Photo credit: STX France
The largest cruise ship ever built departed the STX France Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France on Thursday for its first set of sea trials.
The Harmony of the Seas is the third ship in Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class. At 227,700 GRT, the cruise ship will be just slightly larger than her two sister ships Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, which at 225,282 GRT are currently the largest cruise ships in the world.
Harmony of the Seas is due back at the shipyard on Sunday following three days of trials meant to test the ship’s power and propulsion. The sea trials involve some 500 engineers and technicians, as representatives from the classification society DNV GL.
Harmony of the Seas is expected to make its maiden voyage from Europe in May 2016. The ship is designed to carry a total of 6,410 passengers and 2,300 crew.
PHOTOS
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The prospect of a deal over Iran’s nuclear program saw oil fall sharply on Thursday. The reality is that Tehran has relatively little extra crude that it can bring back — but it could arrive in a market that’s gearing up for surplus.
Estonia said on Thursday that Moscow had briefly sent a fighter jet into NATO airspace over the Baltic Sea during an attempt to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker thought to be part of a "shadow fleet" defying Western sanctions on Moscow.
China’s widening trade surplus with the European Union is fueling fresh concerns that the 27-nation bloc risks becoming a dumping ground for cheap goods in the volatile tariff confrontation between Washington and Beijing.
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