Largest Cruise Ship in the World Announced

It will be the size of nearly three football fields.

In the cruise world, bigger means more: more amenities, more days at sea, and of course, more people. Now, MSC Cruises just said it's going all-in on more by placing an order for its biggest cruise ship ever—and it'll fit the most passengers of any cruise ship on Earth.

Called MSC's World Class, the new fleet of ships, built by STX France, will host 2,750 cabins, for a total maximum occupancy of 6,850 guests. The world's current largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Harmony of the Seas, fits 6,780 at its maximum occupancy. For perspective: a little over 100 years ago, the world's largest ship, the ill-fated Titanic, fit only 2,344 passengers—about a third of the size of MSC's new World Class.

Currently, MSC has orders with STX France for two ships, to be inaugurated in 2022 and 2024, with options for two more ships in 2025 and 2026. The boats' dimensions are quite staggering, measuring 1,082 feet by 154 feet. For comparison, an American football field is 360 feet by 160 feet, so each ship is nearly the size of three football fields. They'll also contain a massive 200,000 GRT—that's gross register tons, or the total volume permanently enclosed inside the ship. In other words, that's a lot—but just slightly behind Harmony of the Seas' 226,963 GRT.

In addition, the World Class's "Y" shape will give the ships' balcony cabins more space, and they'll run on new liquified natural gas engines along with featuring "family-friendly villages, a panoramic aft, and a glass pool lounge."

MSC Cruises announced the order for the new massive ships at the inauguration of its newest cruise liner, the Meraviglia, the biggest new cruise ship of 2017, which was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron. Meraviglia fits 5,714 passengers, ranking as the fourth-largest cruise ship ever, behind only Royal Caribbean's Oasis Class ships, which includes Harmony of the Seas. While Meraviglia is the big, new kid on the block for 2017, in just a few years, its younger sisters will outgrow it—but there's certainly enough sea out there for everyone to keep playing nicely.

By Ryan Craggs, Conde Nast Traveler