Norwegian Cruise Line has announced that SIX, the British pop musical about Henry VIII’s six wives, will debut on the Norwegian Bliss, Breakaway and Getaway.
Each leading lady in SIX takes center stage to share her personal story and reclaim her identity, along with performances by an all-female band. The show made its premier at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 and will be on Broadway in spring of 2020. Aspiring young playwrights Toby Marlowe and Lucy Moss wrote the show. It was produced by Andy and Wendy Barnes of the Global Musicals theatre company, songwriter George Stiles, West End producer Kenny Wax and Kevin McCollum. SIX will appear first on the Norwegian Bliss on September 1, 2019, followed by Norwegian Breakaway on November 10, 2019 and the Norwegian Getaway on April 23, 2020.
Virgin Voyages cruises 2020, shared information on their plans for the new adult only beach club in Bimini, Bahamas. Virgin pledges to create a destination to rival the best beach clubs in Ibiza and Saint-Tropez, two high-end, party-centric ports of call in the Mediterranean. Painted skies and lapping waves. A private beach club. Unexplored trails and back-alley bars. In the mornings they will offer yoga and fitness classes. By the afternoon, there will be a DJ pool party, and on select sailings that stay until 9 pm, there will be a beach bonfire in the evenings. Grammy award winning producer and artist, Mark Ronson was named the founding DJ of the Beach Club “resident-sea program.” The beach club will offer 6 bars and thoughtfully crafted menus offering a taste of Bahamian foods. A hammock grove will offer a spot to relax beneath the palms.
Virgin Voyages Cruises has partnered with Wynwood Brewing Company of Miami to produce a custom beer that will only be served on its ship., the Scarlet Lady. The beer will be an English pale ale available in cans throughout the ship and on draft in the Draught Haus taproom. A contest is being conducted to name this “beer drinker’s beer” with the approach ability in its taste for the novice.
Royal Caribbean Cruises is expanding its fleet of ships powered by liquefied natural gas to three, by 2025. Their first two LNG-powered Icon ships are scheduled for arrival in 2022 and 2024. The Meyer Turku yard in Finland is building all three. The previous ships were announced at 200,000 gross tons with a capacity for 5,000 passengers.
In addition to being powered by LNG, the ships will be a test platform for evolving fuel cell power technology being developed by Swedish engineering giant ABB.
The Sky Princess cruise ship will soon introduce a digital escape room called Phantom Bridge. Projection mapping, touch-screen surfaces and hidden physical elements bring the environment to life to create an immersive realistic experience. The game lasts 23 minutes and can be played by up to six people. More than 700 outcomes are possible, making this game to be repeated over and over. Phantom bridge was developed for Princess by games company Farbound, utilizing its Mediascape Room, a gaming and show-control system that runs the entire game play. The Sky Princess arrives in the fall. Phantom Bridge will also be offered on the Enchanted Princess cruise ship arriving in 2020.
Seabourn Cruises 2021 unveils custom subs to take guests “below the surface,” on new expedition ships. Using the submersibles on its new expedition ships, guests will sit in swivel seats with a hemispheric view of the underwater world. A pair of U-boat Worx Sub 7 subs will be standard equipment on the 264-passenger Seabourn Venture launching in June of 2021 and her sister ship in May of 2022. Each sub will carry up to six guests. The pilot will sit in an elevated cockpit, steering the battery-powered subs to jaw-dropping depths of up to 900 feet. In keeping with the Seabourn luxury experience, each sub will be outfitted with embroidered leather upholstery, two air conditioning systems, a Bluetooth stereo system and a champagne chiller. The subs will operate multiple times per day in regions that are weather permitting. They will be equipped with underwater LED flood/spot lights, imaging sonar acts as a second set of eyes, and an underwater tracking and navigation system.
Silver Seas Cruises 2020 will launch the new Silver Moon cruise ship in August 2020. The Silver Moon will set sail from Trieste, Italy to Civitavecchia, an 11-day inaugural voyage. One of five Silversea ships spending the summer in the Mediterranean, Silver Moon will cruise some spectacular tropical islands, such as Barbados, Antigua, and Puerto Rico. She will then continue her journey to central and South America, visiting 37 destinations in 20 countries. Silver Moon will echo the elegance of Silver Muse, while bringing numerous enhancements of innovation. Silversea’s new culinary concept, S.A.L.T. will elevate the onboard experience for guests, as they forge meaningful connections with visited destinations through culinary discovery. Enriching the onboard dining experience further, Lalique will produce decorative crystal artworks to enhance the design of the ship’s La Dame restaurant.
