One a year

The delivery of MS Mariner of the Seas recently took place at Kvaerner Masa-Yards’ Turku shipyard is the fifth cruise ship in the Voyager-class series for Royal Caribbean Cruises.

The first four ships, Voyager of the Seas, Explorer of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas have been delivered annually since autumn 1999, one ship per year.

With a gross tonnage of 140,000, a capacity of 3,800 passengers and a crew of 1,200, totalling some 5,000 people onboard, the Voyager-class cruise ships are the biggest cruise ships sailing. The total length of Mariner of the Seas is 311.1 metres (1020 ft), the breadth is 38.6 meters (126 ft) at waterline level (49.1 metres / 161 ft breadth at the bridge wings) and the height from the keel to the top of the funnel is 72.3 metres (237 ft).

This Post-Panamax size ship has a four deck high horizontal promenade, a design featured for the first time on this Voyager-class series. The length of the promenade is 120 metres, and at ach end it has an 11 deck high atrium.

Mariner of the Seas has been built in a very short time for this size of a cruise vessel. Production started in summer 2001 and she was docked out in February 2003. The successful sea trials took place in the first week of September this year.