Celebrity lifestyle catching on

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When perusing a luxury cruise ship, do not put your tongue on the ice bar.

So warns the crew member guiding the Otago Daily Times staff and travel agents around Celebrity Century, which made its first New Zealand port of call when it arrived at Port Chalmers on Tuesday.

The five-star-rated vessel boasts the first ice bar at sea, a liquid bar counter frozen into rock-hard ice, and yes, someone once stuck their tongue on it.

The vessel also has its own exclusive lounge, casino, 900-seat theatre, works by Picasso, Warhol and Hockney, and a spa where you can get a beard trimmed for $US15 ($NZ19) or be wrapped up in 100m of seaweed and massaged for $US259.

The large gym features dozens of cross-trainer and running machines and also the only New Zealander among the 840-strong crew.

"He comes from Taranga," our Canadian guide, Matthew, who works as an event co-ordinator, informs us until he is corrected by the Tauranga-raised fitness instructor.

Only one of the 1800 paying passengers is exercising this particular morning, jogging gently on a running machine overlooking the cranes and containers of Port Otago.

Most of the passengers have left the ship and made their way to Dunedin via bus, taxi, train or, in some cases, chauffeured limousines to take in the sights of the city.

However, a few passengers remain on board; a couple playing cards, an older gentleman with a beer in one hand and a soft drink in the other, and one woman content to stare out the window at a growing pile of wood chips.

Places normally popular - the casino, swimming pools and jogging track - are deserted except for crew on cleaning duties, while a poolside sign warns "no horseplay".

The casino and duty-free shops reopen once the vessel is in international waters 12 nautical miles from New Zealand, Celebrity Cruises sales manager Mark Kinchley says.

Gambling, alcohol and additional goods and services are a significant earner for the cruise industry, which continues to grow markedly each year.

The New Zealand cruise, which includes port days in Dunedin, Akaroa, Wellington, Tauranga and Auckland, was a must for international passengers drawn largely from Australasia, the United States, the United Kingdom and an emerging Asian market.

To capitalise on the interest, Celebrity Cruises returned to New Zealand waters after an absence of three years. Its parent company, Royal Caribbean, is set to bring 36,000 passengers into New Zealand for the 2011-12 season.

To illustrate the growth of the cruise market, the company will bring 58,000 passengers during the 2012-13 season, which will include a Dunedin visit by the 3840-passenger megaliner Voyager of the Seas.

Celebrity Cruises packages start at $107 a night for an 18-night trip around New Zealand and Australia.

hamish.mcneilly@odt.co.nz