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. 

Carnival Celebration Floats Out

The float out process for Carnival's second LNG-powered Excel-class ship began at Meyer Turku on Friday. The celebration and ceremony was actually for opening the valves and allowing water to flow into the massive dry dock at the frigid Turku, Finland yard. 

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

It's a Celebration in Turku

 Carnival Celebration is looking like a Carnival ship tonight at the Meyer Turku shipyard. 

Photo courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. 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. 

 

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. 

It Will Be a Cold Day

It was a cold day in Finland when Costa Toscana floated out at the Meyer shipyard in Turku.  

Here's something few people normally get to see. This is the entire float-out ceremony of Costa Toscana (Tuscany), which is the sister ship to Costa Smeralda, as it was broadcast from the Meyer Turku yard this morning, complete with some interesting comments by company and design executives. 

Carnival Again Has a Mardi Gras

Today Carnival Cruise Line took delivery of Mardi Gras, named after their first ship, at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. The 180,000-ton ship is almost seven times the size of the original Mardi Gras acquired in 1972. 

The complete story appeared in the December 18, 2020 edition of Cruise News Daily.

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

Trying Out Mardi Gras

Carnival's new Mardi Gras left Meyer Turku this morning for 10 days of sea trials. 

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

Meyer Turku Floats Mardi Gras

Carnival's Mardi Gras was floated out on Friday at Meyer Turku.

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

Meyer Turku Cuts Steel for Costa Toscana

The first steel was cut today at Meyer Turku for Costa's second LNG-powered ship, Costa Toscana. The 180,000-ton ship will be a sister to Costa Smeralda which will have entered service this fall.

Details appeared in the July 30 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Meyer Starts Mardi Gras Assembly

Carnival Cruise Line's Mardi Gras has begun to move from concept to reality today with the keel laying at Meyer Turku in Finland. The event put the first 750-ton block of the ship, numbered block 3C, into place in the dry dock. In maritime tradition, with it were good-luck coins.

The complete story appeared in the June 18 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - March 19, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Carnival Cruise Line and Port Canaveral broke ground on the new Terminal 3 which will be used by Carnival's Mardi Gras.
• Meyer Werft delayed the departure of Spectrum of the Seas' conveyance down the Ems River until Wednesday morning (local time in Germany) due to low water levels in the river. 
• There was a minor fire aboard Costa Smeralda in the Meyer-Turku yard on Monday afternoon.

Details were in the March 19 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Spectrum of the Seas beginning its departure from Meyer Werft. 

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

A “Flood” of Excitement in Finland

Meyer-Turku celebrated the float out of Costa Smeralda today at their yard in Finland, marking the first time the ship has touched water, when Meyer and Costa officials opened the valves that let water into the dry dock.

Actually, it was more of a float up because it will take about 24 hours to fill the giant dry dock and tow the ship to an outfitting pier where its interior will be completed in time for delivery in October.

This is also an important milestone because Costa Smeralda is the first Costa ship, and the first to be sold globally, that will be powered both at sea and in port by clean-burning liquified natural gas (LNG).

The complete story appeared in the March 15 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Note: Additional photos still being added to this item. 

Water begins to flood the dry dock

Photo courtesy of Meyer-Turku and Costa Crociere. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission.

Where You'll Live on Mardi Gras

Carnival Cruise Line today introduced a new cabin design for Mardi Gras by DCA Design International. Now before you panic, it's nothing radical like the wavy walls Norwegian tried out on Norwegian Epic. Mardi Gras' new design seems to be mostly centered around new features passengers will find convenient rather than a new shape or concept.

Beyond that, the design seems to employ features to make the stateroom feel bigger, and it has cleaner lines and lighter colors - but no wavy walls.

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

Video courtesy of Carnival Cruise Line. All rights reserved.

Topping Off

Meyer Turku "topped off" Costa's new flagship, Costa Smeralda, this week when it installed the funnel aboard the 180,000 ship. The ship is the first for the world market to be powered by Liquified National Gas (LNG) both at sea and in port. Costa Smeralda will enter service on October 20, 2019.

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

Mein Schiff 2 Handed Over

Meyer Turku delivered Mein Schiff 2 to TUI Cruises today at Kiel (Germany).

The complete story appeared in the January 22 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

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

Growth at Meyer Turku

Last week, we told you that Meyer Turku began production of Carnival's X1 by beginning the steel cutting. This ship is going to be part of the ramp-up of production at Meyer's Turku facility.

The complete story appeared in the November 21 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Carnival Reveals New Livery at Steel Cutting for Carnival XL1

Meyer Turku began construction of Carnival Cruise Line's new 180,00-ton XL-class of ships with the cutting of the first steel today. The ships will be Carnival's first powered by Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), and the first in North America to use the clean-burning fuel.

At the same time, Carnival revealed the ship's new hull design and the new Carnival livery which will debut on the as-yet-unnamed ship in 2020.

Details appeared in the November 15 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

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

Costa Smeralda Takes Shape

While we took some days off for the holiday, Meyer Turku was busy laying the keel for Costa Smeralda, which will be the first cruise ship marketed worldwide that is completely powered by clean-burning Liquified Natural Gas (LNG). The keel laying and coin ceremony took place on July 4 at Meyer's yard in Turku, Finland.

During the ceremony, commemorative coins were placed on the keel for luck in the traditional fashion. The godmother of the event was Elisabetta Moraci, a 28-year-old Second Deck Officer in the Costa fleet from Messina.

The complete story appeared n the July 6 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Larger Ships Mean Larger Cranes

Meyer Turku became the proud owner of a gigantic crane, the largest in the Nordic countries, when it was delivered to the shipyard by the Finnish builder KoneCranes.

As cruise ships of the future increase in size, they will necessitate the larger (and higher) lifting capacity that the crane will provide.

Details appeared in the June 22 edition of Cruise News Daily.