- With rooms that offer nightly canapés and butler services to ships fitted with moving bars, cigar clubs and reservation-only restaurants, cruises can take the idea of luxury and stretch it into what can only be called extravagance. From Silversea's worldwide, 119-day tours to the Queen Mary 2's christening by Queen Elizabeth II, these cruise ships offer overseas travel with an extravagant touch.
Silversea
- The Italian-based Silversea Cruise Lines offers cruise-goers all-inclusive ships with art deco interior design, casinos, salons and spas, wine bars and Connoisseur's Corner, a cognac and cigar club. The line's restaurants vary from gourmet menus designed by Relais & Chateaux, a French luxury hotel chain, to 1930s styles supper lounge where reservations are required. The suites on Silversea's ships all feature ocean views, and 85 have private have private verandas. Additional amenities include butler services. The cruise line's 119-day world tour has a price tag that begins at $62,000 (as of October 2010).
Royal Caribbean
- Dubbed the most expensive cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas organizes the ship by neighborhoods. The Vitality neighborhood offers massages, spas for adults and youth and hair and makeup services, while the pool zone features four pools, mini golf, zip lines and a kid's aqua park.The Entertainment Palace is home to the casinos, night clubs and a theater that seats 1,380. The Youth Zone offers kids and teenagers underage discos, science labs and nursery services. The ship's Rising Tide bar is the first moving bar at sea, transporting guests from the public spaces below up to the Central Park boardwalk area.
Seven Seas
- The cruise ships of Regent Seven Seas offer travelers suites up to 2,000 square feet with butler services and private verandas. Restaurants feature Le Cordon Bleu cuisine, often with daytime cooking classes. Casinos, lounges and cigar bars with hand-rolled cigars are a part of the ship's entertainment, as well as theaters showing live cabaret revues and other feature productions. Regent also offers Canyon Ranch SpaClub's line of spas for cruises.
Queen Mary 2
- Christened by Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen Mary 2 offers travelers 14 decks featuring ballrooms, theaters, the planetarium and a Monte Carlo-inspired casino that offers daytime gaming lessons. The Queen's Grill suite offers priority check-in, French champagne with strawberries, personalized stationary, a personal butler service that packs and unpacks guest's luggage, and evening canapés. The ship's enrichment program offers jazz performances from Julliard, science talks from Oxford University Press and one-hour productions of the classics from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
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