p THE FOCUS cruises
The magnificence of Harmony of the Seas, humourously depicted by Royal Caribbean
W
ell, if times have changed in the fast growing world of cruising, the clocks are going bananas at Royal Caribbean, the most innovative of the big lines. Hence the headlines when its latest baby took to the water at the STX yard at St Nazaire, France, not far from the World War II U-boat pens the RAF could not destroy. She is Harmony of the Seas, in fact the biggest cruise ship in the world, although
not unique. Two sister ships are already in Royal Caribbean’s fleet, and another is coming along in two years. All are remarkable vessels, if only for their size, moving more than 6,000 passengers in great comfort while being lavished with lashings of restaurants, bars and other accoutrements of good living. Having said that, the sheer size originally put some people off, including myself, as my cruise writing focus steered me towards small, luxury ships with as
few as 112 passengers. Harmony of the Seas is a humungous 227,000 tons with 18 decks, five times the size of the Titanic. I did not sail on the first ship in this class, Oasis of the Seas. When the second, Allure of the Seas, came along, I thought I would risk a few hours on a day visit to Málaga, for I had noticed a trend with big ships creating exclusive, luxury sections rather like first class and steerage in ocean liners of old.
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