WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Royal Caribbean International's Icon of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship, began its maiden seven-day voyage from Miami, Florida on Saturday.
The cruise is five times the size of the Titanic, measuring 1,200 feet from bow to stern and weighing 250,800 metric tons. It can fit maximum of 7,600 passengers along with 2,350 crew members.
The ship, which cost $2 billion to build, was described as the 'biggest, baddest ship on the planet' by the company's CEO Jason Liberty as it has seven swimming pools, six waterslides and a total of 20 decks.
The ship built at a shipyard in Turku, Finland, has microwave-assisted pyrolysis waste-to-energy system which would convert onboard waste to fuel gas.
According to the company's website, tickets range from $1,723 to $2,639 per person.
The company's spokesperson said that the cruise is 24 percent more energy efficient than required for ships designed today, as it runs on liquefied petroleum gas or LNG. However, it has triggered concerns of the environmentalists because LNG contains high levels of methane.
'Royal Caribbean's decision to use LNG is their biggest climate blunder,' said Bryan Comer, marine program director at The International Council on Clean Transportation. 'LNG is mostly methane, a greenhouse gas that traps more than 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after its emitted. The Icon of the Seas uses engines that release methane to the atmosphere in the form of 'methane slip.'
However, Comer also added that the ship's parabolic bow will help in making its movement easier, reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
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