Passenger Ship Interiors & Refurbishment Review 2018

2018 A supplement to Passenger Ship Technology

PASSENGER SHIP

Interior & Refurbishment REVIEW Expedition cruise ships: revolutionising interior design

CRUISE SHIP BUILDING IN CHINA: A ‘NEW FRONTIER’ FOR INTERIORS

FUTURE OF THE FJORDS: PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES IN FERRY DESIGN

CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE: THE INTERIOR DESIGN FOCUS FOR ITS LATEST REFITS AND NEWBUILDS

Contents Published November 2018

PASSENGER SHIP

Interior & Refurbishment REVIEW www.passengership.info

Regulars 3 COMMENT

Carnival Cruise Line refurbishment 4 Carnival Cruise Line unveils its refurbishment strategy

Expedition cruise ships 8 Expedition cruise ships are creating new interior trends

The Fjords 13 Reducing weight was a focus for Future of the Fjords’ interiors

The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection 16 The operator explains how it is creating a private yacht design

Holland America Line 21 Holland America Group explains the impact of brand identity

Ferry refurbishment: Red Funnel 22 An in-depth look at the revamp of Red Funnel’s Red Eagle

Virgin Voyages 25 Why Virgin Voyages is using multiple designers

P&O Cruises Australia 26 P&O Cruises Australia head of design provides an insight into cruise ship design

Editor: Rebecca Moore t: +44 20 8370 7797 e: rebecca.moore@rivieramm.com Brand Manager: Indrit Kruja t: +44 20 8370 7792 e: indrit.kruja@rivieramm.com Head of Sales – Asia: Kym Tan t: +65 6809 1278 e: kym.tan@rivieramm.com Production Manager: Richard Neighbour t: +44 20 8370 7013 e: richard.neighbour@rivieramm.com Subscriptions: Sally Church t: +44 20 8370 7018 e: sally.church@rivieramm.com Chairman: John Labdon Managing Director: Steve Labdon Finance Director: Cathy Labdon Operations Director: Graham Harman Head of Content: Edwin Lampert Head of Production: Hamish Dickie Published by: Riviera Maritime Media Ltd Mitre House 66 Abbey Road Enfield EN1 2QN UK

Tomas Tillberg Design 29 Tomas Tillberg Design explains the impact of building cruise ships in China

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Carnival Cruise Line: newbuild interiors

©2018 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd

32 Carnival Cruise Line director of interior design and architecture Petu Kummala opens up about the factors driving design on the operator’s newbuilds

Shipyard profile

Front cover: Ponant's 'Blue Eye'. Credit: Ponant/ Jacques Rougerie Architecte

34 Fincantieri explains the challenges of extending two Grimaldi ferries 36 Subsidiaries of Genova Industrie Navali reveal their latest projects

Flooring 38 Leading passenger ship flooring manufacturers reveal technology advancements to reduce maintenance and extend longevity

De Jorio Design International 40 Elegance, standing the test of time and creating something unique are major drivers for De Jorio Design International

Cruise ship turnkey providers 43 The need to reduce weight and meet ever-shorter deadlines has led to innovation among cruise ship interiors outfitters and turnkey providers

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Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is correct, the Author and Publisher accept no liability to any party for any inaccuracies that may occur. Any third party material included with the publication is supplied in good faith and the Publisher accepts no liability in respect of content. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, reprinted or stored in any electronic medium or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

THE MAIN DESIGN FIRM FOR MSC SEAVIEW

COMMENT | 3

Innovation boom for passenger ship interiors P Rebecca Moore, Editor

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assenger ship interiors are flourishing, with one of the strongest cruise ship orderbooks ever coupled with a refurbishment drive to bring ships up to scratch making a rich backdrop for interiors.

And there is a growing focus on interior design in the ferry market, with ferry operators increasingly keen to raise interior standards in new vessels and refurbish current vessels.

I think the fast-growing expedition sector is having a strong impact on innovation within the interior design of cruise ships. The first cruise ship of Ponant’s Explorers-class, Le Lapérouse is a strong example of innovation. It was delivered in June this year and includes the ‘Blue Eye’ underwater lounge, the first-of-its-kind in a cruise ship. See page 10.

The new expedition cruise ships from SunStone Ships are also important for cruise ship design, being the first cruise ships to be built in China, opening the doors to many others being built there. But a major obstacle is the shipyard's gap in knowledge on the technology and hotel side. See pages 8-9.

The cruise owner has brought in European and US companies to combat these challenges.

Tomas Tillberg Design is in charge of the interior design and Finland-headquartered Makinen is the interior outfitter.

Tomas Tillberg Design chief executive Tomas Tillberg told me, “For them to build a cruise ship is not daunting from a technical or steel point of view. There is little or no experience with the hotel side – our job is to bring that to the shipyard.”

China Merchants and other Chinese shipyards can build large and complicated tonnage including tankers. Once they add the specific hotel, cruise design and technology knowledge needed, they will win many cruise newbuilding contracts.

The refurbishment trend is also a major focus for cruise ships, driven largely by new ships pushing cruise ship operators to update and standardise their fleets to avoid unfavourable contrasts between old and new vessels.

Carnival Cruise Line is particularly active

in this regard, and alongside upgrading the interiors, is adding cabins. Our interview with Carnival Cruise Line senior director of hotel refurbishment Lisa McCabe discusses this in detail. See pages 4-6. Adding cabins is a major trend for cruise operators, and one I believe will continue to grow, as adding cabins allows cruise operators to monetarise underused areas and it is far cheaper to add accommodation to a current ship than build a new one.

I think this trend is also having an impact on innovation as adding cabins has a knock-on effect on the rest of the interiors leading to increased dining options and entertainment venues to meet the needs of an increased headcount. Compensating for the additional weight of the extra cabins also increases the focus on using light and energy-efficient materials within the interiors.

Innovation within the ferry sector is really beginning to ramp up, and a good example is The Fjord’s Future of the Fjords, which took inspiration from aeroplane interiors to keep weight down, focused on passenger flow to boost revenue and on an interior style to emphasise sightseeing (see pages 13-14). The Fjords’ chief executive Rolf Sandvik said he was influenced by the importance of interior design due to his background in cruise ships. I think the emphasis cruise operators have on interior design is beginning to be strongly felt in the ferry sector, and this trend will continue.

The innovation being seen in the cruise ship interiors sector has finally been given a global platform – the only global event to focus exclusively on the interiors for the cruise sector has been launched and Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review is excited to be part of it as a member of the advisory board. Cruise Ship Interiors Expo will take place on 18-10 June 2019 at Miami Beach Convention Center and will cover the entire cruise ship interiors supply chain.

It is giving the cruise interiors industry a voice, and I am sure joining up so many different parts of this sector will lead to even more innovation. PST

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4 | CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE

Carnival Cruise Line reveals focus on cabin increase Carnival Cruise Line's senior director of hotel refurbishment Lisa McCabe unveils the cruise operator’s refurbishment strategy

RIGHT: Carnival Cruise Line has been updating its water parks, a large project to complete in a short period of time

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CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE | 5

A

dding cabins is a huge focus for Carnival Cruise Line when it comes to its refurbishment strategy.

Indeed, it is a “really big thing keeping me busy”, its senior director of hotel refurbishment Lisa McCabe told Passenger Ship Interiors & Refurbishment in an exclusive interview.

Ms McCabe heads up a team that handles the larger, more challenging refurbishment projects, including rolling out branded areas, upgrading existing areas including water parks and adding cabins.

Ms McCabe explained that the cruise line had been looking for opportunities to add berthing to ships.

“Along with that comes more dining venues or areas to accommodate the added guest count. In some of our older ships, we have even added a deck of cabins on the ship,” she added.

She commented that this was a trend for cruise operators. “Cruise lines look for spaces that are not as optimised or that can become multi-purpose to take over some of the functions of spaces made into cabins.

Or they might look at adding outdoor decks to add cabins.”

Some of Carnival Cruise Line’s recent refurbishment projects have included adding cabins and balconies. Carnival Elation and Carnival Paradise were both refurbished at Grand Bahama Shipyard, in 2017 and 2018 respectively. In each, 98 new balconies were added and a deck with 32 new cabins and four suites. The cabins were added to the top of the forward part of the ship where there used to be a mini golf course, which was replaced by an open deck on which a structural block containing the new cabins was added.

There was also an aft lounge that was “not utilised much”, used to create space for the extension, so other areas in the cruise ship were repurposed to take over this function.

Focus on stability

Ms McCabe said “We need to make sure that ships can handle the additional weight on the stability side.” The balconies added to the ships required heavier shell plates to be installed; this and adding the new cabins meant a ducktail needed to be added for buoyancy.

Taking away older materials to compensate for the additional weight of new cabins is also an important consideration. Ms McCabe said “Older ships have different layers that we try and clean up and remove weight to compensate for new items, this is important. Whether it is the addition of products or materials it all adds up, especially when adding cabins.”

Speaking of areas where materials might be removed, or lighter materials added, she said “It is more the sub-street materials behind the scenes, for example, there are bulkhead panels available in different materials with some that are a little lighter and cabinetry can be done in honeycomb.” Another way to save weight is when renovating bathrooms, tiles are taken out rather than just going over them

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with new decorations.

In 2019, Ms McCabe and her team will travel to Cadiz, Spain, to oversee a US$200M refurbishment project that will transform the existing Carnival Triumph to the newly renamed Carnival Sunrise. The project will involve adding more than 100 cabins and many new food, beverage and entertainment venues.

As well as adding cabins, renovating cabins is an important part of Carnival Cruise Line’s refurbishment focus.

Ms McCabe commented “There is no formula equation, but generally large cabins when they hit the 15-year point need more expansive cabin work. Others have a timeless design, so we do soft goods and lighting refurbishment.” She said in some of the older ships, a lot of fixed furniture, carpets, drapery and loose furniture were replaced.

All cabins and suites were renovated on Carnival Elation and Carnival Paradise, while the company carried out a large project on Carnival Victory where bridge wing suites were installed at the start of 2018. There were four cabins with not so good views, “which we replaced with 10 cabins with beautiful forward windows,” said Ms McCabe.

Other recent projects include a refurbishment of Carnival Spirit, which was drydocked in Singapore. “This is geared a little more towards the Australian market, so we added new family areas geared towards that market.” This included the Cove, a family area and an arts and crafts area, which is something new that Carnival is trying out.

Brand boost

Another important area that Ms McCabe and her team have focused on for the last six years is rolling out branded areas including a pool bar, branded bars such as the Alchemy bars and food areas.

She added “We are also upgrading existing areas, like water parks in the older ships and doing something more exciting with those areas.”

Indeed, Carnival is one of a number of cruise lines updating water parks. “It is a big project in a short period of time as it involves a lot of steel work and heavy structure, plus water and pump rooms.”

Speaking about some of the main issues when it comes to a refurbishment project, Ms McCabe singled out cost, feasibility and time to do the project. “The big equation is the time out of service that

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

6 | CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE

it takes to do the project.”

Speaking about Carnival’s relationship with interior refurbishment outfitters, Ms McCabe said “It is all about preplanning, we work on this for six months to a year prior to a project commencing. We are always looking for vendors who are organised manufacturers. We are always looking for new vendors – we like to test people out with smaller projects and often outfitters like to start with smaller projects and get to know how Carnival works and build up. If they do a good job, then we repeat.”

She also highlighted the importance of logistics when it came to vendors.

“We could have 600 containers, so it is important that vendors know what is packed in containers and they know when to bring them on because if the wrong one is brought on it could cause the project to fail.”

