BACKGROUND:
VOYAGER OF THE SEAS, first of three sisters, was the largest cruise ship in the world, at 137,276 Gross Registered Tons (note that GRT is a measure of a ship's volume, not its weight), when she was introduced in November 1999. That title is now with her sister ship, EXPLORER OF THE SEAS, which is very slightly larger at 137,308 GRT. RCCL still markets the VOYAGER-class ships (VOYAGER, EXPLORER, ADVENTURE, NAVIGATOR, and soon MARINER OF THE SEAS) collectively, not mentioning that one is slightly larger than the other. The ships are 1,020.6 feet (311.1 meters) long, and 155.5 feet (47.4 meters) wide. This makes Voyager exactly 49 feet too wide to pass through the Panama Canal. She carries 3,114 passengers in her lower berths only, with a maximum capacity of 3,838 passengers. Her crew number 1,557.
EMBARKATION: