Luxury liner Costa Concordia may be big enough to house swimming pools and restaurants, but its very size might have complicated evacuation and rescue efforts,.

“What jumps out at me is the size of this liner,” said Jacques Loiseau, chairman of the French Association of Ship Captains.

The association had regularly tried to draw attention to the dangers posed by the tendency towards ships of such a vast scale, he said.

Next year will see a host of new cruise liners making their debut on the high seas — here, seven of the best to look out for.

Royal Caribbean‘s Splendour of the Seas is to become the first ship at sea to offer an iPad in every stateroom as part of a wider roll-out plan from the cruise line.

The ship, which will emerge from dry dock November 25, is set to offer passengers use of Apple’s hot-selling device in order to replace some of the services traditionally provided by phone, such as ordering room service and enquiring about menus.

Passengers will also be given the opportunity to browse events and activities aboard the ship, view shore excursions, check their onboard account and watch movies.

Cunard Line is to allow its passengers to marry on board for the first time in its 171-year history.

The line will introduce a ‘Weddings at Sea’ program from Spring next year on board all three of its ships, the Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria.

Cunard has traditionally held out from the profitable trend of offering weddings at sea, something which isn’t allowed under British law.

Cunard has won a clean sweep among the best large ships selected by the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise.

The annual publication is well known for selecting the best of the industry out of a total of 285 vessels selected by prolific cruise writer Douglas Ward.

This year, Cunard ships managed to place first, second and third in the large ship category (over 1,600 passengers), with the Queen Mary 2 topping the rank, followed by the new Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria.

New York is to be the home to Norwegian Cruise Line‘s new 4,000-passenger ship when she launches, city officials confirmed October 7.

The Norwegian Breakaway is set to be the largest ship ever to home port in NYC and will enter service in 2013, departing on a planned 88 cruises in less than two years.

Breakaway will boast new rooms designed to invoke a boutique hotel and a luxury private area called ‘The Haven’, complete with 24-hour butler service, a poolside valet and white-tablecloth in-room dining.