Friday, September 19, 2014
2015 Berlitz Cruise Guide Announces the WINNERS!!!!!
7:39 AM | 
Posted by
LEADERHUNTRESS |
2015
STAR PERFORMERS REVEALED BY 30TH ANNIVERSARY
BERLITZ CRUISING & CRUISE SHIPS GUIDE
New York, NY, September 2014—And the
envelope, please!
While
2015 Berlitz
Cruising & Cruise Ships (to be published Nov. 1, 2014) reveals the
top ranking ships, with Europa 2 and Europa achieving the highest rankings,
this latest 30th anniversary edition introduces a broader focus on
the star performers. New categories making their debut in the seafaring
equivalent of the Oscars include Best in
Class for: families, teenagers, water slides, most luxurious suites, spas,
child-free cruising, foodies and the longest swimming pools. These categories
make the guide even more indispensable for veteran or first-time cruise-goers.
“Small
used to be beautiful, but size doesn’t seem to matter anymore, with some high
scores being awarded to all sizes, from boutique ships right up to the large
resort ships,” says author Douglas Ward. What’s different about routes for the
coming season? Ward explains, “Some of the cruise lines, like Princess,
Celebrity and Carnival are adding longer trips and sending their ships further
afield, to destinations such as Australia and the Pacific Ocean. The South East
Asian market is also a tempting one for the cruise lines.”
Family
cruising is the major growth area, and there are increasing numbers of superb
cruise ships available for families that represent great value for money. New
kid on the block, Mein Schiff 3 (from
rapidly-expanding cruise line, TUI Cruises) is one of the best new vessels for
families and, with a 25-metre pool, it also receives the crown for longest
swimming pool, plus the most highly rated large resort ship. What Ward
describes as ‘gimmickry’ is another trend, such as robots that can make the
drinks, as all the big resort ships try to outdo one another. Amusingly too,
brochures of the major cruise lines now include behavior sections on how to act
appropriately on board – something that would not have been necessary in the
earliest days of cruising.
Ward believes few
operators can really deliver a ship, product, and crew worthy of the highest
Berlitz star rating. For this 2015 edition, two ships, both from Hapag-Lloyd
Cruises, have achieved the score required for them to be awarded members in the
most exclusive ‘five-stars-plus’ club: Europa
2 (with 1,860 points out of a possible 2,000) and Europa (with a close 1,851 points). “Both are beautiful ships to sail aboard”, comments Ward, “with an outstanding
amount of space per passenger, high ceilinged passageways, a superb range of
dining venues and types of cuisine, and attentive, friendly, yet unobtrusive
personal service. They’ve proven themselves to be unbeatable yet again.”
BEST IN
CLASS 2015*
5 Best Ships for
Families – Chosen
for family-friendly facilities, activities and entertainment:
Allure of the Seas/Oasis
of the Seas; Disney Dream/Disney Fantasy; Mein Schiff 3, MSC Preziosa,
Norwegian Breakaway/Norwegian Getaway
5 Best Cruise Lines
for Teenagers - Teenagers
like space away from adults to hang out and meet others. Some ships get it, others
don’t. These do:
Disney
Cruise Line (Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy);
Norwegian Cruise Line (Norwegian
Breakaway, Norwegian Epic, Norwegian Getaway); Princess Cruises (Royal Princess, Regal Princess); Royal Caribbean International (Quantum of the Seas), TUI Cruises (Mein Schiff 3).
5 Best Water Slides -
Children
can’t wait to go for a ride once they are on board:
DrainPipe (Carnival Cruise
Lines); Aquaduck (Disney Cruise Line);
Vertigo (MSC Cruises)
Epic Plunge (Norwegian Cruise
Line); Parthenon Slide (Star Cruises).
5 Most Luxurious
Suites - Suites
are not just about size and space but also the furnishings, service and all the
little details:
- Royal Loft on Allure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas
(Royal Caribbean International - Their upstairs/downstairs layout, baby
grand piano, and huge glass wall together hit the spot;
- Crystal
Penthouse on Crystal Serenity
(Crystal Cruises) - The master bathroom is wonderfully decadent, and,
imagine, it’s possible to eat Nobu sashimi and sushi in your own dining
room;
- Owner’s Suite on
Europa 2 (Hapag-Lloyd Cruises) - The bathroom is simply stunning with a
bath that could accommodate four, and a window-side day bed;
- Owner’s Suite on
- Sandringham
Suite on Queen Mary 2 (Cunard Line
– An Art-Deco apartment on two levels with a sweeping curved stairway, and
an oversized balcony deck.
5 Best Cruise Ship
Spas - Wellness
and pampering on board have become major attractions for people who want to
take care of their bodies, even when on holiday:
AIDA
Cruises (AIDAprima); Cunard Line (Queen Mary 2); Hapag-Lloyd Cruises (Europa 2); MSC Cruises (MSC Fantasia, MSC Preziosa, MSC Splendida);
P&O Australia (Pacific Pearl
5 Best ships for
Child-free Cruising
– One from each of five different cruise lines:
Adonia (P&O Cruises); Grande Mariner (Blount Small Ship
Adventures); Island Sky (Noble Caledonia ); Minerva
(Swan Hellenic Cruises); Saga Sapphire
(SAGA Cruises);
5 Best Cruise Lines for
Foodies - chosen
for the quality and variety of ingredients, their creativity and presentation:
5 Longest Swimming
Pools - Most
cruise ship pools are small considering the size of the large resort ships
today, but that’s because water can slosh around when the weather’s bad. Here
are the longest:
Mein Schiff 3 (25.0 meters); Europa (17.3 meters); Europa 2 (14.0 meters); Asuka II (13.5 meters); Crystal Serenity/Crystal Symphony (13.5
meters).
TOP 3
SHIPS IN EACH SIZE CATEGORY
The Top 3 Large
Resort Ships (2,001–6,500
passengers) All 4-star Plus
1st
Place: Mein Schiff 3
The Top 3 Mid-size
Ships (751–2,000
passengers)
The Top 3 Small Ships
(251–750
passengers)
The Top 3 Boutique
Ships (50–250
passengers) - All 5-star
1st
Place: Hanseatic
Fully
updated and revised, Berlitz Cruising & Cruise Ships 2015 ($25.99, 704 pages, with hundreds of color
photographs) publishes in the U.S. Nov. 1. Also forthcoming will be the guide in e-book format.
For further
information visit www.insightguides.com/berlitz/berlitz-cruising.
###
NOTE TO EDITORS: *Some sister ships in
the same series with identical or close to identical, features and facilities
have also been included.
For those interested
in an interview with the author or a review copy, please contact:
In the U.S: Melissa Lande or Alan
Appel, Lande PR
O: 212-706-9003 /M: 646-315-3608
In the UK: Julia Spence, Annabel
Owen or Natalie Postlethwaite,
Julia Spence Public Relations
T: 01491
824524 / M: 07802 443113