I'm very much looking forward to more details on this new class of ship.

Ernie

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From the blog:

A new ship project like Project Sunshine is a remarkable phenomenon. The physical ship won’t be ours until well over three years from now. Yet we already live with an unending series of deadlines that drive our team as the customer for the project. The shipyard, Meyerwerft in the case of Sunshine, metes out these deadlines so that our actions support the successful completion of their incredibly complex undertaking to create a state of the art cruise ship on time and on budget.

Since I cannot divulge anything about the new ship concept, I will write a little bit about the process. If you know anything about our company, you know that our Chairman & CEO Richard Fain is intensely interested and involved in all of our new ship projects. The only reason I use the word intensely is because I cannot think of a more intense word to use to describe his level of attention, fascination with and contribution to our new ship.

We have a specialized department at the company for these mega-projects called Newbuild. I think the real name is Fleet Design & Newbuild but everyone just says Newbuild. The short-hand is a misnomer because the department is involved in much more than new ships including our Royal Advantage revitalization program which has Radiance of the Seas in the dry-dock in Victoria, British Columbia getting a make-over as I write this. But the new ship design and construction process is the key involvement that Executive VP Harri Kulovaara, chief designer Kelly Gonzalez and the rest of the Newbuild team focus on the most. Harri’s number one responsibility is to make sure the ships come out as amazingly as Richard has in mind for them to do.

Our design process is immersive for our Marketing and Operations teams. We believe that the teams who have responsibility for understanding consumer desires and delivering the products and services should be directly involved in the Newbuild creative and design processes. This may sound obvious but I believe different cruise companies have different opinions about who to involve and when to involve them. In our case, there is an Executive Steering committee for Project Sunshine that is led by Richard, Harri and myself that oversees all aspects of the effort. Most of my leadership team participates on the committee. We meet every month, usually for a full day, to go over critical aspects of the project.

Another typical aspect of our company’s approach to new cruise ship design is to utilize a roster of design firms under our central direction. There is no one master designer who takes the project and runs with it. Harri and Kelly are constantly working with the designers on the various ship features and then the designers regularly must present to the Steering Committee and receive our feedback. This interaction is always interesting. To paraphrase former football coach Bum Phillips, there are two types of designer/architects you never want to have on your team – the ones who always push back and the ones who never push back. In fact, we are extremely fortunate to have an incredibly talented roster of creative and committed professionals who are determined that their particular assignment will add something very special to Project Sunshine. Many of these designers have been with us on previous projects and know the drill well.

The Executive Steering committee normally meets in Miami which requires a number of people to fly regularly from the shipyard in Papenburg, Germany to our headquarters. However, in May the Miami-based committee members traveled to the shipyard and held our monthly meeting at Meyerwerft. We might do this once or twice per year and in this case we had a very successful session that has the team even more enthused about Project Sunshine if that is possible. It certainly underscores the reality of the project when you go to a working shipyard and go through everything in detail. Shipyard CEO Bernard Meyer advised me that the larger of his two enclosed building halls is either the largest building in Europe or second to the building hall for the A380 airplanes.

quote:

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Originally posted by Atlcruiser:
I wonder when RCI will release a exterior photo of the ship? When the Genesis class was announced, it was followed by a photo shortly after. I would also like to know the dimensions of this ship. Given the size of the covered dock, I wonder just what her size will look like?

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Yes, it's unusual that even a preliminary rendering hasn't been released or leaked yet. The rendering often generates excitement, buzz, and speculation so it's a good marketing tool. It gets people talking.

I have to wonder if there is something so obvious about the design of the ship that just seeing it will reveal some of the innovative secrets that RCI doesn't want released yet?

web page

In case the above link does not work, try this.

http://image90.webshots.com/90/1/68/27/2625168270100299464CFZeMX_fs.jpg

[ 07-05-2011: Message edited by: Atlcruiser ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Atlcruiser:
Someone posted this on another cruise board asking if this could be Project Sunshine. I have no idea. Not sure if this is old or authentic but it resembles the Solstice class and has what looks to be Crown Lofts behind the Viking Crown. Anyway, interesting to look at.

web page

In case the above link does not work, try this.

http://image90.webshots.com/90/1/68/27/2625168270100299464CFZeMX_fs.jpg

[ 07-05-2011: Message edited by: Atlcruiser ]

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Hey Gordon,
Neither link seems to be working??

quote:

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Originally posted by Atlcruiser:
That's weird, it was working earlier.

