How "BIG" is Icon of the Seas? Cruise Ship Size Explained!

Royal Caribbean’s new Icon of the Seas is heralded as the largest passenger ship ever. With a gross tonnage of 250,800, the ship eclipses the largest Oasis class ship – Wonder of the Seas – with an increase in gross tonnage of 14,000 or the size of a small cruise ship. So what is gross tonnage, and how exactly do they ‘weigh’ a ship… will they sit Icon of the Seas on a giant set of scales, or is there another way to calculate the ship’s size? Stick around to find out. — 🚢 My History Website: https://www.chriscunard.com/ 📚 Buy my books: https://www.chrisframe.com.au/books 👕 Buy cruise merch: https://chrisframeofficial.Teemill.com/ 🎶 Listen to The Big Cruise Podcast: https://thebigcruisepodcast.com/ 🛳️ Learn more about cruising at my Blog: https://www.chrisframe.com.au/ 🐱 Get a Captain Hudson: https://emmacruises.com/hudsontoy/ — Chapters: 00:00 Measuring a Icon of the Seas 00:49 What is tonnage? 01:22 Calculating Gross Tonnage 01:56 What is Gross Registerer Tonnage? 02:48 GT vs GRT differences expained 03:00 SS Canberra tonnage 03:26 The "Weight" of a ship 03:50 Displacement of a cruise ship 04:00 Net Tonnage of cargo ships 04:29 What you need to know about cruise ship tonnage 05:10 Outro About this video: As a measurement, gross tonnage has been the standard since 1969, when the International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships was taken up by the International Maritime Organisation. The convention came into complete effect in 1982, and since then all passenger ship tonnage, regardless of the age of the ship, has been measured in gross tonnage. The calculation to work out gross tonnage is a bit mind bending and as I am not a mathematician I won’t try and explain all the calculations. However, for the purposes of this video what you need to know is gross tonnage is calculated by a logarithmic relationship between the ship’s total volume in cubic metres - V, and a multiplier, K. I’ve put the calculation up on the screen for those of you who are interested. The implementation of a gross ton was a significant step forward to standardise the measurement of a ship’s size across national borders. Prior to this, there were numerous national standards but no true international agreement. Gross Registered Tonnage or GRT was one of the most common older measurements you may have heard of. It is the measure you’ll hear used for historic ships like Titanic, and it is often mixed up with gross tonnage. GRT was devised by the Moorsom Commission all the way back in 1849. The measure, of British origin calculated the size of a ship by the total internal volume. Like gross tonnage that succeeded it, GRT was an internal volume measure. However here the volume used in the calculation was based on the British imperial system. Imagery References: Icon of the Seas: Royal Caribbean - https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/images/ including the Dec 2023 thumbnail Andrew Sassoli-Walker - https://www.solentphotographer.com/ Henderson & Cremer Collection. Licenses: Wonder of the Seas: CC BY SA 4.0 Jörg Fuhrmann - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wonder_of_the_Seas.jpg Wind Surf: CC BY SA 2.0 Kees Torn - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wind_Surf_(ship,_1989)_001.jpg Titanic Images - All Public Domain USA / UK. Levithan Image - Library of Congress, Public Domain (USA): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SS_Leviathan.jpg Empress of Britain and Olympic - Public Domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RMS_Empress_of_Britain_entering_dry_dock.jpg Pexels Imagery: Video by Jean Pablo Silva from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/video/aerial-view-of-a-cruise-ship-at-the-port-in-puerto-rico-15366340/ Video by Pixabay from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/video/aerial-shot-of-cruise-ship-854976/ Adobe Stock: August 2023 thumbnail Royalty Free Standard License. Royal Caribbean: Inage of Utopia of the Seas Tags: #cruisenews #iconoftheseas #cruiseship #cruiseline #royalcaribbean #utopiaoftheseas #ididntknow #didyouknow #facts #interestingfacts #rci #oceanliner #cruiseship #cruiseships #cruisenewsupdate #oceanlinerdesigns