What does a new generation cruise ship look like? The largest cruise ship in the world (43 photos) What the ship looks like

Imagine going on a free cruise on the largest ship in the world. There is a whole metropolis of entertainment and services inside, and everything is free. Fantastic? Yes. But one day, when a parade of planets takes place, the company launches a new ship, this fairy tale becomes reality. Tour operators, the media and everyone who will subsequently sell trips to this liner are invited to the first flight.

Harmony of the Seas is by far the largest cruise ship with a capacity of 8,200 people, of which 2,200 are crew. The height of the ship is comparable to the height of a 20-story building. The length is 362 meters, which exceeds the length of Red Square in Moscow. The construction of the liner cost Royal Caribbean more than 1,000,000,000 euros.

But the most impressive thing is not the dimensions, but the filling of the liner - a helipad, swimming pools, water slides, a casino, a theater, an ice skating rink, a garden with 12 thousand different plants and much, much more. There is even a Bionic bar on board, where robots work as waiters. Let's see what it looks like inside...

General plans of the liner. This is a really huge thing, a giant Noah’s Ark with a displacement of 227,500 tons:

We left the port of Barcelona. Two fire ships saw us off: in honor of the first voyage, they staged a “salute” of water cannons:

The first place you go on a cruise is, of course, your cabin. I won’t give the footage, I’ll just mention that my cabin had a separate dressing room:

Common areas of the ship. On the right in the photo is a giant head sculpture that rotates in layers in different directions:

There are pedestrian streets on board. There is a complete feeling that it is not a ship that has gone out to sea, but a piece of the mainland. There are a lot of people. After a number of incidents on cruises, Royal Caribbean installed an advanced facial recognition system that can, if necessary, identify each passenger in a crowd:

Many sculptures and works of modern art:

Let's go up to the upper decks. There are two types of decks - indoor, comfortable in windy weather, and outdoor:

10.

There are 16 decks on board. 6 main pools and 10 giant Jacuzzis:

The upper deck is replete with public areas:

12.

Plenty of sunbeds. Pay attention to the slides behind the pool:

13.

On the other side of the golf course:

14.

Waves for surfing:

15.

Rope crossing at seven floors:

There is a huge aqua theater at the stern of the ship. There are two pipes leading down from the upper deck, through which you can go down with your clothes on. It feels very fast, very scary and very dark. You overcome almost 30 meters of height in 13 seconds, making two 360-degree turns along the way:

17.

To the right of the aquatheater is a pedestrian area called Central Park:

18.

19.

Naturally, there is a gym, and it is gigantic. Lots of training equipment and equipment:

20.

There are 20 restaurants on board Harmony of the Seas. The main one occupies three floors, where daily dinners are held:

22.

And this is the same Bionic bar where robots work. The mechanical arms have 30 alcohol components in their arsenal. The range of cocktails they can make is endless. One cocktail takes 30 seconds. Looks fantastic:

23.

Another memorable restaurant is called “Wonderland” and is based on the famous work of Lewis Carroll:

24.

Hall decoration:

25.

26.

Instead of a menu, they bring an empty picture that needs to be painted with water. After these manipulations, words appear. It might seem like a small thing, but it leaves a lasting impression:

27.

Molecular cuisine restaurant. The dish is called “Vegetable Garden”, and the “ground” is made from bread with the addition of cuttlefish ink:

28.

A dessert made from a ball that is poured over hot chocolate. After a minute, the ball melts, revealing the ice cream inside. Delicious:

29.

Every week, the liner's restaurants consume 4,500 kg of chicken and almost 7,000 kg of beef. There are a total of 4,900 seats on board in restaurants and bars. The assortment of desserts again confused me:

30.

Central Park has dozens of stores to suit every budget:

31.

You won't be bored in the evening. Rather, on the contrary, you will need to run from one view to another:

32.

At the theater there is a Broadway production of “Grease”. The film of the same name, based on this musical, made Travolta a star already in 1978:

33.

Ice show. Just pay attention to the quality of the costumes that were prepared for the performance.

Most people who find themselves on a large cruise ship (like this one) for the first time often have the same question: “How does so much fit in here?”
That's a good question. But, in fact, there are no special miracles, all this is an engineering thought. Which has reached dangerous heights in our time. We haven’t really achieved anything, so our lot is to enjoy the journey and make sure that our heads don’t turn away. There is a whole bag of interesting things on a modern cruise ship. And I will definitely tell you about everything. You, dear reader, have a wonderful opportunity to walk with me through this gigantic structure. As I already said, you experience something special... Considering that not everyone has been, but many would like to know... Especially now, when everything outside the window is covered with snow - I especially want to go on a journey across the blue sea... Under the blue sky. Well, cruises are now more accessible than ever... Welcome aboard the Costa Concordia!

our story was interrupted by the fact that we Maria decided to take a little nap. But the thirst for knowledge did not allow me to close my eyes, and I went to explore our floating home...

