Fairsky84

I sailed Sitmar many times and Fairsky twice… 1984 inaugural season to Alaska and 1985 to Mexican Riviera. She was a special ship and Sitmar was an incredible line. The industry hasn’t been the same since.

The image from the video makes the dome look MASSIVE. However, this silhouette from the steel cutting makes the dome appear more sleek...similar to the solarium on Oasis-class.

Sphere 2 may be delayed or canceled, but I don’t think anything can be done by CCL to delay Sphere 1. Its already under construction and the shipyard needs that ship completed and moved from the dock to maintain their other orders. There would be massive financial penalties to CCL if they deferred Sphere 1 at this point. Instead, I think they’d take delivery of the new ship because it’s probably designed to be very profitable and they can charge higher fares for the latest/greatest ship in the fleet. To save costs they could then sell/retire/layup older ships in the fleet that are less profitable.

Are there any shipyard photos of the construction available? It seems like we get many photos of ships being built from other yards but not Fincantieri’s site in Monfalcone. With sphere only about 1 year from its debut, I imagine a lot of the hull is built. I’d love to see how it’s coming together and what clues we can determine about the design.

This video explains why most ships are painted red below the water line. It's actually pretty interesting.

That dome above the bridge looks huge. I wonder if this is the next big trend in cruise ship design. I looks like Princess has something very similar planned for their new ships as well:

Here's a closer look:

Looking closely at the plans, Icon definitely has a split/open superstructure like Oasis-class. We already knew that. Unlike Oasis which has two open spaces (Central Park and Boardwalk), Icon appears to have one large opening running almost the entire length of the ship. How they will manage this structurally is going to be interesting.

Keep in mind that the size of these ships is limited to the dry docks they are built in. The Oasis-class barely fits in the Turku dry dock: Dock Length: 1,198 ft Oasis Length: 1,181 ft So, I don't think Icon will be considerably larger than the Oasis-class. In order for any cruise line to build a ship significantly bigger than Oasis/Icon class, they will either need to built it at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in France (it's dry dock is one of the largest in the world at nearly 3,000 feet long), or build it somewhere in Asia. But Asian yards have much less experience building cruise ships.

I heard that Royal Caribbean removed one of the original Viking Crowns from the funnel of one of the original 3 ships when it was sold (Song of Norway, I think). If somehow they saved and stored that small lounge, I always thought it would be amazing if they incorporated it into one of their new ships and made it into a small museum of RCI memorabilia and history.

Thanks @Nathan Graveson. I have wondered, what's the advantage of the Parabolic Ultra Bow versus more traditional raked bows? Also, I thought the ice rinks were usually located low and center in the hull because of the weight of the ice. It keeps the ship balanced and the center of gravity lower in the hull. Will this be different on Icon?

Based on the slope of these blocks and how many decks of windows we see in this very forward part of the ship, I think Icon may have an X-bow design. That would be a pretty radical look for a ship of this size. Hopefully we'll know soon when the bow blocks appear.

Those frames and the dark blue deck color appear to designate where the 'infinite balcony' cabins are located. It seems Icon will have a mix of traditional and infinite balcony rooms, similar to the MSC World Europa.

For comparison... Length of Oasis-class ships: 1,188 feet Length of Meyer Turku dry dock: 1,198 feet I'm guessing Icon will be nearly identical in length to Oasis or an additional 2-5 feet at the most.

Hmm...it looks the same. Is the color slightly different?

Is anyone else disappointed that Viva has the same hull art as Prima? Will this be the case with all of the ships in this class? I thought part of NCL's brand was unique art for each ship.

I hope you're wrong, but with the industry in so much turmoil right now I suppose anything is possible. Still, the fact that Royal Caribbean has also not released any info about Icon of the Seas makes me think both companies know July/Aug is a terrible time to launch any marketing effort. With summer vacations most people are not focused on booking their next trip. Even outside of the cruise industry, few products are launched this time of year. Hopefully, both RCI and Princess are just waiting for the Fall to unveil their new ships.

Installation of Harmony of the Seas' bridge block for comparison...

I've not experienced the 'Flying Carpet' so my opinion may not matter, but I always thought the feature looked like scaffolding or construction equipment on the side of the ship. I think it's the orange paint. It certainly makes it visible, but not very attractive. I also wonder how such a huge, complicated mechanical feature will endure with time. Will maintenance be an issue after years of exposure to salt water and rust? I wouldn't be surprised if 10 or 15 years from now, these Magic Carpets are removed.

Here's an image of the Project Mille model from Fincantieri. Most of the design is about the lower portion of the hull and the decks below the waterline—particularly the arrangement of engines and machinery. The most obvious change from other ships is the position of the engines in the middle of the hull. That's why the funnel is in the center of the ship rather than the aft. It creates better weight distribution, stability, and speed for the ship. This midship engine placement means a complete rethink of the upper decks and pools. This is why the MSC and NCL ships based on this design have pools at the lower aft deck.

I've never heard this before. Is there a source behind this? Just curious. Most of the big cruise companies "own" their ship designs so they can't be copied by competitors. However, there are cases where a shipyard develops a basic hull design and it's then used by different cruise lines. For example, Fincantieri created their Project Mille which was adapted by MSC for their Seaside-class ships as well as NCL for their Prima-class ships. I wonder if Meyer Werft created the design for the Quantum-class intending the ship for Celebrity or MSC before ultimately being bought by Royal Caribbean. The only problem with this is that Royal Caribbean tends to do their own ship designs rather than rely on shipyards. For example, I know that after buying Celebrity, Royal Caribbean developed the Radiance-class (built by Meyer Werft in Germany) and the Millennium-class (built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in France) together. Although the ships look nothing alike, they have very similar 'bones' (hull designs and engineering). By RCI designing these ships with very similar hulls and having them built by different yards, they saved a lot of development costs.

Prima is weird, but Epic is hideous.

Let’s be honest, Prima is a weird looking ship. I’ve made a few changes to give her a more beautiful profile. Actual Prima is on top. My redesign is below.

Here's the thread about the new class. The image is from a Princess presentation. There are a few more images on the board, but official details about the Sphere-class haven't been revealed yet. Princess said details would be coming this month, but some fear those announcements have been delayed. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2802715-new-princess-sphere-class-ships/