Marine Link
Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Allure News

08 Apr 2025

Watch: Allure of the Seas Upgrade

Source: Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean has launched a video showing the newly amplified Allure of the Seas, which is setting sail in the Mediterranean in April 2025 after a $100 million transformation. New features include the Pesky Parrot tiki bar, resort-style pools and a 10-story dry slide.Pool Days – Resort-style pools are at the center of the action on the reimagined Caribbean pool deck, along with a wide variety of shaded seating and lounging options, such as swim-up lounge chairs and more. For a relaxing adults-only getaway


01 Apr 2025

Austal Benefiting from Trump Policies

Source: Austal

U.S. President Donald Trump's policies that have rattled stocks around the world are benefiting Australian shipbuilder Austal, analysts said on Wednesday.Shares of the company, which supplies defence and commercial vessels to the Australian and U.S. navies among other clients, surged 35% in the three months ending March, clocking their best quarterly gains in nearly two years since June 2023.In contrast, the broader benchmark .AXJO lost about 4% on concerns of stretched valuations among financial stocks and the fallout from U.S.

02 Jan 2024

Great Ships of 2023: Icon of the Seas

Icon of the Seas (Photo: Royal Caribbean Group)

“Turku is building the real big ships,” said Meyer Turku CEO Tim Meyer.Meyer is not exaggerating. The yard’s latest newbuild, Icon of the Seas—the first ship of Royal Caribbean’s Icon class—is 248,655 GT, making it the largest cruise ship ever constructed.In general, the cruise ships rolling out of the nearly 300-year-old Finnish shipyard have been steadily increasing in size since the Meyer Group took full ownership in 2015. “We are proud to say Turku has been a first-mover in building these big new classes for Royal Caribbean


27 Nov 2023

World's Largest Cruise Ship: Meyer Turku Delivers Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas

Icon of the Seas. (Photo: Meyer Turku / Lavea Media)

Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku on Monday delivered the world's largest cruise ship, the 248,655 GT Icon of the Seas, to U.S.-based Royal Caribbean International.The 365-meter-long cruise ship has 20 decks (including 18 guest decks) and surpasses the previous world's largest, Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class Allure of the Seas. With 2,805 staterooms, Icon is able to carry 5,610 passengers at double occupancy, or up to 7,600 passengers if every cabin is maxed out—another cruise industry record.

26 Jun 2023

Why the Titanic Disaster Continues to Enthrall

© nyiragongo / Adobe Stock

The question on many minds this week is why did some of the world’s richest men risk death to venture to the bottom of the sea in a cold and cramped “experimental” submersible for a chance to glimpse the wreck of the Titanic?The “unsinkable” ship that sunk on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in 1912 after colliding with an iceberg is arguably the world’s most well-known boat. The Titanic is recognisable to more of the world’s population than, say, the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria (Christopher Colombus’s fleet that launched the Spanish conquest of the Americas)


21 Jun 2023

World's Largest Cruise Ship Starts Sea Trials

(Photo: Dirk Schwarz, courtesy Meyer Turku)

Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas—the world's largest cruise ship—has commenced sea trials in the Baltic Sea.The 250,800 GT vessel, the first in Royal Caribbean's new Icon-class, has been under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland since June 2022. The fully assembled ship was floated out in December and is now undergoing final outfitting and testing.This first set of sea trials—which tests the performance of the ship's propulsion systems, navigation systems and other ship features


12 May 2023

Video: World's Largest Cruise Ship Taking Shape in Finland

Icon of the Seas (Photo: Royal Caribbean)

Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas—the world's largest cruise ship—is taking shape at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland.The 250,800 GT vessel, the first in Royal Caribbean's new Icon-class, has been under construction since June 2022. The fully assembled ship was floated out in December and is now undergoing final outfitting ahead of scheduled delivery in October or November 2023.First announced in 2016, the 1,198-foot-long Icon of the Seas will have 20 decks (including 18 guest decks) and will be bigger than the world's current largest cruise ship


24 Feb 2023

Marine Power - CEO in Focus: Chris-Marine’s Jens Groth

Jens Groth, CEO, Chris-Marine. Photo courtesy Chris-Marine

Malmö, Sweden-based Chris-Marine is long-tenured in the business of keeping engines running smoothly, efficiently. Led by its energetic young CEO Jens Groth, this 60-year-old- company finds itself in transition: firmly rooted in its traditional business of creating the tools and technique to keep commercial ship engines running smoothly, but at the same time transitioning its revenue to include services, particularly as ships at sea increasingly run with fewer, less experienced crew.

