As a yachting journalist, I’ve spent years waffling on about the perks of superyachts – such as absolute privacy and the chance to escape the masses. So, I was more than a little hesitant when Royal Caribbean invited me to experience a three-night inaugural Bahamian cruise aboard Star of the Seas, its newest flagship that sleeps 8,000 guests. My modus operandi was to find a quiet corner and a crisp glass of sauvignon blanc, before cooling off with a dip in the sea. Would either one be possible aboard the world’s (joint) largest cruise ship?
For context, Star is the length of three football pitches. It’s the second vessel in Royal Caribbean’s Icon Class of ships, following the launch of Icon of the Seas last year. According to the Royal Caribbean’s senior vice president, Jay Schneider, neither was designed to be the world’s biggest cruise ship, but “the best family vacation.” With two more ships in build, each costing $2bn (around £1.5bn) a pop, and 7.5 million people choosing to sail with the brand in 2025, they must be doing something right.
I’d heard success with the Icon Class comes from better access to water, though the closest I got to the ocean was from my balcony suite on deck eight (preferable to the inward-facing balconies that overlook the ship’s interior). Of course, for some, this is part of the appeal. “I’m afraid of the sea, but on here you don’t even know you’re on a boat,” one fellow guest told me. She’s not wrong.
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Instead, water access is from the seven swimming pools, including the largest ever built on a cruise ship. Luckily, I was allowed to drag my husband (who has never been on a yacht or a cruise) along for the ride, and he mandated that the top deck Category 6 waterpark with the world’s tallest at-sea water slide be the first thing we sampled. The tangle of gaudy pink and green tubes had caught my eye when we approached the ship at Florida’s Port Canaveral, and as I screamed my way down loud enough to drown out the DJ’s blasting tunes, I began to fully live in the moment.
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