'Why didn't I think of that?'

Tom Stieghorst

The Waterfront on the Norwegian Breakaway has a lot of people in the industry saying: “Why didn’t we think of that?”

It isn’t the first time something has come along that seems so obvious in retrospect that it prompts that statement. And it probably won’t be the last.

The concept behind The Waterfront is simple. Take a deck and fill it with specialty restaurants and bars. But stop the interior walls short of the edge of the ship. Leave space for some outdoor tables and a little walkway. 

Voila. A series of indoor-outdoor venues that take advantage of the ocean view that everyone comes on a cruise to experience but is surprisingly hard to find on some ships.

“It’s the reason a lot of people cruise. They want the romance of the sea,” said Norwegian's executive vice president of sales, Andy Stuart. “So to be able to dine oceanside, we think it’s going to work really well.”

There’s another good idea hiding in plain sight on the Breakaway. They can be found at every tourist attraction with a spectacular view, from the Empire State Building to the Grand Canyon.

That’s right. The giant metal binoculars mounted on stands that charge a quarter or two for a couple minutes viewing time. How many cruise ships have them? I don't recall seeing them before. But Norwegian Breakaway has them (minus the quarters).

If you’re on deck and want to get a closer look at the Bermuda shoreline, or dolphins, or another distant ship, you can do it.

Infinity-edge pools are de rigueur at many high-end resorts. But how many cruise ships have them? MSC Cruises decided to put one on its Divina ship last year, and the Viking Star coming in 2015 will have one.

Pools are tricky at sea, due to the motion of the ocean. The infinity effect may not be as easy to achieve on a cruise ship.  But it is an amenity that has been available for the cruise industry to copy for years.

Todd Elliott, president of Cruise Vacation Outlet in Orlando, said he regularly passes by the iFly skydiving attraction on International Drive. But it took someone at Royal Caribbean International to see that it could be adapted for their coming ship, the Quantum of the Seas.

What will be new on the next ship out of the chute? But there’s a good chance that when I see it, I'll be muttering: “Why didn’t I think of that?”