But it’s also a great goad to improvement. That seems to be what’s happening in the cruise industry, especially in the contemporary market, where a remarkable series of interesting ships have been coming out of Europe’s shipyards.
Judging by the renderings released last week, the latest to join the fray is the Carnival Vista, coming in 2016.
While still bearing the imprint of Funship 2.0, the Vista will have a number of novel elements not shared by other Carnival Cruise Line ships.
The cluster of new features is reminiscent of two other ships introduced in 2014: Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Getaway and Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas. The new deck of indoor/outdoor restaurant space on the Vista’s Deck 5 looks remarkably like the Waterfront on Norwegian’s Breakaway/Getaway ships.
And of course, there’s a lot for travel agents to talk about and sell on these new ships. So here’s a salute to healthy competition. Long may it reign.