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22<br />
Tuesday <strong>July</strong> <strong>26</strong> <strong>2016</strong><br />
Travel<br />
SELWYN TIMES<br />
Take a cruise on the smartest<br />
• By Mike Yardley<br />
BY ANY measure, it’s a colossus<br />
and it’s coming to a port near<br />
you. After all, this is a ship that<br />
cracks 19,900 eggs a day in its<br />
main kitchen.<br />
Fresh from the inaugural sailing<br />
from its European shipyards<br />
via the Middle East to Asia, I’ve<br />
just spent three night’s aboard<br />
Ovation of a Seas on a taster<br />
cruise out of Singapore.<br />
New car smell is a knock-out<br />
fragrance, but new mega-ship<br />
smell kept my nostrils partying<br />
for 72 hours. So just how big is<br />
this billion dollar behemoth?<br />
It may not be the most salubrious<br />
frame of reference, but<br />
she weighs in at four times the<br />
tonnage of Titanic. She’s three<br />
and half rugby fields long. One<br />
and a half laps around the running<br />
track clocks up a kilometre.<br />
Catering to 4900 passengers and<br />
boasting 1300 crew, she towers<br />
15 stories.<br />
Currently ranked as the<br />
fourth-equal largest cruise ship<br />
in the world (Royal Caribbean<br />
clean sweeps the top five), this<br />
latest entrant to the company’s<br />
Quantum Class of vessels is also<br />
considered the smartest ship at<br />
sea.<br />
Aside from the daily Cruise<br />
VIRTUAL SKYDIVING: Soar like an eagle and get full body exfoliation.<br />
Compass programme of activities,<br />
there’s a conspicuous<br />
absence of paper – a very good<br />
thing given passenger loading.<br />
Liberally sprinkled across<br />
the ship, Royal IQ stations and<br />
mounted iPads, enable you to<br />
book every activity imaginable,<br />
from shore excursions, to spa<br />
treatments. You can also download<br />
the Royal IQ app, which<br />
doesn’t require paid for WiFi to<br />
operate, to make bookings and<br />
build your custom calendar, on<br />
your own device.<br />
Speaking of WiFi, Royal Caribbean<br />
reputedly offers the speediest<br />
service at sea. I despise WiFi<br />
charges, and Royal Caribbean’s<br />
web packages start at a pesky<br />
US$13 a day – but at least the<br />
service is robust and Roadrunner-fast.<br />
The design elements and contemporary<br />
art works throughout<br />
the vessel ooze class, comparable<br />
to the fresh, crisp and elegant<br />
interiors of a new build, five-star<br />
hotel. Royal Caribbean whips<br />
up much buzz over its inventive<br />
prowess to its active leisure<br />
and entertainment offerings like<br />
North Star, the glass capsule that<br />
soars 90m above and to the side<br />
of the ship, and Flowrider, the<br />
virtual surfing innovation.<br />
But the newest toy is Ripcord<br />
by iFLY – the world’s first freefalling<br />
skydive simulator at sea.<br />
Previously disgracing myself<br />
on Flowrider, I was determined<br />
to make a better fist of virtual<br />
skydiving. After being suited up<br />
and given a basic skills briefing,<br />
you’re encased within a billowing<br />
glass tube, with a gargantuan<br />
vertical fan (covered by a<br />
grill) blasting air up at you at<br />
160km/h.<br />
Thrust airborne, I felt like a<br />
levitating monk. And if you’ve<br />
studiously followed the briefing,<br />
astutely assuming the optimum<br />
body positions, you’ll soar like<br />
an eagle. But you certainly feel<br />
battered by the wind force.<br />
After this unexpected full body<br />
exfoliation, I saw no need to<br />
book a spa treatment or massage.<br />
iFLY is an energising bodybashing<br />
thriller. The entertaining<br />
swirl of sensory thrills continue<br />
at Seaplex, which is like a minitheme<br />
park.<br />
ROLLESTON<br />
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W: www.meareswilliams.co.nz<br />
T: (03) 374 2547<br />
M: 021 148 6221<br />
E: rcg@meareswilliams.co.nz<br />
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