Will the World's Largest Cruise Ship Sink or Swim?

Your ticket accounts for more than 70% of revenue--Royal Caribbean had sales of $6.5 billion last year, with $574 million in earnings--and ancillary charges, easily paid with a swipe of your onboard ID, made up about a quarter of those revenues. In the past 10 years, the ships have added acupuncture, personal trainers, spinning classes and premium restaurants. One line even offers Botox treatments. The bigger the boat, the more opportunities, which is why Kochneff, for one, expects cruise companies to introduce more sea monsters like Oasis.

So far the industry has built up a good repeat business. Its core customers are a passionate bunch. "Cruising traditionally is about creating communities at sea," says Brown, "and they do extend it to land." There is ample reward for the devotion. Frequent cruisers get cabin upgrades, cocktails with the captain. "People lust after this status," says Yesawich.

A happy repeat customer is great, but "if ships are sailing full, you can only grow passenger volume at the rate you're adding capacity," says Farley. Yesawich sees some pent-up demand. According to his yearly Travel Monitor survey, 40% of active travelers say they're interested in taking a cruise in the next two years. "That's a remarkable number," he says. "Only a handful of places score higher. This business is going to explode."

Matthew Jacob, a senior leisure analyst at Majestic Research, is more cautious. "They're trying to overcome people's reluctance by making staterooms bigger and showing that they have more amenities than shuffleboard, with the onboard water parks," says Jacob. "But when it comes down to it, you're still on a ship. And that's not for everybody. And it never will be."

According to Yesawich, Oasis is tailor-made for first-timers--hence the park, the golf, the shows. "Getting them on the ship is the big hurdle," says Brown. "So the way to get a ton of them up the gangplank is to make it as much like land as possible." Apparently, irony floats.

Allure of Oasis

To see more photos of Royal Caribbean's new supership, go to time.com/oasis