- Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas is the world's largest cruise ship, and has seven different "neighborhoods."
- One of these neighborhoods is called Central Park, and is indeed a park with more than 20,700 lush tropical plants.
- There's even a landscape specialist with a team of three horticulturalists onboard to maintain the park.
- Quiet, shaded, and full of little benches and paths, as well as al fresco dining, Central Park was one of my favorite spots on the ship.
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It's hard to convey just how enormous the world's largest cruise ship is.
Even numbers don't quite do it justice (it is 1,188 feet long, and 215 feet wide in case you were wondering). To put it into perspective, the ship is only 62 feet shorter than the Empire State Building, and can hold almost 9,000 people — guests and crew — on busy weeks. That's not much smaller than the population of Sedona, Arizona.
Every time I turned a corner on this giant ship, I was flummoxed by a new and unexpected sight. A carousel. An ice skating rink. Not one but two rock climbing walls, a zip line, mini golf, and two surf simulators. Even a Starbucks.
But one of the cruise's most impressive attractions — and a personal favorite of mine — is the lush park on board.
Named after the most famous park in the country, Central Park, it is one of the Symphony of the Seas' seven "neighborhoods," and boasts over 20,000 plants. Keep scrolling to see what a park on a ship in the middle of the ocean is like.
The Symphony of the Seas has seven "neighborhoods:" Boardwalk, Entertainment Place, Pool and Sports Zone, Youth Zone, Royal Promenade, Vitality Spa and Fitness Center, and Central Park.
Helpful street signs point you towards the front of the ship (forward in ship lingo) or the back (the aft).
Symphony's Central Park has more than 20,700 lush tropical plants, as well as winding pathways and benches.
In fact, there's a "landscape specialist" on board who works with a team of three horticulturalists to keep the plants alive.
Obviously, growing plants on a ship is not the same as growing plants on land.
Water and sunlight requirements, irrigation, draining, even the slopes of the decks were all factors taken into consideration when designing the park.
Speakers hiding in the plants create soothing nature sounds: you'll hear crickets chirping, birds trilling, and frogs croaking.
There are also plenty of restaurants, like Chops Grille, Jamie's Italian, Park Café, 150 Central Park, and Vintages wine bar. Many have al fresco seating.
There's live music nightly.
Central Park was one of my favorite spots on the ship, probably because it didn't feel like being on a ship at all.
I spent many mornings drinking my coffee al fresco at Park Café.
Sitting in the park was a bit of an odd sensation, however.
Although the park is outside and I could see the sky, it's so deep within the ship that it didn't truly feel like being outside.
And feeling the ship's rocking while sitting among trees and bushes was bizarre to say the least.
- Read more:
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- I've traveled all over the world but just went on my very first cruise. Here are the 22 things that surprised me the most, as well as my best tips for first-time cruisers.
- Royal Caribbean has its very own private island in the Bahamas, which just underwent a $250 million revamp. Here's what it's like to go.
- The world's largest cruise ship has a bar with robot bartenders. Here's how my margarita compared to one made by a human.
- The world's largest cruise ship has everything from an ice rink to a zip line, but it's the Starbucks that surprised me most
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