by Few could have missed the banner headlines announcing the blaring arrival of Icon of the Seas – the latest floating leviathan to claim the crown as the world’s largest cruise ship.
Soaring up to 20 decks and topping a whopping 250,000 tonnes, this colorful frigate eagerly entered Miami to be named loudly by football icon Lionel Messi who was watched by the world’s newspapers, who diligently reported the excellent statistics which guaranteed this great first literature. a place in the record books.
Cheaper afloat than a cruise ship, there’s no shrinking violet in Icon of the Seas, whose bold – some might say garish – line-up of flashy attractions has sparked a Marmite-like divide between devotees and detractors.
But even those quick to dismiss this as a subtle monument cannot write off too much, the extraordinary feat of engineering and ingenuity it represents, begging the question: how big can cruise ships get?
When owner Royal Caribbean International (RCI) launched Icon’s slightly smaller sister ship, Oasis of the Seas, in 2009, it was seen as a pivotal moment in pushing cruise ship architecture to the limits in terms of size and style.
The arrival of Icon almost 15 years after the first Oasis-class ship has changed the boundaries again, and is being followed in the summer of next year by its sister of the same size, Star of the Seas, and the third ship of the Icon class not yet named in 2026. .
However, RCI leaders are keen to tone down talk of going even bigger, citing logistical issues with ports being able to handle increasingly gargantuan hardware.
But maritime experts agree that the sea is the limit when it comes to giant cruise ships.
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, one of the three largest companies that build ships for mainstream cruise lines such as Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises and MSC Cruises, confirmed that there was no specific ceiling on the maximum size of these vessels.
However, a spokesperson admitted that there could be logistical constraints regarding the size of the shipyard dry dock where it would be built and the lifting cranes that play such an essential part in the construction process.
But the spokesman confirmed that there were no engineering restrictions on building giant ships, particularly in aspects such as maneuverability, adding: “This can be achieved simply by increasing the power of the sterns and propulsion system .”
Ship designer Markus Aarnio, chief naval architect for Finnish ship design and engineering company Foreship, said the cruise industry was “not even close” to approaching the technical limits of ships, but warned that such a large number posed a safety risk. there are a lot of passengers. on one vessel, which would raise the stakes in the event of a serious accident.
“The more people on board, the stricter the requirements for damage stability,” he said. “Perhaps the biggest obstacles for such a large vessel come from the ports they have access to. The longer the ship, the fewer ports it can enter due to space reasons, and the width and height can also limit access.”
It’s a point reiterated by Allan Jordan, associate editor of a specialist US shipping magazine The Maritime Executivewhich indicated that bridges, power cables and other potential obstacles restrict access to some ports for ships exceeding a certain height.
“There is also a size limit to where cruise ships can dock and where they can be maintained, with only a handful of dry docks large enough to handle these huge ships,” he said. “Other challenges come from handling things like boarding and disembarking in the daily service. Ports like Miami have problems with traffic jams and lack of parking for all the cars coming and going to the ships. This is the port that Icon of the Seas is sailing from and it had to build new terminals to handle these big ships.”
Patrick Atack, transport editor of online B2B site Ship Technology, said the future size of ships could depend on consumer taste.
“Fundamentally, it seems the technical specifications are not the challenge, but the market may be, especially post-Covid,” he said. “With much of the travel sector we are seeing a slight shift in what customers want. It was better than ever, but when you look at aircraft like the Dreamliner and the A380, customers want comfort over size.”
The main reason the giant 550-passenger Airbus A380 was a commercial failure, going out of production after 12 years, was because airlines considered it uneconomical. But another factor was that the bulk of the A380 meant that it could only land at certain airports, which needed to be fitted with wider gates to accommodate its larger proportions.
It was a similar case for cruise ports with RCI’s Oasis class ships – and now their new Icon class – able to visit specific destinations such as St Maarten, St Thomas and St Kitts with their port facilities upgraded to accommodate them.
This is not just a matter of logistics, but the prospect of large numbers of passengers disembarking, potentially affecting destinations and affecting the very sensitive issue of over-tourism.
Offering a possible solution is Royal Caribbean’s Bahamian private island Perfect Day at CocoCay, which has been revamped in recent years and is featured in every single Icon of the Seas itinerary – easily saving on port fees, and at the same time the same additional spending on passenger cruises within the company. coffers.
The use of private islands like this, as well as increased sea days that the ship puts in as a main attraction, seems to be “the trend”, according to Aarnio Foreship. “It means passengers spend more money on board (although they also don’t have similar shore journeys and average incomes) and port charges are reduced.” He said: “But not every passenger wants to see the ship. They want to see different ports because a lot depends on the itinerary and the Caribbean is very different from Alaska or the Mediterranean.”
The Maritime ExecutiveJordan agreed: “Travellers are looking for experiences these days and destinations are important. The mega-ships are limited in ports and operations because the lines have to fill them, so they stick to established routes and new destinations and access to exclusive events come from smaller luxury ships.”
While Royal Caribbean leads the industry with its “big and beautiful” approach, competitors are hot on its tail.
Italian-style line MSC Cruises has unveiled vessels the same size as its flagships at nearly 216,000 tons and holding more than 6,700 guests, while Disney Cruise Line has announced plans for a new 6,000-passenger 208,000-ton ship will be based in Singapore from next year. There are also reports that giant Carnival Corporation, which owns brands including P&O Cruises, Cunard and Carnival Cruise Lines, is close to sealing a deal for four 200,000-tonne ships with Fincantieri.
But while the march of the mega-ships continues apace, backed by the technical ability to push boundaries further, the protagonists don’t seem keen to take on additional tonnage – not in the least. .
As Jordan said: “Some of the other brands behind Royal Caribbean will probably be playing catch up with their own new big ships, most of which now top out at around 6,000 passenger capacity, but I think that we are on a plateau for the market. foreseeable future.”
