The World`s Largest Cruise Ship Leaves Dry Dock

Royal Caribbean`s Symphony of the Seas left dry dock in St Nazaire, France, on Thursday entering the water for the first time as the world`s largest cruise ship. Bigger than her sister Harmony of the Seas by 28 cabins and 3,000 tons!

So how different is she going to be? There are now 4 ships in the same class – Oasis, Allure, Harmony and Symphony and all have a lot of the same things on board. These ships are really floating resorts not traditional cruise liners. Symphony has seven different ” districts ” including the Boardwalk, Central Park and the Royal Promenade.

She will carry up to 6870 passengers in inside,outside, balcony and virtual balcony staterooms not to mention various types of suites. Numerous restaurant options from a Jamie Oliver Italian to the first dry aged steaks at sea. A robotic barman, well he`s not new, and the obligatory water park will also be on board. Loads of bars and entertainment venues and lots of shops too.

In fact so much on board why would you bother to get off you might ask? The whole idea of theses resort style vessels must be to keep passengers on the ship where they will, of course, spend more money.

But surely the whole point of a cruise is to see different places? So where is she going to sail. In 2018 she is based in the Mediterranean and the ports of Barcelona and Rome. She will be doing mainly 7 night itineraries visiting places like Rome, Naples, Palma, Marseilles and Florence & Pisa.

These are very traditional Mediterranean voyages that many people will have done time and time again, another reason o keep you on board of course. The logistics of getting around 6500 people off and on a massive ship will be a nightmare. Imagine the queue for lifts – even though there are plenty of them!

I`m sure she will appeal to lots of people, especially families for the novelty value of her rides & slides, but more traditional cruisers? I doubt it. So many times I hear people say how they much prefer smaller, more intimate ships that can get into different and smaller ports. The other question is will Royal be able to fill her ? Only time will tell.