The 30 Largest Cruise Ships in the World

Table Of Content

• Second Icon-Class Ship Will Have a Furry Family Member
• The world’s largest cruise ship has 20 decks, 7 pools and would cover almost 4 city blocks
• Costa Cruises Costa Smeralda
• Allure of the Seas, Royal Caribbean
• What’s the Largest Cruise Ship in the World?
• (tie) MSC Meraviglia
• Questions About Cruising Answered (Everything You Wanted to Know)

It has 16 guest decks (18 total decks) along with 2,759 staterooms. The world's largest cruise ship has set sail from Miami, Florida, on its maiden voyage. Symphony of the Seas is the fourth ship in the Oasis Class and is 228,081 GT’s.

Second Icon-Class Ship Will Have a Furry Family Member

She carries 5,602 passengers (based on two per cabin) with a total guest capacity of 6,771. The ship features 7 different neighborhoods and highlights like the Portside BBQ, Ultimate Panoramic Suite, Music Hall, Ultimate Abyss (10-story dry slide), The Perfect Storm waterpark and more. Her Godmothers are Gloria Estefan, Michelle Kwan, Dara Torres, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Shawn Johnson, Jane Seymour and Daisy Fuentes. Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas ranks as the fifth largest cruise ship in 2022.

The world’s largest cruise ship has 20 decks, 7 pools and would cover almost 4 city blocks

She carries 5,518 passengers (based on two per cabin) with a total guest capacity of 6,680. The 18 deck ship ship includes 7 neighborhoods and the Ultimate Family Suite. You can also take a ride of the Ultimate Abysss, which is a 10-story dry slide. The GodFamily of the ship are the PeneVegas family which includes Alexa, Carlos and Ocean. The Icon of the Seas is divided into eight neighborhoods across 20 decks. The ship includes six waterslides, seven swimming pools, an ice skating rink, a theater and more than 40 restaurants, bars and lounges.

Costa Cruises Costa Smeralda

Celebrity chef Carlo Cracco was enlisted to improve the quality of the ship’s cuisine. When MSC’s Meraviglia entered service in 2017, she was the sixth-largest cruise ship in the world—but has since fallen to #15, tied with her newer sister ship Bellissima. This is the first world-class vessel from the fast-growing MSC Cruises and was built at the popular Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France. Since her delivery in October 2022, she has been the largest MSC cruise ship ever.

CruiseMapper's list of biggest cruise ships includes all vessels with gross tonnage/volume over 150,000 GT-tons. Here's a quick rundown of the world's biggest cruise ships by gross registered tons and maximum passenger capacity. Unsurprisingly, Royal Caribbean's Icon Class and Oasis Class dominate the top five in both categories. Perhaps more surprisingly, only two other lines join it on the winner's podium. Wonder of the Seas, the fifth Oasis-class vessel, took the world’s largest cruise ship title from her sister Symphony of the Seas in 2022. However, since the arrival of the much-anticipated new-class Icon of the Seas, the vessel has now lost that crown.

While Royal Caribbean has a lock on the largest ships, the title of largest cruise ship from outside that cruise line goes to MSC World Europa. The ship that started the trend of truly mega ships is also the namesake of the Oasis class — Oasis of the Seas. If you notice, most of the largest ships on our list were built recently. This ship first began sailing in 2009 and set off the “arms race” of larger ships that continues today. At 235,600 gross tons, there’s room for 7,084 passengers and an amazing amount to see and do onboard.

What’s the Largest Cruise Ship in the World?

The crew also puts on an impressive amount of activities and events, so there’s always something to do on a sea day. Gross tonnage, or GT, is a measure of the ship’s internal volume. To calculate GT, first a ship’s volume is calculated by measuring from keel to funnel to the outside of the hull framing.

The 30 Largest Cruise Ships in the World Ranked - Cruise Critic

The 30 Largest Cruise Ships in the World Ranked.

