmos hitting our shores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,3,7],"tags":[8,182,162],"authors":[],"class_list":["post-321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-destination","category-experiences","category-explore","category-oceania","tag-australia","tag-cruise","tag-south-pacific","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCruising Innovations - Expedia AU Stories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So what is new in the cruising world down under? Here\u2019s our guide to some of the latest and greatest gizmos hitting our shores.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cruising Innovations - Expedia AU Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So what is new in the cruising world down under? Here\u2019s our guide to some of the latest and greatest gizmos hitting our shores.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Expedia AU Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-01T03:35:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-08T23:19:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie McNeely\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie McNeely\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/\",\"name\":\"Cruising Innovations - Expedia AU Stories\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-01T03:35:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-08T23:19:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/7c3ff1d241163ecf78de48671f1787ce\"},\"description\":\"So what is new in the cruising world down under? Here\u2019s our guide to some of the latest and greatest gizmos hitting our shores.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Explore\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Experiences\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/experiences\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Explore\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/experiences\/explore\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Cruising Innovations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/\",\"name\":\"Expedia AU Stories\",\"description\":\"Just another WordPress site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/7c3ff1d241163ecf78de48671f1787ce\",\"name\":\"Jamie McNeely\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6c5fcb9612549bc286e9121c24dc652?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6c5fcb9612549bc286e9121c24dc652?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jamie McNeely\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.waveinteractive.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/author\/jamie-mcneely\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cruising Innovations - Expedia AU Stories","description":"So what is new in the cruising world down under? Here\u2019s our guide to some of the latest and greatest gizmos hitting our shores.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cruising Innovations - Expedia AU Stories","og_description":"So what is new in the cruising world down under? Here\u2019s our guide to some of the latest and greatest gizmos hitting our shores.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/","og_site_name":"Expedia AU Stories","article_published_time":"2014-04-01T03:35:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-08T23:19:51+00:00","author":"Jamie McNeely","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jamie McNeely","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/","name":"Cruising Innovations - Expedia AU Stories","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-04-01T03:35:20+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-08T23:19:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/7c3ff1d241163ecf78de48671f1787ce"},"description":"So what is new in the cruising world down under? Here\u2019s our guide to some of the latest and greatest gizmos hitting our shores.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/cruising-innovations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Explore","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Experiences","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/experiences\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Explore","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/experiences\/explore\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Cruising Innovations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/","name":"Expedia AU Stories","description":"Just another WordPress site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/7c3ff1d241163ecf78de48671f1787ce","name":"Jamie McNeely","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6c5fcb9612549bc286e9121c24dc652?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6c5fcb9612549bc286e9121c24dc652?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jamie McNeely"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.waveinteractive.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/author\/jamie-mcneely\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1428,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions\/1428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.au\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}