Travel Trends :: Larger than Life {@ sea}

[trip style = cruising] The Titanic was impressive (as were Leo and Kate in the movie). Ninety-eight years later, we have ships with ice rinks, climbing walls, skeet shooting, cantilevered hot tubs and surf simulators. And that's not even the latest and greatest. Wow. Now there's vodka ice lounges, the first Starbucks at sea, aqua theaters, zip lines and Central Park-like promenades. This week's travel trend explores the zany and fabulous of larger than life ocean liners.

My First My first cruise experience was a short child care contract with Celebrity cruise lines. I worked on the Century taking care of children by day and going to shows by night. Days off in St. Marten weren't half bad either! Fast forward 5 years. Enamored and intrigued by a ship with an ice rink, surf simulator and mini-golf, my husband and I decided to try out the latest and greatest at the time: Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. We kept ourselves so busy on the ship---surfing in the morning, sunning in the afternoon, dining and show-ing in the evening---we didn't even want to get off at port.

The Rumors were True Five years ago we heard rumors of a ship even bigger and more impressive than the Freedom (biggest in the world at the time), and couldn't conceive of it. But that ship, Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas is not only in service, but its sister, the Allure of the Seas, is just about to start passenger service! {For a sneak peak, see videos like the making of "Central Park" here.}

Along Came the Epic In between the launch of the Oasis in Dec of 2009 and the Allure, Norwegian had a go at its version of a mega ship. The aptly named Epic has the first big-top circus tent at sea, a comedy club, a Blue Man Group headliner show, a vodka ice bar, a members-only day to night luxury club, an art deco-inspired supper club and the list goes on.

Verdict Cruising is not a trip style I indulge in regularly, but I'd love to try the Allure, Oasis and Epic in that order, not to mention some small luxury liners like one of the Yatchs of Seabourn. When I was on the Freedom I was worried I'd have nowhere to escape sun-tanners-who-are-loud-talkers, or 50-people-strong family reunion crews, but we always found peaceful places to relax after mangling our bodies on the 30-mile per hour water rushing at us from the flowrider surf simulator.

What customer-dazzling cruising features are next? A lazy river meandering around the entire ship, bungee jumping, downhill skiing, Cirque de Soleil vegas-style shows? I guess we'll have to wait and see...

Would you ever indulge in cruising as a trip style?  Why or why not?

Related Content Travel Trappings :: Cruising Essentials Reposition Me Royal Caribbean + DreamWorks = Smart Cruisin’ with the Fam

[photos: my own]

Travel Trends :: Suite Arrival

{Don't miss our Giveaway announcement below!} Nobody likes it when they open their travel bag to discover a mouthwash-soaked shirt. Oh toiletry casualties, I *strongly* dislike you! Because of leaking issues, scrambling to buy last-minute toiletries and wanting more space in my bag for clothes, I'm excited---actually overjoyed---to learn there's a company that's created a solution to these packing problems.

This week's travel trend is devoted to a personal care concierge service. With a few clicks of the mouse, Suite Arrival delivers your favourite personal care products right to your hotel room.

A Little Box With Your Name On It Imagine this: you check into your hotel room and there's a little box waiting for you with toiletries you pre-ordered. Whether you want to go with lux or value brands, Suite Arrival has created an ingenious system where you can pre-order kits or hand-pick toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste,  advil, moisturizer, sunscreen, gum, nuts, etc...) and have all of it shipped to your hotel room. Not only do they offer good prices, but if you spend $50, the shipping is free. Done and done.

Giveaway Suite Arrival is kindly giving one lucky winner a lux travel kit! Plus, all Trip Styler readers get 10% off their next order! Use promo code: TRIPSTYLER10.

For One Entry Comment on this post and tell us if you would use a service like this to get personal care products delivered to your hotel room.

For Two Entries Write on Trip Styler’s Facebook wall.

For Three Entries Follow @TripStyler on Twitter and RT this: I've just entered to win a @SuiteArrival lux travel kit on @TripStyler ~ details: http://bit.ly/bXof6w

This giveaway is open to residents of Canada and the USA. The lucky winner will be chosen via random.org on Thursday, Nov 4th. If the winner is a gal, she'll receive: Ren Shampoo, Conditioner, Grapefruit Body Wash & Body Cream, Pore Minimizing Detox Mask and Active 7 Radiant Eye Maintenance Gel. If the winner is a man, he'll receive: Anthony Sport For Men Good To Go Kit. For the greatest chance of winning, use all three methods above.

PS - If you feel like taking your toiletries home when you check out of your hotel, each order comes with a clear plastic bag! Using Suite Arrival is most cost efficient when you're traveling in the US, although they do ship internationally too.

{Winner: After tallying all the entries via your comments, Facebook and Twitter through random.org, our winner is MaggieLang via Twitter! Thanks to everyone who participated!}

5 DIY Halloween Costumes for Jetsetters

Move over circa 2009 Kate Gosselin halloween wig, there's a new costume fad for 2010! Thanks to Steven Slater (the JetBlue flight attendant who grabbed two beers and jumped shipplane by deploying the emergency slide), travel-themed Halloween costumes are where it's at in 2010. Without further ado, this week's travel trend thursday is devoted to DIY travel-inspired Halloween costumes.

