seas

Patricia Wooding gets lost roaming the world’s biggest cruise ship, the Star of the Seas, on the first passenger voyage of a vast ship with a 250,000 gross tonnage

The world’s biggest and newest cruise ship has set sail on her debut passenger voyage – and already she’s a legend in her own launch-time.

Star of the Seas, a 250,000 gross tonnage floating metropolis built at a cost of £1.6billion, has all you need for the ultimate family holiday crammed on 20 fun-filled decks.

This giant, ocean-going resort simply blows all rival cruise ships out of the water. The Royal Caribbean ship is so huge and packed with so many attractions that at one stage I actually forgot that I was at sea.

In fact, after four days on board I had hardly begun to experience all this supership has to offer.

There are 40 restaurants and bars to suit all tastes, seven swimming pools, shops, theatres, a casino, ice rink, live bands and nightclubs. There’s even a ship’s dog – Sailor – to comfort any of the 5,600 passengers who are missing their own pets while at sea.

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Jewel in the crown is Thrill Island, a theme park on the top deck which boasts six record-breaking waterslides.

The biggest is not for the faint-hearted but a must for the adventurous.

It’s part skywalk and part ride 154ft above the ocean.

Adrenaline-seekers have to navigate a suspended walkway and experience a controlled freefall before gliding down a zipline to the deck below. It is meant to test the bravery of the thrill-seeker – and it certainly does that. There’s no need to leave the ship if you fancy a bit of surfing, either. Flow-rider is a wave machine which allows you to go “boogie boarding” and simulate real Surfing USA. Incredibly, 30,000 gallons of water a minute rush under the rider at 30mph creating a 5ft foot wave. Watch out for the height restrictions of 4ft 10in for stand-up surfing or 4ft 4in for boogie boarding.

If you’d rather chill than thrill, head to the adults-only area at the rear of the ship – or the aft as we rookie seafarers call it. There you can relax in the suspended infinity pool and enjoy vast ocean views with a cocktail in hand while grooving to the beat of an Ibiza-style DJ. There’s also a shady bar nearby and a terrace with whirlpools.

Don’t worry about dashing to the bar for a refill. The efficient waiters attend to your needs and keep glasses well topped up.

There’s also a three-deck area for holidaymakers to kick back at four pools, including the Royal Bay, the largest pool at sea.

Guests can enjoy live bands while they sip tropical cocktails from the swim-up bar called The Swim and Tonic. If you’re travelling with a young family, head for Surfside. It’s THE place to stay and play all day, however old the children are.

Younger kids and toddlers will have great fun at Splashaway Bay and Baby Bay. There are plenty of lifeguards, constantly on full alert, so no reason to worry about their safety.

There’s a multi-level playground called Playscape, which includes a rock climbing wall, with safety harnesses provided. Just like Star of the Seas they can take cruising to another level.

There’s bags of entertainment for the kids and sporty types, including a spectacular mini golf course and a sports court offering five-a-side football and basketball on the top deck.

You don’t need to worry about the ball going overboard, either, as it’s entirely covered by netting.

There’s so much to do on board that you will forget you’re at sea. This was a surprise to me, as someone who suffers travel sickness on a park boating lake.

After one day at sea, I actually had to pinch myself to remember I was not on land. There wasn’t even a gentle movement. I sat through a performance of Back to the Future, the Musical, performed with a full cast and 16-piece band in a 1,400-seat theatre and left thinking I was actually in the West End. But it’s not the only show in this ocean-going town. Torque, a spectacular featuring champion swimmers and divers packed them in at the AquaTheater to see the aquabatics involving a 55ft waterfall and two 60ft diving platforms.

There are thrills and spills on ice with a huge skating cast, including Olympians, in the show Sol. Stars of this show were extreme skaters, former roller skaters who switched to the ice. There’s even a version of the TV Show The Price is Right where you can win a car.

The ultimate family room was an incredible sight with a kiddie slide, video games, personal access to decks and Jacuzzi and stairs which look like and play like piano keys!

Fitness, yoga, sunrise moments, balloon rides and pickleball – you name it – are part of the entertainment. There’s music for almost every taste, including a resident DJ, karaoke, jazz club, duelling pianos, and a harpist, plus a stand-up comedy theatre. You can shop till you drop with lots of high end boutiques – but don’t go overboard.

Even arriving for breakfast is fun as a pair of dancers greet you, reminding you in song to wash your hands at the row of basins at the restaurant entrance.

Star, sister ship to Icon of the Seas, hit the ocean waves this month to deliver seven-night Caribbean adventures with stops at its top-rated private island in the Bahamas.

Sailing from Port Canaveral in Florida, we stopped at Perfect Day at CocoCay, bought by Royal Caribbean in 1988 and turned into a dream resort. My first glimpse of the tropical paradise was when I drew back the cabin curtains at 7am to see the island glistening like a jewel in the ocean. It contains miles of white, sandy beaches and attractions you’ll find in the world’s top resorts. After breakfast on board, we headed down the gangway and were greeted by staff ready to whisk us about by mini electric train.

Most of it is free – including food, drink and sun loungers – for passengers who pull up for the day. There’s water slides, balloon rides and lots of nature to discover.

