Chat With Special Guest Teijo Niemelä!

[Daphna101]

Cancel-noticed session is over.

[editor@cruisecritic]

So feel free to continue! Daphna, he's working on yours as we speak....

 

Carolyn

 

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

 

Cancel-noticed session is over.

[Daphna101]

Thank you .

[Cruise Business]

Tony F., I'm tackling a few of them quickly. Here's another excerpt from Cruise Business Review:

 

Kai Levander headed (just retired last month) the Naval Architecture function at Aker Yards Cruise & Ferries, covering the project design activities at Aker Yards Turku and Raumo in Finland as well as at Aker Yards in St. Nazaire in France, with in all some 100 persons employed. "Here in Turku we have been occupied to 75 percent by the Oasis project for a long time. We started the project back in year 2004," he said, recalling the year the first meetings on the project took place with Harri Kulovaara at Royal Caribbean International.

 

Teijo

 

 

Good evening Teijo,

 

Maybe you can answer some of my questions. Oasis is indeed an incredible ship. I would like to know how does the concept come to a beginning; how long before construction begun was project "Genesis" in the drawing boards and how did the idea begin? How does the design of a ship affect the construction process? I understand there are limitations on building a ship this large, why build big instead of small - economies of scale? What have been some of the design and construction challenges the shipyard has faced while building Oasis of the Seas? Are there any new building techniques being used in the construction of Oasis? Does Central Park and Boardwalk count inside the calculation for gross tonnage of Oasis since they are exterior spaces?

 

Thanks.

[catcher11]

Hey Teijo,

 

My questions are do you see in the near future cruise ships getting even bigger that Oasis will be? Also, do you think with the cruising industry getting bigger every year with new ships setting sail almost every year, could the economy (more specifically the US economy) be effected by the huge increase?

 

Thanks

[Cruise Business]

Hi Daphna101, thank you for asking about the cabins. For years (actually decades), the standard cabins have been built at a separate cabin factory close to the Turku shipyard in southern Finland. From there, they are wrapped up (to protect from weather) and then trucked to the shipyard. There, they are lifted by crane and hoisted onto the appropriate deck where they're slotted in like puzzle pieces!

 

There's an interesting story on Cruise Critic, actually, about the process; take a look here for more details: http://www.cruisecritic.com/features/articles.cfm?ID=405.

 

It's almost eerie how the cabins, once they arrive at the ship, are so fully in place. They have beds, vanities, bathrooms, air conditioning units and, where applicable, mini-bars. Sometimes the pictures are already hung on the walls and telephones are tucked into desks.

 

Once moved onboard, they're connected to electricity and plumbing. Also, here's another interesting (and perhaps debatable fact): there's a spare couple of centimetres of empty space between each cabin to provide some semblance of soundproofing.

 

Teijo

 

 

Good Evening:

 

I recently learned that the cabins are of modular setup. How are they connected to each other?

 

Thank you

Daphna

[Daphna101]

Thank you for a wonderful response.

 

Since you mentioned soundproofing. For an example on the Solstice / Equinox, all the aqua class / and penthouse suites are under the pool area. I would have thought that these cabins, (more expensive) might have been sheilded from potential pool noise and deck noise from above.

 

Curious if you have insite to this.

 

Daphna

[Cruise Business]

catcher11, thank you regarding the question the future of the cruise industry. We are already seeing the slowing down of the industry in the U.S. with less newbuilding order s and that shows us that this market is moving at a slower growth rate than it has in the past few years.

 

However, Europe and some emerging markets are still growing fast and that's good news not only for Europe- and Asia-based lines like MSC and Star Cruises but also for U.S.-based lines who are working harder then ever to market to a global audience. However, during the over 20 years I have been covering this industry, I have truly never seen a big decline in the popularity, only occasional hiccups. The cruise industry has a tremendous strengths, which other leisure segments don't necessarily have. It's considered a recession resistant type of travel because cruises offer a great value.

 

And for Daphna101, thank you for Solstice cabin question. I will be visiting next time on the Solstice next month, and I'll try to take a look at this aspect; stay tuned to Cruise Critic as there will be lots of coverage on Solstice at the end of September.

 

I just want to thank you for joining me on this exciting evening! If you want a recap of what was announced about Oasis tonight, check out this news item (and vote in the poll!): http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=2753.

 

Teijo

 

 

 

 

Hey Teijo,

 

My questions are do you see in the near future cruise ships getting even bigger that Oasis will be? Also, do you think with the cruising industry getting bigger every year with new ships setting sail almost every year, could the economy (more specifically the US economy) be effected by the huge increase?

 

Thanks