Cruise Buzz

Cruise vacations are designed for relaxation – but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do. Part of the ease of a cruise vacation is having a variety of entertainment available to you right on the ship. In fact, cruise ships are overflowing with entertainment opportunities from early morning until late into the night.

Daytime entertainment can include deck games, informative lectures by guest experts, cooking demonstrations, bingo and bridge tournaments, water volleyball games, live music by the pool and much more. Of course, the best entertainment could be stretching out in a deck chair with a book from the ship’s library or chatting with fellow passengers.

In the evening, onboard entertainment goes into high gear. There may be cocktail parties on deck, piano bars where you can sing along with the piano player (and no one will care if you’re off key), and intimate lounges featuring smooth jazz. If you like to dance, you might find clubs where you can resuscitate your disco-dancing skills, show your ballroom moves, join a country and western line dance or dance freestyle to Top 40 tunes.

Many ships are equipped with state-of-the art theaters that present shows that would be right at home on Broadway or in Las Vegas. You may be entertained by singers, dancers, acrobats, magicians, comedians, jugglers and even hypnotists. Some ships present evening entertainment on deck, too.

Several ships, including some from the Princess Cruises and Silversea Cruises fleets, feature “Movies Under the Stars” on massive outdoor screens. Ships now under construction promise to set new standards for cruise ship entertainment.

Royal Caribbean’s new Oassis of the Seas has the AquaTheater, a water stage for spectacular aquatic shows. Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Norwegian Epic, scheduled to launch in July 2010, will feature the popular Blue Man Group in a 685-seat theater. The very best part of cruise ship entertainment may be that most or all of it is included in the price of your cruise.

Your personal cruise expert can provide details of the entertainment available on your next cruise – be sure to take every opportunity to sit back, relax and be entertained!