The Finnish shipbuilding company Kvaerner Masa-Yards Oy handed over a Voyager-class cruise liner to the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line shipping company at the end of October. At the same time work started on a new, bigger ship, Ultra Voyager.

The ship that was handed over, Mariner of the Seas, is a continuation of the four predecessors: Voyager of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas were built at yearly intervals from the autumn of 1999.

The ships have been very successful on the Caribbean cruise market, according to Jorma Eloranta, the President and CEO of Masa Yards. "We can be extremely satisfied that the partnership and shipbuilding tradition with the shipping company are still continuing with the new order," Eloranta says.

A town inside a ship

The Voyager-class cruise vessels are among the biggest in the world. Mariner of the Seas is about 311 metres in length, about 39 metres wide at the water line and the height from the keel to the mast is more than 72 metres. The ship holds 3,800 passengers and is manned by a crew of 1,200.

The large size allows for structural and furnishing solutions that have not been seen in cruise ships before. The special features of Mariner of the Seas include a promenade situated in the middle of the ship four decks high and 120 metres in length with an atrium 11 decks high at the end. The ship's Metropolis theatre seats 1,360 and there is an ice rink for 900 people. There are numerous restaurants of different types, the main one holding 1,900 passengers at one time.

Cruise ships to ice-breakers

Kvaerner Masa-Yards Oy is a Finnish shipbuilding company that specializes in designing and constructing luxury liners, passenger-car ferries and other technically demanding vessels. During the past ten years more than 25 per cent of all the world's cruise ships have come from the company's two shipyards.

Ships have been built at Masa-Yards for more than 30 years. The company has experience in building icebreakers, LNG ships, specialized tankers and cable ships as well as specialized vessels for the oil industry. The company belongs to the industrial company Aker Kvaerner ASA.

>> http://www.akeryards.com

Ultra Voyager, which was ordered from Masa-Yards by the Royal Caribbean shipping company in September, is more than 15 per cent bigger than its predecessor.