Photos: Royal Caribbean International
Lauderdale from where she sails, and new
docks have been built around the Caribbean to properly berth the vessel.
Even visiting cruise journalists – who
have seen it all twice – have been blown
away. Due to the vessel’s gargantuan size,
it is easy enough to forget that you’re on
a (moving) ship on an ocean. The technology created to move and plan for the
masses is nothing short of amazing, wrote
one reporter.
“You would be suffering from severe synapse deficiency not to be dazed by
the scope and scale of the Oasis ‘wow’,”
gushed another. And: “Every superlative
to describe the ship is on target.”
Richard Fain, Royal Caribbean International’s chairman and CEO, summed it
up pretty well:
“Until you get onboard you don’t realise how it all came together; the grandeur of it.”
The maiden voyage took place on
5 December. Royal Caribbean has been
careful to choose ports where Oasis could
dock directly and not have to tender guests
ashore. Current ports include Nassau, St.
zip line that races diagonally nine-decks
spans 16 decks, encompasses 225,282
above an open-air atrium. Nostalgia-lov-
gross registered tons, carries 5,400 guests
ers are sure to visit the original, handcraft-
at double occupancy, and features 2,700
ed carousel of the dreamy Boardwalk. For
staterooms. Royal Caribbean lovingly re-
gourmet enthusiasts, there are 24 different
fers to the ship as “our floating nation”
eating places to choose from – and even
which may be a bit over-the-top – but
a wiz kid chef, Keriann Von Raesfeld, a
looking at the purchasing power of some
23-year old “culinary phenom”.
of the patrons (with rumors of Madonna
flying around), the metaphor seems apt.
BIGGER THAN LIFE
In fact, the ship is so big that $75
It seems that absolutely nothing is small
million has been spent on tripling the size
about the Oasis of the Seas. The vessel
of the Port Everglades terminal at Fort
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