Largest cruise ship to have football field-sized park on deck

by Jamie Rhein on

When I think of a cruise ship deck, I think a swimming pool, shuffle board and lounge chairs–maybe a tennis court. I’m not that imaginative, but those who design ships for Royal Caribbean certainly are. The latest undertaking of this company that already boasts the world’s largest luxury cruise liner is another ship that will be large enough to have a park as big as a football field. Think town square with eateries, entertainment and large trees. This deck will be only one of the ship’s fifteen others, according to this article published in The Daily Mail.

When complete, this liner will weigh 220,000 tons. And by the looks of one of the mock up drawings, if placed on the Thames River, it will dwarf London. St. Paul’s Cathedral looks small next to it.

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As the airline industry is going through its woes due to fuel costs, and whatever else seems to be ailing it each week, cruise lines are doing swimmingly swell. Passengers’ desires to enjoy luxury and the wow factor when they head out on the high seas are adding to the push for bigger and bigger cruise ships.

Genesis, being built in Finland, will be ready to set sail in 2009. Its home port will be Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Join the other 5,399 paying customers who’ll be climbing aboard. There will be space since it can hold 5,400 passengers. I don’t think you’ll have a hard time spotting it because it will be 40% bigger than the other ships–until someone gets the urge to build a bigger one.

If you have an urge for a monster cruise ship trip before then, here are other options.

Fuel surcharges: Royal Caribbean, Celebrity cruise lines to give refund to passengers

by Jeffrey White on

Did you book a cruise on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity before Nov. 16? If so, you’re getting some money back.

On a day that saw more news of soaring oil prices, the two major cruise lines voluntarily settled with passengers and agreed to refund $21 million in fuel surcharges, the Florida Attorney General’s office said yesterday.

The agreement came after a probe by the AG’s Economic Crimes Division, which began investigating the pricing disclosure policies of cruise lines after hundreds of customers filed official complaints that they were charged fuel surcharges retroactively after they had made their bookings and, in some cases, their initial deposit, according to a report in the Orlando Business Journal.

The AG said the surcharges were not properly disclosed. Authorities also looked into whether those charges violated a 1997 agreement among major cruise lines where they vowed not to add additional fees beyond advertised cruise fares in an effort to make prices easier for consumers to compare, the Journal said.

“This resolution will serve as a model for the rest of the cruise line industry, and I expect the other companies to take this example and follow suit,” Florida AG Bill McCollum said in a news release.

Any guest who booked on these two cruise lines before Nov. 16 will get the refund. Those consumers who have already sailed will get the refund for the full amount of the fuel surcharge in the form of a payment. Those who have not yet sailed will get the refund in the form of an onboard credit voucher, the Journal said.

The two cruise companies are said to be contacting eligible customers directly, and must report back to the AG in a month.

Bigger AND Sicker

by Iva Skoch on

We reported that Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas was the biggest ship in the world. Now, it turns out that the size of the ship correlates with the size of the viral outbreak.

More than 380 passengers and crew succumbed to the norovirus on a cruise from November 26 through December 3. Then, the ship was cleaned up and set sail, only to stick 97 more passengers and 11 crew members with more than they bargained for on a cruise this past week.

The ship carries more than 3,900 passengers. Today, they set sail again, but with 45 more cleaning staff and 2 more doctors, and, hopefully, a few less viruses.