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BIGGEST OF THE BIG
PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE LARGEST PASSENGER SHIPS 1974 - 2020 PAGE TWO |
Oasis of the Seas
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In 2004, a new-build ocean liner took the title of world's largest passenger ship. Queen Mary 2 (QM2) (148,528 gross tons) was built primarily for the Atlantic service. However, Cunard, now a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, realized that one of the reasons QE2 was able to survive for 40 years was that she had been designed to do both transatlantic crossings and cruising. Therefore, QM2 was also designed to do the same and her schedule each year includes both crossings and cruises.
Note that QM2 is an exception to the rule that the larger the ship, the more passengers. She actually carries fewer passengers than many cruise ships with a lower gross tonnage. This anomaly is due to the fact that an ocean liner has to be structurally stronger and more aerodynamic than a cruise ship and so less space can be devoted to passenger cabins. It is also due to the fact that she is a premium, rather than a mass market, ship. |
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Although her physical dimensions are smaller than those of QM2, Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas (154,407 gross tons) became the world's largest passenger ship in 2006. This reflects the fact that gross tonnage is a measure of revenue producing volume, not weight or displacement. (See article). Thus, how two ships are configured can affect their relative gross tonnage.
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Freedom of the Seas passed the record on to her sister Liberty of the Seas (155,889 gross tons) in 2007.
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In 2009, Royal Caribbean jumped far ahead with Oasis of the Seas (left). A city at sea, the 225,282 gross ton ship was divided into seven "neighborhoods".
Built in Finland, Oasis had to pass under Denmark's Great Belt Bridge in order to exit the Baltic. There was some doubt as to whether a ship as big as Oasis could fit. Therefore, the ship was brought to full speed in order to get her to "squat" lower in the water. The ship went under the bridge without incident. The next year, Allure of the Seas (lower left) entered service. Almost identical to Oasis, Allure's captain noticed that the shipyard's official measurements showed that Allure was a few inches longer than Oasis. To encourage crew spirit, the captain announced that Allure was the world's biggest cruise ship. The claim caught on both with crew and passengers and Allure became the unofficial record holder. |
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Oasis and Allure proved to be highly popular and great revenue producers. In addition, whereas it was thought initially that these ships could only visit a few select ports that had special facilities to handle them, experience showed that they were much more robust and could go to more ports than was first thought. Therefore, after a six year hiatus, Royal Caribbean brought out the next Oasis-class ship, Harmony of the Seas. Built in France, Harmony is 226,963 gross tons.
In 2018, Harmony's sister, Symphony of the Seas began cruising. She is currently the largest cruise ship at 228,081 gross tons. |
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Cruise ship information - Pictorial History of the Largest Passenger Ships - page 2