Harmony of the Seas which is operated by Royal Caribbean has won “Best New Cruise Ship” for the 2016 Cruise Ship Awards by Cruise Hive readers.
It was an extremely close battle with just a few votes making the difference. Harmony of the Seas just about came out on top over the second place Carnival Vista. Harmony of the Seas is the world’s largest cruise ship and entered service in Spring 2016. The second place Carnival Vista is the largest ship for Carnival Cruise Line and just missed out on the top spot.
In a far away third place was the MS Koningsdam which is operated by Holland America Line. There were also another three new cruise ships which arrived in 2016 including Ovation of the Seas, Viking Sea, and Aidaprima, they were all way off the leading two ships.
Harmony of the Seas was one of the major highlights of 2016. The ship is the third in the Oasis class but slightly larger at 227,000 gross tons and carrying over 5,400 guests at double occupancy. The vessel which debuted in May 2016 was built at the Meyer Weft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany and features the very first 10-story high Ultimate Abyss slide.
The world’s biggest cruise ship is currently sailing out of Port Everglades, Florida, for Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises.
The Cruise Ship Awards are different from most, where new categories were added each month from September 2016. Cruise Hive readers were only able to vote once in each category and any double votes were not counted.