August 20, 2005

  • Just read about Royal Caribbean's soon-to-be-built newest ship, the Freedom of the Seas.

    It'll hold 4,370 passengers, and be larger than the Queen Mary, which is almost the length of four football fields.

    According to RCCL, massively big is what people want.  Well, they
    may now, but how about in a few years as we boomers crowd into our
    60's? As it is I dislike having to trek ten minutes to retrieve a
    forgotten item from our cabin, and we don't sail on huge ships,
    sticking with the moderate-sized ones.  Eventually there are going
    to be a lot of older passengers who will likely balk at the long walks
    necessary to get around on these behemoths.

    Dunno.  Seems shortsighted to me.

    But then, I need bifocals as it is, so perhaps that's why. 

Comments (6)

  • 'shortsighted' -a bit of ironic humor. Perhaps they will enlist the services of a "golf cart concierge".

  • I like it, I like it, golf carts to the rescue!! Hmm, now maybe use them at malls, humongous parking lots, lots of good places they would come in handy.

  • I would think a ship that size would be limited as to where it can go.   How many piers can handle a ship that size?  And I thought cruise lines had overbuilt in the last few years - too many boats, not enough people.  They must be counting on the Boomers to want to cruise really badly, but lotsa Boomers'll be using walkers, canes and wheelchairs.   Not to mention a lot of them will be diabetic from all those Big Macs and shakes and won't be able to eat all that rich food.

    Or am I being unduly pessamistic?   Naw.

  • I'm sure they'll soon come up with "diabetic friendly" buffet lines. It's all in how you market it. As for the other concerns (will elderly passengers want to walk that far, etc.,) I wonder about that, too.

  • According to the article, in fact, the megaships are causing megaheadaches for the various ports, both because they are too large to dock, so passengers must be tendered in, and because the ports are overwhelmed attempting to process thousands of people at a time.

    Tell you what I'd hate to see and that's the inclusion of horizontal people-movers, such as at the Atlanta airport. They're fine for airports, but would definitely damage the ambiance of a cruise ship.

  •  The one time I was ever on a cruise ship was one called The  Dolphin.  I don't remember which line it belonged to, but I think it was their smallest ship, and was quite pleasant.  Of course, nothing beats sailing on a 50' 3-masted boat, but that cruise ship was pretty decent.

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