Posted: Thu, 08 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Liquefied natural gas, meanwhile, is a controversial energy source that involves cooling natural gas to a liquid state to make it easier to transport. The liquid version is “actually worse than ordinary gas,” writes the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The energy required to chill, ship and regasify the fossil fuel makes it far more carbon-intensive and increases the potential for leakage of dangerous methane,” according to the organization. Enjoy a cocktail at Bionic Bar, where one of two robot bartenders can shake you up the perfect martini.

He segues into a Trump impression and then Biden falling asleep at the microphone, which gets the most laughs. As I fall asleep that night, I realize another connection I have failed to make, and one that may explain some of the diversity on this vessel—many of its passengers have served in the military. Crew members from every part of the global South, as well as a few Balkans, are shepherding us along while pressing flutes of champagne into our hands. By a humming Starbucks, I drink as many of these as I can and prepare to find my cabin.

A day or two before I got off the ship, I decided to make use of my balcony, which I had avoided because I thought the view would only depress me further. This entire time, I had been living in the ship’s Disneyland, Surfside, the neighborhood full of screaming toddlers consuming milkshakes and candy. And as I leaned out over my balcony, I beheld a slight vista of the sea and surf that I thought I had been missing. The sea was frothy and infinite and blue-green beneath the span of a seagull’s wing.

“It is only pendejo dining today, sir.” “But I have a suite! ” I say, already starting to catch on to the ship’s class system. I am wearing a DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL T-shirt, I want to say to him.

A weeklong Caribbean cruise costs about $3,500 for two people in an average stateroom. For those seeking more luxury, the Ultimate Family Townhouse – a three-story suite complete with touchscreen tables and a slide – can go for up to $100,000 per trip. The Royal Loft, aimed at high-rolling adults, offers two bedrooms, a private hot tub, and a spacious balcony starting at $40,000. With progress on Icon of the Seas moving along, Royal Caribbean has already started building another large “icon class” ship. The cruise line expects that unnamed vessel to launch in 2025, per a statement.

The top 10 biggest cruise ships in the world - Ship Technology

The top 10 biggest cruise ships in the world.

Posted: Thu, 21 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

But the suite in question doesn’t even have a view of the ocean! Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas holds the title for the largest cruise ship in the world and has just set sail. Currently the largest cruise ship in the World is Wonder of the Seas by Royal Caribbean International. She is an incredible 235,600 gross tones and is part of the popular Oasis Class and can hold a total of 7,084 passengers.

The cruise line is positioning the vessel as “the ultimate family vacation,” as CEO Michael Bayley told reporters earlier this year, per CNN’s Maureen O’Hare. Like her sister, this ship also features a Sky Dome over the pool area—but Arvia‘s is retractable to allow for alfresco swimming, dining, and entertainment when the weather is right. Her seventeen restaurants and 23 bars and cafés ensure that guests have plenty of variety on their cruise vacation! Notable is the new Mamma Mia specialty restaurant, serving fresh Italian cuisine including homemade pasta dishes. The ship’s Amusement Park has a full-size bowling alley, 4-D cinema, F1 simulators, an arcade, as well as a sportplex that becomes a disco spot for young cruisers in the evening. On Meraviglia entertainment options abound—the Broadway Theatre hosts six unique shows each cruise, along with the Carousel Lounge where you can experience Cirque du Soleil at sea.

Harmony of the Seas overtakes its older Oasis-class ships just slightly, making her the fourth-largest cruise ship in the world. The vessel is the first of two new orders from STX France to expand the large class ships to four. Carnival's Celebration, which launched in November 2022, is a sister ship to the famed Mardi Gras and a "celebration" for the cruise line's 50th birthday year. The Celebration cruise ship, which is fueled by cleaner burning LNG, has 20 decks and 2,687 staterooms and suites. Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas slips to the fourth position this year, having been the biggest cruise ship in the world from 2018 to 2022.