World’s Biggest Cruise Ships

These days, the operative word in cruise ships is big. And getting bigger as cruise lines order up bigger ships with more amenities. Here’s a look at some that are already sailing as well as a preview of what’s to come.

Carnival Dream

The largest of the line’s “Fun Ships,” the 130,000-ton Dream will launch in late 2009. The ship features a half-mile, open-air promenade encircling the ship on Promenade Deck 5; the Piazza, an indoor/outdoor café and live music venue; enhanced children’s facilities, including a waterpark; and a two-level miniature golf course.Some staterooms on the new ship can accommodate five passengers as well as 65 spa staterooms and suites that will offer guests exclusive amenities and privileges. Photo credit:

Oasis of the Seas

Central Park takes to the seas when Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas sets sail late 2009. The 220,000 gross tons of Oasis will feature a park a football-field long complete with formal gardens. Known as Central Park, the area will include three themed gardens, bars, restaurants and boutiques as well as 300 staterooms that rise six-decks high and overlook the park.

Solstice

Celebrity’s newest ship features the first-ever top deck lawn, featured in an environment known as the Lawn Club where passengers can play bocce or croquet or kick back and have a picnic in the grass.Solstice and her sisters will offer over seven different stateroom categories. The ship’s new Aqua Class staterooms, located on the same deck as the Aqua Spa Relaxation Room, bring spa elements such as five-head showerheads, mood lighting and relaxing scents into the stateroom. Guests in this class get exclusive access to the Blu Restaurant, a specialty restaurant serving healthy fare in a soothing atmosphere. The Family Veranda stateroom, measuring 753 square feet, features a bedroom is separate from the living room, which will be equipped with fold-out couches; there’s also an extra alcove, just big enough for twin bunks.Guests can choose from among 10 different options for dining, not including room service.

Queen Mary 2

The QE2’s replacement, the Queen Mary 2, weighs in at 150,000 gross tons and carries 2,620 passengers and 1,253 crew members. She is the largest ocean liner ever built, although she was surpassed in gross tonnage with the construction of the Freedom of the Seas. A throwback to the golden age of ocean travel, the QM2 boasts a Grand Lobby more than three decks high with two sweeping grand staircases. The ship has the largest library at sea, with more than 8,000 books and the sea’s only planetarium. Five swimming pools, an art gallery with works by Dali, Chagall, Erte and Picasso, a 2,000-square-foot spa and a casino are among the QM2’s amenities.

Carnival Destiny

Destiny underwent renovations in 2008 and now boasts a new theater as well as renovated cabins with balconies. Carnival Destiny is the first of Carnival Cruise Lines’ five Destiny-class liners. At just over 101,000 tons, Destiny carries 3,360 passengers. Three football fields long, Destiny features two-level dining halls, a two-tiered dance club, a three-story show lounge, four pools and a nine-story glass-domed atrium provides.MSC Fantasia

Independence of the Seas

The sister ship of Freedom of the Seas, is the first of the new sailing behemoths to have her headquarters in Europe.The 160,000-ton liner, boasts a central promenade lined with shops, bars and restaurants and the Skylight Chapel, a wedding chapel with room for 40 guests. To make British passengers feel at home, kettles have been installed in all cabins so they can brew their own tea.