The theme park-ification of cruises is in full swing
Aqua Slidecoaster and Cliffhanger to debut this spring
Once the province of theme parks, attractions and themed entertainment can now be found proliferating in museums, hotels, restaurants, malls, furniture stores, and other unexpected places. Let’s not forget cruise ships. After Disney’s entrance into the industry, it seems like every cruise line wants to turn their vessels into floating theme parks. Case in point: The Norwegian Aqua will introduce the Aqua Slidecoaster, and MSC World America will offer passengers rides on the Cliffhanger swing attraction when the ships set sail in April 2025.
The ride aboard the Norwegian Cruise line ship is being billed as “the world’s first hybrid rollercoaster and waterslide at sea.” It will use a single magnetically launched catch car that will accelerate two two-passenger rafts on side-by-side, dueling tracks up a lift hill and into enclosed waterslide tubes. Norwegian is also touting the attraction as the longest and fastest slides at sea.
According to the ride’s manufacturer, Wiegand Waterrides, the ride is designed to launch from 0 to 50km/h (31 mph). The Aqua Slidecoaster would seem to be more accurately referred to by the industry term, water coaster. As for claiming to have the first such ride at sea, the Disney Dream introduced the AquaDuck water coaster when it took its maiden voyage in 2010. In 2022, Disney Cruse Line debuted the AquaMouse, a water coaster that incorporates projected media and effects, on the Disney Wish. After slowly climbing its lift hill, the mildly thrilling attraction toddles along as it winds it way around the ship’s deck. Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas also has a water coaster, The Blaster. While Norwegian’s Slidecoaster will be faster than other cruise line water coasters, it won’t match the higher-speed intensity of the Bolt roller coasters that can be found on Carnival ships.
Disney’s AquaMouse uses a conveyor belt lift hill and partly relies on gravity to propel its rafts. As with many water coasters, the attraction also incorporates water jets along the route to catapult the vehicles uphill. However, there are also plenty of water coasters that, like Aqua Slidecoaster, use magnetic motors to send rafts racing through their courses. One such ride is Krakatau Aqua Coaster at Universal Orlando’s Volcano Bay. The Norwegian ride will be the first water coaster on a cruise ship to feature a magnetic launch. It will also be the first to use Wiegand’s Slide Coaster system. The company’s concept is different from other water coasters in that it will use a magnetically launched catch car on a roller coaster-like steel track as opposed to magnetic motors embedded in the flume. But the raft vehicles themselves will wind their way through more conventional water slide flumes.
The 3,571-passenger Norwegian Aqua, which will have ports of call in the Caribbean, will also include a kids’ Aqua Park with splash pads and other ways to get wet. Passengers will also be able to brave The Drop, a 10-story tall freefall dry slide that will wind along one side of the ship. The similar Norwegian Luna, which will launch in 2026, will offer an Aqua Slidecoaster, Aqua Park, and The Drop as well.
The Cliffhanger will be the first pendulum swing ride aboard a cruise ship. It will feature two side-by-side, two-passenger gondolas that will swing back and forth. While it won’t match the height, speed, or sheer thrills of swing rides such as Twizzlers Twisted Gravity coming to Hersheypark next year, it will dangle riders alongside the ship’s top deck, some 164 feet above the ocean.
Accommodating 6,762 guests, the MSC World America will also sail to destinations in the Caribbean. Other activities will include Jaw Drop, an 11-deck-tall dry slide that guests will enter through the mouth of a shark; a high trail ropes course; and bumper cars in the MSC Sportplex.
Theme park touches, from costumed characters, to go-karts, to laser tag, to VR experiences, and much more abound on cruise ships. In 2022, MSC debuted Robotron, a KUKA robotic arm thrill ride, aboard MSC Seascape. Clearly, passengers want plenty of park-like fun when they set sail, and cruise lines are only too happy to accommodate them.
As theme park fans, are you drawn to the attractions aboard cruise ships? Might you book a cruise on the Norwegian Aqua or the MSC World America, partly to give the rides a whirl?