They are turning into floating cities with over 6000 passengers & 2000 crew. These are the 10 largest cruise ships in the World.
Our Top 10 has been updated for 2017 with 2 new entries and a first for MSC.
Royal Caribbean continues to dominate our top 10 but NCL now have 3 entries with a single entry for MSC.
We also look at what we can expect over the next few years. Quite remarkably only 3 of the current entries can expect to still be in the top 10 in 2024.
10 Liberty of the Seas
A few water slides in a refit make the Liberty of the Seas the largest of the 3 Freedom Class Ships. Independence and Freedom have moved out of the Top 10 this year.
155,889 GT
4,375 Maximum passenger capacity
9 Norwegian Escape
Launched in 2015 the first of the Breakaway-Plus Class of ships.
165,157 GT
5,400 Maximum passenger capacity
Norwegian Escape By Arno Redenius (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons8 Norwegian Joy
Sister to Norwegian Escape and launched in April 2017. It is slightly larger than it’s older sister.
It is also the first ship to have a Ferrari-branded race track
167,725 GT
Passenger capacity in double berth is 3,883 persons.
5 Quantum of the Seas, Anthem of the Seas & Ovation of the Seas
The 3 Quantum Class ships come in at number 5 introducing sky diving & bumper cars at sea.
168,666 GT
4.905 Maximum passenger capacity
Anthem of the Seas By www.GlynLowe.com from Hamburg, Germany – Anthem of the Seas – Cruise Ship in Hamburg, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=466359564 MSC Meraviglia
A new entry at number 4 launched in June 2017. Meraviglia is the lead ship of MSC’s new Vista generation.
Anyone want to see Cirque du Soleil at sea?
Astonishingly by 2024 Meraviglia will no longer be in our top 10.
171,598 GT
5,714 Maximum passenger capacity.
2 Allure of the Seas & Oasis of the Seas
Largest cruise ships in the World – Allure of the SeasThe original Oasis Class ships and officially Allure is slightly bigger.
225,282 GT
6,296 Maximum passenger capacity
Visit our review of backstage on Allure of the Seas to see great behind the scenes photographs.
1 Harmony of the Seas
Largest Cruise Ships in the World – Harmony of the SeasLaunched in 2016 the 3rd and currently the Largest Cruise Ship in the World the amazing Harmony of the Seas.
226,963 GT
6,360 Maximum passenger capacity
The Future
Will this pattern continue?
Will we see even bigger ships in the future?
Well, actually it seems not. There are 2 more scheduled Oasis Class ships in 2018 & 2021.
However, there are no even bigger ships planned at the moment.
The rest of our top 10 positions though are not safe. There are many other mega-ships planned above 200,000 GT in the next 10 years.
Star Cruises have announced 2 201,000 GT ships launching in 2019 & 2020. In addition a new class of ships for Royal Caribbean will see 2 new 200,000 GT ships and MSC are planning 4 200,000 GT ships between 2022-2026.
By 2024 only our current Top 3 can expect to still be in the Top 10. Whilst Harmony of the Seas looks like it will keep its crown as the World’s Largest Cruise Ship for the foreseeable future the future will certainly be the era of the mega-ship.
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