Ms McCabe appears to relish her work. “It is an exciting time and challenging – new ships have a longer timeframe to achieve projects. Ours (refurbishment) is a shorter time so you really feel the accomplishment when you finish a project, as you see it come to life in such a short timeframe.” PST

Lisa McCabe (Carnival Cruise Line)

A 30-year veteran of the maritime industry, Lisa McCabe joined Carnival Cruise Line in 2009 as director of refurbishments and was promoted to her current position, senior director of hotel refurbishments in 2012.

In this capacity, she leads a team of project managers responsible for the majority of the cruise line’s largescale drydock projects throughout the fleet that include the addition of new branded food and beverage venues, stateroom renovations and additions, water parks and upgrades to crew spaces. During her time at Carnival Cruise Line, Ms McCabe has been responsible for over 250 refurbishment projects in shipyards throughout the US, the Bahamas and Singapore.

Ms McCabe studied interior design at Florida International University and worked for several firms that specialised in cruise ship refurbishments as well as designing and managing projects for Royal Caribbean in its refurbishment department.

Carnival Elation refit: solving weight, stability and efficiency challenges Almaco outfitted Carnival Elation and Carnival Paradise – and highlighted the importance of saving weight and building modular cabins on the shipyard site.

Almaco vice president service division Herve Touzard highlighted the main considerations in the project. “If you add more weight to the upper deck, then you can have a stability issue.” To counteract this, not only was a ducktail added, but Mr Touzard explained that Almaco decided to construct the cabin block out of aluminium rather than steel to save weight. The block – of around 500 m2 – was divided into seven sub-blocks that were then fitted to the open deck of the ship.

“What is really important in this kind of project is the preparation and pre-outfit of the block – doing as much as this as we could before the ship arrives, to make the drydock as short as possible as otherwise it is a loss of revenue for the cruise ship owner,” emphasised Mr Touzard.

To this end, Almaco built modular cabins at the shipyard and once the block was welded onto the ship, slid in the cabins.

“Building the cabins on site is faster and more efficient, owners see a lot of value in this. It is cheaper for the cruise operator and they can control the schedule better as the cabin building is happening on site.”

Mr Touzard said this differentiated Almaco to other outfitters and was one reason why cruise ship owners want to use the

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

company for technically challenging projects or jobs with a difficult schedule.

Mr Touzard said Almaco works with a cruise operator before a project to add cabins is even triggered.“Our internal resources look fleet wide, looking at where to add cabins, and if adding more cabins in a new block, how this affects passenger flow and the number of restaurants. We help cruise lines by calculating the revenue they will make with new cabins, where they should be placed, how many, and the cost of them versus not doing anything so they can make calculations.”

Almaco has recently worked with other cruise operators to add more cabins, including Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas, which was drydocked in April 2017 at Grand Bahama Shipyard. “It’s a real trend and we will see this more and more in the future,” Mr Touzard said.

“Cruise operators try to add cabins in many places, from conference rooms to libraries – anywhere which does not generate much revenue,” he said.

Mr Touzard flagged up that a particular challenge was that drydock lengths have shrunk, from five weeks 10 years ago to three weeks currently, with future aims based on 14-17 days. This has led to a trend to finish the job while the vessel is cruising.

“The operator can just close off one area for light finishes rather than having a longer drydock which is very expensive for them,” he explained.

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CR UI SE S H IP R E PA IR I N PO R T L A N D , O R , U S A

DRYDOCK SPECIFICATIONS LENGTH: 293m (960 ft) WIDTH: 57m (186 ft) CAPACITY: 81,000 MT (80,000 LT)

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SunStone Ships' newbuilds' interiors have been adapted to meet the design needs of the different operators chartering them. (credit: SunStone Ships)

SunStone Ships: bridging Chinese shipyard knowledge gap T

he fact that SunStone Ships’ new series of cruise ships are the first to be built in China had a big impact for its interior design and outfitting – the cruise owner’s chief executive Niels-Erik Lund highlighted the importance of using European contractors for the interiors.

The company chose Tomas Tillberg Design to manage the interior design and Finland’s Makinen for sourcing interior products and outfitting, both companies it has worked with for years. Mr Lund commented “It is very important to have long-term relationships, we know they do things on time and that they know about quality.”

“As we are the first ones to be building cruise ships in China, we had to take that into consideration and that is why we secured Tomas Tillberg Design and Makinen. It is very important to get a European product with European quality.”

He added “The challenges are on the interiors and technical side, not on the steel side, as [Chinese shipyards] build excellent steel.”

Alongside the cruise interior outfitting and

SunStone Ships’ newbuilds are the first cruise ships to be built in China, which has large ramifications for its interior outfitting and design. The cruise owner and team behind the interiors explain

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

design side, Norway-headquartered Ulstein has been contracted to provide the technical design and source the technical equipment.

The importance of the trio of companies is summed up, as Mr Lund said “We would not have ordered a ship in China without contracts with Tomas Tillberg, Makinen and Ulstein, without this combination it would not have worked.”

Looking ahead, he predicted the Chinese yard, China Merchants Industry Holdings (CMIH), would learn about interior construction from the SunStone ships, and in the future be able to manage this itself. “I am sure the shipyard is looking at it that way, they need to learn how to do this and build other vessels going forward, so they pick up the knowledge needed.”

Tomas Tillberg managing partner Tomas Tillberg described China as a “new frontier” for cruise ship building and added “Chinese yards have not built cruise ships before but by bringing an experienced European contractor to CMIH we can deliver the interior that a modern cruise ship should have.”

“It is not a small shipyard, it has built

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EXPEDITION CRUISE SHIPS | 9

huge, costly and complicated tonnage before, such as tankers, oil platforms etc.

So for them to build a cruise ship is not daunting from a technical or steel point of view. However, there is little or no experience with the hotel side – our job is to bring that to the shipyard.”

Speaking about the relationship, he said “All our colleagues at CMIH are very understanding and helpful and we enjoy a healthy professional relationship.”

Building long-term relationships with suppliers and designers is important to SunStone Ships. Mr Lund said the company had worked with Tomas Tillberg for years, across its current fleet, both on newbuildings and design retrofits. It has also worked with Makinen across its fleet.

Makinen chief executive Sameli Lähdesmäki told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment “Our co-operation with CMHI has gone surprisingly well. We recognise a common target and because of that we are going in the right direction.”

He said a “strong partnership model” had been developed.

At the time of interview (August 2018), he said installation would start in two months.

“It has involved a lot of planning and sitting together with the shipyard and trying to find the right way of doing the installation.”

Makinen currently has five crew based at the shipyard, a number that Mr Lähdesmäki said will grow.

The company is setting up an assembly factory at the shipyard to prefabricate cabins and furniture modules.

Speaking about the materials and products being selected, he said “Some is coming from Europe and some from China.

Quite a few materials which are the right quality are being brought from China – these companies are also supplying cruise ships being built in Europe.”

Summing up the importance of bringing

in a European contractor which has a longstanding relationship with the cruiseship owner, he said “I think it brings security to all parties that we are an experienced interior contractor. We know what SunStone is looking for and they know we can deliver what they require.”

Furthermore, he pointed out that the shipyard would gain experience within interior outfitting from working alongside Makinen.

Different charters, different interiors

Aside from being built in China, SunStone’s ships are interesting because they are intended for different charterers, which has an impact on the interiors.

Tomas Tillberg Design lead designer and managing partner Nedgé Louis-Jacques commented “From a design point of view, this series of vessels is very interesting. They are all the same ship basically but intended for different clients, so their designs are adapted individually. Charterers who will operate the ships have specific demands and they cater to certain groups of people, they know exactly who their customers are and what they expect, and we meet these demands.”

Singling out Aurora Cruises, she said that as the company was headquartered in Australia and many of its passengers were Australian, it had an impact on the design. “Australian passengers are a bit more casual than say the UK, it is a different attitude to cruising and is less formal, but still elegant and comfortable so there will be a very nice mix of interiors.”

The third SunStone ship is now under contract with a different charterer, Ocean Victory, where the preference is Scandinavian-inspired design. Tomas Tillberg vice president of design Debbie Breslauer said “We are excited to take this style to new innovative, contemporary heights, while being mindful of the special

challenges that expedition cruising brings.”

Mr Lund added “Depending on the charterer, we have ships with different numbers of cabins, ranging from 120-200 passengers, ships with steam rooms and without, different colour schemes, for example some choosing dark wood panels and others light colours.”

Therefore, he said there were a number of meetings between SunStone Ships, Tillberg, Makinen and each charterer so that all parties agree on the interiors plan.

Mr Lund said that from an interior point of view, the new ships represented an upgrade compared to SunStone’s older ships.

“There is more than one restaurant, much larger cabins and we have balconies,” he said.

Important areas include the mud room, where passengers come in and take off wet and heavy clothes, wash boots and clean up before going to the public area. Mr Lund said that from the mud room passengers will have access to four zodiac loading platforms. In the aft of the ships will be areas to store special expedition equipment, including kayaks, and two loading platforms for passengers to enter and exit the kayaks.

Speaking about the design of expedition ships in general, Ms Louis-Jacques pointed out that their designs are very different to those of larger cruise ships. “The focus on bigger cruise ships is more on the entertainment, food and drink, casino and other onboard revenue sources. On a small expedition ship the focus is completely different – the passengers are on the ship for the destination rather than the ship itself. They want a comfortable and upscale environment, but definitely don’t expect a Las Vegas show.”

Space is also used differently on expedition cruise ships – with the designer ensuring it is flexible. “You usually use spaces for more than one thing, so it needs to be flexible to meet a range of requirements.” PST

SUNSTONE SHIPS’ MAIN STRATEGY FOR OVERCOMING THE CHINESE SHIPYARD’S LACK OF CRUISE INTERIORS EXPERIENCE: Choosing Finland’s Makinen for the interiors outfitting

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Only using Chinese products if provided by cruise ship suppliers

Choosing USheadquartered Tomas Tillberg Design for the interior design

Choosing companies with which it has a long-term relationship with

Using Europeansourced products

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

EXPEDITION CRUISE SHIPS | 11

Ponant Explorers: a revolution in cruise ship design Ponant’s Explorers-class expedition vessels include interior features never before seen, such as its ‘Blue Eye’ underwater lounge. Its newbuilding director explains how obstacles were overcome to create the area

RIGHT: Creating the Blue Eye lounge involved replacing some of the steel of the hull with glass, so Ponant had to demonstrate that this was as safe as using steel. (credit: Ponant - Jacques Rougerie Architecte)

P

onant’s Explorers-class vessels have deployed interior experiences and design solutions that are a first-of-theirkind – especially its ‘Blue Eye’ underwater lounge.

The first of these ice-class vessels, Le Lapérouse, was built at Norway’s Vard Shipyard, a subsidiary of Fincantieri. At 131 m in length, it has 92 cabins and suites, with 110 crew members. The moderate size means the ship can access the most remote places.

The Blue Eye multi-sensorial underwater lounge is a world-first.

Ponant explained it will allow passengers to discover and experience the underwater world via two portholes in the form of a cetaceous eye looking out on to the sea bed, non-intrusive underwater lighting, hydrophones integrated into the keel that retransmit the “natural symphony of the deep water and body listening sofas, offering a unique sensorial listening experience by corporal resonance”.

Ponant newbuilding and R&D director Mathieu Petiteau told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review “Never before has such a thing been done, it is just incredible to me and a revolution in shipbuilding.”

He said creating the lounge within the hull involved a lot of challenges – the biggest was to demonstrate the strength of the complete system would provide the same safety level as using steel within the hull. Creating the Blue Eye lounge involved replacing some of the steel of the hull with glass. “We needed to demonstrate, in terms of grounding or ice navigation, there would not be less safety,” explained Mr Petiteau.

“It was the most difficult thing to demonstrate, but we believe now that the system is even stronger [then using steel in the hull].” He explained this was achieved by the “way the glass is integrated into the steel frame and how the steel frame was integrated into the hull”.

