The next cruise ship for Royal Caribbean International

Papenburg, 08.03.2001 - The first of 65 blocks of the new cruise vessel Brilliance of the Seas for Royal Caribbean International was lifted into position in the covered building dock of the MEYER WERFT Shipyard in Papenburg/Germany. In the presence of the yard´s board members Bernard Meyer, Peter Motikat and project manager Jarmo Laakso Royal Caribbean chairman Richard Fain laid the "lucky penny" before the first block of the new ship was lowered down onto the keel blocks by the yard´s 600-ton crane. The block had a weight of almost 450 tons, a length of 20 metres, a breadth of 30 metres and an height of 8,5 metres. ´The Brilliance of the Seas is the second of four luxury cruise ships to be built for Royal Caribbean International. The vessel will have a length overall of 293 metres, develop a speed of more than 24 knots and will be capable of carrying max. 2500 passengers in 1050 cabins. Like her sister vessel Radiance of the Seas the new ship will be fitted with two podded drives of 360 degree efficiency. The propellers will be directly driven by electric motors installed in a pod under the ship´s hull. Two environmentally friendly and smokeless gas turbines and one steam turbine will supply the vessel with energy for the propulsion and hotel operation. Due to the special combustion process the nitrogen oxide content of the exhaust gases from the gas-oil operated turbines is very low. Furthermore the exhaust gases from the gas turbines generate steam in the exhaust gas boilers which is then transformed into energy by the steam turbine. Delivery of the new passenger cruise vessel is scheduled to take place in summer 2002.