The Best of the Best: Cruise Ship Activities

As cruise ships have gotten bigger and bigger of the years, the onboard experiences have become more incredible and a big part of the cruise selection process. The latest cruise ships are feature-filled with the latest technology guaranteed to provide thrills, test your skills and sometimes spills. In this post, highlighting the best of the best, we present our list of the Top 10 cruise ship activities found onboard some of the most amazing vessels in the world. (10) Guest Participation – If you have an inner star waiting to come out, or just like grabbing the spotlight, a cruise can help you shine with activities like karaoke, guest competitions, dance classes, trivia and fun game shows. (9) Casino & Gaming – Just about every cruise ship offers a casino onboard with every imaginable table game and the latest in slot technology. There are also opportunities to win money and prizes with tournaments and the ever-popular Bingo games. (8) Spa & Fitness – For those that want to maintain a fitness regimen at sea, you’ll find state-of-the-art fitness centers with the latest equipment and available classes. If chill is more your thing, the onboard spa provides attentive pampering while on some ships, thermal suites offer a myriad of water and aroma therapies as well as heat and steam environments. (7) Simulators – With today’s amazing technology, cruise lines like Carnival, Norwegian and MSC Cruises have started offering simulator experiences where you can ride in a F1 race car, fly you own plane or trek through ancient landscapes and have undersea adventures and more in immersive thrill theaters. (6) Amusements – There are cruise ships offering “county fair” type activities like the bumper cars and carousels found on some Royal Caribbean ships, as well as team experiences like Escape Rooms and Laser Tag available on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line. (5) Active/Sports – For those that like to have fun while staying active, there are multiple activities onboard cruises ships. A signature item found onboard Royal Caribbean ships is the rock wall, with two of the largest on each Oasis class ship. Norwegian Cruise Line also has rock climbing walls on several of their ships. Challenging ropes courses can be found on several cruise ships from Carnival, Norwegian and also MSC Cruises. Basketball courts can be found on numerous ships from virtually every cruise line. For those that like to hit the links, there a variety of mini-golf courses, affording some of the best views onboard. If bowling is more in your lane, bowling alleys can be found onboard select ships from Norwegian and MSC Cruises. Introduced onboard Voyager of the Seas over 20 years ago, in addition to watching world class ice shows, guests can ice skate onboard Royal Caribbean’s Voyager, Freedom and Oasis class ships. Debuting onboard Carnival Panorama, SkyZone trampoline park participants can joust an opponent off the balance beam, climb a swinging rope ladder, go for a slam dunk in the hoops section or just bounce around. Onboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum class ships, RipCord by iFly gives guests the opportunity to try skydiving in a controlled environment. A recent addition to Royal Caribbean’s Mariner and Independence of the Seas, plus new ships Spectrum of the Seas and coming to Odyssey of the Seas is Sky Pad, a fusion of a bungee trampoline with virtual reality giving guests a gravity defying ride that’s out of this world. Royal Caribbean’s FlowRider allows many guests to try surfing for the first time. Their locations at the back of the ships on the Voyager, Freedom, Oasis and Quantum class ships offer riders an amazing view. (4) Water Parks & More – Many ships from Carnival, Disney, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, MSC Cruises and others, feature water parks or water play areas. Versions of Carnival’s WaterWorks can be found on just about every ship in their fleet with multiple slides and splash parks. Disney Cruise Line has the signature Mickey spiral