Celebrity orders another from Meyer

Celebrity orders third vessel

The cruise operator Celebrity Cruises, an affiliated company of Royal Caribbean Cruises, has ordered a third large cruise vessel from German shipbuilder Meyer Werft in Papenburg. The contract calls for the construction of a third unit of the Solstice class following the two orders which were placed late last summer and in February 2006. Delivery of the lead ship, Celebrity Solstice, is planned for autumn 2008, followed by Celebrity Equinox in summer 2009 and the third unit in June 2010.

These118,000 gt newbuildings will be 315 m long and 36,8 m wide and each will have 1,425 cabins providing accommodation for 2,850 passengers. The vessels continue Celebrity?s tradition of incorporating features typically associated with luxury cruising. For example, more than 90% of the ships? staterooms will be outside cabins, and more than 90% 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 a 67,000 kW diesel electric plant powering podded propulsion systems. Celebrity estimates the all-in cost of the ship to be approximately $245,000 per berth, based on current exchange rates.