Southampton Boy Expresses Love For Anthem Of The Seas In Incredible Way
He’s clearly missing cruising as much as we are…
We’re all missing cruising, but some of us are going that extra step to recreate the cruise experience in our own homes. One Southampton boy has gone as far as creating his favourite cruise ship out of lego, none other than Royal Caribbean‘s Anthem of the Seas.
Putting his time in lockdown to good use, 13-year-old Ben O’Donnell spent weeks constructing the intricate and detailed model of the Royal Caribbean mega-ship, using more than 3,000 pieces of lego in the process.
Not letting anything slip, Ben even replicated some Anthem of the Seas‘ iconic features, like its 360-degree North Star observation capsule.
One of the ship’s most memorable assets, the North Star is the world’s largest viewing deck on a cruise ship – at more than 100 metres above sea level.
Other well-loved features of Anthem of the Seas Ben created includes the SeaPlex, RipCord by iFly – the ship’s sky diving experience – and Flowrider, a 40ft surf simulator using 100,000 litres of water.
“The first cruise ship I saw was Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas when I was three years old – I was fascinated with the size. It was also the first cruise ship I experienced with my family,” Ben told Southampton’s Daily Echo.
Ben also revealed that to make the creation he watched YouTube videos of the ship and noted the detail. He then built his model to be as similar to the real thing as possible.
This is not Ben’s first rodeo when it comes to building incredible cruise ship models, and the youngster has also built Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas.
He shares his creations on his Instagram account and YouTube channel, where he has hundreds of followers and subscribers.
Showing just how lifelike his work is, the 13-year-old even posted a photo to his Instagram account of his Lego model next to the real-life Anthem of the Seas.
Due to coronavirus and Royal Caribbean’s suspension of operations, Anthem of the Seas is currently docked in Southampton – perfectly located for Ben.
“WOW!! what another great day,” gushed Ben on his page. “Today we took down my Lego symphony of the seas to take some photos next to Allure of the Seas which was departing Southampton. Thank you to everyone who came and had a look.”
Responding to the Southampton local’s work, Ben Bouldin of Royal Caribbean, said: “I really appreciate the effort and skill that has gone into creating these.”
If only we could hop on board…