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11th January 2024
03:50pm GMT
People have been left stunned by the size of the world's largest cruise ship as it prepares for its maiden voyage.
The appropriately named Icon of the Seas is due to set sail from Miami on January 27.
Going by gross tonnage, which is a measure of a ship's volume, the cruise liner clocks in at a staggering 248,663, making it the largest in the world.
With a length of 364.75 metres, it is also longer than the previous longest Oasis Class cruise liners.
This is almost 100 metres longer than the Titanic (269.1 metres), whilst the ship's gross tonnage is more than five times that of the Titanic (46,328).
However, Icon of the Seas isn't the longest ship ever built, with that honour going to Seawise Giant, an oil tanker which measured 458.46 metres.
When it sets sail, the Icon will have almost 10,000 people on board, made up of 2,350 crew and a maximum of 7,600 passengers.
The ship will travel to the coasts of the Bahamas, Mexico, St. Maarten and Honduras for seven night Eastern and Western Caribbean vacations when she launches at the end of this month.
On board, passengers won’t run out of things to do in a hurry, with a giant waterpark, an AquaDome, an entertainment zone, over 40 dining options, a surf simulator, a mini-golf course, sports court, a rock climbing area and even an ice rink.
There are also 28 different types of accommodation spread across 20 decks.
Other features include an on-board 'beach club' with a suspended infinity pool, and an aquadome at the front of the vessel.
There are also seven pools on the ship, including Royal Bay, which is said to be the largest pool at sea.
And it has six record-breaking slides as well, including the Frightening Bolt, which is the tallest waterslide to sail, and the Pressure Drop, which is the first open freefall waterslide on a cruise.
Icon of the Seas will also be the first ship to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and fuel cell technology. Using technology such as shore power connection and waste heat recovery systems, Royal Caribbean claim that the vessel will be their most sustainable ship to date.
Reacting to clips of the cruise ship on social media, people couldn't get over the sheer size of the vessel.
One person wrote: "Always heard how amazing it is jumbo jets fly, but it seems crazier that cruise ships don't tip over."
Another said: "It's like floating high rise apartment building... surreal"
Someone else commented: "Holy cr*p Icon of the Seas makes the other mega ships its sailing past look so small in comparison."
"Icon of the Seas is CRAZY," a fourth added.
Cruise ships are quite a marmite holiday as it is, and plenty of people voiced their horror at Icon of the Seas as well.
"Floating norovirus hellscape," one person wrote, with another labelling it a "floating petri dish."
Someone else commented: "For anyone who says that hell doesn't exist..."
And another wrote that it looks like the "least relaxing vacation ever."
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