The third in the series of the world´s largest cruise vessels for Royal Caribbean was delivered today in Aker Yards, Turku. The “Independence of the Seas” has all of the signature elements of her sister ships “Freedom of the Seas” and “Liberty of the Seas”, making the Freedom-class ships the most innovative and forward-looking class of ships in the cruise industry for the time being.
The vessel is like a small city with lots of service: many restaurants, theatres, cafés, shopping mall, hospital, hair dressers´ and bakers´……Already the mindset behind the vessel’s name is in giving the the passengers the independence to create their own unique adventure by choosing multiple onboard options – from rock climbing, surfing or ice skating to spa treatments, fine dining or world-class entertainment.
“Independence of the Seas is an evidence of that Aker Yards is continuously delivering in schedule large cruise vessels which are state-of-the-art regarding both design and functionality”, says Juha Heikinheimo, President of Aker Yards, Cruise & Ferries.
“I feel certain that this vessel will again offer passengers unprecedented experiences and outstanding satisfaction to her owners”, he continues.
In addition to the innovative comfort amenities there is lots of technical improvement onboard the Independence, e.g. advanced water purification: The state-of-the-art AWP-plant purifies all of the ship’s grey and black waters into a degree of being virtually pure drinking water. The separated sludge will be consequently dried and incinerated with other combustible waste. All other waste material generated on board will be landed in ports and nothing – except for that fully purified drain water – will be released into the sea.
The vessel is 339 metres long, 38.6 metres wide, and takes 4375 passengers and 1365 crew. It has diesel-electric propulsion. In order to ensure a best possible fuel economy and subsequently environmentally friendly operation a series of different hydrodynamic improvements including a new ducktail design were carefully studied and taken into use.
The signed contracts of Aker Yard´s business area Cruise & Ferries are today worth approximately 5.9 billion EUR including 7 cruise vessels for three out of the four leading multibrand cruise companies: three for Royal Caribbean, three for MSC and two for NCL. The 10 ferries in the orderbook are two “superferries” for Stena, a fast day ferry for Color Line, two cruise ferries for Tallink, a fast ferry for Viking, a passenger ferry for Brittany Ferries and three LNG ferries for Tide Sjo.
