Fairsky84

A small but important detail from an image at the steel cutting ceremony. You can see the addition of an exhaust for the LNG tanks in the center of the ship. It's located on the bridge that connects the pool deck above Central Park. However, this exhaust will need to go all the way down to the LNG tanks in the bottom of the hull meaning Utopia's Central Park might be much smaller than on other Oasis-class ships or split into two sections. So, the large opening in the middle of the ship won't be the same on Utopia. This is part of the challenge of adding LNG to a ship that was not originally designed for it.
 

It's pretty remarkable how little information or leaks we've had about Icon. With most other new classes of ships, I recall some images surfacing online, bits from outside design companies or contractors, even a photo captured on a cell phone from the shipyard of an internal document with an image of a ship. But with Icon there's been absolutely nothing. Not a single clue or image of what this ship might look like or what it will feature. Can't wait to see what RCI has planned.

"Sphere" Class is a reference to these ships being LNG powered. Liquid natural gas is stored in large, cooled tanks (sometimes sphere-shaped). Don't expect any ship to use that name. In fact, I'd bet the class won't officially be called "Sphere Class" either, but will take on the name of the first ship built.

Carnival Corp's other LNG classes have also used names that did become names for the actual ships. "Excellence Class" (Carnival Mardi Gras, P&O Iona, Costa Smeralda) and "Helios Class" (Aida Nova). I'm guessing "Sphere Class" is just another example of this pattern. 

I also think a new PACIFIC PRINCESS would be a wonderful tribute. 

It's definitely something very low in the hull and therefore likely mechanical. I'd also guess part of the fuel storage. A venue or "wow" feature would be higher in the hull (or on the top decks), which are nowhere near ready for installation at the shipyard. Those are often the very last things installed. At this early stage, we're only seeing the keel blocks where all of the machinery is located. 

Here’s the first image I’ve found of the new ships in Fred Olsen’s livery:

Is anyone else surprised that the Sovereign-class and Fantasy-class ships (about 30 years old) are being scrapped but the original Royal Viking ships (now almost 50 years old) are still sailing? That’s pretty amazing.

Hmm... I’m a bit surprised by the name. I thought Celebrity would stay with 4-letter names for this class like EDGE and APEX so the Illuminated names fit nicely on the funnel. I was expecting this third ship to be OPUS, LUXE, or EPIC.

Here’s the finished product....

5 hours ago, SRF said:

 

It looks like a Renault Megane. 

 

And that is NOT a compliment. 🙂

 

That’s funny and true:

More photos from the shipyard...

11 minutes ago, johnjen said:

Also take note of the HAL ships with their black hulls. Far less rubber smudges seen on a black hull from the pier fenders, I feel that is pretty smart and saves the cruise line in man hours.

Yes, dark hulls do hide smudges and rust better but there’s a reason warm-weather cruise ships have traditionally had white hulls. The white reflects the sunlight which keeps the ship’s interior cooler which requires less energy for air conditioning. It saves fuel and money. It’s also why cold-weather liners which crossed the North Atlantic had black or dark hulls. They absorbed the light to help heat the ship’s interior. 

When Cunard would redeploy their liners to cruise in the Caribbean, for example, they would often repaint the ships’ hulls white for this reason. See here for more about this:

https://www.technology.org/2018/07/06/why-most-cruise-ships-and-luxury-yachts-are-white-while-container-ships-are-all-kinds-of-colours/

The problem with painting the older ships’ hulls blue is that their upper decks, balconies, and dining room windows are tinted green. It may clash with the blue hull and create a cartoonish look. The Oasis and Quantum-class ships have gray/blue-tinted glass that compliments the light blue hull. 

Here’s an example of the green on Voyager and the gray/blue on Symphony. 

This photo from her refurbishment in Singapore shows her with the light blue hull first used on the Oasis-class ships. Originally it was only to be a special color for that class, but then Quantum debuted with it too. Some of us wondered if RCI would use it fleet-wide. Now we know. It should be interesting to see this rollouts on other classes in the years ahead.

Do you like the new look?

Here are changes I spotted with the design of Wonder of the Seas. I wonder (haha) which of these are specific for the Chinese market and how many we may see on Oasis 6, or even retrofitted to existing Oasis-class ships.

Right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if future Edge-class ships have a larger mix of traditional balcony staterooms and fewer IV staterooms. However, don’t expect X to announce that as it would devalue ships like Edge and Apex with mostly IV rooms. My guess is X won’t draw any attention to the fact that Edge 3, 4, or 5 will have fewer IV rooms. We’ll just notice when they open for bookings and the deck plans are published. 

From what I’ve read on this board and others, some people (maybe not a lot) really HATE the IV design. Many think IV is tolerable, but has some drawback. And a bunch think IV rooms are just fine. But I can’t think of anyone who LOVES the IV and insists on having such a cabin in the future. That’s very telling. I don’t think X has really improved on the traditional cruise balcony cabin design.

As someone else said on this tread, the real tell will be if any other lines incorporate IV rooms into their new ships. If the design really is a winner, others will copy it and guests will be willing to pay a premium for it. Until we see that, I think X might be stuck with a less than desirable product. 