“We had to go through each individual material that composed this,

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we implemented all of these systems within the hull and looked at the impact on the window, we went far into the research and the design of this,” said Mr Petiteau.To this end, Ponant worked in close co-operation with the maker of the glass and with Hamburg University of Technology, which specialises in materials and finite element modelling.

Bureau Veritas classed the vessel and its global market leader, passenger ships and ferries Andreas Ullrich agreed the most challenging item was the Blue Eye lounge, as it is the first cruise ship to have glass below the water line. “At 6 m it is very large,” he commented, adding “Originally class rules said you have to use steel, but here we did a risk assessment and a lot of tests to confirm that it is as safe as using steel.”

Adapting yacht design

In terms of design, it was important for Ponant to “go further” with a yachting design than before.

“We really want our passengers to feel like they are on board a private yacht,” explained Mr Petiteau.

The ship has other distinct features: a marina has been deployed to allow guests to have close contact with the sea. At the back of the ship, a large hatch opens up to allow a ‘huge platform’ to be deployed. This platform can be adjusted to any level and can even go to 1 m below the sea. “It is a very customised design and designed

by Ponant to allow customers to have close contact with the sea,” said Mr Petiteau.” While such a platform has been used before on small yachts, it has never before been used on cruise ships.

Ponant has also developed a lighting system. It developed an integrated solution for 28 spotlights on the back of the hull to light up the bottom of the sea. LED technology is used.

Each Explorers-class ship will have 88 balcony staterooms and four suites with bay windows and private terraces. PST

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FUTURE OF THE FJORDS | 13

ABOVE: Dark colours were used in order to highlight the windows and therefore the views outside LEFT: The seats were built as light weight as possible to save weight credit: Brødrene Aa

Creating a ‘gold standard in sightseeing design’

T

he Fjords’ all-electric Future of the Fjords’ interiors have been inspired by the fast ferry sector.

Future of the Fjords is the first carbon-fibre vessel in the world to be fully electric. It is also the first vessel of its kind to offer completely emission-free transport through the West Norwegian Fjords UNESCO World Heritage-listed region.

The Fjords chief executive Rolf Sandvik told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review. “The weight of the hotel load is extremely important because this takes energy from the batteries too. Therefore, we were looking to shave off as many tonnes

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Reducing weight was a crucial focus for battery-powered Future of the Fjords’ interiors, while passenger flow was also important.

Ferry operator The Fjords and shipyard Brødrene Aa spoke to Rebecca Moore

as possible.” However, Mr Sandvik pointed out that as well as light, the material needed to be sturdy in order to have a long lifespan.

It was built by Norwegian shipyard Brødrene Aa, which also built sister vessel Vision of the Fjords in 2016. “To source material that is as light as possible is part of the DNA of Brødrene Aa,” commented Mr Sandvik.

Brødrene Aa specialises in fast ferries and applied its knowledge and work in this area to the interiors of Future of the Fjords. The shipyard’s designer Torstein Aa said “We have specialised in fast ferries until now and it is all about weight and efficiency. Therefore, we have a

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14 | FUTURE OF THE FJORDS

really good process when making energyefficient ships.”

For example, the shipyard works closely with West Mekan, which constructs very lightweight seats. The company provided the seats for Future of the Fjords. “Every detail where we can save weight counts and when there are 400 seats, if you can just shave off half a kilo, that makes a difference,” Mr Aa said.

The seats are so lightweight because they have a frame mainly constructed of aluminium and are placed as close together as possible, to save weight and be space-saving.

Mr Aa compared the seats as being like those in an aeroplane, where weight is also extremely important. Lightweight aluminium was also used to construct the tables.

The internal walls of Future of the Fjords are mostly made from aluminium hexagon panels. Mr Aa said “This is used in fast ferries as it is really lightweight. It is also used in the airline industry. The fast ferry industry is inspired by the airline industry.”

Mr Sandvik highlighted another aspect used to keep the interior weight down: the ferry’s charging solution called Power Dock, a 40-m long, 5-m wide floating glass fibre dock that sits on the water and has storage capacity, including freezers and cooling rooms. These will be used to store food for the ferry’s canteen.

Boosting passenger flow

Passenger flow was a crucial consideration on several levels. Mr Sandvik singled out the importance of the restaurant in this regard. “We want to encourage people to feel in a good mood and be hungry, which is why we have the sausage grill placed further out [from the counter and till] so passengers can smell it.”

Passenger flow is also important to increase revenue from the restaurant.“There is such fierce competition [between ferries in the fjords] that we have to look at different ways to earn money other than from the ticket price. It is very important to have different colours and layouts as it’s important to encourage people to move around,” said Mr Sandvik.Therefore, the ferry operator has broken up the tables with different types of interior on each side of the ferry, “so when people discover different areas they move around more, as they think they might miss something if they don’t move to the other side”. This helps to encourage passengers to pass the cash register several times.

In another area of passenger flow, Mr Aa pointed out that walkways were

One of the focuses was passenger flow to ensure that people passed the restaurant to encourage them to buy refreshments

“The weight of the hotel load is extremely important because this takes energy from the batteries too - we were looking to shave off as many tonnes as possible” Rolf Sandvik (The Fjords)

minimised to “use as much as you can of space and make it as efficient as possible from the start”. Another very important consideration was ensuring a smooth and efficient passenger flow. Mr Aa said they decided to have two walkways, with seats accessible from either walkway. “Vessels of this size usually have three walkways, but we wanted to use the space as efficiently as possible,” Mr Aa said.

Small improvements were also made regarding people flow compared to Future of the Fjords. These include: Future of the Fjords allows passengers to move from the main deck to the roof of the vessel without using stairs, via ramps built into the structure. Mr Aa said “This is not only good for people in wheelchairs but really good for everyone, they can walk round and easily explore the vessel.” The different levels also mean there is easily available front-row viewing space.

In Future of the Fjords, the anchor is placed in the front of the vessel. In Future of the Fjords, this is moved to the back of the vessel so there is more space in the front for passengers to view scenery.

The kiosk and kitchen areas have also been reorganised for better logistics.

Other changes include details in the bathrooms. “To make it a bit more interesting, instead of just white walls, we used the same

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

panels as those on the tables to create a link between the bathroom and the rest of the interior design,” explained Mr Aa. The other change involved creating edges on table tops to stop cups and crockery flipping over.

Windows are crucial to the design because passengers want to sightsee. “We wanted to make large windows, and we put them in every possible place,” said Mr Aa. Because the windows are so large they needed to be hardened in ovens, to strengthen them.

The windows have a black tint on the outside. “This is important for efficiency as it reduces the heat inside, so you don’t use a lot of energy to cool the inside down and it provides some shade.” There is also a UV filter on the windows, reducing the heat even further.

The colours used in the interior design were also crucial. Mr Sandvik commented “I was very involved in design process, I come from the cruise industry, so was able to apply my knowledge [about design] gained there. We went into the details in the colour scheme.”

Mr Aa said “We made it little bit darker than normal interiors as then passengers can focus on the view out of the window with nothing distracting them. We also created matt surfaces to reduce visual noise to focus on the view.”

The shipyard also used colour to create a clear contrast to highlight walkways for people with visual disabilities.

This area shows another small change compared to Vision of the Fjords: “We brought in more contrast in colours,” said Mr Sandvik. “The light colours are lighter and the dark darker to create a more cosy and warm look.”

Something that particularly stands out and is unusual when it comes to design is the Power Dock. Mr Aa explained the focus was on creating a nice design for this too. “We wanted to make it look like an accessory to the ferry, so used rounded corners and white surfaces [to go with the look of the ferry].”

Mr Aa summed up, Future of the Fjords has reached a “gold standard in sight-seeing design”. PST

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16 | THE RITZ-CARLTON YACHT COLLECTION

Bringing the private yacht to cruise How does an operator create a fusion of something new – a private yacht design and a hotel brand – in the interior design of a cruise ship? The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection's chief executive and Tillberg Design of Sweden explain

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he interior design of new brand The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s vessels will be a mix of creating something new and an extension of its namesake hotel’s brand, drawing heavily on the private yacht concept as inspiration.

The Ritz-CarltonYacht Collection chief executive Douglas Prothero summed up “We think the superyacht concept is creating a lot of buzz, this type of product is mirroring the yachting lifestyle and is appealing in some respects to a new audience to cruising.”

In July 2017 it was announced that RitzCarlton Hotel Company was entering the cruise sector with its Yacht Collection. It has struck a contract with Spanish shipyard Hijos de J Barreras (Barreras) to construct three luxury cruise ships.

The first will be launched in 2020, with the further two expected to be delivered in 2021.

The cruise yacht will have an overall length

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

of 190 m, a 23.8 m beam and will accommodate 544 people, including 298 passengers in 149 suites and 246 crew members. The interior of the yachts, all suites and the exterior of the yachts are being designed by Tillberg Design of Sweden in close collaboration with The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and the Barreras shipyard in Vigo, Spain. Interior Proman – an Austrian company with expertise in outfitting superyachts – has a contract with the shipyard to outfit the vessels.

Talking about using Tillberg Design, Mr Prothero said “A lot of consideration went into identifying our design collaborator, and we are thrilled with the outcome. Tillberg Design has an unparalleled history in designing interiors from yachts to some of the largest cruise ships.

They also have experience in luxury hotels, high street boutiques and top end restaurants and demonstrated a keen understanding of how best to

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THE RITZ-CARLTON YACHT COLLECTION | 17

translate the look and feel of a Ritz-Carlton hotel experience to sea.”

He told a press conference at Seatrade Cruise Global 2018 that usually cruise ships work with “six, seven or eight” designers – but “we have one designer for the whole inside and outside of the yacht.”

He said the “vison” of Tillberg Design owner Fredrik Johansson “has been a very easy exercise for us to stay together”.

Private yacht design

Mr Johansson opened up to Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment about his vision for the interiors of the cruise yachts. “This is an all-new generation of cruising yachts, and our vision has been to emulate the experience of being on a private yacht as an invited guest. We have therefore worked through the whole master planning with exclusivity and privacy driving the design process.”

He added “the challenge to ourselves here has been to create the most serene ambiance possible at sea. It has been an incredibly exciting opportunity to design The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, not least because we were able to start from a blank piece of paper and design everything from scratch.

There has also been enough time to methodically design a concept that optimises both exterior and interiors as one very harmonic entity.”

He said the design concepts are all about “intimacy, personal comfort and generous private space”, creating some “very casual but ultraluxurious” surroundings. The interior spaces are

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designed to offer guests the opportunity to either be active and socialising, or “simply to disappear privately for a while”.

He emphasised “I think the guests will find accommodations and a cruising style that really are unparalleled in the niche of the ultra-luxury cruise yachting sector, regardless if travelling as a private charter group, or on one of the scheduled itineraries.”

Overcoming terrace challenges

Both Mr Johansson and Mr Prothero singled out how having terraces with all suites was crucial to the design. But this was a challenge the cruise yacht operator managed to overcome. Mr Prothero explained how. “We have a couple of unique things for a ship this size. We have all-terraced suites. On the lower deck, where we are not allowed to have terraces, we have solved this by having a two-level suite.” This comprises of a bedroom below and a living room above with a terrace.

Mr Johansson added “Each suite has been designed to really optimise the use of space and to maximise the contact with the sea. To intimately experience being at sea, we have therefore designed the yachts to offer everyone their own generous, private terrace, something that not even the most luxurious yachts have.”

Another stand-out feature is the size of the suites. Mr Prothero said “What makes us different?

