May 26, 2016 (Thursday)
“In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue..”
He had three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. If you were to place those three ships end to end, the total length of all three would be about 164 feet. The total length of the new cruise ship, “Harmony of the Seas,” is 1,188 feet–7.2 times as long. If you lined the three Columbus ships end to end at the goal line of a football field, all three would nearly reach the 45-yard line of the opposing team. If you tried that with the “Harmony of the Seas,” you would need another football field, and another, and most of still another.
It’s big. Looking at the pictures, I counted 8 floors of staterooms visible from the exterior of the ship. Total capacity nears 7,000 people. The city limits sign of thousands of cities in the U.S.A. do not claim a population that big.
I’ve never been on a cruise. I doubt that I ever will. The idea just does not appeal to me. But hats off to those who join the crowds on the huge vessels packed with restaurants, theaters, swimming pools, recreation areas, several thousand people available as new friends, and exciting ports of call. Enjoy the trip. Sounds great.
