Q – Don’t wish to slow down the pace of your wonderfully engaging travel Q&A, but, as an architect, the question of density and travel is something I find intriguing. I work on high-rise design.
If you think of places like Monte Carlo, the Indian slum Dharvari, and, perhaps, Hong Kong, we would have several of the highest population densities in the world. Some cities, like New York, solve some of this by building high-rise buildings that almost reach the sky. But travelers in planes and tour buses, on cruise ships, and at major tourist sites in season are experiencing some of the highest human density statistics on earth. I am particularly interested in how you think this works on a cruise ship. In most situations, humans wish there wasn’t so much density but, somehow, cruise ships actually get people to pay for it.
A – This is an interesting question. If we use the squalid slums of Dhavari as an example, we are looking at a population density of about 800,000 per square mile. Sanitation is a major problem and the real world of pollution, crime, and traffic engulfs the area. If we look at Royal Caribbean’s mega-ship, the Allure of the Seas, we can calculate the density rate at approximately 1.2 million per square mile.
But you can make some good arguments that a huge cruise ship eliminates most of the problems people have with density. In fact, it seems to us, people like being around lots of other people in a controlled space where urban problems normally associated with high density are conceptually removed. It is more fun watching a show in a theater with three thousand people than it might be in a cabaret with a hundred or so guests.
The Allure, for example, is a high-rise that makes perfect use of its space. It is totally pedestrian – there are no traffic issues so people can move freely from one high-density neighborhood to another interacting with thousands in the same environment but always having the option of closing the door of their cabin to be alone. Anyway, that is our theory. We don’t think that density, by itself, is necessarily a bad thing. Many travelers welcome it.