Our size, no one is building in this size any more, no one has for quite a long time; the higher percentage of larger suites.” He said that in luxury cruise ships generally 80-85% of suites are in the smallest

OPPOSITE: The yachts will have all-terraced suites, overcoming the challenge of not being allowed to have terraces on the lower deck by creating a two-level suite. Pictured is a rendering (credit: The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection) BELOW: While there is a main pool (pictured), there is also a plunge pool on every deck, which emulates a private yacht design. Pictured is a rendering. (credit: The RitzCarlton Yacht Collection)

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

18 | THE RITZ-CARLTON YACHT COLLECTION

Douglas Prothero (The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection) Douglas Prothero serves as chief executive of The RitzCarlton Yacht Collection.

In this role, Mr Prothero oversees all operations and strategic growth of the company. As a founding partner of the venture, Mr Prothero is also responsible for relations with Marriott International and The RitzCarlton Hotel Company.

Mr Prothero was educated in maritime studies and has been a ship master since 1989. He has over 35 years of professional experience in the hospitality and maritime industry, including running all facets of maritime businesses involving both commercial vessels and private yachts.

As a seasoned entrepreneur, Mr Prothero has founded numerous enterprises with lead responsibility for product development, sales, ship design, ship construction and marine operations. While partner of a boutique investment bank, Mr Prothero established an extensive professional network through his work advising shipowners on finance sourcing.

Mr Prothero serves as past chairman of the Nobel Peace Prizenominated charity Sail Training International and the organisation’s for-profit trading companies.

category. But Ritz-Carlton’s smaller suites only make up about 60% with the rest being larger suites.

Even the smallest suites are 29 m2, which Mr Prothero described as being “very unique in this size of cruise vessel”.

Facing aft are two owner suites, each at 102 m2 with 46 m2 terraces and private plunge pools.

Furthermore, flexibility of space is an important feature of the cruise yachts. A wall panel used in the smallest suites can be opened up to merge two separate suites into one larger suite. This means the yacht can go from 149 suites to 107.

Mr Prothero commented “If we charter the vessel we can give more larger suites or on a voyage where larger suites sell first we can generate more larger suites as we go along.”

Flexibility can be seen elsewhere in the interior layout – hydraulic stairs lower to the sea so guests can walk straight into sea on anchor; the same set of stairs goes up to a diving board. This is “a great flexible option for us,” said Mr Prothero.

Furthermore, glass panels open up the restaurants to allow as much dining outside as possible.

Extending hotel brand

Another important facet of the interior design was producing a new design that also incorporates the Ritz-Carlton brand. As Mr Johansson explained “With these yachts, we are not only producing some fresh and new design, but we are creating a completely new brand from scratch. It will of course be an extension of The Ritz-Carlton brand, but with its very own strong identity.”

For the interiors, he said Tillberg Design took inspiration from The Ritz-Carlton land-based properties, especially the “crisp and contemporary look” of The Ritz-Carlton Residences Sunny Isles, Miami Beach and Los Angeles.

He said “In a way, you can say the yachts will be hotels at sea, though uniquely adapted to suit the yacht lifestyle. Existing top-tier Ritz-Carlton customers that are familiar with the brand and its service will recognise some of the experiences they will find at Ritz-Carlton properties on land.

Design-wise, the onboard experience will reflect

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

elements of the casual luxury of a Ritz-Carlton resort.” For example, he said that all suites on board will have a far greater ceiling height that any other cruise ship suite, “resulting in the most spacious suites in the luxury cruise category.”

Some elements of the hotel brand are being included within the interiors of the ships. These include the three-Michelin starred a la carte restaurant named Aqua, which is established at the Ritz-Carlton, Wolfsburg. Another example is the Ritz-Carlton Spa. Other yacht elements include a plunge pool on every deck for people to “cool off quickly”, which is “very much a yacht feeling,” said Mr Prothero.

The main pool is situated above the marina.

Mr Johannson emphasised that the mix of the hotel brand and personal yacht was important.

“We have fused the spacious and casual elegance of those spaces with the marine and innovative design qualities of some of the most stylish yacht interiors in the world. The exterior styling is the result of an extensive design process, inspired by world-famous private yachts like Azzam, Eclipse, and Nauta.”

Another crucial consideration is the movement of people and logistics on the vessel.

Mr Johansson said “The concept of privacy and generous personal space is essential to the design of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. We really had to look at how to create the best flows and spatial qualities for the guests, especially on the open decks and in the social spaces.”

The interiors and the service concept have been designed together and each space “has to allow the crew to move around the ship and serve the ladies and gentlemen on board very easily and discreetly”.

Looking ahead to the second and third vessels, Mr Prothero told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review “The design and layout of the first two yachts will be identical. The third vessel will follow the same design, but with some planned modifications to reflect additional cruising ground conditions in the Pacific Rim.” He summed up: “Initial sales of Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection voyages have exceeded our expectations and we are thrilled with the strong consumer response.” PST

Fredrik Johansson (Tillberg Design of Sweden)

Fredrik Johansson is partowner of Tillberg Design of Sweden. During his 25 years in the company, he has managed some of world’s most creative and prestigious marine projects, including private yachts, explorer ships and ocean

liners including Queen Mary 2.

Mr Johansson has been involved in the development of The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection since day one and worked closely with Douglas Prothero and his team through the whole conceptual, contractural and design phases of the projects.

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HOLLAND AMERICA LINE | 21

Mixing brand identity with unique elements Holland America Group’s director of newbuilding services and fleet operations explains the impact of brand identity, passenger flow and crew logistics on cruise interiors

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reating an identifiable brand while ensuring a cruise ship has its own unique characteristics was a major focus for Holland America Line (HAL) when designing its latest Pinnacle-class vessels.

Holland America Group director of newbuilding services and fleet operations Mattias Eineborg told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review “Our latest Pinnacle-class vessels [Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Pinnacle III], share a similar platform designed to cater to current guest demographics and we seek to imbue each vessel with its own unique character while at the same time being readily identifiable as HAL Pinnacle-class.”

One aspect that makes the ships identifiable as Pinnacle-class is a three-deck-high central atrium with a stainless-steel sculpture that is meant to evoke the feeling of a classical quartet, with strings, arches and bows, and a ceiling skylight that serves as a backdrop for changing high-definition projections.

Mr Eineborg added “We have increased the level of activities available, particularly through our very successful partnerships with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York and America’s Test Kitchen. At the same time, we offer increased variety in dining options. Just as guests have options on land, we seek to provide a similar level of options at sea as well as greater personalisation of the dining experience.”

Indeed, on Nieuw Statendam, to be delivered by the end of 2018, the dining room will span two floors and be framed by views of the sea. Strong, curved architectural pillars will accentuate the high ceiling. The centerpiece is a curved copper sheath surrounding a two-store wine tower. Elsewhere, Rudi’s Sel de Mer French brasserie will be expanded with extra seating for 54 guests.

The vessels are refurbished every three to five years and the aesthetics can be refreshed but the main structure is in place for the duration.

Speaking generally about newbuild interiors, Mr Eineborg emphasised that functionality of design was crucial. “While aesthetics is very important, particularly in newbuild where you set the parameters for a platform that should endure for 30 years, a wrong decision about back of the house operations or crew logistics must be avoided at all costs. The vessels are refurbished every three to five years and the aesthetics can be refreshed but the main structure is in place for the duration of the platform.”

Another important consideration is passenger flow and logistics.

Mr Eineborg said “The movement of guests (flow) is paramount – a vessel is in reality a dense urban environment but we want the guests

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The atrium on board HAL’s Pinnacle-class ships helps them to be identifiable as being part of this class, with its three decks and stainless steel sculpture (credit: Holland America Line)

to experience it as their own private oasis when they want to retreat. It is very much about creating an environment where guests are free to personalise the experience on their own schedule.”

Asked what HAL looked for from the yard, suppliers and turnkey providers for vessel interiors, he said “We seek strong partnerships and inherent creativity to take design intent and develop it into a product that can be actualised.”

Explaining challenges when it came to creating interiors for the newbuilds, he said “the chief challenges unique to marine hospitality are the international codes and classification societies. Something that would be quite simple on land can be quite challenging to implement on a ship due to, for example, fire regulations or inherent restrictions on the type of materials permitted.”

Mr Eineborg singled out some interesting trends and interior design developments going forward. “We are seeing an increased overlap between marine design and land-based hospitality. At the same time, there is a resurgence of going back to a greater connection with the sea. We are seeing increasing segmentation of the market and as a direct response to that, Holland America Group maintains sister brands to HAL and seeks to meet the needs of each market and particular guest segmentation.” PST

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

How Red Funnel overcame stability challenges to increase internal capacity Aluminium rather than steel was used when increasing the internal capacity of Red Funnel’s Red Eagle, to avoid losing cargo-carrying space

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K ferry operator Red Funnel carried out a £3M (US$3.9M) interior upgrade to its Red Eagle ropax in 2018 to increase facilities and lounge capacity – leading to stability obstacles.

The upgrade included increasing the number of seats from 300 to 550, installing a new galley, toilets, a pet lounge and a purpose-built ‘Signature Lounge’ offering a premium club experience. Modern seating, tables and LED lighting was added. Other new features included high-capacity wifi, USB charging points, air conditioning and digital entertainment.

The upgrade to Red Eagle comes on the back of similar upgrades to sister vessels Red Osprey and Red Falcon.

Red Funnel fleet and technical director Mark Slawson OBE told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review that the aim was to improve customers’ experience by increasing the number of lounges, adding air conditioning, and providing increased seating capacity, particularly internal seating. He added “Responding to requests from a sizeable number of our passengers, we had recently introduced an executive-

type Signature Lounge on Red Falcon and Red Osprey, so this was the opportunity to achieve commonality of customer offering, and bring Red Eagle back up to speed.”

Indeed, he said the main consideration in designing the package was ensuring there were as few differences between the other two ships and Red Eagle as possible due to positive feedback to the refit of the previous ferries. Furthermore, Red Funnel has a crewing arrangement that requires crews to operate across different vessels, so commonality of operation, equipment and facilities location was important.

Lounge upgrade versus cargo capacity

The major challenge was ship stability. Mr Slawson explained “If the upper lounges had been constructed in the same materials, and in the same way, as had been done previously the traffic load capacity would have been very much reduced.”

Therefore, he said that “to achieve a sizeable upgrade in facilities and lounges while not affecting our cargo capacity too detrimentally, the upper lounges were constructed from aluminium rather than

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

The new lounges were built in aluminium rather than steel, to stop the vessel being too heavy

steel”. This meant the lounges needed to be constructed undercover.

SMS completed building and installing the two new 17-tonne aluminium passenger lounges on board the Red Eagle ferry in partnership with its sister company Wight Shipyard Co. SMS managing director Chris Norman said “This project is a great example of our inhouse capability - 17 tonnes of aluminium, over 2,500 man hours, and increasing internal passenger capacity by some 30%.

This is a complete turnkey project from newbuild fabrication to onboard installation.”

The build programme took approximately six weeks at SMS’s Wight Shipyard Co, with the installation revolving around the following key milestones over a four-week period: clearing the decks and fitting the upstand, shipping the units from the island and fitting them, clearing approximately 80% of the two units for the fitout team, completing the window installations and then finally the snagging and client-agreed extras.

Mr Slawson commented “We know Wight Shipyard well as they have previously built our 40 m high-speed

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INTERIOR REFURBISHMENT | 23

catamaran, Red Jet 6, from aluminium, undercover, in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.”

He added “There was a challenge associated with transporting two constructed lounges on a barge across the Solent to Southampton where the ship was berthed, and craning them into position, but with the assistance of Williams Shipping that was achieved.”

This marks a difference between Red Eagle with Red Osprey and Red Falcon: Red Eagle is a slightly different design with a larger main lounge and an extra deck below a higher bridge which made the vessel heavier than its sister ships. “To manage the weight of the new lounges these were designed in aluminium rather than steel,” said Mr Slawson.

