A Titanic Mistake?

In the year 2000 I embarked on a nice ocean cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas. It was my first try at a cruise of this ilk and I was duly impressed by the sheer size of the vessel. A huge horizontal “hotel” with lots of great amenities for the lazy and libidinous. During the cruise a video was shown (several times) touting the next generation of cruise ships, centering on the Voyager of the Seas which, unlike the Monarch, would have too large a hull to pass through the Panama Canal. The video showed “special” stuff like a climbing wall (which I would never think of trying) and a skating rink (ditto) and just generally speaking to the fact that an additional 1,500 passengers, or so, could be accomodated. Not my cup-of-tea was my reaction…the crowds aboard the Monarch was sometimes almost more than I could take.

So, although I’ve taken two more cruises since, I’ve avoided the biggies. If you look south on this blog you will see a paragraph about watching the new Queen Mary 2, the current size-leader in cruise ships, gracefully slip out of New York harbor along with the Victoria and the QE2. The Mary looked about as tall as it was long and although a very impressive sight, it was not something I aspired to board anytime soon. And now, beyond my comprehension as to any reason why, next year will greet the next generation of ship…that is, Royal Carribean’s Genesis which will, upon launching, be the largest vessel ever to hit the high and/or low seas. Although tonnage is hard for me to compare to anything, the Genesis is 220,000, far outstripping any competiton, and has a passenger capacity of 6,400 plus, I’m told, at least 2,500 crew members. It is 1,180 feet long, 154 feet wide and 240 feet high. Although scheduled to serve the Caribbean, there are currently no ports capable of providing berthing space and even it’s home base, Ft. Lauderdale, is having to make some major improvements to accommodate her. Mind boggling.

I have two fairly self-serving thoughts when I look at the artist’s rendering, above. I can’t help but try to place myself in one of those little dots that represent portholes and being reminded how tiny and insignificant I am. And I can’t help thinking how much I don’t want to be part of a mass stampede trying get off the ship to board a snorkeling excursion in some overwhelmed Caribbean port.

When is too big too big? The Genesis just might be it.