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JOURNEYS magazine
Volume I, 2016
state rooms offering double
passenger capacity of 5,488; and a
total length just inches ahead of
the pack.
A floating entertainment
behemoth,
Harmony
will mirror
its sister ships,
Allure
and
Oasis.
Each is built around seven distinct
neighborhoods including Central
Park, with its live trees and grass;
Boardwalk; Royal Promenade; the
Pool and Sports Zone; Vitality at
Sea Spa and Fitness Center;
Entertainment Place; and Youth
Zone. Like its sister ships,
Harmony
will feature over 20
onboard dining options; 35 bars,
lounges and nightclubs (including
a Bionic Bar with robot
bartenders); Virtual Balconies in
interior staterooms (a live camera
feed relays the passing scenery on
floor-to-ceiling HD LED screens);
four pools; two climbing walls; a
zip line; carousel; ice skating rink;
two FlowRider simulators
(onboard surfing); full-sized
basketball court; mini golf course;
outdoor theater; roller skating;
jogging tracks and more. Unlike
its counterparts however,
Harmony
will feature three cascading water
slides that will hang out over the
middle of the ship, 10 decks above
Central Park.
Harmony of the Seas
will spend
its summers in Europe, offering
seven-day round trip cruises
between Barcelona and Rome.
During the winter months, it will
cruise the Caribbean, offering
seven-day round trip excursions
from its home port of Fort
Lauderdale, Florida.
Royal Caribbean will also
debut a second ship in mid-2016,
Ovation of the Seas. Ovation
will be
the third of the line’s Quantum-
class ships (the second largest class
of passenger ships on the high
seas), with a double passenger
capacity of 4,180. It will feature
the same groundbreaking venues
as its sister ships,
Quantum of the
Seas
and
Anthem of the Seas,
many of
which Royal Carribean also offers
on its Oasis-class ships (including
Harmony of the Seas
). The crown
Leader of the Pack
Royal Caribbean International
has long held title to the world’s
largest cruise ship, taking that
distinction away from Cunard
Line’s Queen Mary 2 in 2006,
with the launching of its
Freedom
of the Seas.
Since then, Royal
Caribbean has dominated the
field, adding six additional
mega-ships to its fleet, all of which
are in the top 10. Two of those
ships, the Oasis-class
Allure of the
Seas
and its sister ship,
Oasis of the
Seas,
currently share top honors,
each boasting a gross tonnage of
225,282; a length of 1,187 ft.
(362m); and a double passenger
capacity of 5,412. But their reign
is about to end when Royal
Caribbean introduces its newest
vessel,
Harmony of the Seas
to its
program in May 2016.
Harmony
will be the third ship in Royal
Caribbean’s Oasis-class, and will
become the largest cruise ship in
history, taking over first place with
227,000 gross tonnage; 2,747
