MS Freedom of the Seas

300px Freedom of the Seas off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico in its maiden voyage.
Career
Name:	Freedom of the Seas
Owner:	Royal Caribbean International
Operator:	Royal Caribbean International
Port of registry:	Bahamas
Ordered:	September 2003
Builder:	STX Europe shipyards in Turku, Finland
Cost:	US $~800,000,000 (~550m Euro or GB£500m)
Laid down:	November 9, 2004
Christened:	May 12, 2006 at Bayonne, NJ on New York Harbor by Katherine Louise Calder
Maiden voyage:	4 June 2006 (Caribbean)
Identification:	Call sign: C6UZ7 DNV ID: 25177 IMO number: 9304033 MMSI no.:
Status:	In Active Service as of 2010
Notes:	CDC sanitation score: 100% (2008-08-24)
General characteristics
Class and type:	Det Norske Veritas: 1A1 Passenger Ship RP F-M LCS-DC BIS
Tonnage:	gross tonnage (GT) of 154,407 tons
Length:	1,111.9 ft (338.91 m)
Beam:	126.64 ft (38.60 m) waterline 184 ft (56.08 m) extreme (bridge wings) ,
Height:	209 ft (63.7 m or 15 decks high)
Draught:	28 ft (8.53 m)
Decks:	18 total decks, 15 passenger decks
Installed power:	Six Wärtsilä 46 V12 diesels each rated at 12.6 MW (~17,000hp) driving electric generators at 514 rpm.
Propulsion:	Three ABB Azipod podded electric propulsion units, two of them azimuthing, one fixed. 4 additional bow thrusters.
Speed:	21.6-knot (40 km/h; 25 mph)
Capacity:	3,634 passengers
Crew:	1,360 crew
Notes:

MS Freedom of the Seas is a cruise ship owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International. It is the namesake of Royal Caribbean's Freedom Class cruise ships, and can accommodate 3,634 passengers and 1,300 crew^{[citation needed]} on fifteen passenger decks. Freedom of the Seas was the largest passenger ship ever built (by gross tonnage) from 2006 until construction of the Oasis Class ships in late 2009, also owned by Royal Caribbean International.

Construction

File:Freedom of the seas construction.jpg

The ship under construction at Aker Yards (now STX Europe) in Turku.

The Freedom of the Seas was built at the Aker Yards drydock in Turku, Finland, which also is building the other ships of the Freedom Class. Upon its completion, it became the largest passenger ship ever built, taking that honor from Cunard's RMS Queen Mary 2.

Freedom of the Seas is 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in) narrower than QM2 at the waterline, 6 metres (20 ft) shorter, has 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) less draft, is 8.3 metres (27 ft) less tall and 10 miles per hour (16 km/h) slower. Freedom however is the larger ship in terms of gross tonnage. While its gross tonnage was estimated to range from 154,000 GT to 160,000 GT, its official rating by Det Norske Veritas, a Norwegian marine classification society, is 154,407 GT, compared with QM2's 148,528 GT. Freedom of the Seas had the highest gross tonnage of any passenger ship yet built, until the 2009 completion of the MS Oasis of the seas.

Features

The ship has an interior promenade 445 feet (136 m) long. The promenade has shops on each side.

The ship has three swimming areas: an interactive water park, a dedicated adult pool and the main pool. There are two adults-only whirlpools cantilevered out from the ship's sides, the Royal Promenade sports, a coffee shop, Sorrento's Pizzeria, a Ben and Jerry's ice-cream shop, Vintage's winery, the Bull and Bear Irish pub, and many Duty-free shops. The 13th deck has a sports area with a rock climbing wall, the FlowRider (an onboard wave generator for surfing), a miniature golf course and a full size basketball court. Other items include an ice skating rink, a casino, a Johnny Rockets restaurant, Wi-Fi capabilities throughout the ship, flat panel televisions in all staterooms, and cell phone connectivity.

Career

Freedom of the Seas was docked at Blohm und Voss in Hamburg, Germany on 17 April 2006 to repair a damaged bearing in one of the three Azipod propulsion units and to put on some of the finishing touches prior to its official handover to Royal Caribbean International on 24 April 2006. It then departed to Oslo, Norway on 25 April for official festivities. It then sailed for Southampton, England on 27 April and arrived at 9am on 29 April. The ship sailed on its first transatlantic crossing on 3 May 2006.

Freedom of the Seas arrived in New York Harbor USA for its 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 (the ship's official New York berth), and thereafter travelled to Boston for the weekend of May 19-22. It began operations out of Miami with its first cruise and maiden voyage on June 4, 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 most 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 in 1990 and its twin ship, M/S Silja Symphony in 1991.

For America's Next Top Model Cycle 9 casting the ship was used for the setting.

On May 4, 2009, Freedom of the Seas moved its home port from the Port of Miami-Dade to Port Canaveral, where it replaced Mariner of the Seas.

Facts and figures

File:Freedom of the seas basketball court.jpg

The basketball court on Freedom of the Seas

• The ship has 30 lifeboats.
• It is about 229 ft (69.80 m) longer, about 108,000 GT larger, and can accommodate 2,147 more passengers than RMS Titanic.
• It has 75,000 lightbulbs and 4,700 works of art, and uses 35,000 kilograms (77,000 lb) of ice daily.
• It has 1.5 million tiles in the bathrooms, shower rooms, etc.
• The largest suite, the Presidential Suite, is 113 square metres (1,220 sq ft), accommodates 14 people and has ten flat panel TVs, a private whirlpool, a wet bar, and a Yamaha GC1 baby-grand piano.
• Rooms for the maiden voyage were priced from $1,900 to $22,000 for the week.
• It consumes approximately 28,000 pounds (12,800 kg) of fuel per hour, enough to refill a 13 US gallons (49 l; 11 imp gal) tank in a car at one tank a week for over six years.
• It is one of the few ships with 4 bow thrusters on each side with 8 bow thrusters in total.

Provisions

During a typical week long cruise, the Freedom of the Seas goes through the following amount of food:

• 234,000 appetizers (6 appetizers per day per person); 105,000 meals and 300,680 desserts (7.5 desserts per day per person)
• 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) of beef, including 69,000 steaks (1.7 steaks per day per person)
• 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg) of chicken
• 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) of seafood; 2,500 pounds (1,100 kg) of salmon and 1,400 pounds (640 kg) of lobster
• 65,000 pounds (29,000 kg) of fresh vegetables and 35,000 pounds (16,000 kg) of fresh fruits (2.5 pounds (1.1 kg) of fruit and veg per day per person)
• 5,800 pounds (2,600 kg) of cheese
• 28,000 fresh eggs
• 18,000 slices of pizza
• 8,000 US gallons (30,000 l; 6,700 imp gal) of ice cream
• 1,500 pounds (680 kg) of coffee and 1,500 US gallons (5,700 l; 1,200 imp gal) of milk
• 11,500 cans of soda; 19,200 bottles and cans of beer and 2,900 bottles of wine

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[[Commons: Category:Freedom of the Seas

| MS Freedom of the Seas

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• National Geographic Channel
• Aker Yards, Finland
• Freedom of the Seas Official Website
• Freedom of the Seas UK Official Website
• Royal Caribbean's Official Website
• Royal Caribbean's Official UK Website
• BBC News "Final polish at Germany's Blohm + Voss shipyard"
• Aftenposten Norway "World's largest cruise ship in Oslo"
• BBC News "Massive cruise ship arrives in UK"
• BBC News "Huge cruise ship leaves UK shores"