Inside the largest cruise ship ever built
It's 362-metres long, cost US$1 billion to make, can carry 6780 guests and 2100 crew, and took more than two-and-a-half years to construct. The mammoth Harmony of the Seas arrived at Southampton ahead of its maiden voyage.
The Royal Caribbean ship boasts 20 restaurants but who cares about food when you have a 10-storey water slide on board? The slide, aptly named The Ultimate Abyss, features a 30m drop, making it the tallest at sea.
The water slide is one of many features aboard the beautifully gigantic Harmony. It even has its own park, which contains 10,587 plants, 48 vine plants and 52 trees, while a total of 11,252 works of art are showcased across the vessel.
Harmony is built on the same platform as Royal Caribbean's giant Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, the current size leaders in the cruise world, but it eclipses its siblings by nearly 1700 tons and offers a number of new features.
Stuart Leven, managing director UK and Ireland, Royal Caribbean International, said: "Cruising is changing - it's becoming a holiday for all the family, it's not just white tablecloths and ties at dinnertime - now the sort of holiday you get at all-inclusive resorts on land can be replicated on the seas.
"We have a 10-storey slide, surf machines, plenty of restaurants like Jamie Oliver's Italian on board, a great choice, and you can wake up with a different view from your balcony each day.
"My favourite facility is the robotic bartenders where you go in with an iPad to place your order and they will mix your cocktail. We are really pushing the boundaries.
"It's all about variety - when you have a ship of this scale, you can offer so many things."
Harmony also has larger cabins than Oasis and Allure in some categories, and windowless "inside" cabins are being outfitted with Royal Caribbean's exclusive Virtual Balconies, which offer a real-time view of the outdoors. It's a concept that first debuted in 2014 on the line's Navigator of the Seas.
Wider than Oasis and Allure by about 5.5m and a tad longer, too, Harmony holds nearly 100 more passengers than its sisters at double occupancy.
Harmony's first voyage with paying passengers is scheduled for May 22 out of Southampton, England. After an initial series of cruises in Europe, it will move to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to offer alternating, seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages.
With this new addition, Royal Caribbean will have 25 ships.
Have you ever cruised with Royal Caribbean? Do you think you’d love to try the Harmony of the Seas? Let us know in the comments below.
Written by Gene Sloan. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.
Video credit: Royal Caribbean
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