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the Oasis Of The Seas, now preparing for her maiden voyage, is the world's largest cruise ship.

It has every imaginable facility, from basketball courts to a wedding chapel, not to mention a spa offering Botox treatment.

0.43 miles is the length of the onboard running track. It's found in the Spa and Fitness Centre, alongside kickboxing classes, tooth-whitening treatments and 24-carat gold facials.

3 years is how long the boss of STX Europe shipyard in Turku, Finland was given to build this mammoth ship. His brief was very particular: a ship large enough for 8,000 passengers and crew, complete with a landscaped park, whopping theatres, casinos and ice rinks, even an onboard hospital. All to be completed in 1,095 days.

6 weeks is how long it took to carve each of the 18 wooden animals on the fairground carousel to include zebras, giraffes and even lions as well as

7 is the number of 'districts' the ship is split into. In the middle is Central Park, a 350ft-long grassy spot with plants, trees and bamboo. The Boardwalk houses a carousel, carnival games and even a fake tattoo parlour. There's also the Royal Promenade, or shopping street; a Pool and Sport Zone; an Entertainment Place and a Youth Zone.

17.9 feet is the depth of the swimming pool in the AquaTheatre. It was built with a 750-seater arena, two surf machines and fountains. Suspended above it are two climbing walls, diving towers and even a trapeze.

32 inches is the size of the screen of the smallest television set onboard. In fact, every cabin (both staff and passenger's) has a highdefinition set that you can use not only to watch films and programmes - but to book spa treatments and on-shore excursions.

22.6 knots is Oasis Of The Sea's cruising speed - not easy given that she often has to change course rapidly and, on occasion, perform the maritime equivalent of a handbrake turn.

50 tonnes of ice are produced onboard every day by special ice machines for 37 bars and more than 20 cafes and restaurants.

208 feet is the width of the ship - wider than the wingspan of a Boeing 747.

72 different types of sweets are for sale at the onboard sweetshop, Candy Beach, enough to keep even the most sweet-toothed passenger happy.

300 is the number of workers given a sneak preview and short ride on the Oasis Of The Seas last week after putting the finishing touches to the onboard luxuries.

82 feet is the length of the zip wire course suspended over nine decks of the ship. It runs through the Pool and Sports Zone, which also houses four swimming pools (complete with water-spouting sea creatures), two 43-foot-high rock climbing walls and even a beach-themed nightclub.

93 different plant varieties are to be found on the ship. There is even an onboard nature guide for botanically inclined passengers.

37 bars, 50 tons of ice: incredible facts about the leviathan of luxury

130 square feet of real gold leaf gilding were used to make the decadent carousel on the Boardwalk.

131 is the number of feet above sea level of the four Jacuzzis, suspended high above the ocean on either side of the ship.

150 miles of pipework run through the ship - and that's not even counting the 3,300 miles of electrical cabling and 100,000 lighting points that all have to be rigged up.

460 slot machines are found in the casino - where better to blow all that holiday cash burning a hole in your pocket?

1,187 feet is the ship's length from bow to stern. That's one and a half times the length of Tower Bridge - 800ft - or equivalent to four football pitches. At 240ft, the ship is taller than Nelson's Column.

6,360 is the maximum number of passengers that can fit onboard at any one time - that's more people than can fit in the Royal Albert Hall,which has a comparatively meagre 5,544 seats.

7,500 is the horsepower of each of the four bow thrusters that manoeuvre the ship. Each of them has ten times the horsepower of Jenson Button's Formula 1 racing car.

8,000 man years of labour were painstakingly ploughed into building this ship - which is more like a mini country than a boat. But with the combined effort of 3,200 hard-grafting shipyard workers, it only took three years to complete - amazingly on schedule.

10,000 is the square footage of the onboard shops. From Italian jewellers and organic T-shirt companies, to computer game shops and designer boutiques. Oh, and some duty-free, of course.

50,000 pieces of cutlery are kept in the hotel's main dining room, Opus. No doubt, they're all needed - after all, there are more than 500 tables, which can seat 3,056 guests at any one time, so there's plenty of call for the 550 dining room staff too.

60,000 is the number of napkins that guests are expected to use on every voyage.

75,000 is the number of telephone calls that Royal Caribbean Cruises are inundated with every day - from people interested in booking a trip.

600,000 litres of paint were used to decorate the ship. After all, there were 2,706 guest staterooms (that's bedrooms to you and me) to paint, not to mention the shops, bars, swimming pools and entertainment spots.

1,700,000 is the number of hours it took to complete the design and engineering plans alone. And that's before you even think about building the thing.

2,350,000 LITRES of water will be used by passengers and crew, every day of sailing. It is stored in 31 huge tanks.

Towering above the seas and dwarfing the ferry passing by, this is the world's largest cruise ship on its stately progress through the Solent.

The South Coast was given a sneak preview of the just-completed Oasis of the Seas yesterday as it prepared to cross the Atlantic, stopping briefly to drop off 300 workers who have been putting the finishing touches to its on-board luxuries.

Once in Florida it will embark on its maiden voyage to Haiti.

Enthusiasts flocked to the cliffs of Hampshire in the hope of catching a glimpse of the ship - not that they could miss it. It is three times the size of the QE2 - and five times as big as the Titanic.

It is en route from its shipyard in Finland before crossing the Atlantic for its official unveiling in Florida.

The £855million vessel can accommodate a staggering 6,360 passengers and 2,160 crew in recession-defying luxury, with cabins including 'multi-level urban-style loft suites' boasting floor-to-ceiling windows.

On-board entertainment will be enough to satisfy even the most jaded millionaire, including the aquatic amphitheatre, handcrafted carousel, zip-wire racing diagonally down nine decks and even what is billed as the world's first floating park.

It also features not one but four swimming pools plus various whirlpools, volleyball and basketball courts, rock climbing wall and a 'youth zone' with theme parks and children's science labs.

The ship is so vast it is divided up into 'neighbourhoods' with special themes, including a tropical zone with palm trees and vines among the total 12,000 plants on board.

Last night, at shortly after midnight, hundreds of people gathered on beaches at both ends of the Great Belt Bridge, which connects the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen, to see the ship make its way out of the Baltic Sea.

It was a very tight squeeze indeed considering there was only a 2ft gap between the ship and the bridge as it passed beneath. It only cleared it by lowering its telescopic smokestacks.

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

Road traffic was stopped as a precaution, but fortunately an expensive collision was avoided. 'Nothing fell off,' said project manager Toivo Ilvonen.

Details of today's arrival in the Solent were kept a closely guarded secret, and the ship didn't come into port, instead meeting a tender for the transfer of around 300 shipyard workers.

But enthusiasts kept a close eye on websites charting its course.

Once the drop-off has been made, the Oasis will make its way across the Atlantic where operators Royal Caribbean - who have already ordered a sister ship, Allure of the Seas - will officially name it before its first cruise, to Haiti next month.

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

Sensitive to charges of conspicuous consumption, its builders say it is also the world's most environmentally-friendly cruise ship, reusing all its water and discharging no sewage into the sea.

OASIS OF THE SEAS - Will it fit in my marina?

Length - 1,180ft; weight - 225,282 tons; decks - 16; passengers - 6,360; crew - 2,160

Cost to build - £800million; price for a two-week cruise - from £1,300

630,000 gallons of paint needed to decorate it

2,300 tons of water in its swimming pools

12,000 plants on board including hundreds of palm trees

3,300 miles of electrical cables to keep the lights in its 2,700 cabins blazing