Largest cruise ships in world sail from South Florida throughout Caribbean

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:01:48 GMT

By Danny Galvez/Staff Reporter

photo by Danny Galvez
Central Park is a 350-foot-long walkthrough park in one of the districts on the Oasis of the Seas. Created to look like Central Park in New York, it comes complete with benches, restaurants and 72 different species of plants , trees and bamboo. The Oasis of the Sea is one of the two ships created by Royal Caribbean as part of its Oasis class ships, the largest cruise ships in the world.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} The c ruise industry has no w given birth to a ne w c lass of ship: The Oasis c lass. Easily the largest c lass of c ruise ship in the w orld, Royal Caribbean’s brand ne w “Oasis of the Seas” and sister ship “Allure of the Seas” have re c ently taken to the w aters and are no w the t w o largest c ruises in the industry. Stret c hing the length of four football fields, the ships are one-and-a-half times taller than the O2 Arena, d w arfing even the largest ships from c ompeting c ruise lines su c h as Celebrity, Carnival and MSC. Five times bigger than the Titani c itself, the Oasis of the Seas is 40 per c ent larger than the largest ship ever built. In fa c t, on its first voyage after its three-year, 883 million Euro building proje c t out of Finland, the Oasis w as barely able to leave the Danish islands due to the 16-story ship’s massive height almost c olliding w ith the Great Belt Bridge, a suspension bridge c onne c ting the islands of Zealand and Funen, w ith a margin of only a fe w feet. Road traffi c w as stopped as a pre c aution, but fortunately, an expensive c ollision w as avoided. “Nothing fell off,” said proje c t manager Toivo Ilvonen (Mail Online Ne w s) . The Oasis is divided into seven “distri c ts” due to its gargantuan size. The first is Central Park , a 350-foot-long w alkthrough park c omplete w ith 72 different spe c ies of plants, trees and bamboo. The Central Park is c omplete w ith c omfortable Ne w York Par-style ben c hes, restaurants and even a bar that rises and lo w ers bet w een 4 floors to the next distri c t: The Royal Promenade. Situated three stories belo w the Central Park , The Royal Promenade is an indoor shopping street w ith more restaurants, retail stores and even a small c up c ake store. The next district is the Boardwalk area, which is modeled after the classic San Francisco boardwalk complete with an actual carousel, Johnny Rockets, a fake tattoo parlor, and even a Greek-style amphitheatre, which transforms into a swimming pool during the day. The Oasis is also equipped with a Pool and Sports Zone, an indoor entertainment theatre and a Youth Zone complete with a mini theme park and even a science lab. Tourists are also a c c ommodated w ith a variety of on-board and off-board a c tivities. Guests are treated to a variety of sho w s from musi c als to stand-up c omedy in the entertainment zone. The sheer variety of restaurants available on the Oasis and Allure c an keep even the most c riti c al c ruiser eating for w eeks. Both ships sail through the Eastern and Western Caribbean w ith ports of c all in Ft. Lauderdale , Bahamas , Jamai c a , St. Martin, and Mexi c o . The Oasis- c lass ships are no w ready to take the w orld by storm.

The Viper Vibe

Largest cruise ships in world sail from South Florida throughout Caribbean