World's largest cruise ship squeezes under bridge

The Oasis of the Seas passes under Denmark's Great Belt Fixed Link bridge after lowering its smokestacks. Photo / AP

KORSOER, Denmark - The world's largest cruise ship cleared a crucial obstacle yesterday, lowering its smokestacks to squeeze under a bridge in Denmark.

The Oasis of the Seas - which rises about 20 storeys high - passed below the Great Belt Fixed Link with a slim margin as it left the Baltic Sea on its maiden voyage to Florida.

Bridge operators said that even after lowering its telescopic smokestacks the giant ship had less than a half-metre gap.

Hundreds of people gathered on beaches at both ends of the bridge, waiting for hours to watch the brightly lit behemoth sail by shortly after midnight local time.

"It was fantastic to see it glide under the bridge. Boy, it was big," said Kurt Hal, 56.

Company officials are banking that its novelty will help guarantee its success.

Five times larger than the Titanic, the US$1.5 billion ship has seven neighbourhoods, an ice rink, a small golf course and a 750-seat outdoor amphitheatre.

It has 2,700 cabins and can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members.

Accommodations include loft cabins, with floor-to-ceiling windows, and 487-metre luxury suites with balconies overlooking the sea or promenades.

The liner also has four swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts and a youth zone with theme parks and nurseries for children.

Oasis of the Sea, nearly 40 per cent larger than the industry's next-biggest ship, was conceived years before the economic downturn caused desperate cruise lines to slash prices to fill vacant berths.

It was built by STX Finland for Royal Caribbean International and left the shipyard in Finland on Friday.

Officials hadn't expected any problems in passing the Great Belt bridge, but traffic was stopped for about 15 minutes as a precaution when the ship approached, Danish navy spokesman Joergen Brand said.

Aboard the Oasis of the Seas, project manager Toivo Ilvonen of STX Finland confirmed that the ship had passed under the bridge without any incidents.

"Nothing fell off," he said.

The enormous ship features various "neighbourhoods" - parks, squares and arenas with special themes. One of them will be a tropical environment, including palm trees and vines among the total 12,000 plants on board. They will be planted after the ship arrives in Fort Lauderdale.