20 Oct 2022

Royal Caribbean Unveils World's Largest Cruise Ship Icon of the Seas

Icon of the Seas (Image: Meyer Turku)

Royal Caribbean has unveiled new design details for what is set to be the world's largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas.The 250,800 GT vessel, the first in Royal Caribbean's new Icon-class, is being built by Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku, who began construction in June. First announced in 2016, the mega cruise ship is scheduled for delivery in October or November 2023.The 1,198-foot-long Icon of the Seas will have 20 decks (including 18 guest decks) and will be bigger than the world's current largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class Allure of the Seas.

14 Sep 2022

German Coalition Divided Over Chinese Bid for Hamburg Port Terminal

© Wirestock / Adobe Stock

Germany's ruling coalition is divided over whether to let China's Cosco take a stake in a Hamburg port terminal, government sources say, even as Beijing urges Berlin not to politicize the bid and the port authority warns this could hurt the economy.Shipping giant Cosco last year made a bid to take a 35% stake in one of three terminals in Germany's largest port in the northern city of Hamburg.The German government's response is being seen as a gauge of how far it is willing to toughen its stance on China


21 Feb 2022

World's Largest Cruise Ship Makes US Debut

Wonder of the Seas (Photo: Port Everglades)

Port Everglades once again welcomes the largest cruise ship in the world. Royal Caribbean International's Wonder of the Seas docked at her homeport, Port Everglades, this weekend for her inaugural season beginning March 4. This is the fourth Oasis-Class ship to make its U.S. debut at Port Everglades.Built by French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique, the new 236,857 GT cruise ship takes the title of world's largest from its 228,081 GT sister ship Symphony of the Seas, in service since 2018.

20 Jul 2020

Delivery of World's Largest Cruise Ship Delayed Due to COVID-19

File photo: The keel laying ceremony was held for Wonder of the Seas at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard n October 2019. (Photo: Bernard Biger –Chantiers de l’Atlantique)

Delivery of the world's largest cruise ship Wonder of the Seas has been delayed due to coronavirus impacts at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. The shipyard delays mean Royal Caribbean's new record-breaking cruise ship will not enter service from Shanghai in spring 2021 as planned, a spokesperson for the cruise line confirmed to MarineLink after the news was announced on Royal Caribbean's Chinese website. A new delivery has not been specified. The 362-meter Wonder of the Seas will be slightly larger than its 228


22 Jul 2019

Offshore wind: One-stop power conversion

Optimal outputs: a wind-turbine permanent magnet generator at The Switch in Deyang. Image Courtesy Yaskawa’s The Switch

With the United States and China about to start their respective offshore wind build-ups, grid operators wondering about the efficiency of their turbines or the emissions-areas compliance of their wind-service vessels will be warmed to know there’s someone they can talk to. Yaskawa’s The Switch — a Japanese industrial giant’s European environmental tech business — is offering one-stop wind-energy shopping. As with shipping, you can order permanent magnet generators, drives and converters for your wind turbines. Take heart.

16 Jul 2019

IMO2020: The Rise of Bulk Liquid Hydrogen in Norway

Imagine a power distribution network where excess renewable energy from hydropower, wind, solar, and nuclear energy is converted to hydrogen and used as transportation fuel in the maritime industry. With the allure of a zero emissions fuel, a number of ship owners are starting to seriously consider hydrogen for newly built vessels. As a bold first step, the country of Norway has provided a number of grants to leading maritime companies to conduct feasibility studies into various aspects of this emerging technology sector. Central to this discussion is “how” hydrogen will be transported from its source to end-users.Norwegian based companies


02 Jul 2019

Meyer Turku Wins Another Royal Caribbean Newbuild Deal

Photo: Meyer Turku Oy

Royal Caribbean Cruises and Meyer Turku shipyard have signed an agreement (*) on the delivery of a third Icon class cruise ship, to be delivered from Turku in the spring of 2025. The previous Icon ships are to be delivered in 2022 and 2024. Icon ships will be approximately 200 000 gross tonnage cruise ships and will be powered by LNG.Meyer Turku has a long-standing history together with Royal Caribbean that was proven time and time again with many innovations and ships that were and are still the hallmarks of cruise ship building industry.

14 Jun 2019

Offshore wind: One-stop Power Conversion

Optimized drive: Fred Olsen Ocean’s Brave Tern. Image: Handout/Fred Olsen

With the United States and China about to start their respective offshore wind build-ups, grid operators wondering about the efficiency of their turbines or the emissions-areas compliance of their wind-service vessels will be warmed to know there’s someone they can talk to. Yaskawa’s The Switch — a Japanese industrial giant’s European environmental tech business — is offering one-stop wind-energy shopping. As with shipping, you can order permanent magnet generators, drives and converters for your wind turbines. Take heart. The lingo is the same.

