The largest cruise ship in the world will carry 3,415 pieces of sports equipment

The ship will also offer a water park, a zip line and an ice rink.

Harmony of the Seas

The world’s largest cruise ship will arrive in the UK in May next year carrying 3415 pieces of sports equipment.

Royal Caribbean International’s new ship Harmony of the Seas is currently under construction but when finished will span 16 decks, accommodating a staggering 5,479 guests at double occupancy.

To demonstrate the scale of the new ship, which will offer 30 different activities, Royal Caribbean took to Boscombe Beach in Dorset to lay out over 1,700 pieces of sports equipment across 85 metres; just half of what the ship is expected to carry.

Aerial view of Harmony of the Seas' sports equipment

The ultimate sports inventory included 900 ball pit balls, 192 golf balls, 144 badminton shuttlecocks, 80 ping pong balls, 31 surfboards, 30 basket balls, 16 ice hockey sticks, 16 pool cues, 144 pool balls, and 8 table tennis tables.

Also onboard will be 2,747 state rooms, a full-sized sports court, a running track, an ice rink, two surf simulators, a water park, three water slides, a rock climbing wall, and a zip line.

The ship will even have an outdoor Central Park made up of real grass and plants.

The new cruise ship will have to compete with Royal Caribbean’s seven other mega-ships, one of which is Allure of the Seas, currently the largest ship in the world at 225,282 gross tonnage. Another competitor is Norwegian Epic, which is 155,873 gross tonnage.

Harmony of the Seas launches in May 2016 with two round trip sailings to France and Holland from Southampton.