29 minutes ago, prim8keeper said:

Considering X just placed an order for a fifth Edge class ship this morning (article) I think it is safe to assume they are here to stay. They may not be for everyone, but clearly they are seeing enough demand.

It’s not uncommon for later deliveries in a class to have updates/upgrades from the prototype ship. Just look at NCL’s Breakaway-Plus and RCI’s Quantum-Ultra ships. They’re updated versions of the originals. We’ll have to wait and see what changes X makes to the Edge-class between now and 2024. 

We know the names of the next 3 Edge-class ships (Apex, Opus, and Luxe). Any guesses for the 5th ship?

With Royal Caribbean, NCL, MSC, and even Virgin all with their own new (and amazing) terminals at PortMiami, I wonder why Carnival hasn’t developed one. 

8 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I hope they don’t modify the IV cabins to allow the air conditioning on when the window is open!    How often do you do that at home?    We grew up in a household where we were reminded that our father didn’t work for the electric company and we were not to air condition or heat the outside!   No open doors or windows while the heat or air conditioning was turned on.   Surprised anyone would want it otherwise.     

Not sure you’re understanding the problem people have with IV and air conditioning. In a traditional balcony stateroom, one person can be out on the balcony enjoying the sun/heat and the other person may be in the stateroom with the a/c on. As long as the balcony door is closed the a/c will function. This isn’t possible in an IV stateroom. Opening the window turns off the a/c, and closing the bi-fold doors does not seal off the veranda from the rest of the stateroom or allow the a/c to be on. Therefore, in an IV room you cannot have one person outside and the other inside. You’re either both closed up with the a/c or both sweating with the outside air filling the room without a/c. 

55 minutes ago, villauk said:

Viking are used to this design in their river cruise ships and so are very familiar with the concept, yet didn’t apply it to any of their new builds over the last few years (when they diversified into ocean cruising). Does that not say something? I imagine they would have considered it being relative ‘experts’ after having their river cruising business for many years.

Great point. If anyone should have seen the benefits of IV it would have been Viking.

It’s still surprising to me that Celebrity opted to make almost all the rooms on Edge Infinite Veranda cabins. With such a new concept, I figured they would have tested it with a fewer number of cabins before implementing the design ship-wide. (That appears to be what MSC is doing on their World Class ships). 

1 hour ago, hcat said:

That is ugly....might be the camera.  At least the life boats are tucked in and do not block cabin  windows

Here’s a short video via Twitter that shows the entire model of MSC’s World Class ship. Definitely original looking. You can see the vast majority of cabins are traditional balconies. Worth noting that it’s be built at the same shipyard that’s building Celebrity’s Edge-class ships, so the including of some IV cabins makes sense. 

8 minutes ago, mnocket said:

I think it really comes down to the infinite verandas - everything else can be changed if necessary.

 

One sign to look for is whether or not other lines adopt the IV concept.  The cruise industry seems to "follow-the-leader".  If one ship/line introduces a feature that proves popular, the competition will often follow suit.  If the industry sees the IV concept as the way of the future, I would suspect we will see it in future ship designs (yes this will take time). 

I think you’re absolutely correct. Right now I’m unaware of any other ship that will definitely have IV cabins. However, Richard Fain said Royal Caribbean’s new Icon-class will. That was before reactions from Edge cruisers were in, and it could change.

Also, some have speculated that MSC’s World-class ships will have some IV cabins (see image of the model below). However, based on these images if those are IV cabins they represent only a fraction of cabins with most still having traditional balconies. I wonder if MSC will position IVs as a step between Oceanview and Balcony at an intermediate price point. If so, that would indicate Celebrity made a blunder by filling their premium Edge-class ships with almost all IV cabins. 

The livery of the Celebrity ships have had an interesting history. The original ships (Meridian, Horizon, and Zenith) used a modern blue and white hull inspired by private yachts.

The larger Century, Mercury, and Galaxy followed this same look. Then Royal Caribbean bought the line and ordered the M-class ships. Millennium debuted in 2000 with a very different look that included blue, black, white, yellow, and red. Some felt it was less elegant. I always thought it made the ships look like LEGO toys or superhero costumes. Not exactly the premium style Celebrity was going for.

Eventually, the M-class ships were repainted with Celebrity’s traditional blue/white yacht livery. 

When the S-class was first revealed early renderings of Solstice included a light blue hull. Of course she was launched in 2008 with a white hull, but RCI adopted the light blue idea for Oasis of the Seas in 2009. 

Personally, I’ve always liked the original Celebirty yacht livery. I understand that it probably wound’t have worked well for Edge, and the fleet will look fine with the solid blue hulls. It does make them look more traditional (HAL and Cunard) and less contemporary and modern. My least favorite was the original M-class superhero look.

2 minutes ago, ezelaya said:

Well, other than a giant crane in the middle of the AquaTheater and some rail/balcony damage, that isn't bad. The real question is the Azipod. 

Don’t forget about the dry dock itself. If that is significantly damaged it could be a very big problem getting Oasis repaired.

Glad no one was seriously hurt. We’ll be lucky if the only damage was to the Aqua Theater and nearby decks. I fear there may be much more serious damage elsewhere and unseen.