Despite pandemic measures that are keeping most of the world’s cruise ships at anchor and sending some of them to scrapyards, at least some of the ‘arms race’ of the giant ships and giant companies is going full sail ahead with the launch last week of the world’s largest cruise ship ever.
Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas left its drydock in Saint-Nazaire, France to enter a ‘wet dock’ where it will get its final finish and have its interior kitted out, along with a panoply of amusements and amenities spread over its eighteen decks—taller than most buildings in most ports it will visit.
RC has not yet given figures on Wonder’s exact size, only that it will be a bit bigger than the current biggie, Symphony of the Seas, which is just under 1,200 feet long and can hold up to 6,680 passengers along with its 2,200-person crew.
The ship’s completion was delayed about ten months, and will now debut in 2022, rather than 2021. A sister ship, not yet named, is due in 2023.