Explaining why the number of seats was vastly increased, he said “The number of passengers we carry has increased over time. To ensure they can be comfortable for an hour-long crossing, a seat is fairly important. We changed the seating arrangements from the previous, spaceinefficient, cubicle arrangements to a mix of tables with fixed seating and banks of airline type seating in the lower lounges.”

The newly fitted upper lounges were different: the pet lounge is more open plan and with less fixed seating, to cater for passengers travelling with their animals.

The other upper lounge became the executive-type Signature Lounge. Mr Slawson said this has “an enhanced décor and more comfortable seating, offering the passenger an opportunity for greater comfort and some separation from the remainder of the passengers.” There is space for 42 passengers, who receive free drinks, pastries and newspapers during the voyage.

A number of extra seats have been fitted elsewhere in the ship, “to ensure that our other passengers do not miss out on a seat”.

Speaking about the galley refurbishment, Mr Slawson said it was

“required to enhance the catering offer to customers and to upgrade the facilities and bring them into line with food safety legislation that had developed since the original galleys were fitted.”

Asked what Red Funnel was looking for from key partners, such as the outfitter in the refit, Mr Slawson said “We knew this particular refurbishment period was going to be a challenge to complete in the time available, so one of the main attributes we were looking for was a credible and realistic planning capability, with a flexible and pragmatic approach to any issues that emerged as the plan was put into action, as they undoubtedly would.

“Attention to detail was also important, particularly as the majority of the work was in the customers’ eye-line for the whole of the journey across the Solent.

And of course, value for money; this was a big project with a number of challenges included in it, but there was not an infinite budget to deliver it.”

Explaining why Trimline was selected for Red Eagle, he said Trimline had carried out the previous two refurbishments on Red Falcon and Red Osprey. “Choosing anyone else would have been a step backwards, failing to recognise and take advantage of lessons identified in the wash-ups following the previous projects,” he explained.

“Obviously, having Trimline effectively on the doorstep in Southampton, meant that discussion about different aspects of the project as it developed was easy to achieve, and this bowled out a number of issues as the planning process was developing, which made the project itself smoother than it would have been otherwise.”

Red Funnel chairman Kevin George added that having worked with Trimline on other refits, they were confident of their ability to “deliver a complex, high quality project in a short time window”. PST

Mark Slawson (Red Funnel)

Red Funnel appointed Mark Slawson OBE as fleet and technical director on 15 September 2014.

Mr Slawson is a chartered engineer, a fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineers, and was awarded an OBE in the 2013 New Year’s Honours, in recognition of his achievements in improving technical training within the Armed Forces.

His previous roles include commandant of the Defence Technical College, the organisation responsible for UK-wide engineering training, and 30 years of senior marine engineering experience with the Royal Navy. He acquired a high level of management experience as commanding officer of HMS Sultan in Gosport and as head of MOD’s fleet customer support team. Previous roles include superintendent of fleet maintenance at HM Naval Base Portsmouth, and substantial sea-going experience, including acting as the senior engineer officer on board the Royal Navy’s warship HMS Ocean.

RED EAGLE: KEY REFIT POINTS

BUDGET:

£3M

17 tonnes of aluminium to build two new lounges

TIMELINE:

six weeks www.passengership.info

30% internal capacity increase

SEAT INCREASE:

300 → 550

DIGITAL: high-capacity wifi, USB charging points, digital entertainment

GALLEY UPGRADE: to meet new food safety regulations

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

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VIRGIN VOYAGES | 25

Virgin Voyages: a multipledesigners approach A Virgin Voyages design panel explains what the cruise operator is achieving by using multiple designers with no previous cruise experience

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irgin Voyages stands out in several ways when it comes to the interior design of its new cruise vessels, not least because it has used multiple designers, who have never designed for a cruise ship before.

In an event to reveal Virgin Voyages’ first design concepts in May 2018, Virgin Voyages president and chief executive Tom McAlpin said, “We set out to find respected visionaries, set out to find designers who had never worked on ships before to bring a completely new perspective.”

Across the ship, Virgin Voyages partnered with Tom Dixon’s Design Research Studio in London, Roman and Williams in New York, Concrete Amsterdam, Softroom in London and WorkAC in New York. Virgin Voyages’ first ship is due for delivery in 2020.

Virgin Voyages opted to use multiple interior designers in order to focus on the strengths of each firm and to show diversity throughout the ship, using a common core theme of 'modern romance of sailing'.

Virgin Voyages senior vice president of design Dee Cooper commented at the design panel event in New York “Virgin Voyages is about creating holidays for our sailors [passengers] and creating amazing experiences on board.

“We are lucky enough to have a whole range of opportunities to take their [designers’] strengths and amazing work done on land around the world and use this work on board our ship.”

Mr Dixon commented at the panel event “I like a new adventure so the idea of working on sea for the first time appealed to me a lot and using lots of different designers rather than working with experienced cruise designers which

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would have been the obvious thing to do.

It is quite a risky thing to do, to choose designers who had never been on a cruise before. But there is logic to that madness, if it encourages people of a new demographic to go on a cruise, then why not use designers that haven’t been on a cruise.”

Pink Agave, the ship’s upscale modern Mexican restaurant, was designed by Design Research Studio. Electric blue metallic lighting fixtures will cascade from the ceilings above oversized banquettes that line the dining room’s portholes. An elongated curved lounger will centre the room with round tables for two.

Design Research Studio founder Mr Dixon commented “There were many challenges, some technical, such as relatively low ceiling heights… I spent quite a lot of time battling them and being inspired by them equally.”

Richard’s Rooftop, also designed by Tom Dixon’s Design Research Studio, will be an exclusive outdoor lounge reserved for the ship’s suite guests. It features a futuristic aesthetic with circular loungers, giant umbrellas and accents of dichroic glass that will cast shadows of rainbow reflections across the outdoor lounge.

Concrete Amsterdam was behind the design of the Athletic Club and the Test Kitchen restaurant. The former mixes both sport and the sporting social life, with a huge sunbathing bed and a jogging track on top of the ship, a bar and boxing court, gyms and basketball court among other things.

Concrete partner and head of interior design Lisa Hassanzadeh commented on the Test Kitchen “It is not only a restaurant but a laboratory, so it is very distinguished from other restaurants we have done, with

TOP IMAGE: Richard’s Rooftop has a futuristic aesthetic concept with the focus on views (credit: Virgin Voyages) BOTTOM IMAGE: The concept behind Concrete Amsterdam’s Athletic Club was to entwine sport and the attached sporting social life (credit: Virgin Voyages)

its double function. You can have dinner there at night and it is a cookery school during the day – and not just that, but a laboratory for being the best barista or expert in beer or wine.”

Ms Cooper summed up “Everybody [the designers] challenged us and made us think about the lifestyles we lead in amazing cities or holiday destinations like Miami and Ibiza, and these guys create a holiday romance for everybody.

“It’s a way of uniting thinking about the modern romance of sailing, making sure views and enjoying the ocean are part of the design, and that the ships are very outward looking. It brings a sense of adventure to the right interior spaces.” PST

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

26 | P&O CRUISES AUSTRALIA

Go with the flow to design a great passenger experience Working inhouse means that operational considerations can be seamlessly integrated into design says P&O Cruises Australia’s head of design Petra Ryberg

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assenger flow is one of the trickier things to get right says P&O Cruises Australia’s head of design Petra Ryberg from the organisation’s Sydney offices.

“For me it is not just looking on a plan or a computer screen, I think you really need to immerse yourself in the market and culture you are designing for.

“One of the biggest benefits of being in house rather than working as a consultant is that I literally sit next to the operational team. This means I can work with the people actually running the restaurant to identify potential bottle necks and high traffic areas and then try to free up space.

I can combine an understanding of both the operational need and flow and the passenger need and flow.”

On all P&O Cruises Australia ships the Pantry is featured, a concept where you have individual food counters and where the meals are made to order. The interiors in the Pantry are light and airy with a mix of seating, tables, colours and sea views.

Ms Ryberg said “Traditionally cruise ships might be known for grand design, crystal chandeliers and marble floor.

We really wanted to introduce a more boutique feeling and bring the Modern Australian culture onboard the ships as well.” She said that examples of these would be: warm fabrics, patterned carpets, textures and contrasts, individually designed venues and custom designed furniture and materials.

She added “We created a wallpaper from prints of Australian vintage stamps on Pacific Explorer.

A major focus is the Golden Princess project which will be renamed Pacific Adventure when P&O Cruises Australia takes delivery of the vessel in October 2020. Ms Ryberg said that the design will

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

blend familiar P&O Cruises Australia vessel features as well as some ‘great additions’ including four pools, 17 decks and for suite guests, the Byron Beach Club which comprises pool, relaxation area cabanas.

The overall tone for the vessel will be ‘Modern Australian’.

To take advantage of the vessel’s aft pool area and the panoramic views it offers Ms Ryberg shares that she has in mind some comfortable lounge furniture.

Uppermost of course will be combining the passenger flow with the operational.

Pacific Adventure will also sport a sprawling Oasis retreat across multiple decks, offering sun lounges, spa tubs, a swimming pool and dedicated bar.

The Blue Room, a feature on sister vessels, returns as a live-music venue with sumptuous soft furnishings for guests to sit back and enjoy live blues, soul and R&B. Overall there will be 560 balcony rooms, 230 suites and mini suites and the fleet’s first 5-berth family cabins.

The vessel enters into service with P&O Cruises Australia in 2020.

Continuing the ongoing evolution of the P&O Cruises Australia fleet, Pacific Adventure will be joined by Grand-class sister ship Star Princess at the end of 2021. PST

TOP LEFT: P&O Cruises Australia introduced a more boutique feeling on P&O Explorer, with examples including individually designed venues and custom designed furniture and materials LEFT: Petra Ryberg (P&O Cruises Australia) and Rosie and Co. principle designer Rosie Brown (left) co-designed P&O Explorer

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TOMAS TILLBERG DESIGN | 29

A ‘new frontier’ for cruise design

Chinese yards have not built cruise ships before – therefore Tomas Tillberg Design was hired by SunStone Ships to deliver the interior a modern cruise ship should have (credit: SunStone Ships)

Tomas Tillberg Design’s managing partner explains the impact of passenger ship building in China, new materials and technology trends on cruise ship and ferry interior design

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sing Chinese shipyards to build cruise ships is a “new frontier” for the cruise ship market, said Tomas Tillberg Design managing partner Tomas Tillberg.

And this is a man who knows – his father Robert established the company more than 55 years ago, and he has been working for the firm since he was 18 years old. Mr Tillberg told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review “Our company, throughout the years, has always been at the forefront of the cruise ship industry.

From early on, my father helped to develop the cruise ferry concept in Scandinavia as well as the design of the first Caribbean cruise ships.”

He said this led to other firsts, such as Princess Cruise Line’s Love Boat, well known as a TV series which helped boost the cruise industry as a whole.

Mr Tillberg emphasised “We have worked with most of the major cruise lines and ventured

into Asia more than 20 years ago. Recently we designed the largest, most prestigious cruise ferry built in South Korea for the Tunisian client Cotunav.” This 3,200-passenger ferry runs between Tunisia, Marseille and Genoa.

Building in China

“Now, once again, our company is leading the way with cruise ship building in China,” Mr Tillberg said.

Tomas Tillberg Design is heavily involved in building cruise ships and ferries in China. It is heading up interior design for SunStone Ships’ newbuilds being built at China Merchants Industry Holdings’ (CMIH) shipyard and is also playing an important role in Viking Line’s newbuild project being built at Xiamen Shipbuilding.

Tomas Tillberg Design was awarded

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

30 | RUNNING HEAD sub

ABOVE: The disappearance of business centres in cruise ships means spaces need to be provided where people can comfortably use their personal devices (credit: Tomas Tillberg Design)

Tomas Tillberg (Tomas Tillberg Design)

Tomas Tillberg was exposed to cruise ship design from an early age through the work of his father, Robert Tillberg.

