‘Calamity of the Seas’

The world’s biggest cruise ship has been labelled a floating ‘‘building site’’ by furious passengers on its first voyage.

Harmony of the Seas, which cost US$1 billion ($1.5 billion) to make, embarked on a four-night ‘‘preinaugural’’ cruise from Southampton in England on May 22, ahead of its official maiden voyage to Barcelona, Spain, on May 29.

But some of the about 6000 passengers on the initial sailing have slammed operator Royal Caribbean, saying the ship was not fit to set sail.

‘‘People were walking around getting covered in black soot and it was even landing on their dinner,’’ Matthew Wickens of Lancing, West Sussex told the Mirror.

Wickens said he had paid £1100 ($2405) to take his wife and daughter on the cruise.

‘‘We were told everything was ready but the waterslides and the waterpark were not working. I spoke to some people and they found metal shards in the kid’s water zone. It was dangerous.

‘‘There was no hot water and it took the best part of three days to get the showers fixed,’’ Wickens said.

Passengers were compensated with an envelope left on their bed containing a 20 per cent discount off their next cruise, which had to be used within a year, Wickens said.

Other passengers shared images of the problem-hit Harmony of the Seas on social media, showing overflowing urinals, wet paint and missing safety glass panels.

One went so far as to describe the ship: ‘‘Calamity of the Seas’’.

A Royal Caribbean spokeswoman told the Telegraph passengers on the initial trip had been offered discounted tickets to ‘‘allow for any finishing touches that were being made on the ship before the official maiden voyage’’.

‘‘Royal Caribbean can assure its passengers that the incidents reported have been isolated incidents, most occurring more than four days ago and they were all immediately dealt with,’’ she said.

The ‘‘vast majority’’ of guests on the pre-inaugural sailing had returned home ‘‘very happy’’ with their holiday on Harmony of the Seas, the spokeswoman said.