Onboard theme park rides are the Next Big Thing in cruising

Hot on the heels of glass showers cantilevered over the side of a ship, simulated “surf” on man-made waves, top-deck lawns and a waterslide featuring a vertical drop from the ship’s funnel comes a London Eye-style capsule that will “fly” cruise-ship passengers 300 feet above a 16-deck ship. Attached to a crane-like arm on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, North Star will afford out-of-cruise-ship experiences to guests who will be elevated above the ocean as the pod turns 360-degrees on each 15-minute journey. Earlier this year Princess Cruises was the first to launch a ship with a cantilevered walkway extending over the sea so that passengers can see the ocean beneath their feet.