Voyager of the Seas, at 142,000grt the world’s largest cruise vessel yet delivered, entered service on her Western Caribbean schedule in late November. On each cruise, her almost 4,000 holidaymakers can enjoy rock-climbing, ice-skating, admiring $12 million worth of art treasures … without setting foot ashore.
The three new sisters are part of a US$3.6 billion investment programme which anticipates a continuing ten per cent annual growth rate in the Caribbean cruise market. And the first ship sets a new trend not only in size, but in the concept of how todays cruise passengers seek to be entertained: her opening itinerary involves only four port calls, and an unprecedented two days at sea on each of the voyage legs of her seven-night programme.
Passengers wish-list comes true
Harri Kulovaara is RCIs senior vice president, marine operations: To fill this size of ship with passengers, some basic criteria must be met. Everyone takes safety and value-for-money for granted. So the choice of cruise operator and individual ship often depends more on the extras interior style, wealth of facilities, and the feeling of having enjoyed a unique experience.
Hence Voyager of the Seas and her sisters boast an ice rink, a climbing wall, swimming pools and lidos, art galleries and a revolving casino. A variety of restaurants can serve 2,100 people at the same time. And a true shoppers paradise is the Royal Promenade a four-deck high, 140m long shopping mall with boutiques, bars and street performers, and punctuated by two 11-deck high atria.
The potential fire risks posed by such open inboard spaces have been recognised and addressed on previous vessels. Says DNVs Per Berrefjord: The Promenade and its atria extend the length of three fire zones. It is considerably larger than on preceding RCI ships; since there is no real equivalent, a formal safety assessment approach was adopted, and we applied the knowledge we have accumulated in offshore fire analysis, where smoke hazards and ventilation problems are similar.
Challenging the class surveyor
With such a large hull, and like most cruise ships a considerable volume of space within the structure restaurants, theatres, the Promenade a vessel of this type is structurally flexible. When this flexure is extreme, as in severe sea conditions, some ships have experienced cases of their large panoramic windows shattering or falling out. Hence very detailed finite-element analysis of the entire hull was carried out, and kept up-to-date as design changes were introduced. Berrefjord points out also that DNV maintained strict control of hull penetrations, as holes were cut for cables, pipes and ducting. So the design properties were still in place when the ship was delivered.
DNV usually has two or three surveyors working continuously during a vessels construction, but on Voyager of the Seas the team at the Kvaerner Masa Yard, headed by Hans Fagerstrom, was at least six strong, and at times as many as 12. Others have been involved at subcontractors sites, and at DNVs head office in Norway.