Harmony Of The Seas

The 2016-built Harmony of the Seas cruise ship is the first of all four identical Oasis Plus-class Royal Caribbean liners (currently world’s largest passenger liners), with sisterships Symphony OTS (2018), Wonder OTS (2022) and Utopia OTS (2024). The Royal Caribbean Harmony ship exceeds in size and passenger capacity the original Oasis-class vessels Oasis OTS and Allure OTS. Its building cost is USD 1,35 billion (2014 shiporder rates).

The vessel (IMO number 9682875) is currently Bahamas-flagged (MMSI 311000396) and registered in Nassau.

History - construction and ownership

Royal Caribbean International (RCI) is a US passenger shipping company, trademarked travel brand and subsidiary owned by Royal Caribbean Group (RCG/shipowner). RCI was established in 1968 and currently has over 1/5 of the worldwide cruise market. RCI also has RCG's largest fleet by both vessel number and GT tonnage (ship sizes and capacities).

All RCI liners have names ending with "of the Seas".

The 6400-passenger ship Harmony OTS was ordered from STX France in December 2012. The contract was signed following a failed agreement with the Government of Finland concerning the building of the ship at STX Finland. Steel cutting started in September 2013. Harmony is often called a floating “megacity” and offers onboard opportunities that are countless. The ship comprises 7 neighborhoods, named Royal Promenade, Central Park, Boardwalk, Youth Center complex, Entertainment Zone, Sports Zone and Spa/Fitness complex.

In comparison to the sisterships Allure and Oasis, Harmony OTS is heavier by 1700+ tons, 3+ meters wider, and able to accommodate 100 more passengers. The vessel debuted in May 2016 in Southampton, UK.

Harmony of the Seas features a multi-deck water slide area that is a first for Royal Caribbean. It is also the first Oasis-class ship with robot bartenders serving drinks in the Bionic Bar, a concept that debuted in 2014 on Quantum of the Seas. Harmony has bigger cabins than Allure and Oasis in some categories, and windowless interior cabins outfitted with Virtual Balconies, offering a real-time view of the outdoors (first debuted in 2014 on Navigator of the Seas).

Harmony's Suite passengers benefit from exclusive new areas including a suite lounge, a private restaurant called Coastal Kitchen and full-service Suite Sun Zone. New restaurants include the Wonderland Imaginative Cuisine eatery which first debuted on Quantum. Also added to Harmony is the modern Mexican restaurant Sabor, recently added to Allure and Freedom of the Seas.

Harmony's first cruise with paying travelers was on May 22, 2016. Following an initial series of Mediterranean Sea itineraries, the ship was repositioned to Fort Lauderdale for 7-night Eastern and Western Caribbean roundtrip itineraries.

A total of 24 elevators (12x forward + 12x aft) provide access all the way to deck 16, while decks 17 and 18 are accessed by 6 lifts. Two escalators (1x forward + 1x aft) interconnect decks 2-3.

On the next YouTube video, you can see the most prominent features and the ship construction process of Oasis 3 class - the world’s largest-ever passenger ships.

Decks and Cabins

Harmony Of The Seas staterooms (2745 total, in 37 grades) include 189 Suites, 1293 Balcony, 200 Oceanview, 505 Inside, also 477 Boardwalk-Central Park Balcony, 78 Boardwalk-Central Park Interior, 18 Promenade View. Most cabins are sized 150-180 ft2 / 14-17 m2. Most cabin balconies are sized 55 ft2 / 5 m2. The largest is the Royal Loft Suite (1530 ft2 / 142 m2 plus 850 ft2 / 79 m2 terrace with Jacuzzi). Wheelchair-accessible cabins are 46.

The boat has 17 decks, of which 16 are passenger-accessible and 12 with cabins.

