Top 10 Biggest Cruise Ships in the World 2024

Table Of Content

• NEWEST, BIGGEST
• Ultimate Abyss/Flowrider*
• Royal Caribbean's new Icon of the Seas will be world's biggest cruise ship, with room for nearly 10,000 people
• The world's new biggest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, debuts on Saturday
• Symphony of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)
• Silversea's Silver Dawn Debuts New Roman-Inspired Otium Spa and Wellness Program

Among the pools is Royal Caribbean's first swim-up bar; another is what Royal is claiming to be the largest pool at sea. There will also be an adults-only pool area and another infinity-edge pool. On the 2,910-passenger Celebrity Apex, a cartoon chef and his family dance in 3D across your plate as you dine on filet mignon during a Le Petit Chef experience. At a new show, Rockumentary, you not only rock out to hits from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, but use the Celebrity app on your smartphone to choose the show’s ending. Debuted last summer in Europe, the Celebrity Apex, like its sister ship Celebrity Edge, targets couples seeking a stunning and cushy contemporary environment heavy on tech advances.

NEWEST, BIGGEST

Discover why the largest cruise ships sailing to Caribbean and Europe vacation destinations are consistently awarded Best Ship year after year by Travel Weekly readers. Cruise ships are getting bigger and bigger, and by the time a new world’s largest cruise ship is built, an even bigger ship is already being planned. Cruise Hive looks at the top ten biggest cruise ships in the world by gross tons. Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas was previously the world’s largest cruise ship in most of 2023. The Oasis class vessel is 236,857 gross tons and has a passenger capacity of 5,734 at double occupancy, but that goes up to 7,084 at maximum capacity. The giant cruise ship also has a crew capacity of 2,204, and there are a total of 18 decks.

Ultimate Abyss/Flowrider*

She’s also the largest vessel ever constructed for the Italian-based cruise operator. Icon of the Seas will have 28 cabin and suite types to suit every type of traveler, including the aforementioned family cabins, inside cabins with extra-large walk-in closets and panoramic ocean-view rooms in the AquaDome. In another first for polar expedition cruise vessels, every cabin on the vessel has floor-to-ceiling glass walls that slide partially open from the top to create a balcony-like feel. As 2022 begins, major cruise operators such as Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line are moving forward with plans to unveil more than 20 new oceangoing vessels during the year.

Royal Caribbean's new Icon of the Seas will be world's biggest cruise ship, with room for nearly 10,000 people

Before the cruise is finished, I talk to Mr. Washy Washy, or Nielbert of the Philippines. He is a sweet, gentle man, and I thank him for the earworm of a song he has given me and for keeping us safe from the dreaded norovirus. “This is very important to me, getting people to wash their hands,” he tells me in his burger getup. He has dreams, as an artist and a performer, but they are limited in scope.

The world's new biggest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, debuts on Saturday

The ship is the size of almost four city blocks and runs nearly 1,200 feet (365 meters) from bow to stern. And if those perks aren’t enough, the “Suite Neighbourhood” offers private lounges and VIP pool areas for those guests who upgrade to a larger room. It is fully possible to cruise on Icon without spending anything extra on food. You will have plenty of diversity, which is something older Royal Caribbean ships usually struggle with. All new suites, excluding the Sunset Junior Suite, are part of the Royal Suite Class' Sky or Star Tier, meaning that they come with all-day access to Coastal Kitchen and The Grove Suite Sun Deck.

The redesigned pool deck also encourages time in the sunny outdoors, or in the shade, in a top-deck bar and in two deep-tank pools linked by sunken seating. At the ship’s aft end, take in spectacular views of the horizon at another swimming spot, the Wakeview Pool. In the elegant three-deck Piazza atrium, sip a latte, enjoy a gelato or savor a glass of wine while people-watching and catching performances by street performers — just as you might in Italy. For a special dinner, check out Bistro Sur La Mer, created by acclaimed French chef Emmanuel Renaut, for pâté or escargot followed by coquilles St. Jacques (scallops) or seared duck. After dinner, extend your evening of fun by heading to the Take Five lounge for live jazz.

Symphony of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)

In lieu of step-out balconies, “Infinite Veranda” staterooms become open-air spaces with the simple push of a button (that opens the upper half of a windowed wall). It won't be quite the world's biggest cruise ship, though it will be close. At around 205,000 tons, MSC World Europa will be nearly as big as Royal Caribbean's record-size Oasis Class vessels, including the aforementioned Wonder of the Seas. Holding just 298 passengers, Evrima will be a small, yacht-like vessel with an elegant, residential look (as you might expect for Ritz-Carlton). Technically, Ocean Victory is a charter by SunStone, a ship management company that has focused on building small adventure ships. The ship will have a full array of expedition gear for outdoor adventure, including zodiacs, a fleet of kayaks and an onboard expedition team.

