Cruise ships: The unknown 8th wonder of the new world

Let me give you a brief introduction to cruise ships. Cruise ships have long been associated with comfort and elegance, providing a distinctive means of travel and global exploration. The world's largest cruise ships today provide a wealth of amenities and attractions that are sure to captivate every sort of tourist. Over time, these floating towns have expanded in size and complexity. These enormous ships provide an unmatched vacation experience, offering everything from water parks and rock climbing walls to Broadway-style performances and fine dining.

THESE ARE THE WORLD LARGEST CRUISE SHIPS.

1. Symphony of the Seas

• Operated by Royal Caribbean International
• Measures 1,188 feet in length
• Can accommodate up to 6,680 passengers
• Features include a 10-story waterslide, a two-deck-high family suite with a slide, a boardwalk, and a central park with over 20,000 tropical plants.

2. Harmony of the Seas

• Also operated by Royal Caribbean International
• Measures 1,188 feet in length
• Can accommodate up to 6,687 passengers
• Features include a trio of waterslides, a zipline, a robot bartender, and a "Bionic Bar."

3. Allure of the Seas

• Another gem from Royal Caribbean International .
• Measures 1,187 feet in length
• Can accommodate up to 6,687 passengers
• Features include a surf simulator, a zip line, an ice-skating rink, and a carousel. The World's Largest Cruise Ships.

Have you ever wondered how cruise ships became so massive?

Cruise ships are the largest passenger vessels ever created, with the capacity to transport the population of a small town in a single vehicle. Prior to cruise ships, the largest ships on the planet were ocean liners with a single purpose: to transport you somewhere. Prior to the invention of the airplane, people had no choice but to go by ship. Advertisements from this era of ocean liners bragged about their speed across the Atlantic and exquisite comfort, which was not always possible to achieve. With the emergence of air travel, ships were no longer the only option to cross oceans. By the 1960s, ocean liner firms tried something new, shifting from selling tickets to offering leisure excursions to warmer destinations.

The cruise ship was born, but it had a rocky start. It didn't really take off until the television show The Love Boat popularized the concept of cruising. They ran into difficulty as cruises became more popular. They were built to go fast and use a lot of fuel. They were low in the water, which kept them stable in severe waves but limited their access to locations with deep harbors. They featured separate areas for first, second, and third class passengers, denying many passengers access to amenities and limiting everyone's freedom of movement throughout the ship. Ocean liners were massive in comparison to full-time cruise ships of the day, thus they needed to attract a large number of vacationers to be viable.

As maritime traffic declined, even the world's largest ocean liner, the SS France, couldn't produce enough cash to stay in business. So Norwegian Caribbean Lines bought it and surprised the industry with their announcement. They made the decision to transform the SS France into a full-service cruise liner. They shut down one engine room and removed two of the four propellers because speed was not an issue. Tenders, smaller ships that transfer passengers to shore, were installed to transport passengers to islands without deep harbors. They removed the walls between class sections and stocked the ship with a vast roster of entertainment alternatives to make luxuries available to all guests.

When the Norway entered service in 1980, it was the world's largest running passenger ship, with an interior volume of almost 70,000 gross tons. However, the ships built in the succeeding decades dwarf the Norway. And once-famous ocean liners are now dwarfed. Royal Caribbean's new ships are literally three times larger. When the Icon of the Seas arrives in 2024, it will be all the way up here, with a volume of over 250,000 gross tons. Many of the big new ships lack such refinement of design. It's just the way things work. We all pine for what came before.

There are currently over 320 cruise ships cruising, but only one ocean liner remains, Queen Mary 2, which was built in Saint-Nazaire in 2004 and is still in service.