Allure of the Seas: A Nation of “Why Not?”

The newest, largest cruise ship in the world set sail on its maiden voyage this week. Crewmembers tout the Allure’s motto: “A Nation of Why Not.”

Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas weighs  225,000 gross tons, consumes 4.7 million pounds of fresh water per day, and flaunts 1.6 million square feet of enclosed, air-conditioned space. At 1,187 feet long, the Allure of the Seas is precisely five centimeters longer than its sister ship, launched in 2009, the paradoxically-named Oasis of the Seas.

Writes The New York Times:

Royal Caribbean’s newest cruise ship, the Allure of the Seas, is not just big. It is the biggest cruise ship in the world, and as such it crashes magnificently against the tide of the zeitgeist: There is very little sustainable, small-batch, or boutique about it.

Sounds like just the vessel for CEI’s next cruise!

On board its ships, Royal Caribbean employs a staff composed almost entirely of non-Americans. The company itself is a Norwegian/American line based in Miami, Florida.

Globalization here goes beyond Adam Smith’s pencil; this is an illustration of worldwide mega-capitalism creating both the largest cruise ship in the world and the thousands of jobs required to staff it.

From crews nominally-employed by the WPA to dig and then fill holes to a cruise born of capitalism for entertainment: Jobs come from capitalism, not the government. Consider this your daily illustration of a classic economic point.

Image credit: Martin Nikolaj’s flickr photostream.