Second post-PanMax ship from Papenburg Papenburg, 17.02.2006 - The American cruise operator Celebrity Cruises, an affiliated company of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., has ordered another large cruise vessel from MEYER WERFT in Papenburg. The contract for the construction of a second ship follows an order for the first Challenger class ship which was placed as late as last summer. The new ship for Celebrity Cruises will be 315 m long and 36,8 m wide. 2,850 passengers will be accommodated in 1,425 cabins. The vessel continues Celebrity's tradition of incorporating in their ships features typically associated with luxury cruising. For example, more than 90 percent of the ship's stateroom will be outside cabins, and more than 90 percent of those rooms will have balconies. Standard staterooms onboard the new ships will average 215 square feet, much larger than those typically found in the cruise industry. The ships will be equipped with diesel engines and Pod propulsion systems. The overall engine output will be 63,000 kW (86,000 hp). The ship will have a size of 118,000 gt, which means that the Papenburg shipyard and Celebrity Cruises will again pass the "magic" limit of 100,000 gt. The ships are so-called "post-PanMax" ships, which means that they can no longer pass the locks of the Panama Canal due to their length and width. The first Challenger class ship is expected to be delivered in the autumn of 2008 while the second one is to be completed in the summer of 2009. "Together with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. we have developed a truly innovative ship of this size, and we really appreciate that we can build these ships for the Celebrity Cruises brand," says Bernard Meyer, CEO and managing partner of the shipyard. MEYER WERFT already built five cruise ships for Celebrity Cruises in the early and mid 90s. Four ships of the Radiance-class for Royal Caribbean were built in the last years in Papenburg as well.