Shipboard dining options - Food and Drinks

The ship's 3-deck Quantum Dining Room is designed as three separate restaurants situated on different decks - American Icon Grill (Deck 3), The Grand (Deck 4) and The Chic (Deck 5). Harmony also includes some Quantum restaurants, such as Sabor Modern Mexican, Wonderland Imaginative Cuisine, Coastal Kitchen. Ship's Bionic Bar is famous for its dancing robot bartenders. Its location is on the Royal Promenade. The Izumi Restaurant features a la carte hibachi, teppanyaki and sushi menu. A total of 25 onboard dining options are available (14 are complimentary, including room-service).

Follows the complete list of Harmony of the Seas restaurants and food bars.

• American Icon Grill (a la carte restaurant which offers open seating breakfast, lunch, “Brasserie 30” menu; with two assigned dinner seatings and Private Dining area.)
• The Grande (offers DreamWorks-themed breakfast, two fixed dinner seatings and "My Time Dining")
• Chic (features an expansive menu of dinner options; two seatings and “My Time Dining” program)
• Johnny Rockets (128-seat fast food restaurant)
• Sabor (Mexican a la carte restaurant, reservation-only, with “Playground” kids area)
• 150 Central Park (76-seat specialty restaurant, dinner only)
• Wonderland Imaginative Cuisine (gourmet dishes)
• Windjammer Marketplace buffet restaurant (offers Early Breakfast at 6:30 a.m., Breakfast between 7:00-11:30 a.m., Lunch 11.30-3:30 p.m. and Dinner 6.30-9:00 p.m.)
• Jamie's Italian Restaurant (menu, deck 8) is a 132-seat specialty trattoria restaurant (at surcharge USD 30 pp dinner, USD 20 pp for lunch/sea days only) via a partnership with British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver,
• Chops Grille (steakhouse/seafood)
• Sorrento’s (Italian restaurant)
• Izumi (Asian/Japanese restaurant)
• Solarium Bistro (healthy dining)
• Coastal Kitchen (Grand Suites’ and above passengers, Pinnacle members)
• WipeOut Cafe (fast food bar)
• Boardwalk Dog House
• Park Cafe (deli bar, casual dining)
• Mini Bites casual eatery
• Harmony was the first Oasis-class ship on which in 2017 was introduced the new Royal Caribbean speciality dining package.

The following dining venues are complimentary - Park Cafe, Windjammer Marketplace (buffet), Main Dining Room, Solarium Bistro, Cafe Promenade, Sorrento's Pizza, Boardwalk Dog House, Mini Bites, Coastal Kitchen (for suite passengers only).

Speciality dining venues (at surcharge) are Johnny Rockets, Sabor, Vintages, Jamie's Italian, Chops Grille (steakhouse), 150 Central Park, Izumi (sushi), Wonderland, Vitality Cafe (spa).

Shipboard entertainment options - Fun and Sport

The new Harmony of the Seas ship is a novelty mixture of Oasis-class deck layout and Quantum-class innovations. The brand-new additions include the first-ever Royal Caribbean waterslides created by ADE (Aquatic Design and Engineering); climbing play area for kids; Suite Sun Zone; Starbucks coffee bar and classic video games arcade located in the Boardwalk neighborhood; 15 Studio cabins designed for solo travelers.

Among the new technologies on the Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas are the RFID wristbands or "WOWbands" - an optional choice to replace the SeaPass cards, allowing passengers to do purchases onboard and to access their cabins. Typically, wristbands are offered complimentary to all passengers. However, on Anthem of the Seas RCI charges US$5. Junior Suite and above guests still receive the wristbands for free.

The Harmony cruise ship also boasts with the DreamWorks Experience - a themed programming in partnership with the Walt Disney Company. This new entertainment program is aimed at families and offers movie-themed DreamWorks activities on select RCI ships within the fleet. The list of special activities includes characters meet and greets (of course, plus photo ops). Character Breakfast is offered in the dining room; 3D DreamWorks movie screenings are featured in the Amber Theater; Themed games are provided by “Adventure Ocean” youth program. A new Adventure Ocean Theater show (named "Away We Go!") was also announced for Harmony of the Seas. It is a black light puppet show for the 3-11-year old set. An additional part of the onboard kids' programming is the YouTube show "Muffalo Potato," teaching kids to draw anything using just letters and numbers.

