M/S Freedom of the Seas

General Characteristics
*M/S Freedom of the Seas*

Ordered:	September 2003
Laid down:	November 9, 2004
Launched:	August 22, 2005
Christened:	May 12, 2006 at Bayonne, NJ on New York Harbor
Maiden Voyage:	9 June 2006 (Caribbean)
Status:	In Service
Tonnage:	160,000 gross
Draft:	28 feet or 8.5 meters
Length:	1,112 feet or 339 m
Beam:	38.6 m (126.65 ft) waterline, 56.0 m (183.7 ft) extreme (bridge wings)
Height:	63.7 m (18 Decks High)
Power:	Six Wartsila 46 V12 diesels each rated at 12.6 MW (~17,000hp) driving electric generators at 514 rpms.
Propulsion:	Three ABB Azipod podded electric propulsion units, two of them azimuthing, one fixed. 4 additional bow thrusters.
Speed:	21.6 knots (40 km/h)
Complement:	4,370 passengers and 1,360 crew
Cost:	About US $947,000,000 (~750m Euro or GB£520m)

M/S Freedom of the Seas is a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship. The 18-deck ship is the largest cruise and passenger ship in existence. She is 2.4 meters narrower than the Queen Mary 2, 6 meters shorter, and has 1.5 meters less draft. However, at 160,000 tons, Freedom of the Seas has more gross tonnage than QM2's 151,400; Freedom has the highest gross tonnage of any passenger ship ever built. She likely will keep that title until construction of her owner's Genesis class ships.

The ship features an interactive water park (including the FlowRider onboard wave generator for surfing), a dedicated sports pool (for volleyball, basketball, etc.), and whirlpools which extend from each of the ship's sides. In addition to these luxuries, she sports a coffee shop which will also sell books, Sorrento's Pizzeria, and a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream shop. Other amenities include a rock climbing wall, ice skating rink, Wi-Fi capabilities throughout the ship, flat screen televisions in all staterooms, and cell phone connectivity.

The Freedom of the Seas was built at the Aker Finnyards drydock in Turku, Finland which is also building her sister ship, Liberty of the Seas (scheduled for launch in 2007). A third, unnamed, ship of the same class is also scheduled for delivery in 2008. The ship was docked at Blohm und Voss in Hamburg, Germany on 17 April 2006 for final touches prior to her official hand over to Royal Caribbean International on 24 April 2006. Following this, she departed first to Oslo, Norway on 25 April for some official festivites before making her way to Southampton, England on 27 April (arriving at 9am on 29 April) prior to her maiden trans-atlantic crossing on 3 May 2006.

The ship crossed the Atlantic to New York Harbor, USA for her official naming ceremony on 12 May 2006 which was broadcast live on NBC's The Today Show from Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, New Jersey (which is the ship's official New York berth) Travelling to Boston afterwards for the weekend of May 19-22. She began operations out of Miami with her first cruise launch on June 4th, sailing to western Caribbean locations in Mexico, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica as well as Labadee, in Haiti, one of Royal Caribbean's private resorts.

The added width of the ship is utilized by the interior promenade extending through the upper decks of the ships. This gives all upper level cabins a window, either to the port or starboard side or inwards to the promenade. This design was first used in the cruiseferry M/S Silja Serenade and her sister ship in 1990.

In 2009, the first in a new Genesis class of ships is slated to displace the Freedom class as the world's largest passenger ship.

Facts about the ship

It is exactly twice as wide as the Titanic's 28 metre wide and has 30 lifeboats.
Two Statue of Libertys would match the height of the 63.4 metre tall ship.
The $1 million a day operating costs pay for 750000 lightbulbs, 4700 works of art and 35000kg of ice used daily.
The largest suite is 113sq metres, sleeps 14 people and has five flatscreen tvs, a private whirlpool and a wet bar.
It took 6.8 million working house to build and weighs as much as 125000 elephants.
Rooms cost from $1900 to $22000 a week.

External links

Gallery

Image:Freedom of the Seas vor Finkenwerder.JPG|Freedom of the Seas cruising the river Elbe in Germany Image:Freedom of the Seas Hamburg 17042006 6.JPG|Freedom of the Seas going to dock in Hamburg Image:IMGP0195.JPG|Freedom of the Seas – Hamburg Cruise Center – April 24, 2006 Image:Freedom of the Seas Oslo 26 april 2006.jpg|Freedom of the Seas in Oslo, April 26, 2006 Image:H2OZone.JPG|H2OZone (children's pool) aboard Freedom of the Seas Image:main_pool_freedom.jpg|Artist's Rendering of the Main Pool Image:RoyalPromenade.JPG|Royal Promenade aboard Freedom of the Seas Image:Flowrider.jpg|The Flowrider aboard Freedom of the Seas

Cruise ships | Ships built in Finland | Royal Caribbean International

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Facts about the ship

External links

Gallery