Oasis of the Seas: Bigger Than Expected

Guess what: The world’s largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, is even bigger than initially expected. That’s right, the ship, which has 2,704 cabins, can hold 5,408 passengers at 100 percent occupancy, eight more than previously stated.

Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Chairman and CEO Richard Fain explained the augmentation in a blog post:

“Actually, it is not as surprising as it sounds because when a shipyard builds a ship, it commits to a certain number of cabins, in this case 2,700. But, they build in a cushion because they normally lose cabins during the construction process (for equipment, storage, etc.),” he wrote. “In the Oasis contract, we included a bonus for any extra cabins and today, the yard advised that they would increase the cabin numbers by 4. It may not sound like a lot, but it definitely helps.”

The ship will alternate eastern and western Caribbean cruises, starting in December. Port Everglades, where it will homeport, has spent $75 million to expand Terminal 18 from 67,500 square feet to 240,000 square feet, making it the largest terminal for a single cruise ship.

Oasis’ sister ship, Allure of the Seas, is due to debut in 2010.

Visit www.royalcaribbean.com.