Fore and Aft

Last week I went on the maiden cruise of the Oasis of the Seas, at 1,184 feet long and 184 feet wide, the world's largest cruise ship. It's 52 feet longer and 40 feet wider than the Queen Mary 2, the state-of-the-art North Atlantic ocean liner. Having never been on a cruise ship or an ocean liner, I was agog at the immensity of the thing, which was nonetheless accessible on a human scale.

Here are two views, looking towards the bow from the Solarium, a forward swimming, dining, and sunning area, and from the stern of the boat looking forward at the two rock climbing walls, the seats of the Aquatheater and the staterooms flanking the Boardwalk "neighborhood," with its full-size working carved-horse carousel.

(In the first picture, the bow is barely visible far below, where a little cluster of instruments can be seen sticking up.)