On Wednesday a bunch of Waikato/Bay of Plenty Campers, and their families discovered a world that many of them couldn’t imagine.

Courtesy of The Royal Caribbean Cruise Company they spent a few hours experiencing life on a cruise ship enjoying everything that it had to offer. “The Voyager of the Seas”, berthed in the Port of Tauranga for the day, is an 11 storey floating pleasure park.

While the shops, glass lifts, amazing atriums and ice rink were enough to make most mouths open wide the real attractions were the sporting activities. However Mini golf, basketball and soccer were completely overshadowed by the swimming pools and the Flowrider an artificial wave machine that enabled even the novices to learn to surf and boogie board.

After all this activity everyone was looking forward to a bite to eat. However no one was prepared for the astounding array of food which even exceeded what is supplied at camp. Naturally when you have an opportunity like this you make the most of it and have four helpings of dessert! The cruise ship staff were amazing and nothing was too much trouble. It was also good to hear them commenting on the manners and appreciation shown by the Camp Quality children.

Camp Quality Waikato/Bay of Plenty Regional Manager, Peter Dix, expressed his appreciation to Royal Caribbean International for making this day such a memorable experience for our children who are living with cancer. They certainly provided a great deal of fun, laughter and happiness. Now the challenge is for parents and others to save enough to enjoy a real cruise!