Royal Caribbean International (RCI), formerly Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line founded in 1968 in Norway and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997.
Based in Miami, Florida, it is the largest cruise line by revenue and second largest by passenger counts. As of 2025, Royal Caribbean International controlled 27.0% of the worldwide cruise market by passengers and 24.8% by revenue.
RMS Queen Mary 2 (QM2) is a British ocean liner. She has served as the flagship of the Cunard Line since April 2004, and as of 2025, is the only active, purpose-built ocean liner still in service. Queen Mary 2 sails regular transatlantic crossings between Southampton and New York City, in addition to short cruises and an annual world voyage.
She was designed by a team of British naval architects led by Stephen Payne, and was constructed in France by Chantiers de l'Atlantique. At the time of her construction, Queen Mary 2 was the longest, at 1,131.99 ft (345.03 m), and largest, with a gross tonnage of 148,528 GT, passenger ship ever built. She no longer holds these records after the construction of Royal Caribbean International's 154,407 GT Freedom of the Seas (a cruise ship) in April 2006, but remains the largest ocean liner ever built.
The parish of St. Michael is one of eleven in Barbados. It has a land area of 39 km (15 sq mi) and is found at the southwest portion of the island. Saint Michael has survived by name as one of the original six parishes created in 1629 by Governor Sir William Tufton.
The parish is home to Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados. Bridgetown is the centre of commercial activity in Barbados, as well as a central hub for the public transport network. Other major infrastructure in St. Michael is the international seaport of Barbados—the Deep Water Harbour. Therein, a number of cruise ships arrive and depart including various lines such as Royal Caribbean and Cunard. The harbour features several sugar towers for loading locally produced sugar into transport ships, and a tower for loading flour for transport.
Icon of the Seas is a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean International and is the lead ship of the Icon class. She entered service on 27 January 2024 out of the Port of Miami in the United States. At 248,663 gross tonnage (GT), Icon of the Seas and her sister ships, built by Meyer Turku in Finland, are the largest cruise ships in the world.
Vision of the Seas is a Vision-class cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean International, the last of her class. She is also the namesake of her class. Her maiden voyage began on May 2, 1998, following which she sailed for a year in Europe before being moved to other routes.
In 2013, Vision of the Seas received a dry dock refit, which was also her last refit. In May 2023, it moved to a new home port of Baltimore.
Flowriding is a late 20th century alternative boardsport incorporating elements of surfing, bodyboarding, skateboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding.
The FlowRider and the FlowBarrel are artificial waves that are called "sheet waves". In order to create a sheet wave, water is pumped up and over a surface which is engineered to replicate the shape of an ocean wave. The result is a stationary wave in which a rider can mimic the movements of other board sports, such as moving up and down the wave, carving, and jumping. Since the wave does not move forward, the movement of the rider is derived from the water flowing over the stationary surface.