LUXURY £ A HOY!

All aboard for an eye-popping documentary that follows the world’s biggest passenger ship around the Caribbean

There’s an 11,000 sq ft ice rink, a pool just for surfers, and a bar staffed by robots serving 1,000 drinks a day. Guests – some of them staying in suites costing £75,000 a week – can wander through Central Park, which has 20,700 tropical plants and 52 trees. Or, when they’re feeling peckish, pull up a chair at one of the 23 restaurants.

Welcome on board the world’s biggest passenger ship, Symphony of the Seas, the ultimate in ocean-going luxury and the subject of jaw-dropping documentary Billion Pound Cruise.

Filmed before the pandemic at the end of 2019, it’s access all areas with cameras capturing guests embarking for a weeklong trip through the Caribbean.

Their life at sea is never less than opulent, but peak luxury is probably attained when the ship docks at Cococay island in the Bahamas. The ship’s owners, Royal Caribbean, spent more than £180 million transforming the 125 acres of white sandy beach into the ultimate adventure island, including a 135ft water slide. Keeping the guests’ energy up during their day-long stay are 60 tonnes of provisions unloaded from the ship and then cooked, uncorked and served by an army of chefs and waiters.

The documentary’s producer and director Christian Cerami says, ‘We wanted to meet the people who make the whole operation work so smoothly. It’s by no means an easy task.’

These include some of the performers who entertain guests with shows featuring ice dancing, synchronised swimming – and a replica of a Wright Brothers’ plane flown over the audience.

We’ll also encounter specialist cleaners flown in from France who use extended feather dusters to keep the cut-glass chandelier that twinkles through decks 16 to five in pristine condition. It’s one of the ship’s 13,347 works of art.

Viewers will also hear from the army of personnel – part of a crew of 2,200 – who supply vast quantities of food and drink to guests. The ship’s 254 cooks, working in

30 kitchens and taking food from freezers that cover space into which you could fit five bungalows, serve up a staggering 40,000 meals a day. Food and beverage director Emmanuel says, ‘We consume 340 tonnes of fresh food during a sevenday cruise, including 11,000lb of watermelon. It’s very popular.’

It will be impossible to watch the show and not dream of sunshine and

beaches – the holidays we’ve sadly had to put on hold. As the ship’s hotel director Fernando explains, ‘We want people to feel that a trip on the Symphony of the Seas has been like a good movie – the kind you want to experience all over again and see all the little bits you missed!’ Billion Pound Cruise, tomorrow, 7pm, Channel 4.