But it was pure magic simply to relax on the silver sands of Hideaway Bay, sip a complimentary cocktail and take in the view. We visited Coco Beach Club which boasts a magnificent swimming pool, bars and wooden cabanas which were available for private hire. While bathing in clear, shallow water we came across a 4ft lemon shark. No need to panic, as the lifeguard assured us, as they are not considered dangerous to humans.

Still, it set the heart pounding to see such a magnificent creature swimming so close in barely three feet of water. The great thing about visiting this island is that it’s a home from home for cruisers.

Just flash your passenger identity card and you get complimentary food, drinks, towels and sunbeds, so you can leave your cash and credit cards in the safe in the cabin. Even the free wi-fi you get on board works on the island and is part of your package.

I sampled a Bahama Mama cocktail, enjoyed a refreshing dip in the sparking, turquoise water and felt relaxed with a capital R.

At 4.30, we made our way back aboard the ship to take a shower and freshen up for dinner and the evening of lavish entertainment.

As I finished getting ready, I glanced out of the cabin window to see we were setting sail again and waved goodbye to the magic island.

It truly had been a Perfect Day. But with so much still to see and do on board Star, the adventure was only just beginning…

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Royal Caribbean offers a seven-night round trip on Star of the Seas, sailing from Port Canaveral, Florida, on November 2 and calling at Perfect Day at CocoCay, The Bahamas; Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands; and Philipsburg, St Maarten. From £1,321pp, flights extra. royalcaribbean.com/gbr

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Possible ways to mitigate the risk include armouring the coastline and building breakwaters to relocating the monuments.

The Journal of Cultural Heritage has published a new study indicating that rising sea levels could push powerful seasonal waves into Easter Island’s 15 iconic moai statues, in the latest potential peril to cultural heritage from climate change.

“Sea level rise is real,” said Noah Paoa, lead author of the study published on Wednesday and a doctoral student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. “It’s not a distant threat.”

About 50 other cultural sites in the area are also at risk from flooding.

Paoa, who is from Easter Island – a Chilean territory and volcanic island in Polynesia known to its Indigenous people as Rapa Nui – and his colleagues built a high-resolution “digital twin” of the island’s eastern coastline and ran computer models to simulate future wave impacts under various sea level rise scenarios. They then overlaid the results with maps of cultural sites to pinpoint which places could be inundated in the coming decades.

The findings show waves could reach Ahu Tongariki, the largest ceremonial platform on the island, as early as 2080. The site, home to the 15 towering moai, draws tens of thousands of visitors each year and is a cornerstone of the island’s tourism economy.

Beyond its economic value, the ahu is deeply woven into Rapa Nui’s cultural identity. It lies within Rapa Nui National Park, which encompasses much of the island and is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The roughly 900 moai statues across the island were built by the Rapa Nui people between the 10th and 16th centuries to honour important ancestors and chiefs.

The threat isn’t unprecedented. In 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded – a magnitude 9.5 off the coast of Chile – sent a tsunami surging across the Pacific. It struck Rapa Nui and swept the already-toppled moai further inland, which damaged some of their features. The monument was restored in the 1990s.

While the study focuses on Rapa Nui, its conclusions echo a wider reality: Cultural heritage sites worldwide are increasingly endangered by rising seas. A UNESCO report published last month found that about 50 World Heritage sites are highly exposed to coastal flooding.

A UNESCO spokesperson told The Associated Press news agency that climate change is the biggest threat to UNESCO’s World Heritage marine sites. “In the Mediterranean and Africa, nearly three-quarters of coastal low-lying sites are now exposed to erosion and flooding due to accelerated sea level rise.”

Possible defences for Ahu Tongariki range from armouring the coastline and building breakwaters to relocating the monuments.

Paoa hopes that the findings will bring these conversations about now, rather than after irreversible damage. “It’s best to look ahead and be proactive instead of reactive to the potential threats.”

Aug. 8 (UPI) — A cruise passenger aboard the Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas was injured when a section of a water slide broke off.

The incident occurred Thursday, the cruise line said. The seven-day cruise departed from Miami on Saturday, and the incident happened while the ship was in the Eastern Caribbean between the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.

“Our team provided medical care to an adult guest when acrylic glass broke off a water slide as the guest passed through the slide,” a Royal Caribbean Group spokesperson said in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel and ABC News.

“The guest is being treated for his injuries. The water slide is closed for the remainder of the sailing pending an investigation.”

He was listed in stable condition aboard the ship, the cruise line said.

The Frightening Bolt slide is among six on the ship’s Category 6 water park, which is the largest at sea.

The slide sends riders through a trap door with the translucent section on the top. Then, riders are dropped through a bomb door apparatus into the 46-foot-tall slide, which starts on the ship’s 15th deck and is the biggest one on a cruise ship.

The rider was hurt when passing through the broken section.

A video posted on X showed footage from after the incident and the reaction from onlookers. One person is heard saying: “Stop the slide.”

“These slides are probably much more frequently than land-based are continuously and constantly being inspected for any issues,” Stuart Chiron with the Cruise Guy told ABC News. “If cracks are determined, these slides and attractions are immediately taken out of service.”