Here he is - our handsome man (or is it still a beauty?) in cross-section. Yes, the vessel is not small. I look at her as if she were my own...

And such a diagram already hangs on every floor. Passengers are also given a special booklet with a diagram. So that you don't get lost.
Each deck has its own name. On Concordia these are the names of countries. The main deck, as you might guess, is called Greece. There is a lot of things on it and from here you can go almost anywhere. Except perhaps the upper deck... Well, let's take a walk...

However, I remembered that for Russian-speaking travelers, a meeting was scheduled with our hostess, Rita. So I quickly ran up the stairs to a higher floor...

I rushed past the arcade...

Besides me and my wife, among the thousands of foreigners, there were also seventy Russians. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we had almost no contact with them. There was a certain element of closedness among our compatriots... We did not impose ourselves.

On the question of translation difficulties... There are practically no problems with language on Cruise. All service staff will be happy to meet you halfway. In addition, for the majority, English is also not their native language...
Besides, you can always turn to good Rita. She really does look a lot like a fairy. We really liked her... And our first meeting looked something like this:

I listened to all the rules with great interest, once again I noted to myself how well everything was thought out here over the years of working with people... I felt a little sad about the domestic level of service...
I drove away the sad thoughts and looked around... Everywhere - it was very good. At almost every step we met smiling guys at the piano...

In some places there was the smell of delicious coffee...

Something like a dance floor, I decided. As it turned out later, I was not mistaken. Berlin Grand Bar. It is here that various evening competitions take place, which, if you look at them from the right angle, can provide a lot of pleasant moments. And even take part yourself...

Domino players and in Italy - domino players.

As I continued to explore the ship, I was very impressed with the ship's light fixtures in the main foyer.

It's easy to guess that in the heart of Costa Concordia there is a bar called Europa bar. There are central elevators, live music and the main entrance to the ship.

The chandeliers were constantly changing their color... For some reason I kept getting green...

The Italians are the main masters of lighting fixtures.

Everything is designer handmade.

Seeing such handles on the doors, you can’t help but enter the room in front of which they are installed...

And this, of course, is a library!

It's nice to know that on any cruise ship there is always a library. In which you can always retire. To escape, so to speak, from the hustle and bustle...

Somehow my feet led me to the souvenir shop...

Everything is on the level here - everyone will find their own piece of Concordia...

Branded attributes are even present on sleeping bags.

Toy liners are selling like hot cakes...

The hall is equipped with the latest technology...

It’s clear that people here are used to not skimping on entertainment...

This is understandable - the traveler should not be bored... The stairs are wide...

The hall seats something like a thousand people. Not bad for a show on the high seas!

Moreover, the performance takes place every evening. Twice. So that everyone has time and can watch. There are different performances - dancing, singing, magic tricks, ventriloquists - everything is very cool! I'll touch on this point later...

In short, it is very, very difficult to get bored at Concordia. Everything is grown up here!

Another design solution on the wall. Theater theme...

The staircase next to the auditorium is decorated accordingly.

In general, while walking along the corridors, you have to get used to the idea that you are hundreds of kilometers from the coast...

Very lasting feeling of comfort throughout.

A perfume store or toilet is no different from the same as, say, in any large shopping complex. Well, except that the toilets are designed in a special way and the surrounding cleanliness...

The already mentioned Bar Europa. In the evenings, Italians gather here and sing along with the artists. A very singing nation. It is no coincidence that until recently their passports even had a “voice” column.

And if you lift your head up, you can see a huge map of Europe. Even the Motherland can be clearly seen... And Moscow, and St. Petersburg, and Odessa...

Somewhere in the heights you can see a piece of the sky... We will rise there again...

Meanwhile, brisk trade is going on in the central foyer...

Here's the gold. But not by weight, but by length. They will cut as much as needed. Wear it for your health - eternal metal!

Here's the damn tobacco. Two euros for a pack of poison...

The sea vessel is a duty-free zone, so duty free lovers stock up on booze and smoke here. Profitable.

What’s nice is that a fairly decent amount of space is allocated for photography. You can see how people respect frozen moments. By the way, it was here that we met our fellow countryman Mashin - a boy from Odessa. Helped us a lot later...

The work pattern of the local photo center, however, is very typical: a photographer watches over vacationers, and then the photographs are put on display. I have to buy...

