Oasis of the Seas bookings start in September

The long awaited, Royal Caribbean mega-ship, Oasis of the Seas, will go on sale from 3rd September this year.Oasis of the Seas will have the first outdoor theatre at sea boast dual-level loft suites as well as seven themed areas on board, including the ‘boardwalk’ for families with restaurants, shops, games, and the first carousel at sea.

Off the boardwalk will be the amphitheatre Aqua Theater, with the largest fresh water pool to date on a ship. There will also be two 43-foot rock-climbing walls framing either side of the outdoor theatre.
The ship will offer 37 categories of cabins. Park View and Boardwalk View balcony staterooms will offer inward facing cabins over-looking the open air areas of the ship.
The 28 two-level loft suites will be the highest cabins at sea, featuring floor-to-ceiling double-height windows.

Oasis of the Seas will sail from Fort Lauderdale in Florida, starting its inaugural season of Eastern Caribbean itineraries on December 12 2009.

Royal Caribbean's Genesis - an artists impression

Last week Royal Caribbean unveiled a sneak preview of its plans for the latest evolution in cruise ship design, Project Genesis. They released details on how they will bring the best of the land to the ocean with an area on the ship called Central Park, a revolutionary design in which the ship's centre is open air and features a lush, tropical park spanning the length of a football field.

The images reveal an amazing feature - an open air 'central park' in the center of the ship, with a piazza, tropical plants, flower gardens and lawns, which will be kept alive with special irrigation and drainage systems. Having the cental atrium open to the sky will allow far more cabins to have balconies - of those approx 250 cabins will have balconies over the park.
At 220,000 tons, Genesis comfortably trumps the biggest ships going: the 160,000-tonne Freedom and Independence of the Seas, also owned by Royal Caribbean. It is also close to five times the size of the Titanic, and more than 10 times the size of the HMS Ark Royal, the Navy's biggest ship.