Mr Tillberg, an artist and designer, attended the Swedish Royal Academy of Arts and started his career doing painting commissions for private clients as well as working with his father and the team at Tillberg Design in Sweden. In addition to this work, Mr Tillberg spent many years establishing and managing a contracting firm which expanded into 21 countries. This experience in managing international projects was put to use later in helping his father to expand Tillberg Design.

In l996 Mr Tillberg moved to America to establish the offices of Tomas Tillberg Design in Florida.

the contract to design SunStone Ships’ new expedition cruise ships following a decade-long relationship with the cruise operator.

Mr Tillberg elaborated “Chinese yards have not built cruise ships before but by bringing an experienced European contractor to CMIH we can deliver the interior a modern cruise ship should have.”

He highlighted the great impact he believed China will have on cruise shipbuilding. “China is a new frontier for cruise shipping and for building cruise ships. The Chinese are making a serious effort to get into this market and are committed to staying for the long haul.”

A team led by Tomas Tillberg Design managing partner Carlos H Reyes is responsible for the co-ordination between the shipyard, the outfitters and the architects when it comes to Viking Line’s LNG-fuelled newbuild being built in Xiamen. Mr Reyes said “Our firm has been hired by the shipyard as part of the shipyard’s team, led by project manager Mr Zeng. What is important is that all the pieces fit together in the puzzle in the best possible way and by working with the shipyard, outfitters and architect, we achieve the product Viking Line is expecting.

“The shipyard is capable enough of building a large ferry of this kind and a great team has been put together, consisting of very experienced companies, including Finland-based Deltamarin which is providing engineering and shipbuilding support services.”

Using shipyards in China to build cruise ships and ferries is a trend Mr Tillberg is sure will continue. “Major cruise lines are expanding and European shipyards are full,” he said.

As well as newbuilds, Mr Tillberg said an important part of Tomas Tillberg Design’s work is refurbishment. “As more and more ships are delivered, there is more refurbishment needed, it is an on-going operation. With a newbuild, we have more time, so it is less of a challenge time-wise. On a refurbishment project, there is not very much time, we have to get everything together in short order, so our whole team really has to know what they are doing.”

New materials, new possibilities Trends for new materials within cruise and ferry interior design are gaining momentum.

Highlighting the fast-moving nature of new trends, Tomas Tillberg Design lead designer and managing partner Nedgé Louis-Jacques and vice president of design Debbie Breslauer said “We

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

have about 400 suppliers and nearly every day people come to our office bringing new materials, which open up new possibilities for designs. It is always exciting to see these new developments and we appreciate the good relationship we have with all our suppliers.”

They picked out an example: deck railings used to be made out of teak. “Teak is very expensive, it is hard to come by and has a very restricted market, therefore there has been a quest for alternative materials.”

While decking switched from teak to synthetic material around 10 years ago, deck railings have only recently started being constructed in different materials. Ms Louis-Jacques and Ms Breslauer said that one option was railings from a German company using rice chaff. “It looks like teak but is cheaper, it is a really durable material that is maintenance free and environmentally friendly. It looks beautiful. When we saw it, we thought it was great for furniture but realised it would be perfect for railings as well.

“This is a great example of how new materials open possibilities and solve problems.”

Technology trend

Another trend is the boom in using technology on board and its subsequent impact on the interiors.

Mr Tillberg said “Previously, the cabin and TV in it were not so interesting – people wanted to be out of their cabins. The TV had to be there but not a lot of attention was paid to it. Nowadays the TV is a medium for information and sales. It’s only one example of how technology has changed the functionality of an item in the cabin.”

He added that while cruise ships used to have business centres, which were a “very important space”, today guests have their own laptops and phones and can use them anywhere on board, “so business centres are disappearing”.

While this frees up space, it means that spaces need to be provided where people can charge their appliances and sit and comfortably use their personal devices.

Technology has also had an impact on the management of Tomas Tillberg Design – for the better. “We all used to be based in the one office.

Now we have a completely different type of organisation,” said Mr Tillberg.

While the company’s top designers are based in its headquarters in Florida, the project managers work in different locations around the world, and Tomas Tillberg Design has teams in France and Denmark, as well as in China and Colombia, which produces renderings and carries out production work. “Even though we are decentralised, our teams stay in contact in real-time via Skype and other resources. This modern way of operating makes our company more cost efficient, available and flexible,” said Mr Tillberg. PST

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32 | FINCANTIERI

Fincantieri: how to lengthen passenger ships to extend internal capacity Fincantieri explains the challenges involved in building mid-sections for two Grimaldi vessels

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rimaldi is lengthening two ropax ferries to install more cabins, new public spaces, restaurants and an equipment room for installing batteries.

Grimaldi signed a letter of intent with Fincantieri in March 2018 for the shipyard’s ship repair and conversion division to lengthen and extensively refurbish cruise ferries Cruise Roma and Cruise Barcelona, built by the Italian yard in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Prior to the lengthening, the vessels’ dimensions were 54,000 gt, 225 m length, 3,000 passengers with a 2,400 m2 car deck and 3,000 lane metres for heavy vehicles. Following the lengthening the preliminary main dimensions will become 63,000 gt, 254 m length, 3,500 passengers, 3,400 m2 car deck and 3,600 lane metres for heavy vehicles.

Working closely with the classification society RINA, Fincantieri prepared a feasibility study to address the complexities of this project and proposed a technical solution including a revised general arrangement plan to Grimaldi. Fincantieri vice president ship repair and conversion Andrew Toso pointed out that the design phase of such a lengthening project is comparable to that of a newbuild ship and the approval process with the classification society usually takes around one year. All the required classification approvals were obtained by Fincantieri and the ship repair and conversion division will kick off the project on Cruise Roma at its Palermo site during January 2019, with an approximate work schedule of 12 weeks. Completion of Cruise Roma will quickly be followed by the lengthening of Cruise Barcelona.

Commenting on these two particular lengthenings, Mr Toso said “The main reason is to increase passenger and vehicle carrying capacity, however in this case the ferry operator has also implemented a very environmentally friendly approach and shall dedicate some of the space created by the new mid-body section to install a bank of mega- lithium batteries. This will allow the vessels to have zero emissions in port as all of the electrical needs will be met by the batteries, which will then be recharged while the ships are at sea during cruising.” By using the batteries, which will total 5 MW of installed power, instead of the diesel generators, these ships will have

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

zero emissions while in port. Mr Toso further explained that “due to space and weight the battery pack will be spilt into two, with one half in the battery room on the port side and the other in the room on the starboard side.” To complement the mega-lithium battery, the works also include installing a scrubber system for exhaust gas cleaning.

Building mid-sections

The lengthening work will involve constructing two 28-m long mid-body sections which will be fitted to the ropax ferries, giving an additional 600 lane metres of roro space for heavy vehicles, and 20 additional cabins on each ferry. Two new seating areas will be added to each vessel, with an increase of 500 seats, also a new familyorientated self-service restaurant will be created with seating for about 270, which will also comprise a space for children to play. Fincantieri will also create a movable partition in the existing restaurants to provide Grimaldi with the option of using part of the space for a specialty restaurant. The new mid-body section will provide additional deck space, extending the existing sun deck by about 600 m2.

In order to cut down on the time the vessels have to remain out of service at the shipyard, the mid-body section of about 1,700 tonnes of steel and another 600 tonnes of outfitting is being prefabricated and assembled prior to the vessel arriving at the facility. Mr Toso explained “The idea is to pre-outfit the new section as much as possible.” He described how the installation of the new section shall be carried out: The aft section (as this is the heaviest part) of the vessel will remain stationary on traditional dock blocks while the forward section will be laid on special movable blocks called skid shoes. These skid shoes can be moved forward using hydraulic cylinders to create the space for inserting the new midbody section. Separately, the mid-body section will be mounted on a specially prepared self-propelled modular transport system.

“These multi-wheel systems can move a huge amount in terms of weight and will be able to insert the new section in a very precise

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RUNNING HEAD | 33

BEFORE

AFTER

54,000 gt

63,000 gt

225 m

254 m

3,000

3,500

2,400 m2 car deck

3,400 m2 car deck

3,000 lane metres

3,600 lane metres

way within the gap created in the existing vessel so that we can then start the welding process,” said Mr Toso.

Outfitting in all ship areas in the way of the cutting line has to be removed, to create a clear and safe space around the hot work required to first cut the existing steel structure, and then to weld the new section. A week to 10 days before the vessel arrives in the shipyard, Fincantieri will assemble teams on board to prepare the vessel for cutting. These teams will prepare the area around the cutting line (4-5 m across cutting line) and “remove the panels, the floors, the ceilings, remove everything and then mark all the cables and pipes as all of them will have to be cut”. The complexity of this job was emphasised as Mr Toso added “We are talking 1,200 cables that have to be marked and cut and then reconnected correctly again” “Building extra cabins and public spaces has a big impact on all the systems that feed the passenger areas and when it comes to cutting the vessel in two, we have to retest and recommission all systems and processes, so it is absolutely comparable to the newbuilding process.” He added “The ferries will perform sea trials like a newbuilding because from a stability and manoeuvrability viewpoint, it is like having a completely new vessel.” This project is particularly innovative because it is the first time that batteries and associated systems will be installed during a ship lengthening.

Backdrop of cruise extensions

Mr Toso singled out Fincantieri’s work in lengthening MSC’s Lirica-class in 2014-2015 as being an important backdrop to the project. It lengthened MSC Armonia, MSC Lirica, MSC Sinfonia and MSC Opera from 251 m to 275 m by adding a prefabricated midsection. He further commented that “These were very complicated vessels to lengthen so our experience of the impact of lengthening on the performance of the vessel, including speed and fuel consumption, is very good.”

Fincantieri is therefore no stranger to vessel lengthening projects;

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As with MSC Cruises' Lirica's lengthening (pictured), the new mid-body section will be mounted on a self-propelled modular transport system to insert the new section very precisely (credit: Fincantieri)

the Grimaldi projects are the sixth and seventh such project carried out by Fincantieri during the last five years. Over the past 30 years, it has in fact carried out 32 vessel lengthenings across ferries, cruise ships and barges. The most recent project was lengthening Silversea Cruises’ Silver Spirit in March this year.

Fincantieri believes that ship lengthening as a means of increasing passenger capacity and internal space has become an industry trend.

Mr Toso noted that “Since MSC, we have received a lot of requests from other companies for feasibility studies – the cruise industry is very interested in this option. I hope we get the same feedback from the ferry industry. Indeed, we expect good feedback.”

There are several reasons which may motivate a ship owner to lengthen a vessel and these can generally be separated into technical and commercial considerations, or frequently, a mix of both. Mr Toso explained that commercially, the additional payload (passengers/cargo), limited investment and short project turnaround required for the redelivery of a lengthened vessel are of major relevance. Technically, the vessel’s improved performance and life-extension achieved are usually the most relevant. PST

Andrew Toso (Fincantieri) Mr Toso attended the Italian Naval academy and worked as a technical officer within the Italian Navy. Following the completion of studies in naval architecture, he worked in Saipem SpA as field engineer on board Saipem 7000 managing offshore projects in the North Sea and in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2009 he started work with Fincantieri in the basic design department; in 2010 he became responsible for the technical department of the ship repair and conversion division. He has also assumed the role of project manager of MSC Cruises’ Renaissance project and, in 2017 he became vice president of Fincantieri Services ship repair and conversion.

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

It’s a great time for design Social media and image sharing means the industry is designing for a new generation of passengers with an enhanced appreciation of good design, says Carnival Cruise Line director of interior design and architecture, Petu Kummala

An instant rapport with Carnival Cruise Line’s legendary designer Joe Farcus – “I made the decision to join him in 10 seconds” resulted in Petu Kummala leaving his role with Kone-Plan OY/Deltamarin Group and spending the next 15 years working with Mr Farcus.

