La suprema, a cruise ship built in 2003 for $120 million, can carry nearly 3,000 passengers, plus 1,000 cars. Almost 700 feet long, the ship has 567 cabins, three restaurants, six bars, a dozen or so shops, a casino, a movie theater, a nightclub, and a chapel. Its eight stories are connected by motion-sensor-activated escalators and glass-encased elevators, so that vacationers can avoid overexerting themselves on stairs after a few plates at the buffets.

Cruise ships tend to be designed to make passengers feel as though they’re not at sea but rather in a five-star Las Vegas hotel. Everything is shiny, sprawling, and inward-facing. On La Suprema, many of the ceilings are paneled with mirrors, to give a sense of greater spaciousness. But natural light is scant; what little sunlight can be found squeezes in through tiny portholes.