Additional amenities include Complimentary 24-hour Room-Service, Supervised Youth program Voyagers (from 9 to 11 years), Explorers (6 to 8 yr), Aquanauts (3-5yr), Royal babies and tots (from 6 months to 3 years), Internet/WiFi Access, Laundry.

Follows the complete list of Harmony of the Seas lounges, clubs and other entertainment venues for kids, teens and adults.

• Royal Theater (features 3D Movies, aerial acrobatic performances and Broadway-style productions)
• Studio B Lounge (indoor ice-skating rink; also serves as a spot for ice shows, cooking demos, game parties)
• AquaTheatre (2-deck, 600-seat, with a deep pool)
• Entertainment Place nightclub; ”The Attic” Comedy Club; Crown Lounge (fka Diamond Club Lounge & Bar for past guests only); Jazz on 4 Bar & Club (aka Golden Room/now functions as a non-smoking Casino Room with 40x slot machines, 1x blackjack table, 1x 3-card poker table); On Air Club (karaoke bar); Boleros Latin Bar and Lounge; Boot and Bonnet Pub; Rising Tide Bar (moving cocktail bar); Bionic Bar; Schooner Bar (piano bar); Starbucks Bar; Sabor Taqueria and Tequila Bar; Vintages (wine bar); Trellis Bar; Rising Tide Bar; Dazzles (2-deck music and dancing lounge); Suite Sun Deck, Bar and Lounge; Sky Bar
• Art Gallery; Focus Photo Gallery and Shop
• Boardwalk neighborhood (with games and attractions)
• Carousel (with handcrafted wooden figures)
• Casino Royale; Card Room
• Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center
• Royal Promenade Boutiques (perfumes, jewelry, duty-free alcohol, general store, logo/souvenirs)
• Solarium lounge (includes Solarium Cafe, pool bar and adults-only pool area); Solarium Bar
• Video Games Arcade; Explorers, Aquanauts, Adventure Science Lab; The Living Room and Night Club teen areas; Fuel Teen Disco; Royal Babies and Tots Nursery; Adventure Ocean kids lounge area; Kids’ Avenue; Workshop (family venue); H2O Zone family and kids area
• Sports Court (basketball, volleyball, soccer; tennis tables); FlowRiders (surf simulators); Zip Line (82 ft/25 m); Jogging Track; Rock-climbing Walls; Harmony Dunes Mini Golf.

Central Park is an outdoor relaxation zone (within the ship's interior) with ~21000 live plants. Central Park's huge garden features multi-deck-high metal columns and green walls (covered in vines and ferns), several pathways, recordings of various species (birds, insects, animals) played, live seasonal plants (flowers, shrubs, trees). Signage boards provide detailed info on all Central Park's trees and plants.

Next video is RCI's official 1-minute ship tour.

Itineraries

Harmony of the Seas itinerary program is based on 7-night Caribbean cruises from Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades Florida). Harmony itinerary program features an Inaugural cruise season in Europe with Mediterranean itineraries and round-trip departures from Civitavecchia-Rome and Barcelona.

Harmony OTS is Royal Caribbean's 3rd Oasis-class liner - with sisterships Symphony, Wonder, Oasis and Allure. These are currently the world's biggest passenger vessels. Still, Harmony is "the biggest of them all", being just 2,15 m (7 ft) longer. Royal Caribbean planned Harmony's cost per berth to be lower compared to Allure and Oasis.

On September 15, 2014, RCCL trademarked the shipnames Spectrum of the Seas, Joy of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas, Emblem of the Seas, Apex of the Seas. In 2015, RCCL abandoned the trademarks Emblem of the Seas, Passion of the Seas, Pulse of the Seas (on September 7) and the trademarks Apex of the Seas, Joy of the Seas, Spectrum of the Seas (on September 14).

The following aerial photo shows an Oasis-class vessel (as looked from above).