Together they would work on 17 Carnival and nine Costa vessels, among others. Today Mr Kummala is Carnival Cruise Line’s director of design and architecture and somehow manages to run his own design consultancy, called 358 after Finland’s international dialling code, in parallel.

But then as a self-confessed Porsche fan and instructor, this is a man used to covering a lot of ground, quickly.

Reflecting on the 25 main projects he and Joe Farcus worked on he says the Costa Diadema – which was also their last collaboration – was especially memorable.

The vessel also carries one his proudest

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

individual pieces of interior design as the individual details – the ‘chain chandeliers’ created in partnership with Ensto Italia and fitted to illuminate Costa Diadema’s shop promenade area.

‘Diadem’ is Italian for ‘tiara’ and Mr Kummala was tasked with creating a thoroughfare through the vessel’s shopping precinct where passengers could move freely whether or not the shops were open. He designed a number of display windows for the area and illuminated them with 35 light fixtures.

“I envisioned crashed-together picture frames.

It had to give off light, so I put LED lights in four recesses, one in each side of the extruded aluminum frame. Each frame was done in a different finish – glossy red, glossy black, chrome, and gold leaf.”

Mr Kummala sketched the design (he mostly works by hand), prepared a few notes, and sent it away for the mock-up. Mr Kummala’s original drawings called for a mounting system of eight thin stainless steel rods. Ensto found a way to

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CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE | 35

connect the frames to each other as a single unit, allowing only four vertical hanging points. “They came back perfectly,” recalled Mr Kummala.

Especially satisfying was that the mockup matched his vision exactly. No corners were cut or concessions made for economy or weight.

As today’s director he identifies Carnival Vista as a memorable assignment. “I stepped in midproject on what was the company’s first prototype project since Carnival Spirit.” There is an obvious excitement too around the XL Project. These will be Carnival’s largest ever vessels and are set to launch in 2020 and 2022 respectively. “These are advanced and creative LNG powered vessels – and being built in my hometown of Turku.”

While design evolves some challenges remain constant. Not least, lack of space and low ceilings.

“We need to design so that we avoid the feeling of being pressed down. It's amplified in large rooms but with for example patterns we can fool the eye a bit. It is not as simple as having vertical stripes in a shirt which makes a person look slimmer but the same principle applies.”

Another is regulation. “They impact interior design a lot. For example, we are very limited on how much wood or anything combustible can be used and there are specific stipulations around cleanable materials in restaurants and bars.

“Regulations have always been in place but

have become even more restrictive than they were for example 20 years ago. Gone are the days of extensive wood veneer walls, rig beams etc.

“But with the rules tightening, materials have been developed and are now much better. Today we can draw on laminates that look like and fabrics that look like silk but aren't… That helps the designers to retain the look even when the restrictions limit us.”

These are important considerations he says in an age where social media and image sharing means the industry is designing for a new generation of discerning passengers with an enhanced appreciation of good design. PST LEFT: There are specific stipulations surrounding cleanable materials in cruise ship restaurants and bars. Pictured: The Carnival Horizon library bar (credit: Carnival Cruise Line) LEFT INSET: Petu Kummala (Carnival Cruise Line): Carnival Vista - the company's first prototype since Carnival Spirit - was a memorable assignment BELOW: Cruise ship design challenges include avoiding the feeling of “being pressed” down – using patterns can help create the feeling of higher ceilings. Pictured is Carnival Cruise Line’s Meridian restaurant (credit: Carnival Cruise Line)

“It is not as simple as having vertical stripes on a shirt which makes a person look slimmer, but the same principle applies” Petu Kummala (Carnival Cruise Line)

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Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

36 | SHIPYARD PROFILE

How to achieve interiors efficiency in layout, aftercare and energy Subsidiaries of Genova Industrie Navali reveal how they apply energy efficiency and automation solutions to cruise ship interiors

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fficient materials, layout and maintenance procedures are main focuses for Gerolamo Scorza when designing interiors for both retrofitting and installing on newbuild cruise ships.

Gerolamo Scorza is one of Genova Industrie Navali’s (GIN) subsidiaries.

GIN’s subsidiaries also include Chantier Naval de Marseille, ship designer T Mariotti and Tecnavi.

Gerolamo Scorza chief executive Massimo Barbè explained the company usually deals with four to five drydock projects and one newbuild project annually.

Its latest projects span the public toilets of Regent Mariner, all crew areas of Norwegian Star, hundreds of

accommodation doors on Norwegian Sun, Seabourn Sojourn’s public areas and it is also working on the new MSC ships in Chantier de l'Atlantique in St Nazaire.

Explaining how the company approached projects, he singled out the importance of layout and aftercare as important focuses. “Once we are awarded a project we start to study it in detail to optimise all the aspects. We eventually propose more efficient materials within the same budget that comply with all class and flag rules, we optimise the layout to increase efficiency and sometimes we propose a different technical solution overall to reduce maintenance procedures that are perhaps the main issues for owners once the ship is in operation.”

Engineering and energy efficiency Energy efficiency is an important feature.

“Energy efficiency can be achieved in different ways: weight is an important issue that can affect the performance of the ship. Another important improvement in energy efficiency can be achieved by prefabricating as much as possible. Items built in a workshop are better built items

Gerolamo Scorza focuses on keeping weight down in the interior to boost energy efficiency.

Pictured is one of its latest projects, MSC Meraviglia

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

and help to reduce installation time. Good engineering can help to save energy, lead to a better product and reduce construction time.”

As well as outfitting ship interiors, the company also produces furniture, decking, wall panels and doors in its own factory.

Mr Barbè said “We produce every kind of furniture, metallic structures, doors and B-class panels for public areas. We always try to provide the best possible quality for our customers – for example using plywood panels instead of chipboard for the furniture we produce. Passenger ship operators look for simple and cost efficient maintenance procedures.”

Asked about the machinery and processes used by the company, he highlighted that it was important to use a mix of modern methods combined with craftmanship. “We use modern CNC [computer numerical control] machinery combined with craftsmanship. This is in my opinion the strength of a company that has been in the market for over 110 years and is looking to the future, taking inspiration from lessons learned in the past.”

Automation and CO2

Tecnavi is another company under GIN umbrella, working within the interiors sector of shipbuilding repair and conversion. Tecnavi and Florida Marine Industries chief executive Stefano Costa explained the importance of automation when it comes to saving energy in the hotel side. “The technology in automation enables cruise ships to make significant energy savings by optimising HVAC and refrigeration.”

He singled out a new trend: using new CO2 chillers for cold rooms. He said “...

Freon has been found to have a bad GWP and within a few years, air conditioning systems will be barred from using it as a refrigerant. The hot topic is using CO2.”

In 2018, Tecnavi handled 16 cruise ships, including those from NCL, MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises and Carnival Cruise Line. PST

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38 | FLOORING INNOVATIONS

LED, boosting drainage and cutting dirt

Bolidt is planning to use liquid-based LED sensors that react to step-on movement RIGHT: Forbo’s Coral Marine FR absorbs moisture and removes dry soiling in entrance and circulation areas

Leading passenger ship flooring manufacturers reveal technology advancements to reduce maintenance, extend longevity and include sensors

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assenger ships will be one of the main markets for a flooring design that provides a secure interface between flooring material and a ship’s drainage channels.

Managing director of wastewater management specialist ACO Marine, Mark Beavis told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review in September that this solution will be on the market in 6-12 months, once tests have been completed.

These are being conducted jointly with Sika Group, which makes a range of resin flooring for marine and shoreside applications. The two companies have co-operated for more than three years on non-marine work and have now extended this to their marine work.

In a statement marking the launch of their joint initiative at the SMM exhibition in September, Mr Beavis said current maritime drainage-floor connections can be damaged after a few years of operation, often requiring extensive and costly flooring repairs or replacement. With no guidelines to follow, “ship operators and shipbuilders have used trial and error when selecting the appropriate flooring and drainage system.”

He said that preliminary tests have simulated 250,000 cycles of a wheel going across the drainage channel but said mechanical loads are not the only ones to consider. Thermal forces – for example, if hot water is poured into the drain in a galley

– and flexing movements from the ship’s motion at sea must also be considered and tests are still to be completed on these details.

“This is an overlooked part of shipbuilding,” he said. On almost any ship “there will be areas of cracking and damage around the edge of the channel where it joins the flooring material.” These will be “continuously scraped, scratched, cleaned, repainted and made good” yet “if the installation is done right in the first place, it can almost become fit-and-forget.”

Passenger ships will particularly benefit because of the numerous areas where water and flooring coincide: loading areas, galleys, food stores, bathrooms, balconies, on outside decks, around hot tubs and swimming pools – “wherever there is drainage from the deck, this concept is applicable. And there are a lot of decks on cruise ships,” Mr Beavis said.

He also stressed that the drainage channels are designed to be hygienic, so it uses its patented ACO Hygienic system, which has no right angles or dirt traps to harbour bacteria – a major concern for passenger ship operators.

ACO Marine’s statement quoted Sika Services corporate business development manager for marine Tony Jenkins who welcomed the extension of the companies’ co-operation into the marine sphere, saying it will “allow Sika and ACO Marine to develop guidelines and solutions to optimise the

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

FAR RIGHT: Preparations are in progress for testing the combined Sika flooring system and ACO Marine’s drainage channel (credit: ACO Marine)

interface connections between the flooring and drainage systems on board ships.”

Mr Beavis underlined the significance of the co-operation, saying that in the past flooring and drainage systems have been installed separately with neither contractor understanding the requirements of the other. “Putting the two together and getting them to talk and develop a proper interface structure has allowed us to provide a solution so that we can advise the yard as they lay their deck surfaces down.”

Preventing dirt and moisture

New and innovative solutions are also important for UK-headquartered Forbo Flooring Systems. Its marketing manager Jemma Masters said “First impressions are crucial, which is why effective entrance flooring that stops dirt and moisture being tracked on board is fundamental to modern day cruise and ferry design.”

Forbo Flooring Systems already has such an entrance system, Coral T32 FR, within its marine product portfolio. This collection was updated this year to be more in line with both current and future demands.

Therefore, the company has launched its new IMO-certified textile entrance system Coral Marine FR, which absorbs moisture and removes dry soiling in entrance and circulation areas.

Ms Masters said “By removing wet and

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FLOORING INNOVATIONS | 39

dry soiling from the soles of shoes and wheel treads, an effective entrance system reduces premature wear and tear to interior floor coverings, minimises cleaning and maintenance costs and protects passengers by reducing slip hazards.”

The product stops up to 95% of dirt and moisture from being tracked on board. It is constructed of a wool and polyamide mix and is available in eight colours.

Incorporating LEDs

Dutch floor specialist Bolidt showed off its latest product development at September’s SMM exhibition in Hamburg: a unique flooring product that incorporates smart LED lighting. The idea for illuminated flooring was first developed for helicopter decks on mega yachts but cruise ship interior designers soon became interested in its potential for their ship interior projects.

The resulting floor system can be programmed to show various patterns and its individual LEDs can be controlled, “allowing designers an unprecedented level of creativity,” the company said in its exhibition material. It is just 15-mm thick and the lights are said to be durable enough to last as long as the decks themselves.

Its evolution will continue and next year a further development will be launched, incorporating liquid-based sensors, rather than lights, that react to step-on

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movement. This could be used to alert crew if someone is out of bounds, if children are playing where they should not be or to detect water leaking in a technical area.

The system could also be adapted for more sophisticated applications, such as monitoring passenger movements in muster drills or evacuations, the company said.

