First block laid in MEYER WERFT's dock Papenburg, 6 August 2008 - Today the first block out of a total of 72 of the new 122,000-gt passenger cruise vessel "Celebrity Equinox" for Celebrity Cruises Inc. (CCI) was put in place in the yard's covered building dock II. In the dock of the Papenburg yard Richard Fain (CEO), Dan Hanrahan (President), Harri Kulovaara (Executive Vice President Maritime & Newbuilding) and Project Director Jarmo Laakso of Celebrity Cruises put down "lucky cents" before the first block of the new ship was lowered by the 800-ts crane. This first block weighs approx. 550 tons, is 16 m long, 36.80 m wide and approx. 8.00 m high. MEYER WERFT was represented by Bernard Meyer (Managing Partner), Lambert Kruse (Managing Director) and Uwe Wulff (Project Manager).The Celebrity Equinox is the second ship in a series of five for CCI (Miami/USA).

The ship has a length overall of 315 m, a breadth of 36.80 m, and will be able to operate at a speed of more than 24 knots. More than 2,852 passengers will be accommodated in 1,426 cabins.This class of ships features plenty of technical innovations. It will contain numerous energy-saving systems, and is built in line with the latest stability regulations, which will take effect as of 2009.

Delivery of the ship to Celebrity Cruises is scheduled for 2009.