Fincantieri on Thursday launched a new eco-friendly cruise liner at its Venice yard which it is constructing for the world's largest cruise operator Carnival Corporation's Holland America Line brand, the Italian shipbuilder said in a statement.
The fitting-out phase of the 'Rotterdam' can now begin and is due to be completed next summer with the handing over of the ship, the statement said.
Thursday's launch was inaugurated by the traditional well-wishing “coin ceremony” in which according to an ancient shipbuilding custom, a silver dollar is welded on the last deck of the ship, said the statement.
The godmother (Madrina) of the ceremony was Mai Elmar, executive director of Cruise Port Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Holland America Group Vice President New Building Cyril Tatar and the Marghera shipyard's director Antonio Quintano were among those who attended the ceremony.
The new unit, sister ship of “Koningsdam” and “Nieuw Statendam”, the “Pinnacle” class ships delivered respectively in March 2016 and 2018 from the same shipyard, is the fourteenth ship built for this brand by the Marghera shipyard.
The cruise liner will be about 99,800 gross tons and almost 300 metres long, with accommodation for 2,668 passengers in 1,340 cabins. The ship will have "a modern and contemporary style" and like its sister ships will be designed by two of the world’s most renowned architecture studios, Tihany Design and Yran & Storbraaten.
'The architecture of music' is "an inspirational element" in the design of many of the ship's public areas, the statement noted.
The ship’s technology is aimed at optimizing energy efficiency and minimizing damage to the environment and the vessel meets the most stringent safety regulations, according to the statement.
