Cruise trends reviewed

There’s a wide gulf between the two approaches cruise lines are taking to pleasing their passengers in 2008/09. On one side of the divide are the superliners with their super facilities: cruise vessels like Independence of the Seas with its boxing ring and adults-only pool and P&O’s Ventura, which launches in April, and will have a circus school and a Marco Pierre White restaurant on board, to go with a wide range of other classes and programmes. Approaching customer satisfaction from the other side of the divide, are the cruise lines that are focusing more on destinations, exceptional service and what’s called enhancement. In this category you can find Fred Olsen and Windstar, for example – smaller vessels offering less of the experiences you could get onshore (ice-rinks, unlimited dining opportunities) to concentrate on things that can only be experienced at sea, or in ports, such as sunset dining, snorkelling, learning to navigate, lectures about ports of call, and ocean wildlife appreciation programmes.