Royal Caribbean’s mammoth cruise ship Wonder of the Seas sets sail
It’s been a tough two years with Covid but the world’s largest cruise ship has finally set sail and it’s packed with some wild inclusions.
The world’s biggest cruise ship, which is five times the size of the Titanic, has set sail for the first time.
Wonder of the Seas weighs in at a staggering 236,857 tonnes and is fitted out with 19 swimming pools, 20 restaurants, 11 bars, an ice rink, casino and even its own Central Park, The Sun reported.
The Royal Caribbean liner set out on her maiden seven-day voyage on Friday from Fort Lauderdale in the US state of Florida, heading to the Caribbean.
The statistics for the record-breaking ship are staggering.
It’s 362m long, it can carry 6988 passengers along with 2300 crew and can hold enough beer to fill all the swimming pools on board twice over.
“It’s hard to believe you are even on a ship. It’s a city on the water. There is everything you could ever want. There’s no reason to ever get off,” one passenger said.
“We’re going to need a bigger ocean,” another joked.
The colossal ship has 18 decks, 16 for passengers.
It has a top speed of 22 knots thanks to three 20,000 kilowatt diesel-electric thrusters under the stern and four bow thrusters, each generating 7500 horsepower.
Wonder of the Seas took three years to build in Saint-Nazaire, France, at a cost of more than $A1.8 billion.
She had originally been set to launch in China last year but those plans were shelved due to the Covid pandemic.
A source told the Mail on Sunday the ship had undergone a refurbishment.
“Restaurants have been renamed and signs in Mandarin have been changed to English. She will sail around the Caribbean before switching to European cruises this summer,” they said.
Onboard is also a boardwalk, designed on the Coney Island attraction and is lined with restaurants serving up Italian, French and German cuisine, along with US staples such as hotdogs and pizzas.
There is also a Las Vegas-style casino on board.
On another deck there’s Central Park, complete with 20,000 plants and trees.
Passengers can sip cocktails made by robots in the Bionic Bar which is situated on the Royal Promenade.
If that doesn’t appeal, there’s the Rising Tide Bar, which has a moving platform where guests’ seats move up and down between the Promenade on Deck Five to Central Park on Deck Eight and providing great views.
There’s also lots of activities and entertainment on board including the musical Chicago, performed by a Broadway cast, an AquaTheatre where high-divers plunge from 18m boards into a swimming pool and nightly “icetravanganzas” in the indoor ice rink.
Thrill-seeking passengers can enjoy the surf pool which generates waves 3.5m-high, a 25m-long, ten-deck-high zip line and two rock climbing walls.
There’s also a mini golf course, Laser Tag game area, video game arcade, outdoor movie theatre, luxury spa and state-of-the-art gym.
VIP guests get to relax in their private suites and have a “royal genie”, or butler, on call.
The Ultimate Family Suite, which can hold 10 people, comes with a two-storey slide from the bedroom to the living room.
There are also a number of clubs and activities designed for kids of all ages, including Playscape, described as “an on-board wonderland for kids” – which has a slide that lifts riders up a near vertical wall on a raft before flinging them back down with a giant splash.
Thrills can also be found on the Ultimate Abyss, a 30m slide which drops from Deck 16 to Deck 6 in 13 seconds.
Royal Caribbean claims bookings are back to pre-pandemic levels.
“We are eager to move forward this year. We expect 2022 will be a strong year as we bring the rest of our fleet into operations and approach historical occupancy levels,” chief executive Jason Liberty said.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced here with permission.
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