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The days when cruise holidays meant lying on the deck for days on end, taking the occasional dip in the pool or hot tub and playing deck quoits or bocce ball are long gone. Today, modern cruise liners are fully fledged floating recreation centres boasting an array of activities, fitness equipment and state-of-the-art sports facilities, complete with lavish ocean views.

Cruise holiday booking specialists, Cruise1st, has compiled a list of cruise ships offering top-class fitness facilities and activities to keep passengers occupied and in shape between ports.

Cruise1st’s recommendations of the best cruise liners for active travelers include:

Sapphire Princess - Princess Cruises
The Sapphire Princess has five pools on board, including a wave machine; a fitness centre with 35 cardiovascular stations, 17 weight-strength stations, 12 spinning cycles and an outdoor jogging track; and a golf simulator as well as practice their slice on the putting green.

The Sapphire Princess sails through Alaska and the Mexican Riviera. 

Voyager of the Seas - Royal Caribbean International 
Voyager of the Seas can surf a FlowRider, scale rock climbing walls and make use of a full-size basketball court and nine-hole miniature golf course on board. 

The Voyager of the Seas sails through the Caribbean, Europe and the Mediterranean.

Pacific Dawn - P&O Cruises 
The ship offers passengers an intensive ‘boot camp at sea’ program, a fully-equipped fitness centre with weight and aerobic conditioning equipment, sauna and steam rooms as well as daily classes including aerobics and pilates. 

The Pacific Dawn sails through Australia and the South Pacific. 

Queen Mary 2 - Cunard 
The spacious Queen Mary 2 offers four pools and four whirlpools; caters for basketball, volleyball and tennis lovers with a half-size basketball court, volleyball court and tennis court. 

The ship’s running track allows runners who complete three laps of the 360-degree teak-deck promenade track to run a distance of 1.5 kilometres. 

The Queen Mary 2 travels almost all over the globe including making transatlantic crossings. 

Allure of the Seas - Royal Caribbean International
A zip line suspended nine decks high lets passengers can race diagonally across an open-air atrium, from one end of the ship to the other. The ship also has a FlowRider pool, a realistic golf simulator, a small golf course and fitness classes ranging from yoga to kick boxing are held daily.

The Allure of the Seas sails through the Caribbean. 

Silver Whisper - Silver Sea 
The Silver Whisper’s full-time Golf Academy is a respected and comprehensive floating academy that offers passengers professional golf instructors on board, to provide golfing tuition, activities and excursions to passengers of all skill levels. 

The Silver Whisper sails through South America, the Caribbean and Northern Europe. 

Splendida - MSC Cruises
MSC Splendida’s Sports Bar has innovative mini-bowling alleys, a Wii sports console area and a Formula 1 simulator for lovers of sporting video games. 

Outside, on the ship’s deck, passengers can enjoy the ‘Aqua Park’ with its four lap pools, or the ball sport courts, perfect for a game of tennis, squash or basketball.

The MSC Splendida sails through the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Northern Europe. 

Celebrity Eclipse - Celebrity Cruise
Passengers on board the Celebrity Eclipse can look forward to exercising the body and mind with daily sunset yoga classes, pilates or body-sculpting classes. Passengers looking for more of a vigorous workout can do so at the state-of-the-art fitness facility, which has the latest equipment and machines including lifecycles, treadmills, stair masters, virtual reality bikes, free climbers and rowing ergo meters. For those uncertain of what they would like to participate in, rest assured the personal trainers on board are only more than happy to develop a customised program to suit individual desires.

For outdoor activities, passengers can head up to Deck 14 and 15 where they will find the ‘Sport Court’ for basketball, football and soccer games. The Celebrity Eclipse also has a ‘Lawn Club’ where golfers can practice their putting skills.

Celebrity Eclipse sails through the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Northern Europe. 

Cruise1st is one of the largest online cruise travel providers. Through its state-of-the-art website, it has emerged as a frontrunner in the cruising market, with a bias towards the growing areas of dynamic packaging, online trading and air-cruise-and-stay booking options. 
The company launched its Australian operations in July 2010.

For more information go to www.cruise1st.com.au

Images: Running track on the Celebrity Eclipse (top), FlowRider on the Voyager of the Seas (middle) and fitness centre on the Celebrity Eclipse (below).

19th August 2010 - TAPPING INTO HEALTH AND WELLNESS TOURISM

16th September 2008 - ATEC ACTS ON WELLNESS TOURISM

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