- The biggest cruise ship ever built hit a major construction milestone this weekend.
- Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas touched water for the first time as it “floated out” from a dry dock at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France.
- The 18-deck-high vessel transferred to a “wet dock” where finishing work will continue into next year.
- the latest in the line’s giant Oasis Class of ships has been under construction for more than a year.
- Wonder of the Seas had been scheduled to debut in 2021 but the coronavirus pandemic has delayed it by one year.
The biggest cruise ship ever built touched water for the first time this weekend, writes Gene Sloan for the Points Guy. Every Oasis Class ship that has rolled out has been a little bigger than the last.
The first block of Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas is lowered into a dry dock at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, in October 2019. (Photo courtesy of Royal Caribbean)
Significant turning point
The early stages of the construction of a cruise ship take place in a dry dock facility.
After the exterior construction the ship, the next step takes place in the wet dock facility. It is a significant turning point in the building of a vessel.
Fifth in Royal Caribbean’s series
Wonder of the Seas will be the fifth vessel in Royal Caribbean’s groundbreaking Oasis Class series of ships, which are more than 20% bigger than any other cruise ships afloat.
The four existing Oasis Class vessels include the 228,081-ton Symphony of the Seas.
Eighteen decks high and nearly 1,200 feet long, it can hold up to 6,680 passengers at maximum occupancy.
The vessel and its sisters resemble mega resorts on land.
They have dozens of restaurants and bars, Broadway-style entertainment, casinos and lots of deck-top attractions.
Symphony of the Seas has three pool areas, giant waterslides, rock climbing walls, surfing simulators, a miniature golf course and even an ice skating rink.
Wonders of the Sea the biggest
While Royal Caribbean has been coy as to just how big Wonder of the Seas will be.
A top executive at Royal Caribbean hinted to The Points Guy last year that the newcomer (and another Oasis Class ship on order for 2023) are likely to set new size records.
“It’s certainly a moniker that Royal Caribbean owns,” Royal Caribbean’s vice president for product development, Laura Hodges-Bethge, told TPG. “When you look at Symphony, it was, I don’t know, a couple metric tons [bigger than its predecessor]?” For these new ships, she said, “I can’t imagine that wouldn’t be the same thing”.
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Source: CNN
