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A cruise blog amongst many... some cruise news, cruise offers, cruise articles and some plain old fashioned opinions! If you like cruise, you're in the right place.

We had an inside cabin on deck 2 which always smelt of sewage. They must be having problems with their plumbing as many guests including us, had gurgling from their drains accompanied by a foul sewage smell. They cleaned out our drains twice in 2 days as it got so bad. I had asked to be moved to another cabin but i was told the ship was full. I'll be honest, it didn't ruin our holiday one bit, the shows on board were great and we stopped at some fabulous ports.. San Diego, Catalina Island and Ensenada in Mexico.The images reveal an amazing feature - an open air 'central park' in the center of the ship, with a piazza, tropical plants, flower gardens and lawns, which will be kept alive with special irrigation and drainage systems. Having the cental atrium open to the sky will allow far more cabins to have balconies - of those approx 250 cabins will have balconies over the park.
At 220,000 tons, Genesis comfortably trumps the biggest ships going: the 160,000-tonne Freedom and Independence of the Seas, also owned by Royal Caribbean. It is also close to five times the size of the Titanic, and more than 10 times the size of the HMS Ark Royal, the Navy's biggest ship.
I guess I should say right now that I didn't win the Face of Travel. Instead the female's crown went to Karen Eason from Sunshine Travel and the men's went to Ryan Inman from Cruise Thomas Cook. It's impossible to be a bad loser in this scenario as both really deserved to win.
Following our pleasant trip into Bruges, we donned our formal wear and ate in The White Room. This ‘Select Dining’ restaurant had a cover charge of £30 which may seem high but once you’ve tasted the food you’ll understand why it was worth every penny. (On longer duration cruises I am told that the cover charge decreases according to the number of nights onboard)The meal was truly amazing and of an incredibly high standard as you would expect. The asparagus risotto was to die for and I could’ve eaten another portion of the prune and amaretto ice cream quite easily!No sooner than finishing our desserts, Marco Pierre White made an appearance. We had the opportunity to meet him and get photos taken which we took full advantage of. He was a very charming man, well spoken, polite and showed a great interest in his fans. Meeting him was definitely the highlight of the evening and possibly even the cruise.Many experts like to predict the future of the cruise industry in both the short and the long term. Some focus on passenger numbers and destination trends while others veer toward the cruise line's new ships and their on board innovations.
One thing is for certain, we all like to read about what may be coming next, but why do we only think of ocean cruising in one way? There are many ways to visit the world by sea besides the most popular cruise vessels.
One example would be private yachting, once a holiday for only the rich and famous. These days you can charter one of these marvellous crewed vessels for almost the same price as one week on board a super liner. Sleeping up to 10 guests, one company on the net are offering a Rodman 41 for 6 days, carrying 6 people for £1500 per person. It costs even less if you can make the numbers up to 10! That's fully crewed and includes the fuel. And the best bit... you get to choose your itinerary! Granted you won't get the varied entertainment, choice of restaurants and the kids clubs but its certainly an interesting choice.
Another alternative, and probably the more fascinating, is what i like to call the 'cruise timeshare' - or as most know it; the residential cruise line.
Up until 5 years ago, they didn't exist but then along came the first, The World. This is the only one of its kind currently in operation but there are 4 more in the pipeline. (I've listed these and their web links at the end of the article)
The main idea is to own an apartment in a floating resort that constantly sails the globe but you don't need to own one outright to benefit. Depending on the ship, there are several options available: full ownership, partial or shared ownership and short period rentals for those that want to experience the ship as a holiday maker.
On The World you can expect to pay anything between $1,200 to $4,200 a night, with a minimum stay of six nights. Not exactly affordable to most but then that's the whole point isn't it? Being part of something exclusive.
I'm pretty sure that once more of these residential ships are built, as with anything we will see the prices drop dramatically. In the meantime i think I'll stick to traditional cruising.
Further research:
The World http://www.aboardtheworld.com/
Voyage Partners http://www.voyagepartners.com/index.php
The Magdellan http://www.residentialcruiseline.com
The Orphalese http://www.theorphalese.com/
| Line | Ship | Launch | Tonnage | Berths |
| MSC | MSC Poesia | 01 March 2008 | 89,600 | 2,500 |
| Royal Caribbean | Independence of the Seas | 01 May 2008 | 160,000 | 3,634 |
| P&O | Ventura | Spring 2008 | 116,000 | 3,100 |
| Carnival | Carnival Splendor | 01 July 2008 | 112,000 | 3,006 |
| Holland America | Eurodam | Summer 2008 | 86,000 | 2,104 |
| Princess | Ruby Princess | 01 November 2008 | 113,000 | 3,080 |
| MSC | MSC Fantasia | 01 November 2008 | 133,500 | 3,300 |
| Celebrity | Solstice | Autumn 2008 | 118,000 | 2,850 |
| MSC | MSC Splendida | Spring 2009 | 133,500 | 3,300 |
| Costa | Costa Luminosa | Spring 2009 | 92,700 | 2,260 |
| Costa | Costa Pacifica | Spring 2009 | 130,000 | 3,652 |
| Seabourn | Seabourn Odyssey | 01 June 2009 | 32,000 | 450 |
| Pearl Seas Cruises | Unnamed | Summer 2009 | 7,600 | 165 |
| Sea Cloud Cruises | Sea Cloud Hussar | 01 September 2009 | N/A | 136 |
| Silversea | Unnamed | 01 November 2009 | 36,000 | 540 |
| Celebrity | Equinox | Autumn 2009 | 118,000 | 2,850 |
| Carnival | Carnival Dream | Autumn 2009 | 130,000 | 3,652 |
| Royal Caribbean | Genesis (class) | Autumn 2009 | 220,000 | 5,400 |
| Star Clippers | Unnamed | 02 July 1905 | 7,400 | 296 |
| Seabourn | Unnamed | 02 July 1905 | 32,000 | 450 |
| Costa | Unnamed | 01 March 2010 | 92,700 | 2,260 |
| NCL | F3 (class) | 01 March 2010 | 150,000 | 4,200 |
| Celebrity | Celebrity Eclipse | 01 June 2010 | 122,000 | 2,850 |
| Royal Caribbean | Genesis (class) | 01 August 2010 | 220,000 | 5,400 |
| P&O | Unnamed | Summer 2010 | 116,000 | 3,100 |
| Oceania | Unnamed | 01 September 2010 | 65,000 | 1,260 |
| NCL | F3 (class) | 01 October 2010 | 150,000 | 4,200 |
| Cunard | Queen Elizabeth | Autumn 2010 | 92,000 | 2,092 |
| Holland America | Unnamed | Autumn 2010 | 86,000 | 2,100 |
| MSC | MSC Magnifica | Autumn 2010 | 86,600 | 2,550 |
| Disney | Unnamed | 01 June 2011 | 122,000 | 2,500 |
| Carnival | Carnival Magic | 01 June 2011 | 130,000 | 3,652 |
| Oceania | Unnamed | 01 July 2011 | 65,000 | 1,260 |
| Disney | Unnamed | 04 July 1905 | 122,000 | 2,500 |