This article about Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world -for now- has interesting lessons for placemakers. I will pass on the obvious (different types of food, multiple programs, movable furniture, varied environments from very active to very passive, changing decors and atmosphere, etc...) to briefly mention the larger themes I see here.
At 8,000 passengers plus crew, this is a town. A full town, with NO CARS at all, and I bet most people will get their 10,000 steps a day. It is also a very dense town where people are paying much more on a per-day basis than they would in their own homes. And it is more than just a floating mall in that the experience encompasses all the hours of the day, and seeks to please a multitude of audiences -retirees, young couples, and families, all at once. As environmental concerns and issues around loneliness and alienation become ever more pressing in our cities and suburbs, here is a model of socialization and gathering that runs counter to most planning models dominant in the US today, and yet successful, even beloved as we discovered in this story.
I can't help but compare the thinking that supported the creation of the Icon passenger experience about the public space life on Icon to that of the futuristic and sterile plans for Neom's "The Line" in Saudi (at least what has been shared online for now) which looked to be missing all the sense of fun and desire to be together that Icon seems to offer.