The Icon of the Seas’ cruise stops were in Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands; and the island’s private island at CocoCay, Bahamas.

The Icon of the Seas will sail through the Western Caribbean, starting in September.

On July 28, there was an altercation on the ship between two crew members from South Africa. While the vessel was off the coast of San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, a 35-year-old man allegedly stabbed a 28-year-old woman.

He fled, jumped overboard and died. The woman was in stable condition after being stabbed in her upper body.

In January 2024, the Icon of the Seas became the world’s largest cruise ship with a maximum capacity of 7,600 passengers and a crew of 2,350. It is 250,800 gross tons with 20 decks.

The Icon of the Seas is in the Icon class. The Star of the Seas is scheduled to include its first paying guests from its home at Port Canaveral in Florida in September. Two other ships are planned for the class.

In all, the Royal Caribbean has 28 ships.

The Isles of Scilly are just 28 miles off the coast of Cornwall and have some of the warmest weather in the UK. There are five main islands and hundreds of beaches to explore

If you’re yearning for a Caribbean-style getaway with pristine seas, white sandy beaches and tropical weather, you might not have to travel as far as you think. You don’t need to splash out on long-haul flights to soak up the Caribbean vibes; there’s an archipelago just off the English coast that offers all this and more.

The Isles of Scilly, situated a mere 28 miles from the Cornish coast, boast some of the UK’s most temperate climates.

With five main islands and countless beaches to discover, visitors can indulge in a plethora of water sports including kayaking, diving, sailing, swimming and windsurfing.

On dry land, there’s no shortage of awe-inspiring sights to behold, from ancient ruins and stunning gardens to an intriguing maze.

St Mary’s, the largest island in the group, covers just over six square miles and is home to approximately 1,800 inhabitants.

This particular island holds a special place in the hearts of the Royal Family.

The Prince and Princess of Wales have been known to whisk their children away here for their summer holidays, reports the Express.

They’ve also been spotted on Tresco, the second largest island, which houses the renowned Tresco Abby Gardens.

This breathtaking location is home to 20,000 species of sub-tropical plants and flowers, creating a tranquil paradise perfect for a day of exploration.

Tresco is a designated area of outstanding natural beauty, and to maintain its unspoilt charm, it is completely car-free; electric buggies or bicycles are the preferred modes of transport around the island.

Alternatively, public transport is available, or, if you prefer, you could simply stroll around and enjoy the best the island has to offer.

If you’re keen to explore this heavenly spot, Discover Ferries suggests journeying to Tresco via St Mary’s by sea from Penzance between March and November with Isle of Scilly Travel.

PRINCE William will today urge the world to help save our seas — as he joins Sir David Attenborough to discuss deteriorating oceans.

William is expected to call on everyone to “think big in your actions” when he highlights the urgency of the situation in a landmark speech.

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In the address in Monaco at the Blue Economy and Finance Forum, he will say: “Let us act together with urgency and optimism while we still have the chance.”

The father of three, 42, is there as founder of the Earthshot environmental prize which has “Revive Our Oceans” as one of its themes.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “This speech is the Prince of Wales calling for action to save our oceans now.

“The world is watching. This is him using his platform to call for more to be done sooner rather than later.”

William sits down with Sir David, 99, to celebrate the environmentalist’s new film, Ocean, which is released on streaming platforms today, World Oceans Day.

The Prince asks: “David, from what you’ve seen over the years, what state would you say the oceans are in right now?”

He replies: “The awful thing is it’s hidden from you and from me and from most people.

“The thing I’m appalled by when I first saw the shots taken for this film are what we have done to the deep ocean floor is just unspeakably awful.

“If you did anything remotely like it on land everybody was up in arms. If this film . . . just shifts public awareness, it will be very, very important.

“And I can only hope that people who see it will recognise that ­something must be done before we destroy this great treasure.”

Asked by the Prince if there are things deep down in the oceans “we’ve never seen”, he answers that it is “beyond question”.

They also discuss Sir David’s decades of ocean exploration and the vital role the ocean has in supporting and sustaining life on Earth.

Wills and Sir David also speak about the importance of remaining optimistic about ocean protection and the role younger people play.

At the beginning of the film, Sir David has the Prince in stitches as he tries on a diving helmet used in filming 1990’s The Trials of Life.

They also inspect an underwater camera used in filming Ocean.

BRITISH seas have been invaded by huge European octopuses devouring our crabs and lobsters.

The creatures have swum from the Mediterranean to the coast of Devon and Cornwall.

They break into crab and lobster pots “totally destroying” the seafood.

Fishermen have urged authorities to relax a bylaw stopping them selling 5kg octopus they find in their pots for £7 per kilo to eager Spain.

One, Brian Tapper from Plymouth, said: “This time of year we’d normally see 60 to 100kg of lobster a day and 500-800kg of crab.

“Last week we had 8kg of lobster and 50kg of crab.

“Suspending the law means we could ride out this Biblical invasion.”

The Devon & Severn Fisheries Authority ruled boats can exclusively target octopus.

But they cannot keep any found trapped in crab or lobster pots.

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