Get Your Zumba® On Princess Cruises

You gotta love it and now you can break out your best moves on your next Princess cruise. Zumba® Fitness, the exhilarating dance-fitness program that synchs red-hot international music and contagious choreography, is rolling out to the entire Princess Cruises fleet. Passengers on many Princess ships have already been joining in the hip-shaking fun with complimentary classes taught by licensed Zumba instructors. The classes quickly became among the most popular activities on board, and now additional staff members will complete the official training to become licensed Zumba instructors as the program expands fleetwide.

The Zumba program is a fitness party that fuses international rhythms with exotic beats and has helped to melt the pounds and inches off 12 million Zumba enthusiasts worldwide. Zumba classes provide an effective total-body workout, which successfully tone and sculpt while burning fat. On land, there are more than 110,000 Zumba classes held in gyms, fitness studios, and even nightclubs, attracting enthusiasts. At sea, Princess ships offer the complimentary workouts once or twice per cruise, transforming venues such as Club Fusion, the Piazza, or the outside decks adjacent to Movies Under the Stars into a high-energy Zumba fitness party.

"The energetic atmosphere and popularity of Zumba classes inspired us to send our staff members for official training to become licensed Zumba instructors, so that we could offer this fun new fitness option to our passengers," said Jan Swartz, Princess Cruises executive vice president. "As a result, our onboard Zumba classes are always packed, and consistently receive positive feedback from passengers who are happy to have the opportunity to try something they've been hearing about, or to continue with the program they have at home."

Zumba classes were first introduced in December 2010 and are currently offered aboard Caribbean Princess, Dawn Princess, Diamond Princess, Emerald Princess, Grand Princess, Golden Princess, Island Princess, Ruby Princess, Sapphire Princess, Sea Princess, and Star Princess. The program is expected to be available fleetwide before the end of the year. More information about Princess Cruises is available by visiting the company's website at Princess.com.

If you don't know what it's all about, here's a peek at a hot Zumba dance party.

By the way, if you were as surprised as I was that Zumba instructors require licenses, just watch the video and you'll see why.