Traditional cruise ship entertainment often consists of retired comedians, musical theatre revivals, and piano players or dancers, but for a small locally owned Antarctica cruise ship company
(prHWY.com) July 31, 2012 - Seattle, WA -- Traditional cruise ship entertainment often consists of retired comedians, musical theatre revivals, and piano players or dancers, but for a small locally owned
Antarctica cruise ship company the entertainment that draws guests in isn't inside; it's outside. Ships Ahoy has discovered an extremely people grabbing source of entertainment - dancing and skating penguins and polar bears.
"Any cruise ship can hire a singer or dancer to entertain the guests", said Dan Masters owner of Ships Ahoy. "We wanted to stray from the norm and bring people something unique that would keep them coming back for more. That's exactly what we did."
Dan Masters hired professional animal trainer Sally Smith to help train a bunch of penguins and polar bears. The bears and penguins are comfortably and safely housed on a small remote island that is on the cruise ship's path. The cruise ship will anchor near the island and Sally Smith brings out the penguins and polar bears.
The ship communicates with Sally Smith on the island and she will bring them out to perform. The polar bears and penguins perform on the island, while guests watch from the cruise ship or a small viewing area. Guests are not allowed to get extremely close to the animals, but they can see and watch them.
"These penguins and polar bears come out and ice skate or dance or juggle", said Sally Smith. "It really gives the cruise ship guests something to talk about because it is so unique."
Training the animals took approximately six months and finding the appropriate housing for the animals took even longer. Penguins and polar bears are not usually housed together, which required Dan Masters to come up with a unique housing solution.
"We had to come up with a way to house both the polar bears and penguins so they were comfortable and safe, yet wouldn't intermingle", explained Masters. "We came up with a small mansion that allows the penguins to live in one wing and polar bears another. These are huge wings and everything looks just like their native space."
The amount of customers that have gone on this unique cruise has increased by 20% since the introduction of these dancing and skating animals. No other cruise ship offers such a unique experience.
"We came specifically because this cruise offered us a chance to get up close and personal with penguins and polar bears", said Tina Marie Sanchez. "We won't get this close anywhere else, and they are just so cute when they perform it's really amazing. I love it."
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