List of largest cruise ships

Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, they typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "shore excursions". They can carry thousands of passengers in a single trip, and are some of the largest ships in the world by gross tonnage(GT), bigger than many cargo ships. Cruise ships started to exceed ocean liners in size and capacity in the mid-1990s; before then, few were more than 50,000GT. In the decades since, the size of the largest vessels has more than doubled. There have been nine or more new cruise ships added every year since 2001, most of which are 100,000GT or greater. In the two decades between 1988 and 2009, the largest cruise ships grew a third longer (268 m to 360 m), almost doubled their widths (32.2 m to 60.5 m), doubled the total passengers (2,744 to 5,400), and tripled in volume (73,000 GT to 225,000 GT). , the largest cruise ship, "Symphony of the Seas", has a gross tonnage of 228,081, is long, wide, and holds up to 6,680 passengers.
Cruise ships are organized much like floating hotels, with a complete hospitality staff in addition to the usual ship's crew. Modern cruise ships, while sacrificing some qualities of seaworthiness, have added amenities to cater to nautical tourists, with recent vessels being described as "balcony-laden floating condominiums". The "megaships" went from a single deck with verandas to all decks with verandas, and feature ameneties such as theaters, fine-dining and chain restaurants, spas, fitness centers, casinos, sports facilities, and even amusement park attractions.
Cruise ships require electricity for powering both hotel services and for propulsion. Cruise ships are designed with all the heavy machinery at the bottom of the ship and lightweight materials at the top, making them inherently stable even as ship designs are getting taller and taller, and most passenger ships utilize stabilizer fins to further reduce rolling of tall ships in heavy weather. While some cruise ships use traditional fixed propellers and rudders to steer, most larger ships use propellers that can swivel left and right to steer the ship, known as azimuth thrusters, which allow even the largest ship designs to have adequate maneuverability.
Cruise ships are operated by cruise lines, which are companies that market cruises to the public. In the 1990s, many cruise lines were bought by much larger holding companies and continue to operate as brands or subsidiaries of the holding company. For instance, Carnival Corporation & plc owns both the mass-market Carnival Cruise Line, focused on larger party ships for younger travelers, and Holland America Line, whose smaller ships cultivate an image of classic elegance. The common practice in the cruise industry in ship sales and orders is to list the smaller operating company, not the larger holding corporation, as the recipient cruise line of the ship.
In service.
, there are 49 passenger ships over 135,000GT in service. The first ships over that size were the "Voyager"-class ships from Royal Caribbean Group's Royal Caribbean International (RCI). These ships, which debuted in 1998 at over 137,000GT, were almost 30,000GT larger than the next-largest cruise ships, and were some of the first ships designed to appeal to "non-cruisers", with features like a 4-deck-high, atrium down the center of the ship, an ice rink, and a climbing wall. In 2005, the five "Voyager"-class ships were overtaken by the 149,215GT "Queen Mary 2", the first non-RCI passenger ship over 135,000GT and the only passenger ship currently in service that classifies itself as an ocean liner. The "QM2" was surpassed by RCI's 155,889-GT "Freedom"-class vessels in 2006, which were in turn overtaken by RCI's first of six planned "Oasis"-class vessels in 2009. The "Oasis"-class ships, at over 225,000GT, are at least wide, high, and accommodate over 5,400 passengers.
Since 2008, other cruise lines have been ordering 135,000+GT ships. MSC Cruises introduced the first of four 137,936–139,072-GT "Fantasia"-class cruise ships in 2008, followed in 2017 by both the 153,516-GT "Seaside" class and the 171,598–181,541-GT "Meraviglia" class. Norwegian Cruise Line debuted the 155,873-GT "Norwegian Epic" in 2010, the first ship outside of the "Oasis" class with a double-occupancy capacity of over 4,000, and introduced the 145,655-GT "Breakaway" class in 2013 and the 165,157–169,116-GT "Breakaway"-plus class in 2015. Cruise lines belonging to Carnival Corporation & plc, Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises, debuted the first of seven 142,714-GT+ "Royal"-class ships in 2013, and the corporation's Carnival Cruise Line, Costa Cruises, and AIDA Cruises debuted the first of seven planned 133,596–135,225-GT "Vista"-class ships in 2016. "AIDAnova", the first of Carnival Corporation's nine planned "Excellence"-class ships, debuted in 2018 at 183,858GT, with future ships in the class planned for Costa, P&O, Carnival, and AIDA. In 2016 and 2017, Genting Hong Kong's Dream Cruises introduced the 150,695-GT "Genting Dream" and "World Dream", the first large ships from an Asian-owned cruise line.
On order.
, there are 36 passenger ships on order or under construction with a publicly announced size of over 135,000GT. The largest are two "Oasis"-class ships being built for Royal Caribbean International (RCI) for 2022 and 2023, and while their exact sizes are unknown, RCI CEO Michael Bayley has said that each new "Oasis"-class ship will be a little larger than the last. RCI also has three 200,000-GT Icon-class cruise ships on order, with expected delivery between 2022 and 2025, and a fifth "Quantum"-class ship on order for 2021. Celebrity Cruises, which is owned by RCI's parent company Royal Caribbean Group, will introduce three larger 140,600-GT "Edge"-class ships in 2021, 2022, and 2024, and TUI Cruises, a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Group and TUI Group, are introducing a new class of 161,000-GT cruise ships in 2024 and 2026.
Dream Cruises is planning to take delivery of two 208,000-GT "Global"-class ships in 2021 and 2022, which will be the first ships over 200,000GT not built for RCI and will have the largest maximum passenger capacity, 9,000, of any ship.
MSC Cruises has four World-class ships planned for 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2027, and at 205,700GT and a capacity of 6,850 passengers, they will have the highest passengers capacities of any ship and be the largest ships operated by a European cruise line. They also have two ships from each of the "Meraviglia" Plus class and the "Seaside" Evo class on order for delivery from 2020 to 2023.
Carnival Corporation has seven more 183,200–183,900-GT "Excellence"-class ships planned to debut between 2020 and 2023 for Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, and AIDA Cruises. Costa will also take delivery of the fifth 135,000-GT "Vista"-class ship in 2020, and two more "Vista"-class ships are planned in 2023 and 2024 for a joint venture between Carnival Corporation and China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC). Carnival's Princess Cruises will take delivery of the last two "Royal"-class ships in 2020 and 2021, planned at 144,650GT each.
Each year from 2022 to 2027, Norwegian Cruise Line will debut a ship from Project Leonardo. The six ships are expected to be 140,000GT and carry 3,300 passengers.
Disney Cruise Line will launch three 144,000-GT Triton-class ships in 2021, 2022, and 2023. These ships will have 1,250 staterooms, like the line's previous two ships, but will be 14,000GT larger than those ships and powered by liquified natural gas fuel.