New details emerge on world’s largest cruise ship

By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY From Detroit Free Press
The biggest cruise ship ever built will be called Harmony of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean this week announced the name for the 227,700-ton vessel, which it ordered in late 2012, and also revealed the ship would have deck-top water slides — a first for Royal Caribbean.

Currently under construction at the STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, Harmony will be a slightly bigger version of Royal Caribbean’s 225,282-ton Allure of the Seas, which debuted in 2010 and currently holds the title of world’s largest cruise ship. It’s expected to debut in April 2016.

Harmony will be the third vessel in Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class series, which began rolling out in 2009 with the debut of the 225,282-ton Oasis of the Seas and also includes Allure. While Allure is two inches longer than Oasis, the vessels are essentially identical.

The water slides planned for Harmony are clearly visible in several new artist’s drawings of the ship added this week to Royal Caribbean’s website. A footnote to the images notes the drawings are based on current development concepts that are subject to change.

For a deck-by-deck look at the original Oasis class vessel, Oasis of the Seas, click through the carousel below.

IMAGES: An artist’s drawing of Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas, shown here in an artist’s drawing, will be the biggest ship in the world when it debuts in April 2016. (Photo: Royal Caribbean)
Harmony of the Seas’ water slides will flow into pools
Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas under construction Shown here under construction at the STX shipyard
A glass skylight is lowered into place during the construction Royal Caribbean Cruises chairman Richard Fain speaks
For more on this story and images go to: http://www.freep.com/story/travel/2015/02/25/harmony-of-the-seas/23990853/