Royal Caribbean's soon-to-debut Harmony of the Seas heads to sea for the first time on March 10, 2016 for a series of sea trials. (Photo: Bernard Biger) 
 
 How will the biggest cruise ship ever built handle on the water? We're about to find out. 
 
 Royal Caribbean's much-awaited, 227,000-ton Harmony of the Seas on Thursday headed out to sea for the first time for a series of sea trials in advance of its May debut in Southampton, England. 
 
 A sister to Royal Caribbean's giant Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas (the current record holders among cruise ships), Harmony is one of the most-anticipated new vessels in years. It will eclipse its siblings by more than 1,700 tons and hold nearly 100 more passengers at double occupancy. Its total capacity will be well over 6,000 people, not including crew. 
 
 Harmony has been under construction at the STX shipyard in St. Nazaire, France for more than a year, and the sea trials are taking place off the coast of France. 
 
 A major milestone in the construction of a cruise vessel, sea trials involve maneuvers to test propulsion, steering and navigational equipment. They normally take place several months before a ship's debut when only finishing work remains. 
 
 Designed for vacationers who love big, bustling mega-resorts, Harmony will feature a giant, multi-deck water slide area -- a first for Royal Caribbean. Harmony also will be the first Oasis class ship with a Bionic Bar where the drinks are served by robot bartenders -- a concept that first debuted in 2014 on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas. 
 
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 Harmony also will have larger cabins than Oasis and Allure in some categories, and windowless "inside" cabins are being outfitted with Royal Caribbean's exclusive Virtual Balconies, which offer a real-time view of the outdoors. The concept first debuted in 2014 on the line's Navigator of the Seas. 
 
 Harmony's first voyage with paying passengers is scheduled for May 22. After an initial series of cruises in the Mediterranean, it will re-position to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to offer alternating, seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages. 
 
 Scroll through the carousel at the top of this story for photos of Harmony setting sail on Thursday and images of its construction over the past year. 
 
 USA TODAY Cruise in 2015 was among a handful of U.S. media outlets to get early access to Royal Caribbean's last new vessel, Anthem of the Seas, ahead of its christening in Southampton, England. For our 'first look' tour of the ship, click through the carousels below. 
 
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 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1pkjocj ||||| The 120,000-tonne, 16-deck ship set off on Thursday from Saint-Nazaire, western France for a three-day offshore test 
 
 World's largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, sets sail on first sea trial 
 
 Harmony of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, set off on Thursday on its first sea trial from Saint-Nazaire, western France, with just two months to go to delivery. 
 
 
 
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 The city’s STX France shipyards began building the €1bn ($1.1bn) mammoth for US shipbuilder Royal Caribbean International (RCI) in September 2013. 
 
 Thousands of people gathered at the dock to watch as the 120,000-tonne ship was helped out to sea by six tugs. 
 
 Some 500 people, mostly crew as well as officials from the owners and engineers and suppliers, were on board for the first trial, set to continue until Sunday. 
 
 The ship, with a height of 70m (210 feet), has been an imposing presence in Saint-Nazaire, visible from miles away. 
 
 For months, tourists have been allowed on board to gape at the innards of the ship that has 16 decks and stretches 362m (1,187 feet), 50m longer than the height of the Eiffel Tower. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Crowds watch as the massive ship leaves the STX Les Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard. Photograph: Stephane Mahe/Reuters 
 
 Three pilots, who have trained on a simulator in nearby Nantes for the past year, helped the captain in the tricky manoeuvres needed to guide the hulking ship out of the Saint-Nazaire estuary. 
 
 The tugs first helped the ship back out of its berth before turning it around and then guiding it out to the open sea. 
 
 The pilots will leave the vessel once it is 20km (12 miles) out at sea. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Harmony of the Seas is the world’s largest ship cruise. Photograph: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 Some 2,000 crew are to cater for the needs of more than 6,000 passengers on Harmony, which is a metre wider than the current twin ocean-going monsters of the pleasure cruise world, the RCI-owned Allure of the Seas and the Oasis of the Seas, which are also 362m long. 
 
