Cruise Tips

From USA TODAY CRUISE LOG

Call it the battle of the titans.

Royal Caribbean today announced it would move one of its largest, most amenity-filled cruise ships, the 154,407-ton Liberty of the Seas, to Barcelona in 2011, setting up a head-to-head confrontation with the equally giant flagship of rival Norwegian Cruise Line, the 153,000-ton Norwegian Epic.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Espana managing director Belén Wangüemert made the announcement today in a posting on Facebook.com.

"The cruise ship revolution is coming," the Spain-based executive wrote in a triumphant message. "Liberty of the Seas will arrive in Barcelona in 2011."

The announcement comes just weeks after Norwegian unveiled plans to send the soon-t0-debut, 153,000-ton Epic -- its largest ship ever -- to Barcelona in May of 2011. Until today, the Epic was slated to become the largest cruise ship to sail regularly out of a Mediterranean port, but it'll now be trumped by the slightly-larger Liberty.

Another industry giant, Carnival, also recently announced it would position its largest ship in Barcelona in 2011. The 130,000-ton, 3,690-passenger Carnival Magic will sail seven-, nine- and 12-night cruises out of the city.

The two-year-old Liberty, which carries 3,634-passengers at double occupancy, is one of three Freedom Class vessels at Royal Caribbean that have debuted over the past five years and features everything from surfing pools to rock climbing walls to ice skating rinks. The Freedom Class cruise ships were the largest in the world until November, when Royal Caribbean unveiled the 225,000-ton Oasis of the Seas.

While the Liberty is slightly larger than the Norwegian Epic, the Epic will hold more passengers at double occupancy -- 4,200.

Royal Caribbean says the Liberty will sail a seven-night itinerary out of Barcelona that the company will reveal in March.

Royal Caribbean has been growing its presence in Barcelona for years. This coming summer the line will have three ships sailing out of the city, including two 3,114-passenger Voyager Class ships. Norwegian currently offers cruises from Barcelona on a single ship, the 2,402-passenger Norwegian Jade.