Monday, May 1, 2006
World's Biggest Cruise Ship Set For First Atlantic Voyage
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The world's biggest cruise liner, the Freedom of the Seas, arrived in Oslo on its maiden voyage ahead of its first Atlantic crossing.
 The Freedom of the Sea in Oslo
© AFP/SCANPIX Cornelius PoppeThe ship, which will predominantly be used to cruise the waters of the Caribbean, boasts an ice rink, a shopping street and a climbing wall.
It also has a swimming pool in which passengers can surf against a continuous flow of fast-moving water.
The ship arrived in the Norwegian capital from Hamburg, and will set sail this week for ports of call in Southampton, Britain, and New York before arriving in its home port of Miami.
The Freedom of the Seas will leave on its first Caribbean cruise on June 4.
Owned by the US-Norwegian group Royal Caribbean International and built in Finland by the Norwegian shipbuilding group Aker Yards, the vessel is 339 metres (1,112 feet) long, six metres shorter than her rival for the title of the biggest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2.
But she is 15 metres wider and can carry 4,375 passengers compared with the Queen Mary's 2,620.
"Size is not really what matters here. What matters is not to be the largest passenger ship in the world, it's to offer the most numerous and the best activities which our size allows us to," the US captain of the ship, William Wright, told AFP.
The ship will, however, lose its title soon.
In addition to two other twin ships to be delivered in 2007 and 2008, Royal Caribbean International has also ordered an even bigger vessel from the same Finnish shipyard.
The Genesis is expected to be able to carry 5,400 passengers and is due to sail in late 2009.
"I wouldn't expect the Genesis to be the largest ship ever built but it is just the largest under construction," said Adam Goldstein, chief executive of Royal Caribbean International.
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