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Set Sail With RCI
November 19, 2009 by Fractional & Shared Ownership Property News & Reviews · Leave a Comment
Owning a timeshare can take you anywhere in the world when you exchange through RCI, but your membership can also take you to the high seas, writes Sarah Lee.
Variety and choice are great features of timeshare holidays but these couple with excitement and luxury on a cruise.
RCI membership brings with it access to great rates on all sorts of other travel options, not least of them cruises.
Cruise holidays offer the very best accommodation, exciting facilities, a wonderful array of dining options and each day your ship takes you to a fascinating destination – from Alaska to Zanzibar.
Each year some fantastic new ships with an ever growing number and range of facilities sail out of ports across the world.
Here’s a look at one of the newest ships and some set to launch in the coming months.
Equinox a new dawn in sophistication
The newly launched Celebrity Equinox takes ship design and elegance to a whole new level. The boutique-styled ship has some of the largest staterooms at sea, a stunning, modern main dining room, stylish bars and a spa where you can gently ease away your troubles.
The ship, the second in Celebrity’s Solstice class, has a special spa category of stateroom. AquaClass passengers are treated to upgraded staterooms with fantastic rain showers and multi-directional jets, direct
access to the spa – so you can walk there in your robe – and access to its Persian Garden, equipped with steam rooms and relaxing tepidariums that look straight out to sea. AquaClass passengers also have access to their own speciality restaurant, Blu featuring what Celebrity Cruises describes as: “fresh, flavourful dishes with healthful, indulgent fare”.
The ship has ten restaurants in total, including delicious speciality restaurants like Asian Silk Harvest and Italian Tuscan Grille. Then there’s an array of bars – the most popular being the ice-topped Martini bar, serving over 100 varieties of martini cocktails.
Though the ships’ boutique style is attractive to adults, families will also love the range of facilities on board, from swimming pools, to kids and teens clubs, and a West End-style theatre where the hit musical Hairspray will be performed during its first season.
However the pièce de résistance is to be found on Equinox’s top deck. With no land in sight for miles around you can walk on the beautifully manicured green grass of the Lawn Club. Enjoy boules, croquet or a sundowner at the ship’s Sunset Bar as you cruise to destinations including the Canaries, Italy, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Barbados, St Kitts, St Maarten, St Thomas and Dominica.
Oasis set to take to the seas
Royal Caribbean will come of age when it launches its 21st ship in December.
Oasis of the Seas will be the largest cruise ship in the world, carrying up to 5,400 guests.
The ship is set to be a sea-going architectural marvel with a new ‘neighbourhood’ concept with seven distinct themed areas: Central Park – a park with open-air cafés, and relaxing gardens; Boardwalk featuring the first ever traditional fairground carousel on board a ship, the Royal Promenade with the first moving bar at sea, a Pool and Sports Zone, Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Centre, Entertainment Place with comedy and jazz bands and a Youth Zone.
Among the stateroom options are two-level loft suites featuring floor to ceiling windows, dining rooms and spacious balconies.
Oasis will have 24 distinct dining choices ranging from exclusive signature restaurants to neighbourhood specific themed venues.
It will also have a stunning outdoor amphitheatre-style AquaTheater, and iceskating rink.
Some of the destinations the ship will visit include the Riviera Maya and Cozumel in Mexico, Jamaica, St Thomas, St Maarten and The Bahamas.
The rebirth of a queen
Cunard has a great tradition of cruising and is famous for its ships – the Queen Mary, Queen Victoria and the former Queen Elizabeth II (QE2), now a floating hotel.
Its next ship, the Queen Elizabeth will carry up to 2,092 guests and offer ornate rooms with rich, lavish décor that transports you back to a golden age of sea travel.
Dining choices will be plentiful from the exclusive Queens and Princess Grills, to The Courtyard where you can eat al fresco.
There will also be a three-tier Royal Court Theatre and designer boutiques in the Royal Arcade, while Queen Elizabeth’s public rooms will feature marble, polished woods and mosaics.
The ship will also feature a spa in which you can luxuriate and the chance to ward off cruise calories in the fitness centre. On the games deck you’ll be able to enjoy some genteel traditional pursuits such as croquet
and bowls.
Queen Elizabeth’s maiden voyage is a 13-night cruise from Southampton to Portugal, Spain, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, and Madeira, sailing from October 12, 2010.
Fun in Epic proportions
Norwegian Cruise Lines’ newest ship will cram in options for family fun when it launches next May.
Norwegian Epic will feature a ‘big top’ style 265-seater theatre with the production Cirque Dreams and Dinner – a theatrical dining experience, while there will be performances from Blue Man Group in its
Epic theatre.
Epic will also feature a huge Aqua Park with incredible tube and bowl slides, the most bowling lanes at sea, 14 restaurants – the most at sea – and 18 bars and lounges including the first ice bar afloat.
Norwegian Epic incorporates several new types of accommodation – the curved New Wave staterooms; the largest ship-within-a-ship suite complex at sea, comprising 60 suites and villas on two private decks at the top of the ship.
Regent Seven Seas joins RCI’s portfolio
Luxury line Regent Seven Seas has become the latest quality cruise company to partner with RCI.
A favourite with cruisers seeking unsurpassed luxury, attentive service and less visited destinations, Regent Seven Seas offers personalised itineraries so you can customise your trip to have the very experiences you’re
looking for.
The cruise line offers the chance for people to book private tours with expert guides. These make for a unique expedition in which the guides enlighten the tours with insights into a variety of hidden local treasures.
Veteran cruisers will love Regent Seven Seas as they offer a number of uncommon, exotic and exciting destinations, from the glacial tundra of Antarctica to the sun-drenched rainforests of Central America.
Other cruise lines you can book with RCI include Princess, Thomson, Ocean Village, P&O, MSC, Costa and Hurtigruten.
To book a cruise with RCI call 0845 6086362.
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