Why this viral photo of world’s largest cruise ship is inviting polarising views

The world’s largest cruise ship, the Icon of the Seas, has caught the attention of people worldwide with its amazing features. The ship is 1,198 feet long, which is 316 feet longer than the Titanic and 159 feet wide with a maximum capacity of almost 10,000 people, including passengers and crew.

The ship recently completed its first set of sea trials in preparation for its maiden voyage in January 2024.

How people reacted to the viral photo of the world’s largest cruise ship

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When an image of the ship went viral in July, it divided people andreceived reactions from all quarters. While some people were in awe of it, others rained down criticism.

The artist’s impression depicted the fully laden ship in vibrant colours, emphasising its massive water park, featuring record-breaking water slides, and conveying the ship’s extraordinary size and density.

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Not everyone interpreted it as a delightful vision of lavish fun and relaxation at sea. It was thrashed as a “monstrosity,” a “pile of decadence,” and one user suggested a better name for it would be “Icon of Disease.”

It was called “intricately tacky and vulgar” and was compared to “being stuck on a floating Walmart” or “a barely balanced stack of full plates of food; chaotic, messy, possibly precarious.”

Why such polarisingviews?

The problem with the viral image is that it is rendered in such a way that many people found it oddly unusual. A professor of psychology at the University of Alabama tells CNN, that the fact that this is a rendering, not an actual photograph, plays a crucial role.

"It almost gives the impression of a short, over-tall, stacked vessel that is on choppy seas, but in reality, this may be a trick of perspective, as the actual vessel is apparently three to four times longer than the idea I get by looking downward at the rendering."

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According to Adam Cox, a psychologist and phobia expert, the common description of the Icon of the Seas as “five times larger” than the Titanic may suggest the idea of a potentially larger disaster: “Even more so after the recent tragedy with the Titanic submarine,” he says. “This provokes a protective desire to prevent a similar tragedy.”

The levels on the ship also create a feeling of claustrophobia in some people, he continues, as they will perceive the ship to be a place where thousands are trapped, rather than enjoying a cruise holiday.

(With inputs from agencies)

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