Jewel of the Seas will be delivered in 2004

Papenburg, 11.11.2002 - The first of 66 blocks of the new cruise vessel Jewel of the Seas for Royal Caribbean International was lifted into position in the covered building dock of the MEYER WERFT shipyard in Papenburg/Germany on last saturday. In the presence of the yard´s managing partner Bernard Meyer and director Jarmo Laakso, Royal Caribbean's senior executive vice president of fleet operations, Harri Kulovaara, laid the "lucky penny" before the first block of the new ship was lowered down onto the keel blocks in the building dock by the yard´s 800-ton crane. The block weighs almost 400 tons, is 20 metres long, 32 metres wide and 8.0 metres high. The Jewel of the Seas is the fourth in a series of luxury cruise ships for Royal Caribbean International. Early 2003 the owner will decide on the option for two further ships to be delivered in 2005 and 2006 respectively. The vessel will have a length overall of 293 metres, a sailing speed of more than 24 knots and will accommodate max. 2520 passengers in 1055 cabins. Like the sister vessels Radiance, Brilliance and Serenade of the Seas the new ship will be fitted with two podded drives of 360° efficiency. The propellers will be directly driven by electric motors installed in a pod under the ship´s hull. Two environmentally friendly and smokeless gas turbines and one steam turbine will supply the vessel with energy for the propulsion and the hotel operation. Due to the special combustion process the nitrogen oxide content of the exhaust gases from the gas-oil operated turbines is very low. Furthermore the exhaust gases from the gas turbines generate steam in the exhaust gas boilers which is then transformed into energy by the steam turbine. Delivery of the new passenger cruise vessel is scheduled for the early summer 2004.