Jetsetting DIY Costume Ideas 1. Pilot I know Matt Damon's recurring role as Carol the pilot on 30 Rock inspired you to be a "doorman to the skies" for Halloween. To create this costume you'll need: - a blue or black suit (preferably double breasted) - a pilot's hat - aviator sunglasses - a stick-on mustache - a pin with wings - safety pins and gold ribbon to affix around bottom of sleeves, shoulders and hat - carry-on suitcase with briefcase attached

2. Flight Attendant There are two types of flight attendant directions you could go with this costume: 50s/60s glam or boring modern-day---unless you work for Singapore Airlines. The modern day FA is pretty easy to pull off, here's how: - basic pant or skirt suit - blouse or dress shirt for men - scarf tied around neck, or tie for men - high heeled shoes with a sturdy heel - carry-on suitcase Bonus: matching hat for ladies, or two beers for men (if you choose to go the Steven Slater route). By the way, have you seen Jimmy Fallon's hilarious song about the incident?

3. Roaming Gnome Travelocity's roaming gnome really gets around with only a few quick stops you'll be able to impersonate him with relative ease. What you'll need for this costume: - a blue robe that sits just below the knee - black boots - black belt (wear high waisted) - white long beard with mustache (cut some off to make bushy eyebrows) - tall, pointy red hat

4. Tacky Tourist Although the tacky tourist costume can be overdone, I suggest you under-do it and make people wonder if you're actually serious or not. If you want to overdo it, here's how: - knee socks - birkenstocks or flip flops - khaki shorts - aloha shirt - massive camera hanging from your neck - sunglasses - grass hat Bonus: find a fanny pack and florescent face zinc

5. Suitcase We bring a suitcase with us every time we travel, but we never think to dress up as one for Halloween. Why not honour our trusty travel companion by going as a boxy carrier on wheels? What you'll need for this costume: - an old suitcase from a second-hand store (cut out the bottom and create arm and head holes) - black leggings - a bunch of ribbons and doodads to attach to every extremity Bonus: find 'fragile' or 'heavy load' stickers to place on the bag, have few undergarments sticking out of the bag and wear roller-skates/blades as the suitcases wheels.

PS - In a move that would later dictate an actual trip style, this post's above picture is of my husband and I dressed up as tacky, safari tourists (see more about our African safari on Friday). We whipped up the costume at 5pm Oct 31st and thanks to some gear my husband had lying around, we later donned our overly khaki attire at 7pm. Photoshop-happy sister was just a bonus.

[photo credits: heatherlovesit, NBC]

Grande Beer with a Shot of Chardonnay

There's a new pub in Seattle: it's green and in a latte shop. Your eyes aren't tricking you, I did string latte, green and pub together in the same sentence. The concept for this morning latte/evening wine experiment comes from a company known for their special beverages, but not those kind of beverages. On Monday, Starbucks, the creator of budget-draining caffeine addiction $4 coffee opened a concept store offering wine + beer after 4pm, fittingly in a LEED-certified building to boot.

Not Such a New Concept Ever since Starbucks gave the world a healthy appetite for specialty coffee and daily visits to the coffee shop, they've associated themselves with firsts, but people were drinking multiple coffees a day long before the grande, decaf, extra sweet, skinny mocha. Similarly, in cities all around the world, morning coffee shops/afternoon wine bars (like UVA in Vancouver) have been successfully transitioning customers from day to night.

Have Curiosity, Will Try Regardless of whether this is a new concept or not, I'm heading down to Seattle this weekend to pick up some amazing gilt group shoes for my husband enjoy the city, and curiosity has killed the cat: I have to try out this concept. Coming from a place of bottom line-driven innovation, a CBS News feature reported that 70% of Starbucks business happens before 2pm, so in an effort to gain some after-work revenue, kudos to them for trying out this concept, complete with $7-8 local wine, craft beer and artisan meats and cheese.

Thank goodness the store has been renovated to better reflect the nouveau atmosphere they are trying to create. Good thing, because I don't think I could stomach drinking a pinot gris in the traditional coffee-scented, muted autumn-coloured, steamy Starbucks store.

Find it The grande beer with an extra shot of chardonnay store can be found on Olive Way in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle.

[via Huffington Post] [photo by CBS morning news]

Travel Trends :: Groupon-esque Travel

[trip style = budget conscious]

Coupons are making a comeback. But in 2010 and via web 2.0, they look a little different. They are virtual (until you print them out), viral and group-buying focused, as in, if a deal gets shared enough and people buy it, everyone gets to indulge.

The Groupon Craze We all know Groupon is hot right now, businesses from cooking schools to Fairmont Hotels have been jumping on board to entice consumers with savings, which they hope will bring them regular customers. Playing off the coupon and social networking trend, there's a groupon-like travel website launching next week. My prediction, it's going to be BIG.

New Kid in Town TripAlertz is an online travel community where prices go down as bookings go up. Not a bad formula. This US-based website is free to use and takes seconds to join. Unlike Groupon, you don't have to unlock a deal, rather you can purchase it for a limited time. The more people purchase, the greater the savings. In the website's launch phase, most of the deals appear to be Florida-based, but as the site expands, they plan on expanding worldwide.

Travel Sharing = Travel Savings This social-buying travel site puts a whole new spin on group travel. Yes, it offers the same type of discounts as the Pricelines and Hotwires of the world, but it does so transparently, in a way that depends upon social sharing. Therefore, if you see a hotel deal you like, you can a) indulge on your own, or b) share it with your friends, likely get greater savings and plan a group trip!

Bon voyage!