The massive Diamond Princess cruise liner arrives in Port Douglas today. Here are some facts you may not know about this floating city.

The Diamond Princess took three million man-hours to build. During the construction, 281,000 litres of paint were used, 43,000 square metres of carpet were laid and 3000km of wiring was installed.

Onboard Diamond Princess you will find:

• 19,000 dinner plates, 5000 tablecloths and 300,000 toothpicks
• 22,000 bed sheets, 6000 blankets and 68,000 hangers
• 12,000 boxes of tissues

On an average day aboard Diamond Princess, the 3800 passengers and crew will consume:

• 2600kg of fresh fruit
• 2400kg of fresh vegetables and 542kg of potatoes
• 152 litres of icecream
• 1200 slices of pizza and 6000 pastries
• 8300 eggs, 162kg of bacon and 268kg of cheese
• 1230 canapés and 30kg of smoked salmon
• 622kg of seafood, 146kg of shrimp and 83kg of lobster

The Diamond Princess’ enormous kitchens, or galleys, feature 268 refrigerators, 68 stoves and 67 coffee machines. Almost 100,000 dishes are washed each day, while passengers use 9100 linen napkins each day.

Also onboard there is a nightclub, 13 bars and lounges including a huge, high-tech 705-seat showlounge, Internet Café with 29 computers, five main dining rooms where around 150 galley staff work day and night to prepare more than 45,000 dishes/courses a day for passengers and crew.

The ship sports a jogging track and an ocean-view gymnasium, Wedding Chapel, Five swimming pools, a nine-hole mini golf putting course and two ‘cyber-golf’ computer simulators.

The Diamond Princess is one of the world’s biggest cruise ships, with a gross registered tonnage of 116,000 tons, or 43 tons per passenger.

It is bigger than the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the 100,000-tonne USS Nimitz, and two-and-a-half times bigger than the legendary 46,000-tonne Titanic. Diamond Princess is also two-thirds bigger than the 70,000-tonne QE2.

Her massive 116,000 tonnage is equivalent to:

• 300 Qantas jumbo jets
• 102 Manly ferries on Sydney Harbour
• 1064 blue whales (world’s largest animal)

In terms of height, the ship is too tall to fit under Sydney Harbour Bridge, and just four metres shorter than the highest ‘sail’ on the Sydney Opera House. It is taller than Niagara Falls.

At 290 metres long, the Diamond Princess stretches the length of four 747 jumbo jets or three football fields. She is also 70 per cent longer than the MCG oval, which stretches 170m.
         
At a width of 49 metres wide (including the bridge wing), Diamond Princess is wider than the wingspan of a Boeing 767 and too big to squeeze through the Panama Canal.

Carrying 3800 people (2700 passengers and 1100 crew), one visit by Diamond Princess is equivalent to the arrival of 11 fully laden jumbo jets. The total economic benefit to each port through passenger and crew spending, port fees and supplies/fuel etc is estimated to be more than $500,000 per visit. 

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