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. 

 

While You Slept

About 1am Saturday (October 23), AIDAcosma, AIDA's second LNG-powered ship, left Meyer Werft at Papenburg for its conveyance down the river Ems to Eemshaven. 

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. 

Rotterdam Rides Again

The seventh Holland America ship to bear the Rotterdam name (named in honor of the line's very first ship) was delivered today by Fincantieri at their Marghera shipyard. 

   The 99,800-ton ship is the third Pinnacle-class ship delivered, and the 17th Fincantieri has constructed for Holland America Line. 

The ship will enter service with a transatlantic crossing from Amsterdam to Ft. Lauderdale on October 20, 2021. 

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

Sea Trial Video:
This is raw video from the sea trials earlier this month. It's b-roll that's meant to be cut up and used in other productions and in news stories, so there is no sound, but it does give you ariel views and a look at construction of the ship from every angle. 

Please note: Fincantieri knows how to build wonderful ships, but from the titles on each section of the video, they don't seem to understand the importance of getting the letters in the right order in English. Yes, we know it's "sea trials." Those i's and a's can be tricky. Maybe that's why they call these "prove a mare."

Interior Walk-Through Video:
This is b-roll, showing many of the public areas of the ship just before delivery to Holland America, so there is no sound.

Construction video:
Again, this is b-roll, so again, there is no sound: Note that in the early scenes of putting the bow in place, it has the ship's original name, Ryndam, on it before it was redesignated as Rotterdam. 

It's Mardi Gras Time!

It's finally time for Carnival's new 181,808-ton Mardi Gras to set sail from Port Canaveral on Saturday, and today they had a “Sip & Sea” party aboard her to let visitors look around for the first time.  Visitors were excited to see the new BOLT rollercoaster and the new specialty restaurants. 

You can make believe you were there by watching the b-roll below from the event. 

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

Arvia Takes Shape

P&O's new Arvia has begun to take shape at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany. The first step in the construction of the giant vessel is to position the floating engine room unit (FERU), which was constructed at a Meyer subsidiary, in the dry dock. The video below shows its arrival in time-lapse. 

The complete story appeared in the July 29 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Meyer Werft Floats Out AIDAcosma

Meyer Werft floated out AIDAcosma at their Papenburg (Germany) yard on Saturday (July 10, 2021). Like its sister, AIDAnova, AIDAcosma is completely LNG-powered. The ship will spend the next several weeks at the yard's equipment dock before its conveyance down the Ems River. AIDAcosma is scheduled to enter service in December 2021. 

This video gives you Meyer's unique perspective of the undocking.

 

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. 

Remembering Gavin MacLeod (Captain Stubing)

The Love Boat became an iconic TV series in 1977 and struck a chord with its fans who still fondly remember it today and growing up watching it with their families. The Love Boat was, of course, captained by Merrill Stubing who was played by Gavin MacLeod. The Love Boat was set aboard Pacific Princess which was a real ship belonging to Princess Cruises. After The Love Boat finished its run, the show and Captain Stubing were so iconic that 35 years ago, Princess Cruises asked Gavin to be their Global Ambassador. He and the rest of the original cast of the series have maintained the relationship with Princess and they are often aboard the ships, even christening Regal Princess. 

When Gavin passed away earlier today (May 29, 2021) Princess Cruises issued the following statement:

It is with sadness felt to the depth of the oceans that we mourn the passing of actor Gavin MacLeod our beloved global ambassador, dearest friend and treasured member of the Princess Cruises family for more than 35 years. 

From his 10 seasons staring as Captain Merrill Stubing on the hit TV show “The Love Boat” (1977 to 1986) and for more than three decades following the show’s final season, Gavin enthusiastically shared his passion about the joys and adventures of exploring the world while cruising. He always reminded us that - like the popular TV series, “cruising gives people something to dream about.” 

Gavin, who celebrated his 90th birthday in February, officially became Princess Cruises’ global ambassador in 1986, appearing in a vast array of advertising campaigns and countless public and media appearances for the company. His role for Princess continued until his passing.