At 6,988 passengers, Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas will become the largest cruise ship in the world when it debuts in early March 2022. The crown of the world’s biggest cruise ship previously went to Wonder of the Seas, an Oasis-class vessel operated by Royal Caribbean. The ship is similar in design to her sister ships but adds some additional features and evolves the class.

Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, world's largest cruise liner, gearing up for first cruise - Fox Business

Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, world's largest cruise liner, gearing up for first cruise.

Posted: Sat, 06 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Wonder of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)

The ship was officially christened Tuesday with help from soccer legend Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates. Today the ship docks at Royal Caribbean’s own Bahamian island, the Perfect Day at CocoCay. (This appears to be the actual name of the island.) A comedian at the nightclub opined on what his perfect day at CocoCay would look like—receiving oral sex while learning that his ex-wife had been killed in a car crash (big laughter). Instead of trying to impress with my choice of T-shirts, I have decided to start wearing a robe, as one does at a resort property on land, with a proper spa and hammam.

These ships do not have paddlewheels; instead, the 175-passenger vessels look more like a hotel on land with a four-story glass atrium in the center of the ship. ACL ships are known for having some of the largest cabins in river cruising, with most ranging from 250 to 650 square feet. With Seabourn Venture, the luxury cruise line Seabourn leaps into the high-end expedition trend. The 264-passenger ship will have two custom-built submarines as well as 24 zodiacs, kayaks– you also snorkel and scuba dive – and a full expedition team to explain all the natural wonders around you.

This brings to mind the travails of David Foster Wallace, who felt so ostracized by his fellow passengers that he retreated to his cabin for much of his voyage. And Wallace was raised primarily in the Midwest and was a much larger, more American-looking meatball than I am. What if I leave this ship without making any friends at all, despite my T-shirt? I am a social creature, and the prospect of seven days alone and apart is saddening. Wallace’s stateroom, at least, had a view of the ocean, a kind of cheap eternity.

The largest cruise ship in the world, Symphony of the Seas doesn’t just win awards — it wins over everyone who sets foot onboard. Discovery Princess will also have most of the onboard features that debuted on sister ships Majestic Princess and Enchanted Princess, including the Salty Dog Gastropub and Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria with specialty pastas. If you want a fabulous suite experience, check out the Sky Suites, which have one of the best balconies at sea, with a direct view of Movies Under the Stars. I say hurtfully because as a Suite passenger I should be here, though my particular suite is far from the others. Whereas I am stuck amid the riffraff of Deck 11, this section is on the highborn Decks 16 and 17, and in passing, I peek into the spacious, tall-ceilinged staterooms from the hallway, dazzled by the glint of the waves and sun.

But I naively thought that my meatball T-shirt would be more suitable for conversation-starting. The story you are reading was commissioned at a moment when most staterooms on the Icon were sold out. Hence, this publication was faced with the shocking prospect of paying nearly $19,000 to procure for this solitary passenger an entire suite—not including drinking expenses—all for the privilege of bringing you this article.

Any shorter of an itinerary, and you might not have time to experience all it has to offer. In June 2023, the ship hit a major milestone when it completed its first sea trials outside the shipyard in Turku, Finland. Next up is the colossal new ship’s first voyage, slated to depart on January 27, 2024. It will sail roundtrip from Miami to the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts, St. Thomas, and the Bahamas. Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, which runs nearly 1,200 feet from bow to stern, is leaving South Florida for its first seven-day island-hopping voyage through the tropics.

It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots. Vibrant, oversignifying colors are stacked upon other such colors, decks perched over still more decks; the only comfort is a row of lifeboats ringing its perimeter. There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy. This is the biggest cruise ship ever built, and I have been tasked with witnessing its inaugural voyage. One of the world’s biggest cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas®, the travel adventures are larger than life.

The family-friendly, 6,988- passenger Wonder of the Seas debuted this year as the world’s largest cruise ship. If you’ve got teens in tow, they can fly over the Boardwalk on a zip line and shoot down the Ultimate Abyss, a slide that winds down 10 decks. For alone time, escape to the ship’s Central Park and meander through a forest of trees. On the world’s largest cruise ships, bigger means bolder adventures. There isn’t a holiday in the world that packs more adventure into one week than Oasis Class ships – Harmony®, Allure®, Symphony®, Oasis®, Wonder® and Utopia of the Seas℠.