Do you remember the classic 1988 movie Big, in which the 12-year-old version of Tom Hanks wants nothing more than to be, er, “big”?
If you were also a fan, you’ll be as excited as I was last week to be able to recreate the giant piano scene, on Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Symphony of the Seas.
A musical staircase and laser tag are just two of the cool new features onboard the ship which, with 28 more cabins than Oasis-class sister Harmony, is also the biggest in the world.
And if Tom Hanks’s character had designed a cruise ship cabin, I suspect it would have looked something like Royal’s new Ultimate Family Suite, which has a Lego wall, air hockey, popcorn machine and even its own slide.
With its inaugural sailing sold out and forward bookings stronger than Harmony at the same point in 2016, it is fair to call Symphony a huge success.
Whether or not the wider UK cruise industry has enjoyed such big success in the past year is harder to determine; results released by Clia last month indicated that the UK market grew only a rather underwhelming 0.5% in 2017.
Factors at play included the weak pound and hurricanes in the Caribbean, and the stats don’t convey duration – only the number of cruises taken. Nevertheless, cruising must surely set its sights higher for 2018.
Royal Caribbean chief Michael Bayley for one expects a very strong year and hinted that a future Oasis-class ship could be based in the UK in response to demand (page 12).
And Royal Caribbean isn’t the only cruise line making waves in the UK market this year, with lines including Norwegian, MSC, Scenic and Celebrity all looking forward to launches.
With the exchange rate recovering, and a swathe of exciting innovations, there is every chance this year will be as “big” as the cruise industry hopes.