Inside View:
COMING SOON
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Overview of Quantum of the Seas..........................................page one
The Nautical Perspective.......................................................page two Public Space Wows..............................................................page three Accommodation Innovations.................................................page four More to Come.......................................................................page five |
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The nautical perspective
Quantum of the Seas will be 167,000 gross tons, 1,141 feet long and 131 feet wide. This will make her somewhat larger in volume, slightly longer and significantly narrower than Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. These dimensions will make Quantum the world's third largest cruise ship after fleetmates Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas. However, the size of the ship is simply a by-product of the various features that Royal wanted to incorporate into the design, not an objective in itself. “I constantly argue that our objective is not to build the biggest in the world, our objective is to build the best.” Mr. Fain emphasized. As part of this, an important goal was to make the design efficient. “We have put a lot into energy efficiency on this vessel. It will be as environmentally friendly as we know how. That has led to a sleeker design when it comes to the hull of the ship - - the curvature of the hull. They went through a thousand possible designs of the bulbous bow and the one they came up with is one percent more fuel efficient. That may not sound like much but if all you do is change the nose and you get one percent on your fuel bill, that is good.” 
Above: A Royal Caribbean rendering of Quantum at sea.
A goal that was widely-rumored before the unveiling was that the ship would be an all-weather cruise ship. Most cruise ships are still designed with the smooth waters of the Caribbean or the Mediterranean in mind. However, over the last decade, the cruise lines have been basing ships in more northerly ports where the weather can be more of an issue. Rumor had it that Quantum would be built to handle such conditions. Harri Kulovaara, Executive Vice President of Marine & Newbuilding, confirmed that Quantum was designed to be an “all-season” ship. “We have had that in our minds. The ship will be sailing out of New York, you want to have the all-season thinking in that.” (Quantum will be homeported in New York Harbor at the Cape Liberty Cruise Terminal in Bayonne, New Jersey). “Our thinking has been to work very hard on the seakeeping capabilities. She has more draft and different hull forms.” |
However, that does not mean that Quantum has been designed to be an ocean liner like Cunard's Queen Mary 2, which was designed to handle the rigors of the North Atlantic. “She is not a liner. We still intend to sail in smooth waters rather than the rough seas of the North Atlantic. We are not in the liner business.”
Executive Vice President Harri Kulovaara.
Still, as Captain Herman Zini, Associate Vice President and Fleet Captain, noted: “It is no secret that sailing a ship from New York in the winter is challenging. A ship that is designed for that itinerary, you can pretty much sail it on any other.”
An issue that has troubled many cruise ships based in northern climes stems from the fact that the upper decks are open to the weather. While this is great when the ship is in warm sunny waters, it means that a significant amount of the public space is unusable when the ship is in colder weather. Captain Zini pointed out that if you look at Quantum's upper decks, you will notice that much of the public space is covered. This includes not only the Solarium swimming pool area but also the ship's sports complex. The sports complex can be transformed into an entertainment area thus making it more useful than the open air sports complexes on previous cruise ships. “The ship makes very interesting flexible use of space.” While Quantum is designed to be an all season ship, Captain Zini cautioned that being all-season does not define the ship. “It is just one more feature.” As compared to other cruise ships, Quantum will have quite respectable although not outstanding speed. “She is designed for 22 knots but has the capability to reach 24. 22 is what we would call the itinerary speed. We have been looking at range and optimizing speeds. We have a tremendous focus on energy efficiency on all our ships.” Mr. Kulovaara explained. Quantum will have two azipods and three bowthrusters. This will give her the enhanced maneuverability that comes from an azipod propulsion system. “We [first] installed them in 1999 and we have not looked back. We have them on the Voyager class, the Radiance class, the Freedom class, Oasis and Allure and now Quantum. They have tremendous power and maneuverability - - something the captains appreciate very much. You want to be able to do your own power.” Captain Zini said. |
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Cruise ship feature article - - Quantum of the Seas - - Royal Caribbean - Quantum of the Seas Revealed - page 2