Amusement Rides on Cruise Ships?

Just got back from my cruise on the Carnival Triumph. Being a past cruiser with Carnival I was invited to a special cocktail party for past cruisers. This gave Carnival the opportunity to pitch their line for future cruises by people that have already returned to Carnival in the past.

Part of this spiel they gave us talked about the future of Carnival and what ships are being constructed now. One of these ships was the Carnival Liberty, expected to be completed in late 2006. Here is the gimmick for this ship... they are going to put a ferris wheel on the ship. Talk about new dimesions in getting sea sick. With crazy things going on cruise ships all over, one must wonder how long it will be until they get a coaster on one of these things :)

I bet TTD would fit on one of those ships...

But then it would sink faster.

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Literally.

Magnum could really sink then...

As long as they don't charge extra admission for the rides, I'm pretty sure that after paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to go on a cruise, most people would expect everything to be including, even the amusment rides.

Could you imagine a coaster going around the outside of the ship like the one on Stratasphere?

I remember reading an article in Popular Mechanics several years ago (maybe over 10) about super sized cruise ships that were more like floating islands with small amusement parks on them complete with a rollercoaster or two. It could very well be possible to put a small coaster, like a mouse or a junior coaster on a cruise ship.

Well, currently the closest you can get is rock-climbing, miniature golf, or ice-skating (all on Royal Caribbean). I'd like to see some smallish attractions like that, however, and it would be a great new gimmick on the ships. We will be taking our fourth cruise in May (first three on Carnival ships, this one on RCCL) and look forward to the variety.

RCmuzikGuY -- typically, all the on-board attractions are included in your fare (entertainment wise). Not included are spa treatments, specialized fitness classes, gift shop purchases, soda, alcohol, and tips. But they are fairly all-inclusive if you're not into a lot of that. Of course anything off the ship, such as shore excursions, are not included either, but I've always found them fairly priced. For example, all the ice-skating and rock-climbing and so forth is included (no extra charge), and they have the equipment for you to use as well.

I went to that same Past Cruisers gala last month on the Imagination, I am a past cruiser myself with Carnival. They made no mention of a ferris wheel on any ship. I date a travel agent who has ties to all of th cruise lines and has heard no such thing.

I don't believe you right now. Sorry Bob.

BTW. Atikins works... Have fun on Twister!

I heard rumors floating around a couple years back about Disney building a portable theme park that it could dock in various ports of call. I thought that might be pretty cool.

Other than that, how about a waterslide park on a ship?

Carnival's Fascination (and probably many others) has a decent-sized water slide... probably 20 feet tall. I didn't ride it because they were letting only one person go at a time, and the person had to exit the pool before the next slider could even climb the ladder... and the line was 20 people deep half the time.

John, the person who was giving the presentation was the cruise director that goes on most ship launches. He is slated to be on the first sailing of the Valor when she launches in the near future. He is one of the most respected cruise directors at Carnival. He isnt gonna lie about something like this.

As for the waterslide Den, most of the funships have a waterslide of some type. I was on the Fascination before and theres was nothing compared to the one on the Triumph. That thing was freakin huge. It had the same problem as your slide had with the additional problem that you had to go up two decks to use it. You would slide from the Sun Deck (12) down to the Panorama deck (10). The reason I don't ride those slides is because they use sea water and it's not fun getting sea water up your nose.

When I went on my RCCL cruise this past January they only had a dinky kiddy slide. I was disappointed. I tried the mini golf, but by the time I did, it was so windy that you would hit the ball to the left and it would go wayyyyyyy right! :) Didn't rock climb or ice skate though.

As for a ferris wheel or anything else amusement related I'm all for it! I would love to try it out!