Arthur Frommer Online: You will never guess what the latest cruiseship activity for 2008 will be. Are you ready for this?

Dec 21, 2007

You will never guess what the latest cruiseship activity for 2008 will be. Are you ready for this?

Glass-blowing. You heard it right: glass-blowing. Though I myself have no particular interest in glass-blowing (I don't even go to see it in Venice), it appears that the public as a whole has been yearning for the addition of glass-blowing to the other cruiseship distractions. And therefore, the new Celebrity Solstice, a giant passenger vessel scheduled for launch in late 2008, will contain a glass-blowing shed on an upper deck, staffed by no fewer than three resident glass-blowing "gaffers" giving expert classes and lectures in the subject.

The news arrived in the December 10, 2007, issue of Travel Weekly (the major trade publication for travel professionals), in the form of a half-page story with a page-width headline on top. Apparently, the Corning Museum of Glass will be associated with the venture, the latest effort by the maritime industry to lure away Americans from land-based vacations. Also on the Solstice cruiseship will be a new bar containing "an ice-filled table where guests can participate in caviar and vodka tastings" (undoubtedly for an extra fee).

I'm so tongue-tied about this latest cruiseship innovation -- topping the rock-climbing walls, bowling alleys, boxing rings, and jacuzzis angled perilously over the sea -- that I'll refrain from further comment.

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Labels: cruises