30 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News
This is Part II of a two-part story. Part I
ran in the June 2005 edition of Maritime
Reporter, page26-32.
By Mark Hilferty, SPACE
These days the 'big three' of the indus-
try slug it out for dominance: RCI head
to head with Carnival, and new kid on
the block Star/NCL doing the previous-
ly unimaginable and creating a new fleet
in a remarkably short period of time, and
one which is Oriental in both culture and
location. Each of these players has their
own jewel in their crown. Carnival is
the biggest with 13 brands and 61 ships
(as well as the jewels P&O Cruises,
Princess Cruises and Cunard) but RCI
has, according to Condé Nast Traveller
Magazine, seven of the top ten large
cruise vessels in the world with
Constellation weighing in at number
one.
Constellation is a big ship with 1950
passengers, a length of 965 ft. draft of 26
ft. and 105 ft. in beam and 91K tons.
But her awards were not for size but for
five key criteria: itineraries, crew/serv-
ice, cabins/design, food/dining and
activities/excursions. Some of her key
features include acupuncture at sea,
mind, body and soul center and the total
fitness zone. Most interesting amongst
her many innovations is 'Connect@sea',
exclusive to Celebrity Cruises, which
allows onboard access to the internet,
though this is just the first of many
cruise lines to follow the IT for all route.
Constellation may be big but wait until
the first RCI Freedom class vessel
appears next year: 158,000 tonnes, 3600
passengers, extensive WiFi capabilities,
an ice-skating rink, rock-climbing wall
flat-screen TV's in every room - the list
goes on. The great ocean cruise ships
have come a long way in delivering far
more than ocean transport - they have
become a must-do experience for all.
But let's not get bogged down with the
large cruise ship operations as there's
more to a life at sea as a passenger than
that. Look at some of the smaller niche
vessels: from the ultimate luxury of
Silversea where sophistication and class
are at their finest, to the romance of
Windstar Cruises "the best of sailing
with the amenities of the cruise ship." In
addition, the birth of the super and mega
yacht has taken passenger shipping to a
new and previously unrivaled level.
Projects such as the Maltese Falcon, cur-
rently the world's largest privately
owned sailing ship at 286 ft, will be a
beautiful and elegant addition to a some-
times gaudy superyacht market. This
modern clipper yacht is filled with inno-
vation from her interior to her rotating
carbon fiber masts. And then we have
the mysterious, code-named Project
Platinum, a reputed 525 ft world record
superyacht being built in the Middle
East. As these privately owned yachts
become ever larger and more sophisti-
cated, they enter the realm and the regu-
lations associated with cruise ships, and
the cross-over between these two marine
market segments becomes increasingly
obvious, particularly with respect to
build techniques and on-board technolo-
gy.
Technology is an ever present and gen-
erally invisible supplier of magic on
cruise ships, from interactive digital sys-
tems being employed for the remote
control of curtains, internet access, tele-
vision, DVD, lighting and more, to
active thermostatic controls pro-
grammed to suit your own personal
tastes, to lasers and virtual reality sys-
tems. Our thirst for connectivity and
hunger for new experiences will be
catered for in the avalanche of new tech-
nologies arriving on a daily, if not
hourly, basis. This not only benefits the
passenger, but at the same time provides
the operator with valuable information
on customers, their likes and dislikes,
and helps develop the future cruise
product and expand its global market.
Tomorrow will indeed be a fantasy
world - but one tailored to our desires.
However, cruise ship development
relies on more than fantasy design, size,
facilities and destinations. In recent
years product differentiation has
become a looming challenge.
Differences between mass market cruise
products were difficult to perceive in the
past, indeed were almost microscopic
between so many high quality products.
As in the global motor industry, where
the new "competitive battlefield"
became warranty, service, image and
finance package rather than the engine,
Cruise History
Hands Across the Ocean
From the great liners to the pocket cruise ship
Cruise ship construction remains a European shipyard staple, with proficient yards in Finland (pictured is Aker Finnyard's Turku facility),
Germany, France and Italy. (Photo Credit: Aker Finnyards) (SEE “FINLAND” on page 43, this edition)
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