You know you’re in one of the top suites on a ship when it comes with a personal butler. Or, at least, that was the old rule. Now some of the world’s ritziest lines are promising butlers to all.

Luxury line Silversea Cruises Wednesday announced plans to roll out personal butler service for passengers in every cabin on every ship – something Azamara Cruises has touted since it launched two years ago.

According to Christian Sauleau, Silversea’s executive vice president, each butler assisted by a suite attendant is empowered to troubleshoot problems and provide special service touches.

Celebrity Solstice is a cruise ship for Celebrity Cruises. She is the largest cruise ship built in Germany and she left the Meyer Werft on September 28, 2008. This colossal ship can house as many as nearly 3,000 passengers !

The 315m-long ship is so wide it barely squeezed out of the Papenberg watergates, but ably helped by two tug-boats it escaped on it’s to the North sea, where it will head to Denmark.

Onboard amenities will include a large theater, multiple restaurant dining options, The Patio on the Lawn, numerous bars and clubs, Solstice Deck, youth facilities, Online@Celebrity, and many other common and unique features. Some new innovations that have been revealed include glass-blowing classes/demonstrations as well as The Lawn Club, a live grass lawn between the ship’s funnels on the upper deck.
This U.S. cruise ship will have four sister ships, Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Eclipse, and two as-of-yet unnamed ships. The sisters will enter service in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Celebrity Solstice will be officially launched some time in November this year, giving a huge challenge to other liners that have suddenly become so puny in comparison to this giant.

Imagine touring the world, 300 ports in 150 countries, from the comfort of your own exclusive, floating home. The new ultimate in luxury is purchasing a condo on the world’s largest private residential cruise ship, the Magellan.

The 860-foot long ship features 210 units, including 16 penthouses, to keep up the tradition of exploration in the modern world aboard a 76,000-tonne, 15-deck residential cruise ship. Life will become one long, leisurely dream for the Magellan’s 1100 passengers who will be pampered by 350 crew and backed up by four restaurants.

Residences start at $2.34 million for full ownership and the two best suites, each with four bedrooms, cost $17.3 million apiece. In addition to the purchase price of each apartment, owners pay a hefty maintenance fee amounting to between 5 and 6 percent of the purchase price. Magellan also offers the unique opportunity to buy fractional ownership of one month or two weeks per year, starting at $140,000.

For many owners this is a third home and one that most use for just weeks in any given year, choosing the part of the world they want to visit or for some special occasion, including family get-togethers.

The Magellan will operate much like a cruise ship with most of the amenities one would expect to find on a luxury vessel, such as tennis court, retractable marina that goes into action as soon as the ship berths, two putting greens, an observatory, four fine dining restaurants, an all-weather heliport, Aqua Spa, casino, gourmet marketplace, microbrewery, 430-seat Broadway-style theatre, two pools and more… Owners can reach the Magellan via the ship’s two executive jet helicopters, Venetian tenders or at ports.

The Magellan will circumnavigate the globe every two years. Scheduled ports include Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Istanbul, Stockholm, New York, Miami, Rio de Janeiro, Acapulco, Vancouver, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney, Bali, Honolulu and Alexandria.

The ship will be built at Aker Yards in France and is scheduled to set sail in 2010.

It’s destined to be the world’s largest cruise ship when launched next year, Royal Caribbean’s US$1.24 billion Project Genesis will be 1,180 feet long, and carry 5400 passengers.

One key of attraction is a lush, tropical park in the center of the ship which opens to the sky. Central parks which are size of a football field are also developed on the ship with an intention of giving the travelers a public gathering place.
The aim is to make the park a public gathering place like a town’s central park, with pathways, seasonal flower gardensand a canopy of trees. Aiming to give the ship a number of distinct districts, the Central park neighborhood is one of seven neighborhoods to be unveiled on Project Genesis.

Central Park’s central piazza will be the ship’s “town square” which will evolve from a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere during the day to a gathering space for alfresco dining and entertainment in the evening, where guests will enjoy concerts and street performances. The neighborhood is lined with balcony staterooms rising six decks high with views of the Park below and the sky above.

Project Genesis is not only the most expensive ship in history buy also the longest the widest and the tallest ocean liner ever built (43 per cent larger in size than the world’s largest cruise ship, Freedom of the Seas) and even bigger than any military ship ever built, aircraft carriers included.

Via gizmag

Prince Albert II, the ruler of Monaco, recently christened a new cruise ship named after himself, which will be the newest addition to the Silversea line and said to be the most luxurious expedition ship ever to sail.

A gutted expedition ship now completely redecorated and outfitted to suit the most wealthy of customers it is ready for the most rugged of adventures with the most luxurious of accommodations.

The 132-passenger Prince Albert II, which formerly sailed as the World Discoverer before Silversea bought it in September, sets sail on June 12 from London on an inaugural season of 10- to 22-day adventure cruises focusing on the polar regions.