Papenburg yard gets second Challenger

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, Germany. The contract for the construction of a second ship follows an order for the first 118,000 gt post-Panamax Challenger class ship which was placed last summer.

The new ship will be 315 m long, 36.8 m wide and have a capacity of 2,850 passengers 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% of the ship?s stateroom 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 diesel engines and podded propulsion system driven by a 63,000 kW diesel-electric power plant.

The first Challenger, to be named Celebrity Solstice, is expected to be delivered in the autumn of 2008 while the second one, Celebrity Equinox, is to be completed in the summer of 2009.

Meyer Werft has already built five cruise ships for Celebrity Cruises in the early and mid 90s.