Expanding the Passion @ Sea

I caught this article from the Detroit Free Press...

Some people's greatest legacy is the memories they bequeath their children and grandchildren.

That's one reason for scrapbooking, a hobby so popular that a Google search reveals more than 850,000 Web pages devoted to the pastime.

Identifying a niche, Princess Cruises recently launched a maritime first, Scrapbooking@Sea. The scrapbook curriculum offers a regular series of onboard classes and a specially created kit with themed pages. Currently available on select ships, scrapbooking had proved so popular in field tests, says Jan Swartz, Princess' senior vice president of customer service and sales, that the line now expects to roll out the program across its fleet of 15 vessels by early this year.

"In a cruise-ship setting, where passengers are on vacation and have spare time to try new things," says Princess spokeswoman Karen Tetherow, "scrapbooking is the perfect opportunity to pick up a new hobby."

Princess' Scrapbooking@Sea kit contains decorative papers, stickers and rub-on emblems along with instructions on how to build five vacation-themed pages. The pages can be used to create decorative backdrops for photos from typical cruise activities such as welcome aboard events, days at sea, shore excursions or formal evenings.