Harmony OTS is the most technologically advanced and energy-efficient passenger liner ever built. It is equipped with a new-generation exhaust gas cleaning system (multi-stream scrubbers) and features a hull lubrication system allowing the ship to float on air bubbles (created around the hull) thus reducing drag and increasing fuel efficiency. Like the sisters, Harmony has telescoping funnels to be able to sail under bridges. The vessel was ordered in 2012 (December 27). The steel-cutting ceremony (shipyard/hull number A34) was held on September 23, 2013.

The vessel's powerplant consists of 4x Wartsila marine diesel engines (model 12V46F, 12-cylinder, total power output 57,6 MV) plus 2x Wartsila 16V46F (16-cylinder, total output 38,4 MV). The propulsion system is diesel-electric, consisting of 3x ABB Azipods (360-degree azimuthing thrusters) with combined power output 20 MW.

Harmony of the Seas left port (Saint-Nazaire) for the first time on March 10, 2016. Leaving from France (without cruise passengers) the vessel started sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean to test its engines and propulsion (maneuverability). The ship had only 500 crew (out of 2000) for the trials. The passage from the shipyard to the ocean was assisted by 6 tug boats. The Captain was assisted by 3 pilots guiding the vessel out of St Nazaire estuary.

The vessel was delivered on March 12, 2016, departing from St-Nazaire Shipyard (STX France) for sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean. A total of 6 tugboats were needed to get it out of the STX dock and into the Loire River estuary. Three pilots who have trained on a cruise ship simulator in Nantes France helped the ship's Captain (Gus Andersen) in the maneuvers needed to guide the vessel out of St Nazaire estuary. Sea trials continued until March 13. Sea trials are standard for all new ships for assessing vessel's seaworthiness and performance (engines, machinery, systems).

On May 12, 2016, RCCL-Royal Caribbean officially took ship's delivery. The inaugural cruise (maiden voyage) was on May 22 (4-day roundtrip from Southampton to Rotterdam). Ship's Captain (Master) is Johnny Faevelen. He previously has served as Captain on the Royal Caribbean ships Nordic Prince (currently MV Ocean Star Pacific), Sun Viking (aka SS Oriental Dragon), Sovereign, Monarch, Splendour, Voyager, Explorer, Adventure, Navigator and Mariner.

On November 4, 2016, world's 3 largest passenger liners (Harmony, Allure and Oasis) met off Florida's coast. The unique event was live-streamed officially by RCI, starting at approx 5 pm EST. The meeting at open sea coincided with the Harmony's arrival at Port Everglades (US homeport), finishing a 13-night Transatlantic repositioning cruise from Barcelona to Florida (Oct 23 - Nov 5).

On November 10, 2016, was the vessel's christening ceremony held at Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale). Ship's godmother was Brittany Affolter - a 23-year-old "Teach for America" educator in Miami-Dade, who won a contest with over 1000 nominees. The naming ceremony featured a robotic performance at the ship’s Aqua Theater. An aerialist descended from above with a button. Mrs Affolter pressed the button. It activated a robot bartender, which punched a second button to release the bottle of champagne rigged to the onboard zip-line. The 1-m high bottle (custom-made Veuve Clicquot champagne) whizzed down the zip-line and crashed into a steel plate above the swimming pool. At the AquaTheater, Jon Secada gave a live concert.

In mid-October 2015 was announced that before the European inaugural season, Harmony would offer (off-schedule) two mini cruises from UK (round-trips from port Southampton England). These were on May 22, 2016 (5-days / 4-nights Southampton to Rotterdam Holland) and May 27, 2016 (4-days / 3-nights Southampton to Cherbourg France). The Harmony ship spent its 2016 summer in Europe, operating 7-day roundtrips leaving from Barcelona (homeport) and Civitavecchia-Rome.