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That's ok, I found it.

Here it is. Personally I think this is someone's personal sketch. It looks like they basically took the Solstice Class, made a few alterations and slapped on a Royal Caribbean logo.

I could be wrong, but I think Project Sunshine will be a completely new design.

Ernie

quote:

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Originally posted by Atlcruiser:
After I posted this, I saw that this was the persons own design. Oh well, all excited for nothing.

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It's ok with me. I'm glad this most likely isn't "Project Sunshine". I don't want Royal Caribbean to start building multi-brand platforms like Carnival. I love that the Royal Caribbean and Celebrity ships are distinctive and I hope it stays that way.

It's hard to imagine much room for big innovations or "wow" spaces. I think we are going to get some pretty "safe" ships (I mean non-ground breaking) from RCI and NCL. I think they are both done with 'pushing the envelope' for a while.

quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
Hey Guys, I'm sorry to be negative but "sunshine" will be a high-density ship like Epic, in fact like "Breakaway".

Having said that, I love the Radiance class design, probably more than the 'Voyager' class. It is quite conventional design really, apart from all of the glass and sea views - yet I really like it. 'Safe' can be good.

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I don't think you're being negative Malcolm, and I don't think anyone expects another OASIS OF THE SEAS. This being said, Royal Caribbean has always built innovative ships and I don't think Project Sunshine will be any different. I look at a more conventional ship like CELEBRITY SOLSTICE, which I find wonderful with a great design and some surprises too, and I see the potential for Project Sunshine.

Knowing the fanatical level of detail Royal Caribbean places into every newbuild, I'm still expecting something special with Project Sunshine. I've never known NCL to be as hands-on with their ship designs, so I'm expecting Project Sunshine to be in a different league. She is also a slight bit larger than both the Princess and NCL newbuilds.

Ernie

[ 07-05-2011: Message edited by: eroller ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Atlcruiser:
I still think that we are going to see some new things from RCI.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

Is there anything new left to create?

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A rodeo ring instead of an ice rink with livestock you can then selct for your meal....kind of like a dusty lobster tank

[ 07-07-2011: Message edited by: timb ]

quote:

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Originally posted by timb:

A rodeo ring instead of an ice rink with livestock you can then selct for your meal....kind of like a dusty lobster tank

[ 07-07-2011: Message edited by: timb ]

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quote:

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Is there anything new left to create?

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Midget Jello wrestling.....

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Originally posted by LeBarryboat:
That means for maybe a wider beam.

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I'll be surprised if there is a split superstructure or a wider beam.

Remember this design is the same size as FREEDOM OF THE SEAS but carries more passengers. Those extra cabins have to go somewhere. Also there are limitations to height, length, and width for ships built at Meyer-Werft. The building shed is only so tall and the river passage only so wide.

-Russ

[ 07-07-2011: Message edited by: linerguy ]

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Originally posted by Frosty 4:
Maybe there will be cabins that have skylights?
One could close a shade during daylight if desired but open it to reveal the star lite sky for night.
Or a series of glass domes for various venues??
F4

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quote:

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Originally posted by Fairsky:
Don't expect a boardwalk or central park. The name Sunshine is in reference to the environmental technologies RCI will employ with special emphasis on the solar panels first tested on Oasis and Solstice-class. RCI will market these as green ships.

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The biggest question I have regarding Project Sunshine is the beam of the ship. That number could possibly answer a lot of questions as to the ships design.

I've been looking on line for the width of the locks on the Ems river and it's not easy to find. Somewhere I found 145 feet listed at one of the gates, maybe at the shipyard, I'm not sure. From what I can gather, it may be possible for a ship 10 feet wider at the water line than the freedom class. That would make it about 136 ft. That could lead to some significant changes in design from the Freedom class.

Also, while on Navigator OTS this past spring, I had a conversation with the cruise director Mike Hunnerup about the new project (it was just announced the day before the cruise started) and Mike did make mention to a central park area and lots of retractable roofs. He wanted to change the subject quickly and may have said more than he was supposed to.