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The Symphony of the Seas is the world's largest passenger cruise ship. Measuring 362m (1,188ft) long, the ship has a capacity of nearly 9,000 passengers and crew, features 23 swimming pools and 18 decks.
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for pwet transport, they typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours known as "shore excursions". They can carry thousands of passengers in a single trip, and are some of the largest ships in the world by gross tonnage(GT), bigger than many List of largest container ships, cargo ships. Cruise ships started to exceed ocean liners in size and capacity in the mid-1990s; before then, few were more than 50,000GT. In the decades since, the size of the largest vessels has more than doubled. There have been nine or more new cruise ships added every year since 2001, most of which are 100,000GT or greater. In the two decades between 1988 and 2009, the largest cruise ships grew a third longer (268 m to 360 m), almost doubled their widths (32.2 m to 60.5 m), doubled the total passengers (2,744 to 5,400), and tripled in volume (73,000 GT to 225,000 GT). , the largest cruise ship, , has a gross tonnage of 236,857, is long, wide, and holds up to 6,988 passengers.
Cruise ships are organized much like floating hotels, with a complete hospitality staff in addition to the usual ship's crew. Modern cruise ships, while sacrificing some qualities of seakeeping, seaworthiness, have added amenities to cater to nautical tourism, nautical tourists, with recent vessels being described as "balcony-laden floating condominiums". The "megaships" went from a single deck with verandas to all decks with verandas, and feature ameneties such as theaters, fine-dining and chain restaurants, spas, fitness centers, casinos, sports facilities, and even amusement park attractions.
Cruise ships require electricity for powering both hotel services and for Marine propulsion, propulsion. Cruise ships are designed with all the heavy machinery at the bottom of the ship and lightweight materials at the top, making them inherently stable even as ship designs are getting taller and taller, and most passenger ships utilize Stabilizer (ship), stabilizer fins to further reduce rolling of tall ships in heavy weather. While some cruise ships use traditional fixed propellers and rudders to steer, most larger ships use propellers that can swivel left and right to steer the ship, known as azimuth thrusters, which allow even the largest ship designs to have adequate maneuverability.
Cruise ships are operated by cruise lines, which are company, companies that market cruises to the public. In the 1990s, many cruise lines were bought by much larger holding companies and continue to operate as brands or subsidiaries of the holding company. For instance, Carnival Corporation & plc owns both the Mass market, mass-market Carnival Cruise Line, focused on larger party ships for younger travelers, and Holland America Line, whose smaller ships cultivate an image of classic elegance. The common practice in the cruise industry in ship sales and orders is to list the smaller operating company, not the larger holding corporation, as the recipient cruise line of the ship.
The Symphony of the Seas is the world's largest passenger cruise ship. Measuring 362m (1,188ft) long, the ship has a capacity of nearly 9,000 passengers and crew, features 23 swimming pools and 18 decks.
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for pwet transport, they typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours known as "shore excursions". They can carry thousands of passengers in a single trip, and are some of the largest ships in the world by gross tonnage(GT), bigger than many List of largest container ships, cargo ships. Cruise ships started to exceed ocean liners in size and capacity in the mid-1990s; before then, few were more than 50,000GT. In the decades since, the size of the largest vessels has more than doubled. There have been nine or more new cruise ships added every year since 2001, most of which are 100,000GT or greater. In the two decades between 1988 and 2009, the largest cruise ships grew a third longer (268 m to 360 m), almost doubled their widths (32.2 m to 60.5 m), doubled the total passengers (2,744 to 5,400), and tripled in volume (73,000 GT to 225,000 GT). , the largest cruise ship, , has a gross tonnage of 236,857, is long, wide, and holds up to 6,988 passengers.
Cruise ships are organized much like floating hotels, with a complete hospitality staff in addition to the usual ship's crew. Modern cruise ships, while sacrificing some qualities of seakeeping, seaworthiness, have added amenities to cater to nautical tourism, nautical tourists, with recent vessels being described as "balcony-laden floating condominiums". The "megaships" went from a single deck with verandas to all decks with verandas, and feature ameneties such as theaters, fine-dining and chain restaurants, spas, fitness centers, casinos, sports facilities, and even amusement park attractions.
Cruise ships require electricity for powering both hotel services and for Marine propulsion, propulsion. Cruise ships are designed with all the heavy machinery at the bottom of the ship and lightweight materials at the top, making them inherently stable even as ship designs are getting taller and taller, and most passenger ships utilize Stabilizer (ship), stabilizer fins to further reduce rolling of tall ships in heavy weather. While some cruise ships use traditional fixed propellers and rudders to steer, most larger ships use propellers that can swivel left and right to steer the ship, known as azimuth thrusters, which allow even the largest ship designs to have adequate maneuverability.