In the USA, Royal Caribbean homeported Harmony in Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades) Florida. Roundtrips from Port Everglades (winter 2016-2017) offered 7-night itineraries visiting call ports in the Eastern and Western Caribbean. The itinerary program was similar to the Allure OTS's and included The Bahamas (Nassau), St Thomas, St Maarten, Jamaica (Falmouth), Haiti (Labadee), Mexico (Cozumel).

The ship's first drydock was a month-long project (April 2021) at Navantia Shipyard in Cadiz Spain. The docking was for routine maintenance works (done to cruise ships usually every 5 years) to keep them properly maintained. Harmony OTS's 2021 drydock included mainly technical works (propellers, fin stabilizers, bottom valves, hull painting) and classification inspection.

Fun fact is that this RCI ship has a namesake - the 2011-launched "COSCO Harmony". The vessel is among the world's largest container ships (capacity 13,114 containers) and operated by COSCO Line.

Fun ship facts

All Royal Caribbean Oasis-class ships are the world's first cruise vessels with a DNV Green Passport. This is a key element for the Clean Ship Design certificate. The certificate is not compulsory, but it shows the environmental commitment of the operator line Royal Caribbean International. Another interesting feature is that their hulls have a special non-toxic covering that minimizes friction and saves fuel.

Follows a list of fun facts about the Harmony OTS - world's largest-ever passenger ship.

• Ultimate Abyss slide is at 150 ft (45,70 m) above sea level, featuring 31 sections, two 360-degree circles, 27-degree slide incline, a 28 m (92 ft) serpentine-like drop, 13,14 seconds average sliding time (top to bottom), around 300 small LED lights and graffiti artworks.
• Aquatheater has two diving boards installed 10 m (33 ft) above its swimming pool.
• The ship was constructed out of 500,000 individual pieces (27 times the pieces used for the Eiffel Tower's construction).
• The vessel's construction required around 2500 workers, over 0,5 million litres of paint, over 90,000 m2 (968,750 ft2) of carpet.
• The ship's art collection has more works than the Louvre museum (in Paris) has paintings. The onboard art's worth is over USD 6,5 million.
• The ship has a total of 23 "water areas" (swimming pools, large-size outdoor jacuzzies, waterslides, lowriders).
• The ship has 20 restaurants and offers over 300 individual menu options. Eight speciality restaurants offer over 200 different dishes daily. Total restaurant seating is 4908 seats.
• The onboard bars menus have a total of 127 speciality cocktails, in addition to all the classics.
• Each day are made 110,000 ice cubes.
• Each day are consumed 480,000 gallons (1,87 million litres) of fresh water.
• Daily food consumption statistics show chicken (9,730 lbs / 4,4 tons), eggs (10,000), beef (15,000 lbs / 6,8 tons), ice cream (700 lbs / 320 kg), baking potatoes (20,000 lbs / 9,1 tons), flour (12,600 lbs / 5,7 tons), salmon (2500 lbs / 1,1 tons), french fries (5000 lbs / 2,3 tons), bacon (5300 lbs / 2,4 tons), limes (800 lbs / 360 kg), pineapple (4000 lbs / 1,8 tons), oranges (5000 lbs / 2,3 tons), lemons (1000 lbs / 450 kg), cherries (40 jars), olives (20 jars).
• The ship's food and drinks dedicated staff are 1056 in total, including 249 (culinary), 184 (beverage), 91 (kitchen stewards).
• The ship weighs more than 17,000 African elephants. Note: Male elephants weigh between 10,360 – 13,330 lbs (4,7 – 6 tons).
• Around 2350 tons of water is needed to be filled all the ship's 23 water facilities (swimming pools, jacuzzis, 2 FlowRiders, waterslides, the aqua park Splashaway Bay).

In September 2018, RCCL trademarked the Oasis-Class ships smokestack area (located top-deck midship). The design features a crown-shaped bottom section with 2 slanted funnels above. In October 2018 was trademarked ship's oblong-shaped stern. The design features AquaTheater Suites (with balconies), Ultimate Abyss (2 cascading waterslides) and RCCL's logo.

Next YouTube video reveals the ship's Art Collection highlights.