Daily Herald story To me, this is ridiculously large, but they fill these things, somehow!!

RCCL's new ships in their largest class are always "the world's largest cruise ship". Harmony is probably a few inches longer or a few pounds heavier than her sister Oasis of the Seas, which calls next week. Passenger load is the same. So while the headline is dramatic, you can get a preview next Wednesday. Luckily she's the only ship scheduled on Wednesday, so her 5,400 passengers will have the island all to themselves!

I can never figure why they fill up other than you can brag that you were on that particular ship. We have found that we prefer much smaller ship. It lightens up the lines significantly for just about everything.
Bigger isn't necessarily better <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Regards
Dave

With Royal Caribbean, we like both the Oasis class (sailing on Allure in August) and the Vision class (especially Grandeur, on which we have sailed the most of any ship) - other than Majesty, the Oasis class and the Vision class are the biggest and smallest in RC fleet - all still big compared to what we first sailed on. Oasis class is for the entertainment and other amenities. Grandeur is for itinerary and the friendliness of the crew and passengers. We know and really enjoy the regular concierge and some other folks on Grandeur, for example. On Oasis/Allure, the Suite Lounge with Coastal Kitchen is great, but the concierges are so busy that it is a very different relationship with the concierges and all the crew than on the smaller ships. It is hard to see how cruise ships can get any appreciably bigger than Oasis class - but who knows.

7K passengers & crew is half the population of SXM.. Is iit not?
Pritzker family owned RCCL must be gearing for the Havana trade.
Ms.Pritzker is Commerce Sec.of US of A.

Well, Sint Maarten alone (not counting french-side) has a population of at least 40,000. But, yes, having a ship with about 7,500 people on board show up is quite an addition to the island.

To say Pritzker family owns RC is a little strong - but Tom Pritzker is on Board and still owns a lot of stock (I think) - Tom Pritzker is first cousin of Penny Pritzker, Sec of Commerce.

My friends are going on it tomorrow for a 3 day trip. Ill report back as to how it is x