Cruise ships are operated by cruise lines, which are company, companies that market cruises to the public. In the 1990s, many cruise lines were bought by much larger holding companies and continue to operate as brands or subsidiaries of the holding company. For instance, Carnival Corporation & plc owns both the Mass market, mass-market Carnival Cruise Line, focused on larger party ships for younger travelers, and Holland America Line, whose smaller ships cultivate an image of classic elegance. The common practice in the cruise industry in ship sales and orders is to list the smaller operating company, not the larger holding corporation, as the recipient cruise line of the ship.
In service
, there are 64 passenger ships over 135,000GT in service. The first ships over that size were the ships from Royal Caribbean Group's Royal Caribbean International (RCI). These ships, which debuted in 1998 at over 137,000GT, were almost 30,000GT larger than the next-largest cruise ships, and were some of the first ships designed to appeal to "non-cruisers", with features like a four-deck-high, atrium down the center of the ship, an ice rink, and a climbing wall. In 2005, the five ''Voyager''-class ships were overtaken by the 149,215GT (''QM2''), the first non-RCI passenger ship over 135,000GT and the only passenger ship currently in service that classifies itself as an ocean liner. The ''QM2'' was surpassed by RCI's 155,889 GT -class vessels in 2006, which were in turn overtaken by RCI's first of six planned vessels in 2009. The ''Oasis''-class ships, at over 225,000GT, are at least wide, high, and accommodate over 5,400 passengers. Since 2008, other cruise lines have been ordering 135,000+GT ships. MSC Cruises introduced the first of four 137,936–139,072 GT s in 2008, followed in 2017 by both the 153,516 GT and the 171,598–181,541 GT . Norwegian Cruise Line debuted the 155,873 GT ''Norwegian Epic'' in 2010, the first ship outside of the ''Oasis'' class with a double-occupancy capacity of over 4,000, and introduced the 145,655 GT in 2013 and the 165,157–169,116-GT ''Breakaway''-plus class in 2015. Cruise lines belonging to Carnival Corporation & plc, Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises, debuted the first of seven 142,714 GT+ ships in 2013, and the corporation's Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, and AIDA Cruises debuted the first of seven planned 133,596–135,225 GT ships in 2016. , the first of Carnival Corporation's nine planned ships, debuted in 2018 at 183,858GT, with future ships in the class planned for Costa, P&O, Carnival, and AIDA. In 2016 and 2017, Genting Hong Kong's Dream Cruises introduced the 150,695 GT and , the first large ships from an Asian-owned cruise line.On order
25 passenger ships were on order or under construction with a publicly announced size of over 135,000GT. RCI has threes on order, with expected delivery between 2023 and 2026, the first of which coming in at 250,800 GT, which would make it the largest cruise ship in the world. It also has a sixth ''Oasis''-class ship, , on order for 2023, and while its exact size is not published, RCI has previously stated that each new ''Oasis''-class ship will be a little larger than the last. Celebrity Cruises, which is owned by RCI's parent company Royal Caribbean Group, will introduce two 140,600 GT ships in 2023 and 2025, and TUI Cruises, a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Group and TUI Group, are introducing a new class of 161,000 GT cruise ships in 2024 and 2026. Asia-based Dream Cruises, which went bankrupt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had been planning to take delivery of two 208,000 GT ships in 2021 and 2022, which would have been the first ships over 200,000GT not built for RCI, with the largest maximum passenger capacity, 9,500, of any ship. One unfinished ship, formerly the ''Global Dream'', was sold to Disney Cruise Line and is expected to debut in 2025, while the other was sent for Ship breaking, scrapping. MSC Cruises has three additional ships planned for 2024, 2025, and 2027, and at 215,800GT and a capacity of 6,762 passengers, they have the highest passengers capacities and be largest ships operated by a cruise line other than Royal Caribbean. They also have one ship on order from the Meraviglia-Plus-class cruise ship, ''Meraviglia'' Plus class for delivery in 2023. Carnival Corporation has two more 183,200–183,900 GT Excellence-class ships planned to debut in 2022 and 2023 for P&O Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line, respectively. Costa will take delivery of two 135,000 GT ''Vista''-class ships in 2023 and 2024 for a joint venture between Carnival Corporation and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). Each year from 2023 to 2027, Norwegian Cruise Line will debut additional ships from the . The ''Prima''-class ships are expected to be 142,500GT and carry 3,215 to 3,550 passengers. Disney Cruise Line will launch two more 144,000 GT ships in 2024, and 2025. These ships will have 1,250 staterooms, like the line's previous two ships, but will be 14,000GT larger than those ships and powered by liquified natural gas fuel.See also
* List of cruise lines * List of largest cruise lines * List of cruise ships * List of largest passenger ships * List of largest ships by gross tonnage * List of longest ships * List of largest container shipsReferences
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of The World's Largest Cruise Ships Transport-related lists of superlatives Lists of cruise ships, Largest Tourism-related lists of superlatives, Cruise Ships, Largest Largest things by volume