Floating city

It’s billed as the biggest cruise ship in the world, and there’s been a host of pictures and video of the newest liner, Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas which is now docked in Southampton.
She arrived amidst a fanfare early yesterday,  direct from the shipyard where she was built at St Nazaire in France and in shipping terms has been described as an architectural marvel, with  a crew of 2,100 and capable of carrying up to 6,780 passengers. There are 18 decks, she is nearly 1,200 ft from bow to stern and stands 210 ft high.
But even in a seafaring city like Southampton where mammoth ships are a regular sight, she dominates the dockland skyline. Scarcely surprising when you consider she cost more than a billion dollars to build — that’s approaching £800 million.
Within the ship there is  even  an indoor park with 52 actual trees, some over 20ft high, along with 10,587 plants.  Not to mention 23 swimming pools, 16 restaurants and what is claimed to be the fastest internet connection at sea.

Her maiden voyage will be from Southampton on May 29 to the Western Mediterranean.