I don't endorse Bill's idea, but it's certainly worth a try.
Honestly, anything whose name ends with "of the Seas" is probably a great place to sit around, eat/drink a lot and become a Manatee.
Royal Caribbean recently announced that its new mega cruise ship, the Icon of the Seas, passed its first round of sea trials, successfully navigating the open ocean for the first time ahead of its maiden voyage in January 2024. As far as response on social media goes, however, things haven't exactly been plain sailing.
With 20 decks, 15 bars, 2,350 crew members, space for 5,600 passengers, 7 pools, a neon-heavy color scheme, 6 “record-breaking” water slides, and a gross tonnage of 250,800, Royal Caribbean’s latest offering is either a “game changer” or a “hellish monstrosity”, depending on your perspective.
Longboats
The Icon of the Seas is just the latest installment in Royal Caribbean's fleet of gargantuan cruise liners — the Norwegian company, which is actually based in Miami, has been leagues ahead of competitors when it comes to mega ships for years now. The company first began to pull away from the competition in the 90s with its range of Voyager Class ships, and they’ve been building them bigger ever since.
Royal Caribbean dominates the cruise liner game in terms of overall length, with ships occupying every one of the top 10 spots, and that’s not even including the Icon and its staggering 1,198ft (365 meter) span — more than double the length of the Titanic. The cruiser’s magnitude is hard to get your head around, but when laid flat, for example, the Eiffel Tower is a full 115ft shorter than the Icon.World’s largest cruise ship labeled ‘monstrosity’ ahead of maiden voyage
By Mary K. Jacob, NY Post
July 13, 2023 2:49pm Updated
The world’s largest cruise ship, which is set to launch in January, has been labeled a “monstrosity,” with critics comparing it to having the same buzz as the Titanic did on its maiden voyage.
Known as Icon of the Seas under Royal Caribbean International, this new ship is five times larger than the Titanic with an internal volume of 250,800 gigatonnes (GT) compared to 46,328 GT.
Online critics have been quick to point out how the ship, over-the-top in nature, doesn’t mean bigger is better.
“As visions of hell go, that’s pretty much the most hellish,” one person tweeted in response to a photo of the new cruise ship, while another said, “I’m sorry but this is a nightmare.”
“Every time I see a picture of the Icon of the Seas cruise ship I am filled with an intense dread,” another wrote.
“For a second I was like ‘No, the Icon of the Seas is not real, it can’t hurt you because some wacky giant cruise ship seasteading scheme goes viral every 10 months.’ But I looked it up and it turns out they actually built this one,” another person tweeted.
For the company, however, this takes travel to a new level.
“We are positioning it as the ultimate family vacation and when you step back and look at all the energy and time that has gone into creating this ship it is mind-blowing,” Royal Caribbean International president and chief executive Michael Bayley said in a statement.
That said, the ship comes with every feature imaginable. It will have seven pools, nine whirlpools and the largest water park at sea.
The water park is named Category 6, after its record-breaking six slides. One of the slides includes the tallest waterslide to sail. And another slide is an open free-fall waterslide — the first of its kind on a cruise ship.
Currently, the cheapest ticket is priced at $1,851 for an interior room on a seven-night cruise from Miami to the western Caribbean in September 2024.
The most expensive is $10,864 for a suite on the same cruise in March. The ship also offers a seven-day trip to the eastern end of the balmy Caribbean.
As for technical specifics, the boat is equipped with 17 lifeboats with the capacity for up to 450 people — meaning it has room for 7,650 people, despite its capacity for 7,960.
Look! The ship features a strange dude on stilts for the kids!
Specifically, it holds up to some 5,610 passengers and 2,350 crew across 19 floors — the height alone comparable to a New York City building.
The vessel completed its first set of tests on June 22, according to a company statement.
“During her first set of sea trials, Icon of the Seas traveled hundreds of miles, during which the main engines, hull, brake systems, steering, noise, and vibration levels were all tested,” the statement said. “Everything was done on time as outlined in the schedule, despite her departure being delayed due to wind conditions.”
Royal Caribbean, which didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the recent online criticism, says a second set of sea trials is scheduled for later in 2023 — and, beyond that, there are more opportunities to look forward to.
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