Well, well... What do we have here? Let's take a closer look...

Oops! Just some kind of sea wolves!

The cruise ship MSC Seaside is a 20-deck giant designed for year-round sea travel in the Caribbean Sea.

Gorgeous swimming pools

On deck 16 there is a long, narrow Miami Beach pool surrounded by plush lounge chairs that give the impression of a glamorous beach, albeit without the sand. Nine decks below is the smaller South Beach pool. Not far from it there is a spacious hall where you can drink a cocktail, listen to music and dance.

Panoramic glass elevators

Two panoramic glass elevators take you up to Deck 16, where there is an almost 30-meter-long glass walkway called the “Bridge of Sighs.” The view of the ocean from here is amazing.

Water park and nightclubs

The highlight of the ship's entertainment is one of the largest and most interactive water parks on the high seas. Even though there are only 4 slides in the water park, there is a lot to admire as you fly down the 160 meter transparent tube and jump out of it in the middle of the jungle, where all sorts of adventures await you.

You can't help but enjoy surfing on a board equipped with an electric console. In it, surfers plunge into the abyss, where bright lights pulsate to the rhythm of electronic music. If it weren't for the splashes in the face, one would think that this was not a board ride, but a party in a nightclub. In the water park, as elsewhere on the ship, bracelets are used instead of traditional key cards, which allow passengers to open their cabin, book a table at a restaurant and spa treatments, make payments and monitor children on board using geo-search, and most importantly, save them from having to stand in queues.

Jungle with pool

Next to the water park there is another pool, surrounded by tropical jungle. If you don’t pay attention to the children squealing with delight, then you can calm down here, sitting comfortably on a deck chair among ferns, palms and bamboo trees. There is a bar with a wide selection of cocktails and hot baths. When it rains, a large glass roof closes over the pool and jungle, and you continue to relax in the greenhouse with exotic plants and pool.

Rope ride

From deck 19 to deck 16 you can take a 105-meter cable car down. As you descend, you can admire the helipad below and wave to all the sunbathers near the Miami Beach pool.

Formula one

There is an F1 simulator on board the aircraft. You sit in an exact replica of a famous racing car, fasten your seat belt and drive through a given course on a video monitor. During the passage, you forget that you are driving a simulator; everything is so authentic. Of course, missing a turn doesn't end in tragedy, and the worst that can happen is your friends ridiculing you about your terrible driving.

Restaurants

On board the ship you will find bars and restaurants to suit every taste, which amaze with a wide range of dishes and drinks. There is an Asian restaurant created in collaboration with chef Roy Yamaguchi, a seafood restaurant and a meat-based steakhouse. The prices will be pleasant; lunch at any of the restaurants will cost about $39.

Promenade

The liner is framed by a magnificent panoramic promenade 323 meters long. It is designed for leisurely walks in the fresh air. You pass bars, restaurants, shops and sun loungers. The most impressive thing about the walk is the skywalk - a transparent glass floor along the side through which you can see the ocean directly below you.

XD cinema

Fasten your seat belt, pick up a “gun” and go on a “fun” mission to save the world from terrible zombies. Creepy creatures will “eat” you and will not choke if you do not have time to pull the trigger in time. Don't want zombies? There are 3 other scenarios for the development of events.

Luxurious cabins

The cabins are located in two towers of passenger accommodation superstructures - at the bow and at the stern. They are spacious with huge floor to ceiling windows.

Accommodation prices for a 7-day Caribbean cruise start at $449, while cabins with balconies cost around $900.

The design, food, water slides, attractions and much more on the ship make it worth going on a cruise and enjoying the proximity to the sun and ocean.

For a person who has been on a cruise at least once, questions about choosing a cabin no longer arise. But if you are going on your first cruise and are faced with the problem of choosing a cabin, this article is for you.

Cruise ship cabin equipment

A cruise ship cabin is very similar to a hotel room, but usually smaller. The standard cabin size is 14-18 square meters(except for suites).

Here you will find everything the same as in a hotel room: a bed, a desk with a chair, a large wardrobe for storing clothes, mirrors, bedside tables, a telephone, a TV, a safe for storing valuables. The temperature in the cabin is usually controlled by an individual thermostat. The beds in the cabins are usually collapsible; they can be pushed together to form a double bed, or separated separately. You don't have to move the beds yourself if you're not happy with their configuration. Just ask the steward, and the next time your cabin is cleaned, he will do it for you.