26 Mar 2019

Can the Cruise Shipping Boom Continue?

MSC Cruises, the industry’s largest privately owned company, is in the midst of a $13 billion expansion which will bring its fleet, following the delivery of MSC Meraviglia in 2017, to 25 vessels by the mid 2020’s. Still on order are four Meraviglia class ships. Photo: MSC

As the global cruise industry enjoys it most robust period of growth ever, the question invariably becomes: How long can it last?Cruising, which is a blend of the hospitality and maritime businesses, continues to grow at a historic pace. The Cruise Trends & Industry Outlook publication from Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) projects a passenger count of 30 million in 2019 – up nearly 2 million from the previous year. By year end 2019 CLIA members – a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the largest brands – will have 272 vessels


31 Oct 2018

Marine Coatings: Polyflake Protects against Corrosion

Photo: Polyflake

Corrosion starts from the inside out. The alkali that neutralizes acid water - and the acid water produced in a gas scrubbing system - are corrosive. Containment surfaces resistant to both alkali, acid water and their combination provide a safer ship with less expensive maintenance. While selecting metal alloys as more resistant to either acid or to alkali, facing all conditions simultaneously is problematic, as temperature plays an important role in pitting corrosion.Ultimately


18 Jul 2018

For the Global LNG Industry, is the FSRU Honeymoon Over?

(Photo: Höegh LNG)

A giant vessel docked at the port of Moheshkhali in Bangladesh two months ago, propelling the populous but poor nation into the fast-expanding club of liquefied natural gas (LNG) buyers.The Excellence is the latest floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), a type of carrier that has proliferated since 2015 as many countries switch to a cleaner and increasingly cheaper fuel than oil and coal.But the young FSRU industry has been beset by more project delays than successes in the past 12 months as fluctuating energy prices


01 Jun 2018

Meyer Turku Floats Out New Mein Schiff 2

Mein Schiff 2 (Photo: Meyer Turku Shipyard)

A month after the delivery of New Mein Schiff 1, the next ship in line, New Mein Schiff 2, has been floated out at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland. New Mein Schiff 2 will be delivered to the customer, German TUI Cruises, early next year.The timetable for the construction of the ship shows how Turku shipyard has already been ramping up the production volume to meet the increasing demands from the order book.“Our block production capacity is already up on the level with previous high from 2010, when the shipyard was building Allure of the Seas.

02 Nov 2017

Coin Ceremony Held for Costa Venezia

Michael Thamm, CEO Costa Group, CEO Carnival Asia gives speech at Costa Cruises New Ship Coin Ceremony (Photo: Costa Cruises)

Carnival Corporation’s Italian brand Costa Cruises held a coin ceremony for its newest ship, Costa Venezia, which is being built to service the Chinese market from 2019. The new 135,500-ton cruise liner is being built by Italy-based shipbuilder Fincantieri, and is the first Vista-class ship specifically designed and built for China. Michael Thamm, CEO of Costa Group and Carnival Asia, said, “The Costa Venezia demonstrates our strong commitment and confidence in the world’s fastest growing cruise market.

11 Oct 2016

Finnish Shipyard wins Ship Deal from Royal Caribbean

Miami-based cruise line operator Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Meyer Turku shipyard signed a memorandum of agreement for two next generation cruise ship orders to be delivered in 2022 and 2024. The around 200,000 gross ton large cruise ships under the project name “Icon” will mark the beginning of a new generation of LNG powered cruise ships with a number of innovations such as an application of fuel cells for power generation. Fuel cells are a very energy efficient and clean way to generate electrical energy. “With Icon class, we begin the journey to take the smoke out of our smokestacks", said Richard Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.

29 Jul 2016

New 'Mega Passenger Ship' for Star Cruises

Concept design of the new Global Class mega cruise ship to be built by MV Werften for Star Cruises (Image: Elomatic)

Elomatic Ltd and Deltamarin Ltd have signed a tri-party engineering contract with shipbuilder MV Werften for the design of Star Cruises’ new Global Class “mega passenger ship,” which, once completed, will be the largest passenger vessel ever built in Germany. The new cruise liner will measure over 340 meters long, 45 meters wide and have a gross register tonnage of 200,001. The general arrangement plans for the Global Class cruise ships were completed with Foreship Oy (Foreship) in June following Genting Hong Kong’s purchase of the MV Werften shipyards in April.