All of us at Princess Cruises and our loyal guests around the world whom, to this day, remain avid fans of Gavin’s, send our heartfelt condolences to his wife Patricia (Patti) and his entire family who have lost a loving husband, father and grandfather. We offer our sincerest gratitude to them for sharing Gavin with all of us for so many years.

A couple years into the series, 10-year-old Jill Whelan joined to cast to play Captain Stubing's daughter, Vicki. She says, Gavin immediately became more of a real dad to her than just her TV father, a relationship they have maintained until he died today. She remembered him this afternoon in the video below. 

Princess Cruises also paid tribute to Gavin today from their file of videos of him at Princess events over the years (below). And in case you're wondering about the Love Boat theme at the end of both videos, Princess has each of their newest ships equipped with a range of whistles to play the opening bars of the iconic theme song as the ships sail away from port. This is an actual recording of one. 

Nostalgic for the Love Boat? It plays nonstop around the clock on the Pluto streaming network.

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A Look at Crystal Endeavor

Crystal Endeavor, Crystal's luxury 20,200-ton expedition ship, successfully completed sea trials on May 23, 2021, and has returned to MV Werften. Crystal Endeavor is the fastest and most powerful expedition ship in the industry, with a Polar Class 6 (PC6) classification that allows her to sail in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. She will enter service on July 17, 2021. 

Rotterdam completes sea trials

Holland America's new Rotterdam is set for delivery on July 30 (2021). This B-roll was shot during the second set of sea trials in the Adriatic which were completed on May 6. At the completion of the sea trials, Rotterdam returned to Fincantieri's Marghera yard near Venice for interior outfitting. There is no sound in the B-roll and it is just raw drone footage, but it gives you a good look at the ship from all angles. If you get bored, just skip ahead - don't leave it - because some of the more interesting angles come later in the video.  

Going Beyond

 Celebrity Cruises revealed many of the design elements of Celebrity Beyond, the first of the evolution of the Edge-class (actually the third in the class) which will debut on April 27, 2022. 

The first, and shorter video below, takes you through many of the public areas - outdoors and in - and some of the suites and their private areas in the resort-within-a-ship. The second video is a talk with Celebrity Cruises President and &CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo and the designers about their designs on the ship. 

Disney Wish Begins to Take Shape

Disney Wish began to take shape yesterday at Meyer Werft in Papenburg (Germany) when the keel was laid with a traditional coin ceremony and the first block of the ship was lowered into the covered dry dock. 

The B-Roll below was provided by Disney, which is meant to be chopped up and used individually, so only some of it has sound. It includes footage of the newly named Captain Minnie, the coin that was placed under the keel, the keel laying itself, construction footage, and comments by DCL executives.  

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. 

Fincantieri Delivers Costa Firenze

Fincantieri delivered the 135,500-ton Costa Firenze to Carnival's Costa Crociere brand today at Trieste. As the name would imply, the ship has a Florentine Renaissance theme throughout. 

The video below is a first look at the ship's stunning interior. 

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

Silversea Gets Mooned

A couple of weeks ago, Silversea and Royal Caribbean took delivery of Silver Moon at Fincantieri's Ancona yard. Today Silversea pulled back the curtain slightly when Chief Marketing Officer, Barbara Muckerman hosted a short five-part video tour (below)

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

 

S.A.L.T. Venues 

      

Public Areas

Suites

Restaurants

An X-tra Special Welcome Home

In this video, Celebrity Edge's captain, Kate McCue, explains the planning that went into the special welcome for the new Celebrity Apex when it arrived at the anchorage earlier this month in the Bahamas with its sister ships. After weeks of planning, the ships did a special dance, a series of complex nautical maneuvers that could only be accomplished (safely) with the technology aboard today's modern ships.

Iona Delivered to P&O

Meyer Werft delivered the 185,000-ton Iona to P&O Cruises today. 

 

Sailing During the Pandemic

What's it going to be like to cruise during/after the COVID-19 pandemic? That a question on the minds of most cruisers. The first major ship back in operation, MSC Grandiosa, has been sailing in the Mediterranean for over a month now and is about to complete its fifth cruise. 

Currently, passengers are limited to Europeans, but you can get an idea of what the experience is like from the new video below that MSC has produced showing their health and safety protocols both before boarding and during the cruise itself.

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