Ballet takes to the air on Splendour

Outside, the temperature has been in the 80s all day. Now, back inside the ship and just before dinner, there’s a snowstorm raging in the central atrium – has the air conditioning gone haywire?
Of course not. I’m on Royal Caribbean’s Splendour of the Seas and this is the dazzling aerial ballet which is a new component of the entertainment programme.
When I visited the cruise ship during its multi-million dollar dry-dock refurbishment last year, I saw engineers installing the complicated gantries, pulleys, wires which allow the show to take place in the vessel’s seven-deck high Centrum.
Tonight I watched as a new team of gymnasts – who have just arrived on board to replace the aerialists who have been performing all winter while the ship was in South America – put on their first show, Frozen.
To be honest, I have been taking a sneak peak at their rehearsals since I arrived in Venice on Saturday. It’s an impressive, though all-too-brief, performance. One female dancer pirouetted on a giant snowflake, while two couples soared and twisted between decks seven and four.
Passengers crowded every level to watch the aerial ballet before heading for dinner or to the bars or casino.
The show is just one of the additions which Splendour gained during that dry-dock. Last night I dined in another – Chops Grille – and I have been enjoying peaceful lunches at the Park Cafe; many of my fellow guests don’t seem to realise it’s there, and carry on queuing in the Windjammer instead.
The new eating venues, which also include Izumi and the Dog House, have been introduced here after gaining popularity on Royal Caribbean’s newest and biggest ship, Allure of the Seas.
Splendour is much more compact, carrying about 1,800 passengers, and was built in 1996. The changes give it a whole new life – this is a ship that is not Frozen in time.