Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s Allure of the Seas, the world’s biggest cruise ship, will set sail for its home port of Florida tomorrow from Finland.
Shipbuilder STX Europe AS delivered the liner today at the Turku shipyard, where the vessel was built, STX said in an e- mailed statement.
Allure of the Seas, which accommodates 6,360 passengers, will be based in Ft. Lauderdale, STX said. Oasis of the Seas, the Allure’s sister ship, was delivered a year ago and has been “very successful” in the leisure cruise market, STX said.
Royal Caribbean, which this week raised its 2010 profit forecast and predicted record sales next year, ordered the vessel in April 2007 before the global financial crisis hit.
Demand for cruises is now “steady and solid,” said Chief Executive Officer Richard Fain, who steered the cruise line through the recession by slashing prices to attract bargain- seeking travelers.
The Allure of the Seas has a Central Park with 12,000 plants, including 56 trees and a bar that moves 10 meters (32.8 feet) up and down between decks. Guests can learn to surf on a simulator, jog on a half-mile track or relax in a 3D-equipped movie theater.
The ship next in size to the Allure and the Oasis can sleep 3,600 guests. Construction, which took 2 1/2 years, gave work to about 900 subcontractor companies in addition to STX.
The shipyard that built the vessel this week won its next order from Viking Line Abp, a Finnish cruise operator, for a ferry on its Baltic Sea route. The vessel may use liquefied natural gas as fuel.
Allure of the Seas will sail on its maiden voyage to Haiti from Ft. Lauderdale on Dec. 1.
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