New cruise ship includes a bar to sip over the sea

(Princess Cruises)

Princess Cruises gave fans a sneak preview of its new ship March 15, revealing some interesting new features which will debut when it sets sail in 2013.

The Royal Princess weighs in at 141,000 tons and can carry 3,600 passengers, making her slightly bigger than this year's major debuts, the Disney Dream, Carnival Magic and Celebrity Silhouette.

Among the highlights for passengers is likely to be the SeaWalk, an over-water enclosed walkway on the ship's starboard side which extends more than 28 feet (8.5 meters) beyond the edge of the vessel - cool, but not as cool as the SeaView bar, which offers the same experience of looking down onto water, but with a cocktail in hand.

On the top deck, there will be a new adults-only pool and other new pools which surround a tropical "island" that offers sunbathing by day and an outdoor nightclub in the evenings.

Princess also said that several elements of its previous ships, such as The Sanctuary spa and the Piazza atrium, will be expanded on board Royal Princess, as will the poolside theater, which will be revamped to offer HD movies.

This year is set to be a big one for the cruise industry, as the world recovers from its economic headache and vacationers can spend more on cruises, which tend to be more expensive than traditional vacations.

At last week's ITB Berlin travel show, the Cruise Line Industry Association said that it believed 16 million people would take cruises in 2011 (up 6.6 percent), with the most popular destinations likely to be Alaska, Europe and the Caribbean.

http://www.princesscruises.com