Why are new ships getting bigger and bigger?

Just chatting to our chairman who has recently been to Fort Lauderdale for the launch of the Oasis of the Seas. He was full of praise for for the new ship – 17 bars, 20 places to eat, so many different ‘neighbourhoods’. He tells me that there is something for everyone on this fabulous new ship.
I asked him if it was too big and he said not at all, although one day on board he didn’t actually see the sea at all!

New ships these days just seem to be getting bigger and bigger, although many of our clients love the smaller ships, Fred Olsen being a really popular line with the older client. Now that Fred Olsen only have four ships in their fleet it seems that the only way to cruise on a smaller ship is to pay for the top end of the market – Regent Seven Seas, Silverseas, Oceania etc, which isn’t really affordable to the masses.
It seems, once again,  to be money that is the influencing factor here.  A small ship costs as much to run as a large ship, staff costs, the same amount of fuel, so technically the cost per passenger on a small ship is double that of a passenger on a large ship.

Maybe then this is why ships are getting larger all the time. Could it be that smaller ships are to become a thing of the past – unless we all win the lottery and can afford the ‘top end’