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Looks like a nightmare of mall/Vegas/urban sprawl on the seas. Horrifying.
I have been on islands when such monsters docked and the ships were literally larger than the island. A torrent of tourists then washed ashore all at once, hurtling up the streets in a great army of stretch shorts and blubber.....the whole experience was terrifying.
Awful.
Yeah, I was on Liberty of the Seas several months ago and it just felt like a giant floating shopping mall. It was my first (and last) cruise.
OOTS will have a "smaller" cruise ship positioned in one of the larger pools on board so passengers interested in a smaller cruise ship ambience will have that option as well.
1. Put on weight till I'm 350 lbs.
2. Fly to wherever that huge ship is, without paying for 2 seats on the plane, and hopefully invade someone else's space on the plane, and then eat all the time on the ship, and then when it docks at an island I want to hurtle through the streets with my blubber and annoy and disgust people who hate that.
News about this ship has been out for at least a year. They even had a contest as to what to name the ships. I forget what the prize was. With crew, the ship could have over 7,000 people on board. One plus about such large ships is they are very affordable to cruise on vice the smaller ships.
Concerning rough seas, the ship will probably have stabilizers like the Voyager class (I did a cruise on the Adventure of the Seas). Because of those, the passengers will feel very little rocking. The seas would have to be very rough for it to be noticable.
Shopping does seem to be promoted a lot. They pushed it a lot on the Adventure of the Seas. I found it annoying as I didn't go to the Caribbean to shop. They also promote their casinos on board.
Food wise, I think it's possible where if you wanted, you could eat on board the ship 24 hours a day. One of the great values of ships like this is the food. It can save you considerable bucks while travelling.
In my opinion, these ships are the most convenient way to see the Caribbean islands. You only have to unpack and pack once. That said, it can be like a cattle call trying to get off them at a port. It can also be annoying when you get some folks who forget what the departure time was. I remember some late returnees getting razzed by people on the balconies. They were lucky they didn't get left as they would've had to fly to the next port at their own expense to catch up with the ship and their stuff.
Cruising sure isn't what it used to be! I haven't been on one of the megas and not really interested in trying one either. I've sailed with RCI on their older ships, then Sovereign of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas. Once they went to cabins facing the atrium, ice rinks and all that, nope not for me.
I prefer 1,000 - 1,500 max really. The cruise lines seem to be going the way of the rest of the world! Bigger hotels, more gimicks, water parks, etc.! Families don't want simple anymore, they want all the bells and whistles, no matter if they are on land or at sea! Small older hotels, resorts, cabins all going by the wayside for condos, fancy cottages with tvs in every room, microwaves, the works.
You still have the cabins facing the ocean. I suspect the cabins facing the atrium are an attempt to make those cabins pricier and thereby make more money for the cruise line. After all, the people can see SOMETHING and so they wouldn't have to discount them as much. Like susancruzs, I wouldn't want a cabin overlooking the atrium. I very much enjoyed the cabin I had overlooking the sea. It was neat to watch the ship come into or depart from port.
I think families want something where they can send the kids off to do their own thing safely while the parents can also do their own thing. I know RCL has programs for different ages where the parents could do that.
The water parks and other attractions like Broadway like shows are to keep the people entertained while the ship is at sea. Otherwise, it could get pretty boring when you're between islands. They can also have the effect of getting people to stay onboard the ship and thereby spend more money ON the ship vice the island. One thing I saw on the ship I was on was they definitely did their best to milk their passengers for as much as they could.
One down side of the mega-ships is that there are some ports they can't get into because of their size. Ship designers have tried to keep this to a minimum. I was astonished to find out the ship I was on that had FIFTEEN decks only drew either 23 or 27 feet underwater. I was expecting it to be a LOT more than that.
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