World biggest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas makes inaugural sailing to Bacelona
June 8, 2016
Written by:
Wale Ojo Lanre (Who was on board of Harmony of the Seas , Bacelona)
Facts
Costs 1 billion dollars
1,188 feet long
22 knots cruising speed
5,479guests (double occupancy)
6,780 guests (totally)
24 guests’ elevators
4 bow thrusters 97,500HP each)
30 feet draft
16 guests decks / 18 total
2,100 crew
History was made in the annals of cruise tourism development on Sunday 5 June, 2016 in Barcelona when the biggest and most luxurious cruise ship christened Harmony of the Seas made its inaugural sailing to Barcelona where over 4, 500 guests got on board.
The French built ship which made its way from Southampton Port in the UK arrived Barcelona on Sunday which will be its summer base for its Mediterranean journeys.
The ship is regarded as a ‘wonderful engineering feat of the century ‘it is taller than the Eiffel Tower and is the widest cruise ship ever built with capacity of carrying 6,780 guests,
The 16-deck ship is 362-metre-long (1,188 feet) and boasts of more than 2,500 staterooms, 20 dining venues, 23 swimming pools and a park with more than 10,000 plants and 50 trees.
Before arriving in Barcelona the Harmony of the Seas docked in Vigo in the northwest and at Malaga, dwarfing the small Mediterranean port.
Built at a cost of more than $1bn (£700million) over nearly three years, it is the 25th ship to join the Royal Caribbean International fleet and lays claim to a number of new cruise ship records.
The giant on the sea, Harmony of the Seas is in a world of luxury of its own as it parades not only finest sophistication in fittings and fixture, but ensures that every item on board is of standard.
Its fifth floor which serves as the reception parades wonderful facilities capable of bowling the imagination of any guest such as a rising bar platform which hosts guests and rises from the bottom of the ship to the top deck, while a robotic drink mixer does a bar tender’s job with accuracy and promptness.
It also dazzles with a head statute made of shining bronze that forms human face from which ever angle one views it.
Rooms
The rooms are of different categories, but have a total of 2747, with 1,768 balconies, 46 wheelchair accessible staterooms and 76 virtual balcony staterooms, it has the highest capacity of any cruise ship. By comparison, it carries more than 10 times the number of travellers than the world’s largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, which has about 525 seats.
The staterooms are spread over 16 decks, although the ship has 18 decks in total. It is so large passengers will use GPS devices to ensure that they don’t get lost.
Its signature room is the Royal Loft Suite, a behemoth spanning two storeys with 1,600 square feet of living space on the main floor and 874 square feet on a mezzanine, making it larger than many big-city apartments.
The gross tonnage of Harmony of the Seas exceeds that of any other passenger-ship and is slightly higher than Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas, two other vessels in Miami-based Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class. It is 226,963 gross tons.
It also has the tallest slide ever in the world, a 100ft plunge on the Ultimate Abyss, a towering slide that takes goes from deck 16 to deck six.
It is the tallest slide at sea
It took 2,500 workers at the STX France ship yard in Saint-Nazaire a total of some 10 million work hours to build the enormous vessel after work began 32 months ago in 2013.
It has seven numbers of ‘neighbourhoods’ on board, including the Coney Island-inspired Boardwalk, where guests can retreat to a tequila bar, play arcade games, get their fill of hot dogs or eat at a Johnny Rockets diner. The Royal Promenade has boutique shops and a bar with robotic bartenders while Entertainment Place has comedy and jazz clubs.
The other neighbourhoods are Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Centre, Youth Zone, Pool and Sports Zone, and Central Park. The ship has in its middle, a Central Park, an oasis that has 10,587 plants, 48 vine plants and 52 trees, including some that are taller than 20 feet.
Central Park is one of the neighbourhoods on the ship, boasting several cafes, bars, restaurants and shops with an uptown feel. There are nearly five million pounds of water in Harmony of the Seas’ 23 swimming pools and other water attractions.
Other amenities include a theatre with performances of Grease, a casino and a climbing wall, and there are 11,252 works of art on display throughout the ship.
The Harmony of the Seas is an extra magnificent edifice of comfort, bunker of luxury and fascinating city of wonder on the sea which every human being should strive to visit. It is a legendary contribution to not only the cruise tourism industry, but to human development in recent times.
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