The World's Largest Cruise Ship Docks in Southampton

The £800million Oasis of the Seas made its first ever call in to a UK port in Southampton this morning and is set to become home to 5,400 holidaymakers and 2,394 crew members.

Wider than almost six London buses parked end-to-end - the mighty Royal Caribbean ship boasts an outdoor park with 12,000 real plants and trees, a 82-foot long zip wire, 40ft high rock climbing walls, a surf board experience, basketball courts and a 750-seat Aquatheater. 

Oasis, built in Turku, Finland is 208ft wide, 1,187ft long and weighs more than 100,000 metric tons - almost twice as large as any other cruise shop to dock in Britain.

It is so big that her exhaust stack retracts so she can pass under bridges.

Captain Tryn Selvag said it was "quite extraordinary." 

"It is the world's largest cruise ship.

"We are almost four football fields long and just as wide as a football pitch. The dimensions are immense."

Captain Selvag explained he and crew members had been looking forward to the ship's unveiling for several years.

He continued: "To bring the Oasis of the Sea to the UK for the very first time brings sheer joy to all our crew members. 

"We have been looking forward to this for several years and it has been in planning for a long time and now we are finally here. "

However manoeuvring the world's largest ship is no mean feat. 

Speaking about the challenges faced when bringing a ship of this size in to any port, he added: "It is the sheer size of the ship makes it makes quite difficult in many occasions. 

"But we have quite powerful bow thrusters and also propellers and the stern that can help us manoeuvre the ship in tight quarters and then also bring the ship alongside so we can tie the ship up and get our gangway set ready for our guests and crew to go ashore."

Oasis boasts 37 bars, 24 restaurants and cafes and more 10,000 square feet of retail space.

Among the bars is a Rising Tide Elevating bar - the world’s first moving bar at sea. 

Oasis is now embarking for Vigo in Spain and then Fort Lauderale, Florida, where it is due to arrive on November 27.

Just sixteen days after the welcome of the Oasis, a new ship currently still under construction and dubbed the world's most technologically advanced holiday resort, Quantum of the Seas, will showcase in Southampton.

This will be followed by the Allure of the Seas – a sister ship with the same features – which will be based during the peak summer season next year from Barcelona.

*Original story: Express via Google News (search term: Ship)*Image credit: Wikipedia CC2.0