![]() Where you’ll find the biggest waterslides at sea Some of the brands are retrofitting big waterslides onto older ships, too.Īdditionally, family-focused Disney Cruise Line now has major water attractions on all its vessels. Many of the newest vessels from the brands have massive water park areas. Norwegian, MSC Cruises and Royal Caribbean only began going big with waterslides on ships in the past decade or so. Seuss-themed water park to the top of the 3,936-passenger Carnival Horizon in 2018. Seuss characters.Ĭruise giant Carnival added a Dr. One of the Carnival water parks, on the line’s 5-year-old Carnival Horizon, even has Disney-style theming revolving around Dr. All but one of Carnival's ships (Carnival Luminosa) now have at least one waterslide. The line has added full-blown water park areas with waterslides, watery play zones and other features to all but four of its 25 ships. In more recent years, Carnival has gone into waterslide-building overdrive. (The ship currently sails as the Carnival Sunshine after being rebuilt in 2013.) At the time, Destiny was the biggest cruise ship in the world. Just six years later, in 1996, Carnival would make news with the unveiling of a 214-foot-long corkscrew waterslide on what then was called Destiny. Related: A beginner's guide to picking a cruise line The 2,056-passenger Carnival Fantasy, which debuted in 1990, was the first cruise ship with a significant waterslide. Festivale measured just 32,697 tons, about one-seventh the size of today’s biggest cruise vessels.Ĭarnival, the so-called Fun Ship line, would go on to become the early leader in waterslides at sea. The cruise industry was still in its infancy, of course, and ships were orders of magnitude smaller than they are today. Often cited as the first waterslide ever on a cruise vessel, the Festivale slide was of a sort that was found at backyard pools at the time. Royal Caribbean also plans a record six waterslides on its next new ship, Icon of the Seas, which is scheduled to debut in January 2024.īut as recently as early 2016, Royal Caribbean didn’t have a single waterslide on any of its vessels.Ĭarnival Cruise Line added a waterslide to a vessel (the 728-passenger Festivale) for the first time in 1978. ![]() It’s one of more than two dozen giant waterslides the line has added to more than half a dozen ships in the last seven years. Royal Caribbean, for instance, added an 800-foot-long “water coaster” to the back of its 3,386-passenger Navigator of the Seas just a few years ago. In addition to such over-the-top, new attractions as go-kart tracks and roller coasters, the brands behind the biggest megaresorts at sea have been packing the top decks of their vessels with even more over-the-top watery allures.įor more cruise guides, news and reviews, sign up for TPG’s cruise newsletter. In the last few years, the big boys of the cruise industry - Royal Caribbean, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival Cruise Line - have been locked in a game of one-upmanship when it comes to waterslides and watery fun zones on vessels. ![]()
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