North West and Canada Cruise Association

What It Takes to Keep a City Afloat

In One Day, the World's Largest Cruise Ship Prepares to Set Sail, with 700 Tons of Supplies, 80,000 Beers, and One Bagpiper

Keeping more than 6,300 people fed, housed and having the time of their life while floating in the middle of the ocean is no small task.

The Oasis of the Seas the world's largest cruise ship aims to accomplish that feat nearly every week. Almost five times as large as the Titanic, the Royal Caribbean Cruises Lines ship, which first set sail last December, is almost as long as five Airbus A380 airplanes, or about four football fields. It has 24 restaurants and its own leafy "Central Park." During the weeklong sailings, about 700 tons of new supplies are needed, all loaded aboard each Saturday. Guests consume about 20 gallons of maraschino cherries and 80,000 bottles of beer. Feeding more than 8,000 guests and crew takes 26 kitchens and some complicated logistics.

Traveler demand for cruises is up this year, a big turnaround from last year when the recession hit the industry hard.

Over the past decade, cruise ships have been redefined as operators have brought on-board more lavish features and activities. The Oasis, for example, has two rock climbing walls, a zip line that allows guests to fly through the air, and surf machines so passengers can hang 10 without leaving the boat. Royal Caribbean also has three other ships that can each hold more than 4,000 passengers. "Going to the larger ships just allowed us to offer so many more activities, " said Richard Fain, the company's chairman and chief executive. "We thought people would like it and if they liked it they would pay more...and at the same time, it would offer economies of scale." A one-week Oasis trip in the Caribbean this year costs about $1,458 for an inside cabin and $3,200 for a two story "loft suite" facing the ocean.

Ensuring a floating city the size of the Oasis operates smoothly is challenging. Cleaning the ship, doing laundry, and fixing things are a 24-hour job for crew members. One of the popular acts, an outdoor Aqua Show with divers, gymnasts and synchronized swimmers, gets canceled about once a week because of rough seas. And the task of cleaning salt water off window exteriors is never done.

Dozens of people and 18 robots wash windows each day. "It's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Once you're finished, you start again," says Chris van Raalten, ship manager for marine operations, the group of employees that maintain the ship's exterior and mechanics like the engine. Robots take care of hard to reach places and metal baskets move crew along the upper decks where there are no balconies to support them. Scheduling cleaning can be challenging, the washing can't always be done in port so it often happens while sailing.

In the ship's belly, the laundry room hums 24-hours a day: 34 crew wash more than 20,000 pieces of linen such as towels, table cloths, and sheets daily. Table clothes, sheets and napkins are then fed into giant machines that press them. Clothes and towels are all folded or ironed by hand.

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