It Will Be a Cold Day When a 250,800-Ton Ship Floats

 Meyer Turku floats out Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas at their Turku, Finland, yard on December 8, 2022.

Photos courtesy of Royal Caribbean International. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Chantiers de l'Atlantique laid the keel today at their Saint-Nazaire yard for Royal Caribbean's next Oasis-class ship, Utopia of the Seas which will debut in the spring of 2024. 

The complete story appeared in the July 1 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Photos courtesy of Chantiers de l'Atlantique. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

What Weighs as Much as 75 Elephants and Is Now Part of an Icon?

The first of Royal Caribbean's 200-gross-ton Icon-class ships, Icon of the Seas, is under construction at Meyer Turku. It will be Royal Caribbean's first LNG-powered ship, and as such one of the main internal features, the gas storage tanks are just being installed. Each of the two of these weighs 307 tons and is 90 feet long. 

Royal Caribbean has just released the video construction update below showing the installation of the first tank. 

The video tells you a lot more about Icon's unique energy-saving features.  The facts go by fast. Yes, you can play it twice (or even three times.)

Icon of the Seas is scheduled to enter service in the fall of 2023. 

 

Wonder of the Seas Sea Trials

Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas has returned from its four-day sea trials. Catch up with what went on during the four days in just a minute. 

Wonder What's Happening in France?

This construction update (August 2021) on Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas shows the progress toward the March 2022 delivery of the 236,857-gross ton ship with 2,867 staterooms and suites.  

The complete story appeared in the August 11 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

A New Icon

On June 14, 2021, Meyer Turku cut the first steel for Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas which will be delivered in the fall of 2023. The steel-cutting for a ship can be an exciting event because it is the first physical step in the ship's construction. This video takes you to the event at Meyer Turku's yard in Turku, Finland. 

The complete story appeared in the June 16 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

In Search of an Inaugural

In preparation for its inaugural cruise, Royal Caribbean's Odyssey of the Seas arrived at Port Everglades this morning to a water cannon salute as it sailed into its new home port. 

   The new ship is the first Quantum Ultra-Class ship to sail in the US market. It will begin service from Port Everglades on July 3 and remain homeported there through the winter season (through April) on six- and eight-night cruises. 

The Time Is Right

It was a full moon over the weekend, and that meant the tides and the depth of the Ems River were right for Royal Caribbean's new Odyssey of the Seas to leave Meyer Werft at Papenburg, Germany, for its conveyance down the Ems River for its sea trials in the open sea. 

The second of the Quantum Ultra-class ships, it's packed with features, many of which carried over from the original Quantum-class, but one of the things most interesting about this ship is where it will debut and the conditions surrounding its launch which are a product of the times. 

Royal Caribbean has put together an especially good video with lots of graphics that illustrate the challenges. You may have to watch it a couple of times to catch all the figures and illustrations that fly by that aren't referenced in the narration. 

The complete story appeared in the March 1 edition of Cruise News Daily.

  

Another New Ship Floating

On Saturday (November 28, 2020), Meyer Werft floated out Royal Caribbean's new Odyssey of the Seas at their Papenburg (Germany) yard. 

The complete story appeared in the November 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

 Photos courtesy of Meyer Werft. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

The Original Is Back!

After a two-month dry dock, the newly “amplified” Oasis of the Sea returned to service over the weekend from Miami with a bunch of new and updated features, bringing the ship up to and beyond Royal Caribbean's newest ships.

The complete story appeared in the November 25 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Where's Oasis?

In case you've missed Oasis of the Seas, it's been hiding out in a dry dock in (Cadiz) Spain for almost two months getting updated - or “amplified” as Royal Caribbean calls it by some 2,700 contractors who have been working hard aboard the ship. The work is touching almost every space on the ship over its 63 days out of service, and the “amplification” will make the 10year-old ship seem new again.

The complete story appeared in the November 12 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Amazing View

For many years, helicopters have given us amazing aerial views. They are expensive, so despite the spectacular visuals, their use is limited. Now we have drones which are relatively inexpensive to own and virtually free to operate. They can also go where helicopters can't.

As evidence, take a look at the amazing drone video Royal Caribbean has released of Oasis of the Seas in dry dock in Cadiz. The b-roll was shot mainly to show the extensive renovation work being conducted on the ship's top deck, but it also shows some outstanding views of the ship itself and some interesting detail of the dry dock.

This story appeared in the November 5 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - October 28, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• An additional delay for Costa Smeralda's delivery, pushing the inaugural cruise back to December 21.
• Carnival Sunrise arrived at Ft Lauderdale ready to homeport there for its winter season
• Negligent homicide charges were filed against the grandfather of an 18-month-old girl who fell through an open window to her death on Freedom of the Seas when it was in San Juan in July.
• The Coast Guard ended their search Saturday evening for a 26-year-old man who went overboard from Carnival Dream last Thursday evening.  

Details appeared October 28 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Wonder of the Seas Begins to Take Shape

As Chantiers de l'Atlantique laid the keel for Royal Caribbean's fifth Oasis-class ship in Saint-Nazaire (France) today, halfway around the world, Royal Caribbean was announcing details about the ship and its deployment at a trade conference in China.

The ship will be named Wonder of the Seas, and when it enters service in 2021, it will be dedicated, at least initially, to the Chinese-sourced market and homeported at Shanghai.

The complete story appeared in the October 10 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of Chantiers de 'l'Atlantique. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Finally Perfect

Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas is 28 years old, and she finally did something she's never done before. Majesty of the Seas attained a perfect score on its surprise public health inspection by the CDC. It usually scores in the mid-to-upper 90's, but never has it reached 100 before the inspectors came aboard on September 9.

Details appeared in the September 19 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Finally!

Royal Caribbean announced today they will seasonally homeport Odyssey of the Seas at Ft Lauderdale beginning in November 2020. It will be the first Quantum Ultra-class ship sailing in North America. (The only other one, Spectrum of the Seas, is based in China.)

The complete story appeared in the September 13 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - July 18, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Carnival Panorama completing sea trials
• Despite ongoing political unrest in San Juan, Royal Caribbean returned to San Juan today for the first time in three day with the scheduled call of Allure of the Seas
• Seabourn announced a new champagne partner

Details appeared in the July 18 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Carnival Panorama on sea trials this week

Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permisssion. 

Voyager Is Next

Royal Caribbean announced plans to “Amplify” Voyager of the Seas similar to what they have done with other Voyager-class ships, adding new and updated features while at the same time doing a general refreshment of the ship. What's significant about the $97 million project in this case is that upon completion in November, the ship will be going to the Australian market, a market into which a lot of companies are pouring resources.

The complete story appeared in the June 27 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - June 10, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• A passenger going overboard from Norwegian Epic
• A protest that delayed Zuiderdam
• A behind-the-scenes-look at Royal Caribbean's new helium balloon ride.

Details appeared in the June 10 edition of Cruise News Daily.

The Cost of Canceling Cuba

In the runup to this week's cancellation of calls to Cuba, it seems that whenever cruise operators would be asked about Cuba, they would downplay the importance of Cuban cruises saying in the whole scheme of things, they have so much capacity to so many places, the capacity they have sailing to Cuba isn't very significant.

It may just be a blip on the radar, but Royal Caribbean said today it's a bit more of a significant blip than they have been letting on.

Details appeared in the June 6 issue of Cruise News Daily.