Posted on 03/08/2017 11:35:08 AM PST by C19fan
Royal Caribbeans newest vessel - Symphony of the Seas - will be the worlds largest cruise ship when it is delivered in April 2018, the cruise line confirmed today.
At 1,188 feet long and 215 feet wide, the new 16-deck ship will weigh 230,000 GT (gross tonnage), nearly 3,000 more than the current record holder, another Royal Caribbean ship, Harmony of the Seas.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
“All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by”
And a buffet....a good buffet.....not some cheap one with lots of bread.....
Thanks! Approx 5700 passengers. So it’s still a densely packed floating bug farm. EUW.
I limit my self to “cruising” over to the fridge for a cold one.
Stick me on a boat in the middle of a lake, fishing pole in one hand, beer in the other with the metal detector looking for lost weapons.
These are the 5 cruise lines with the most stomach bug outbreaks
EUW.
Me. I love cruises and I love to eat. I agree that it does not sound like fun on the surface but when you are actually on that ship, even though you might be with thousands of others, you truly feel like royalty during that time. The passenger to crew ratio on many of these ships is close to 1:1. Or at least it seems that way. I leave my cabin for five minutes and when I return, I have fresh fruit, mints on the bed and everything cleaned up. I have no idea how they do that. When I'm lying by the pool, fresh towels magically appear every time I leave to take a dip or get a drink. And yes, you can eat 24/7 - even at midnight there are buffets laid out.
I highly recommend Royal Carribean. I've been sailing with them since 1987. I took a Carnival Cruise once and it was a huge step down. But that was years ago and I hear they've improved quite a bit.
But one thing for sure, from the time they take your luggage at boarding to the time you get your luggage back at the end, you don't have to lift a finger for anything. Just make sure you bring lots of tip money (all paid at the end of the cruise).
If you ever get a chance, read David Foster Wallace's "Shipping Out" which is a parody of how they pamper you on a cruise. It's supposed to be funny but he's not exaggerating all that much.
Bob’s Discount Cruise Line
Their motto is
Lifeboats, Shmifeboats, Don’t Get On Unless You Can Swim
I cruised one time , I was so miserable all I did was drink to kill the pain. It was shear monotony. We had “puke day” where everyone throws up all over the ship . You throw up not from sea sickness but from the smell of puke. There is nothing to do so you watch FOX. Hell, I do that at home and it doesn’t cost $8000. I have many hobbies and interests but I am convinced that most people my age are so bored from doing nothing they just as soon do nothing for $8000. I wouldn’t take another cruise at gun point.
You got that right. I served on a tin can with a crew of 250. When we were the only US warship in port in Hong Kong, ports in Taiwan and Japan and Subic Bay, P.I., we were treated royally on liberty. When a carrier like the Enterprise came in with 5,000 or so horny and thirsty sailors, you might as well just stay on the ship.
A cruise is no more expensive than going to a fairly high-class hotel, roughly $200 a day. It isn’t a big leap off a cliff or anything.
I would say 75% of all cruise line activity is in the Caribbean.
The short ones (3 days) tend to be drunk festivals, just avoid that activity (unless you are one!)
The long cruises tend to be long jaunts thru the Panama Canal or to Alaska, much older crowd doing THEIR bucket list. Most younger people don’t have the 12-days to take off.
I worked on a RCL boat for about ten months total, as a musician. I am glad I did it, I would never do it again. It is a gig for a much younger person. I quite enjoyed my European tours, Scandinavia & Russia & Estonia & Britain as our port.
The Caribbean, I can take or leave only because I’ve been there a hundred times, but that doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable for most folks. All sun & Beach. No museums like Europe.
The absolute top tip I can give you, surpassing all others, cutting your risks of getting sick by 95%:
Wash your hands every hour or so. There are bathrooms everywhere. Be compulsive, obsessive about washing your hands. Just do it. In ten months, I never got sick. Virtually EVERY other person (in the crew) got sick sometime.
The immensely disgusting thought about cruise ships is that whenever you touch something that someone else touched, you become partially intimate with their hygeine habits. THAT is the source of almost all illness. I’ll leave it at that.
I’ve been on one of their ships- The SS Minnow. No sign of Ginger or Maryanne, however.
You are a wonderful cruise line employee or just a travel agent?
The last cruise I took was a 32 day cruise (Argentina/Falkland Islands/Patagonia/Chile/Peru/Panama Canal/Costa Rica/Jamaica/Miami).
I don't think any other passengers were under 80 years old. Ugh.
Every time somebody tells me that they’re going on a cruise I tell them that it would be fun to get a group of people together on the ship to start a pool on which young newlywed woman isn’t going to be there at the end of the cruise.
That said, now I wonder about the ports' ability to handle all the people at one time.
-PJ
It’s much nicer than a rabbit hutch. I like going somewhere without having to be the driver, having someone else handle the food and the cleanup. It does bother me that the really big cruise ships are floating cities, but generally cruises are pleasant.
I like road-tripping in the family car, also, but then I have a lot of responsibility for the safety and happiness of my fellow travelers. So, a cruise is a nice change of pace.
So you were the one stealing my towels.
Boy, turn your head for a minute to look at some girl walking by and some guy steals your towel.
I think I am about to throw up just reading these posts!! I am gagging now!! How would you like the job of emptying the sewer bilge tanks on one of those floating rabbit hutches? OMG!!!
A few (admittedly warped) observations.
The Yamato was 863 feet long and 128 feet wide. Seems small in comparison. The food probably wasn’t as good either.
I always wonder how many torpedoes it would take for a U-boat to sink a cruise ship? Or could a modern cruise ship survive a collision with an iceberg?
I always think of cruise ships as very expensive floating nursing homes.
Everyone is different. It is about a thousand a day for that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.