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Juha Heikinheimo, President, STX Finland and Richard Fain, Chairman and
CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. at the delivery of Allure of the Seas
Photo Courtesy Royal Caribbean International |
Today on 28 October 2010, the world's largest and most innovative cruise ship, the Allure of the Seas, was delivered by STX's Turku Shipyard to the American shipowners Royal Caribbean International. Allure of the Seas is the sister ship of Oasis of the Seas delivered a year ago.
What's it like to sign a piece of paper authorizing the payment of One Billion USD (that's with a "B")? Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD., Richard Fain, can tell you.
In an official closing ceremony there were only two documents signed of the hundreds that were done behind the scenes. In his blog post,
She’s Ours!, he indicated that it was both anti-climatic and an awesome responsibility:
"The closing created conflicting emotions for me. On the one hand, it was anti-climactic. After millions of man hours, years of effort, endless argumentation and consideration, and tons of sweat and tears, a simple one page document saying it was complete didn’t seem momentous enough. On the other hand, signing a one page sheet of paper transferring a billion dollars (that billion with a B) is an awesome responsibility. Actually having to sign your name brings home the implications in a very strong way. Before signing, I obviously checked with Harri Kulovaara that all the technical elements of the ship were up to snuff and checked with Adam Goldstein that all the operational aspects were ready. Nevertheless, I have to admit that my hand hesitated a bit before actually signing that paper."
Sister Ship of Oasis of the Seas
The Allure of the Seas and the Oasis of the Seas can be termed the most powerful and
sophisticated ships in the world for a reason. They also are the culmination of more than 40
years of product development cooperation between the cruise line, the shipyard and the
maritime cluster. The Oasis class vessels are 361 metres in length, and their cross tonnage is
225,000. The Allure of the Seas can accommodate 6,360 passengers at maximum. In
comparison, the Song of Norway delivered to the same customer in 1970 was 168 metres long
with a gross tonnage of 18,400; in other words, the Allure of the Seas is some 12 times as
large.
An Amazing Collaborative Effort
The building contract was signed on 2 April 2007, and production was launched on 4 February
2008. The keel laying of the Allure of the Seas started on 2 December 2008, and the vessel was
launched for the first time on 20 November 2009.
At closing time, there were only 230 comments outstanding on the Allure contrasted to 6,000 at the same time for the Oasis. STX Finland should be quite proud of their accomplishments with both vessels. Millions of man hours later, we have the second Oasis-class ship delivered on-time and with fewer outstanding items remaining to be corrected.
VIDEO: Signed, Sealed and Delivered: Allure Joins the Royal Fleet
Allure of the Seas is officially a part of the Royal Caribbean fleet, following months of construction and preparation this is a moment marked with celebration!
Allure of the Seas is currently sailing the Atlantic Ocean on its way to the home port of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
