World's largest cruise liner begins sea journeys

The world's largest cruise ship, the Oasis of the Seas, has set sail for the first time for a journey that will take it across the Atlantic to Miami.

The 360 meter (1,200 foot) cruise liner that cost up to $1.5 billion (£1 billion) to build began its first voyage from a shipyard in southwestern Finland on Friday.

The ship, which was manufactured at the STX Finland Oy shipyard in Turku, has been by commissioned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

The 16-deck vessel has 2,700 cabins to offer as accommodation to up to 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew members on its cruises, which are expected to begin in December.

Oasis of the Seas includes several swimming pools, volleyball and basketball courts, as well as a youth zone that features theme parks and nurseries. It also has a good-sized ice rink and a small golf course.

After leaving Finland's shores on Friday, the ship passed its first test successfully by squeezing under the Great Belt Bridge between two Danish islands and finding it way out of the Baltic Sea.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, hundreds gathered on beaches at both ends of the bridge, waiting to see the cruise liner lower its telescopic smokestacks and sail by just half a meter (2-foot) from the bridge.

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

Company officials are hoping that the novelty of the ship, which has been built five times larger than the Titanic, will guarantee its success.