 The next trials will take place before the end of April, with delivery set for 12 May. ||||| It's less than two months until Royal Caribbean gets its hands on the biggest cruise ship in the world, Harmony of the Seas. 
 
 The 5,497-passenger, 227,000-ton behemoth is the third Oasis-class vessel, a slightly bigger sister ship to Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas. 
 
 Under construction at STX France in St. Nazaire, France, the ship is slated to begin its first set of sea trials today as it get its finishing touches before delivery to the cruise line on May 12. The ship's inaugural sailing from Southampton will be May 19 before spending a summer in the Mediterranean before making its way to its new home at Port Everglades this fall. 
 
 The inaugural Fort Lauderdale sailing will be Nov. 7 after a three-day Bahamas trip on Nov. 5. Afterward it will begin alternating seven-night trips to the eastern and western Caribbean. 
 
 Some sailings in November run as low as $885 per person for an interior stateroom, based on double occupancy, and not including $111.42 in taxes, fees and port charges. So a couple could sail for around $2,000. 
 
 Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas debuted May 17, 2016 becoming the line's 25th ship in the fleet and taking over the title of world's largest cruise ship. It will sail the Mediterranean this summer and reposition to Port Everglades in the fall. 
 
 The 18-deck ship will feature the line's first full-size water park as well as a pair of twisting dry slides called The Ultimate Abyss, dropping riders 10 decks (that's 100 feet) from the Pool and Sports Zone on Deck 16 to the Boardwalk on Deck 6. The water slides will take advantage of the same 10-deck drop, at least as far as the view goes, as some will allow riders to look down the middle of the ship into its Central Park area. The slides themselves will be three decks high. There will also be an 82-foot-long zip line that runs nine decks above the Boardwalk. 
 
 Other Royal Caribbean mainstays including a pair of FlowRider surf simulators, mini golf and outdoor sports area will be present. Central Park will be back as will the AquaTheater amphitheater, Boardwalk and rock climbing walls as well as many restaurant options found fleetwide. 
 
 The Bionic Bar with its robotic bartender that's featured on Quantum-class vessels will also make its way to Harmony of the Seas. 
 
 New to the ship will be the Rising Tide Bar, which will take cruisers from deck eight to deck five on a slow migration while enjoying their drinks. 
 
 The 1,380-guest Royal Theater will host two shows, a version of Broadway's "Grease" and original comedy "Columbus, The Musical!" while the ship's Studio B will feature two ice-skating productions. 
 
 Harmony of the Seas will take the place of Oasis of the Seas at Port Everglades as Oasis heads up the coast to serve the Central Florida market at Port Canaveral. Allure of the Seas will continue to sail from Port Everglades. A fourth Oasis-class ship already under construction at STX France will debut in 2018. 
 
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– The world's largest cruise ship just got its first taste of the open ocean, setting sail from France for a trial run on Thursday, the Guardian reports. The Harmony of the Seas, which will make its debut for Royal Caribbean International in May, is 1,187 feet long, 210 feet tall, and weighs 227,000 tons. At full capacity, it will hold more than 6,000 passengers and a crew of 2,000. That beats the world's current largest cruise ships—both owned by Royal Caribbean—by more than 1,700 tons and nearly 100 passengers, according to USA Today. The Orlando Sentinel reports the extra space will accommodate 100-feet slides down 10 decks, robot bartenders, virtual balconies for interior cabins, and a zip-line across nine decks. Construction on the $1.1 billion Harmony of the Seas started in 2013 in Saint-Nazaire, France. Thousands of onlookers watched it head out to sea this week to test everything from navigational equipment to steering. The Harmony of the Seas is scheduled to spend the summer taking passengers around the Mediterranean before relocating to its permanent home in Florida in November. At that point, it will cost approximately $2,000, at least, for a couple to embark on a seven-night trip between Florida and the Caribbean aboard the world's biggest cruise ship.