Cabin cleaning

The cabin is cleaned twice daily. Each cabin is assigned a steward, who is cleaned in the morning while you are at breakfast and in the evening during dinner. Of course, if you wish, you can refuse cleaning and unnecessary worry by hanging a “do not disturb” sign on the doorknob. Whether you leave a tip for the steward is at your discretion, but it is generally assumed that it is included in the centralized service fee levied on each passenger

Bathroom in a cruise ship cabin

All cabins on cruise ships have private bathrooms. To save space, the bathrooms of standard cabins are usually equipped with showers, but can also be equipped with a full bath. Bathrooms are equipped with shampoo/shower gel dispensers, so there is no need to bring them with you. The photo below shows a standard cruise ship bathroom. MSC Divina

As you can see, there are towels, shampoo, shower gel, and a separate faucet with soap in the sink + some accessories such as shower caps on the shelf. To the right of the shower head there is a retractable rope for drying swimsuits and linen. The flush in the toilet, by the way, is vacuum, that is, water is sucked inside, like on an airplane. It's a little intimidating the first time you use it.

Main types of cabins on cruise ships

Of course, every cruise ship is different, and even within the same ship there are many categories of cabins. But in general, they can all be reduced to 4 main types:

Interior cabins(English: Interior cabin, Inside cabin)
Cabins with window or external cabins (English: Outside cabin, Oceanview cabin)
Cabins with balcony(English: Balcony cabin,Verandah cabin)
Suites(Suits)

Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Interior cabin

Looking at the layout of the living deck of almost any liner, you can see that the cabins on it are located on both sides of two long corridors passing through the entire ship.

At the same time, some of the cabins look inside the liner, and some outside. Those that look outward have the opportunity to make windows and balconies, since one of the walls of their cabin is essentially the outer skin of the liner. In those that look inward, there is no point in making windows, since the window will look into the interior of the liner, without sunlight, and you will not see anything interesting there. Hence the name - inside cabin

The main disadvantages of internal cabins are:

no windows
lack of sunlight (you always wake up in the morning in complete darkness)
small cabin area, interior cabins are almost always smaller than all others

As you can see, there is extremely little free space here. If the two of you are more or less comfortable here, it will be a bit cramped with children. To accommodate children, interior cabins are usually equipped with folding shelves, like in a train compartment. It looks like this:

More expensive cruise lines may have slightly larger interior cabins, sometimes with a seating area with a sofa and coffee table.

Choose an inside cabin if you don't plan to spend a lot of time in it. If you are going to spend time on excursions in the port during the day, in the bars and restaurants of the ship in the evening, and only sleep in the cabin, then the inside cabin is what you need. Cheap and cheerful. And the sea air and views can be perfectly enjoyed on the open decks.

By the way, for some reason many people think that interior cabins are located below the ship’s waterline, and therefore are afraid to buy them. This is nonsense, all passenger cabins on cruise ships are located much higher waterline

Cabin with window

It looks something like this:

Its main advantage is, of course, the window. But you need to understand that it does not open. It will not be possible to ventilate the room with sea air. But you can see where the liner is sailing, and in the morning you wake up not in pitch darkness, but from the rays of the sun

Cabins with a window are generally larger than interior cabins. So in the examples above there is a living area with a sofa. Both in terms of price and comfort, cabins with a window occupy an intermediate position between interior cabins and cabins with a balcony.

When choosing a cabin with a window, keep in mind that sometimes the windows may overlook the promenade deck and then people will constantly walk past your window. Use our detailed deck plans to avoid this.

Cabin with balcony

The most popular type of cabins today. If in the old liners of the 90s almost all cabins were internal or with a window, and only suites were equipped with balconies, then on modern giant liners most cabins have balconies.

Your own balcony allows you to fully enjoy the atmosphere of a sea cruise, breathe sea air whenever you want, watch sunrises and sunsets, and have breakfast in the open air overlooking the sea.

The size of a standard balcony is approximately 3-4 square meters. On the balcony you will find a couple of sun loungers and a table. Usually the balcony is blocked by a solid glass partition for the safety of passengers, in particular children. Access to the balcony is via floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors, providing breathtaking views and plenty of sunlight.

Cabins with a balcony have sufficient space to accommodate children. Children in such cabins sleep on a folding sofa or folding shelves.

The only disadvantage of cabins with a balcony is their price, which is 1.5-2 times higher than the prices for internal cabins.

Suites

For those who are used to traveling in comfort and paying for it, cruise companies offer exclusive types of cabins with increased area and improved service. It is impossible to describe all the options for suites; on each liner these are cabins with a personal layout: from simple one-room cabins of increased area to two-level lofts with a private Jacuzzi on the balcony and a butler.

Royal loft suite (Royal Caribbean):

The heaven deluxe owner's suite(NCL):

Bathroom in Reflection suite (Celebrity Cruises).