After waving off the huge and glitzy Norwegian Breakaway, Southampton welcomes a totally different kind of ship next week. The ultra-luxurious Hapag-Lloyd Europa 2 is visiting the port on bank holiday Monday, May 6, for a ‘shakedown’ cruise ahead of its christening in Hamburg on Friday, May 10, and its maiden voyage to Lisbon the following day. It is said to have the largest space per passenger of any cruise ship. Once again, I’ll be on board and tweeting as it makes an overnight round trip in the Solent.
In the meantime, here are some facts and figures:
- 39,500 tonnes
- 516 guests
- 370 crew
- 20 months to build
- 10,000 tonnes of steel and 300km of cable
- 23,000sq m of carpet
- 80-tonne sliding glass roof on pool deck
- 890 original pieces of artwork
- 251 suites in eight categories, including seven family apartments
- All-suite accommodation with at least 7sq m (75sq ft) veranda
- Eight restaurants – including Asian, French, Italian and sushi
- £1,170 cost of hiring the private dining room Speisezimmer for 16 guests (around £73 each)
- Six bars
- 3D cinema
- 16 production shows
- 1,000sq m (10,000sq ft) spa and fitness
- 800 types of drink, including 35 gins, 180 varieties each of red and white wine and 100 soft drinks
- 13 types of spoon
- 25,053 pieces of crockery
- 26 routes with 123 ports of call
- On a typical 14-day voyage, guests will eat 5.3 tonnes of meat, 2.6 tonnes of oranges, 2.1 tonnes of fish, 19,500 eggs, 780kg of mangoes, 1,560kg of pineapples, 1,560kg of potatoes, 1,550kg of flour – and drink 1,000 bottles of champagne