This new concept comes at a time when the company has seen an all-time high in retrofit orders, thanks to what it views as a vibrant cruise ship refurbishment market.

At the time of writing in late September, its website reported five major ship projects completed so far this year with bookings for a further seven large ship jobs among dozens of projects planned for well into 2019.

Those five major ships were NCL’s Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Star; RCCL vessels Mariner and Independence of the Seas and the Azamara Club Cruises ship Azamara Pursuit. Refurbishment bookings for drydocking later this year and in the first half of 2019 include Norwegian Jewel, Celebrity Summit, Celebrity Millennium, Navigator, Oasis of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas and Carnival Triumph.

The scale of the flooring and deck system upgrades within these projects was extensive but one of the most significant was a major overhaul of Azamara Pursuit, which took place at Belfast’s Harland & Wolff shipyard. Northern Ireland-based company, MJM Group, was awarded a

turnkey project for the four-month refit and Bolidt was contracted directly by MJM to carry out the decking upgrade work.

In a note on its website, Bolidt said managing this increased cruise refit work is a “key challenge” because of the volume of work that has to be compressed into an increasingly short drydocking stay. It quotes its maritime division director Jacco van Overbeek saying it sometimes has more than 15,000 m2 of material to install in less than a month. “We have risen to this challenge by increasing our pool of specialist installers and by ‘growing our own’ and promoting employees with the aptitude and a willingness to learn about the practical side of the cruise refit market,” he said.

The company has further responded to the need to boost productivity to deliver projects within tight schedules by developing prefabrication techniques.

Mr Van Overbeek said “This has helped in areas where the complexity of installation in liquid form is simply too great for us to pursue traditional pouring methods.

Instead, we have developed innovative, practical applications for resin decking compounds, wherever accessibility for traditional materials, such as teak and tiles, has become prohibitive.

“In some cases, there are no viable options other than the customised solutions that Bolidt has developed, which puts us in a strong competitive position.” PST

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

Durability, elegance and uniqueness key for MSC Cruises interior design Elegance, standing the test of time and creating something unique are major drivers for De Jorio Design International president and head of interior design Marco de Jorio

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e Jorio Design International has designed the interiors of 14 ships within MSC Cruises’ fleet and it is working on the design of eight MSC newbuilds, which include large ships built for the contemporary market and four smaller ships aimed at the luxury sector.

Marco de Jorio’s background is steeped in ship interior design. After graduating from the University of Architecture in

Genoa and Rome, in 1986 he joined Studio De Jorio, founded by his father, the renowned architect Giuseppe de Jorio.

Then in 2000,he founded De Jorio Design International, with Giuseppe and his brother Vittorio de Jorio.

De Jorio Design International’s longstanding relationship with MSC Cruises started with Lirica and Opera, which were delivered in 2003 and 2004.

Mr de Jorio opened up about De Jorio

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

Design International’s approach to MSC Cruises’ ships. “We target real elegance and uniqueness and the design of new iconic elements. Our approach is not to copy, but to always give a new interpretation of a commercial element. Even when we design a typical restaurant we always translate the design in a new way, giving a new look to even a classic design.”

He emphasised that the company did not want to repeat or clone elements in a first-in-class ship, and this applied from the design right down to the carpets, chairs, sofas and lamps. “Every element is customised,” Mr de Jorio said.

Creating a durable design also underpins Mr de Jorio’s work. “It is easy to design something contemporary, but we must always think of the future. We cannot just design for the next three years, we have to

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DE JORIO DESIGN INTERNATIONAL | 41

ABOVE: A loop between different decks on MSC Seaside allows passengers to be connected to different spaces on the ship (credit: De Jorio Design International) LEFT: The MSC Meraviglia promenade represents a city and is unusual as there are no cabins (credit: De Jorio Design International)

create something that will last 15-20 years,” he explained.

“It is about respecting current tendencies but also being able to create a design that people say ‘wow’ to in 20 years’ time – to create something that is still seen as elegant.”

The Meraviglia-class of ship is a strong example that demonstrates how De Jorio Design International has created a ground-breaking, timeless and elegant design. In the heart of MSC Meraviglia is a three-story atrium with stand-out features including a glass mirror ceiling and twoSwaroski studded glass staircases.

There is also the game-changing 96-m long Galleria Meraviglia promenade, featuring an 80-m dome – the highest ever on a cruise ship – with an LED ceiling that creates ever-changing visual effects.

This two-deck promenade includes restaurants, bars, cafes, boutiques, a chocolate shop, the shopping centre, the spa and theatre.Highlighting its innovation, Mr de Jorio said “This promenade represents a city where one finds modern architecture and an urban space. It is unusual as there are no cabins, it is designed purely for

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passengers to spend their leisure time.”

Another example is MSC Seaview, where the interiors have been made very open to the outside space. This is to make the most the tropical temperate regions in which the ship travels.

Glass walls are used on the upper decks as much as possible and there is a pool on the aft of the lower deck – as well as higher up – which is rare on a large ship. This is so passengers can feel closer to the sea.

A loop between decks five, six, seven and eight enables passengers to walk from aft to forward and allows them to be connected to different spaces, both inside and outside, allowing passengers to feel close to the sea and take in the scenery. All decks are connected to public spaces, both vertically and horizontally, so passengers can have easy connections and easily access all activities.

Flexibility of space and easy transition of space usage between day and night is a key feature on this ship and others being built, such as MSC Evo, currently being built by Fincantieri. Here, De Jorio Design International has designed a large foyer with a three-deck high LED wall and ceiling that emulates the mood of Times

Square and which will be used as a flexible space for shows, music and entertaining.

A challenge for cruise ship interior designers is to cater for increasing numbers of guests, as ships get larger.

MSC Cruises’ World-class ships will have capacity for 7,000 guests. Mr de Jorio explained it is important to harmonise free flow through creating open-plan spaces – areas with several different spaces through which people can move freely – and not isolating spaces.

He singled out a good example on the MSC World-class ships – they are designed with a double promenade – a very large three-deck inner promenade and an external one, each full of different activities.“Even if each promenade offers different corners and areas, all are connected, and the flow of people can move and not stop.”

Mr de Jorio has been at the forefront of cruise ship interior design and he elaborates on the exciting opportunities for designers in the future. “We will see different types of ships, with more and more smaller ships specialised on one special activity, perhaps for exploration, beauty, fitness or for the concept of enjoying life.” PST

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

CRUISE SHIP INTERIORS E X P O

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TURNKEY PROVIDERS | 43

Cruise turnkey providers: lighter, faster, stronger The need to reduce weight and meet ever-shorter deadlines has led to innovation among cruise ship interiors outfitters and turnkey providers

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booming cruise ship orderbook and strong refurbishment trend means interior turnkey providers and outfitters are busier than ever and applying innovation to help the cruise interior design sector.

Marine Interiors is juggling many balls – it has set up a new joint venture, is launching a bulkhead panel it says is the lightest in the industry and on top of this, is expected to record revenue of €200M (US$228M) this year. This is a huge contrast to when former company Santarossa was acquired by Fincantieri in 2015 in Chapter 11 with revenue of €30M.

12,000 cabins, 6,000 bathrooms and almost 30,000 m2 of public areas. The company also refurbished four cruise ships.

A complete package

Fincantieri acquired Santarossa to enrich Fincantieri Group’s overall product portfolio, integrating cabin design and production into its design and construction flow. Marine Interiors chief executive Gabriele Cafaro told Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review “We took over the company in an emergency situation, have increased revenue seven times and have increased the product portfolio.”

The company’s portfolio for 2018 is impressive – it has delivered seven newbuildings from five different yards to six different cruise brands. The work included:

The work this year included Ponant’s Le Lapérouse and Le Lyrial, built by Fincantieri’s subsidiary Vard shipyard in Norway. These projects are of great significance as for the first time Marine Interiors carried out the complete accommodation package, involving engineering and integration of the whole hotel side, from cabins and bathrooms to public areas, galleys, provisions and laundry.

Mr Cafaro said “Vard used to do offshore work, so is not used to the hotel part of a cruise vessel. They did not have the expertise to integrate engineering and project management of the hotel part so they relied on us to complete the hotel supply side.”

This is just a starting point for Marine Interiors. “We want to do more of this, and now we have delivered the first two vessels, my intention is to further enlarge the product portfolio so that we can deliver

For the first time, Marine Interiors has carried out the complete accommodation package on Ponant's Le Lapérouse (pictured) and Le Lyrial (credit: Marine Interiors) www.passengership.info

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

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46 | TURNKEY PROVIDERS

the complete accommodation package. We want to do this through joint ventures.”

To this end, Marine Interiors established a joint venture with private shareholders Seanergy in 2018 that already has orders worth €100M. Mr Cafaro said “This will enlarge our product portfolio and enable us to install a wider range of products. It will allow us to take advantage of economies of scale when ordering supplies.”

The company is also moving forward in another area. “We will start a new line at our headquarters for the production of bulk head panels for cabins that will automate the process and more importantly, enable product innovation as these will be the lightest on the market. The new panels will offer up to a 20% reduction in weight compared to Marine Interiors’ current panels due to a lighter insulation material.

“With the weight saved, the owner could, roughly, add 20% more cabins at the same performance,” Mr Cafaro said. The company expects to start installing these panels by June next year.

Marine Interiors has certainly come a long way since it was first established in 2015, from boosting revenue seven times over, to establishing a joint venture and increasing its product portfolio and services.

Trimline: Upgrading fleets

The boom in cruise ship refurbishment shows no sign of decreasing as operators aim to standardise their fleet and bring their older ships up to match the latest

décor and trends of their newbuilds.

Trimline key account manager Simon Dawkins said cruise operators were standardising their public areas. “As new ships are delivered, they want to replicate the public areas found in these across the fleet. They want ships to all be up to the same standard,” explained Mr Dawkins. He singled out an example – when Trimline worked on Mariner of the Seas, one of the tasks was to replace the current solarium with a replica that has been added to its newbuilds.

Another example is the refit Trimline carried out on the ultra-luxury Seabourn Quest. One of the refits included upgrading the elevators to bring them to the same standards as the Seabourn Encore.

“They have been made much more visually impressive, with fabric behind the glass, glossy deckheads, use of hidden LED lighting to illuminate,” he explained. This contrasts with the previous elevators, which used spotlights and had plainer deckheads.

Another recent project was P&O Australia’s Pacific Aria where Trimline was called upon to improve both public and crew areas.

“We upgraded the crew areas on board – highlighting a trend. The perception before was the crew areas were very industrial,” he said. “But now a lot of owners are re-designing the crew areas, making them nicer living spaces, helping with crew retention.”

Weight savings and competitive prices are a driving factor behind materials chosen.

Mr Dawkins said cruise operators were interested in lighter materials that replicated

heavier, more expensive ones. “We have been using some very thin porcelain tiles in some bathrooms and bars. They look like marble, but they are a quarter of the price; they are also lighter and less porous. Operators can get an expensive look without a big cost and can save weight.”

Weight is something Trimline has been focusing on as it continues to develop composite lightweight cabins with specialist PE Composites (PEC). Benefits of using this over a traditional steel structure include increased number of cabins, more energy efficiency and lower emissions. It has now secured further cofunding from the UK’s Innovation Agency, Innovate UK, to productionise and certify the lightweight cabin. During the next phase, PEC and Trimline will focus on reducing the cabin production costs and developing a pilot production plant capable of making several hundred cabins per year.

Sustainability and products that last longer are also important to source. Mr Dawkins said “Cruise ship operators want to use materials that last longer. For example, using wood effect ceramic tiles rather than real timber, which also reduces the fire risk of the area.”

He singled out an example: Trimline changed the dance floor of Symphony of the Seas from traditional varnish to treated resin to make it last longer and need less maintenance.

Mr Dawkins summed up “Better technology means that the ships being built are lasting for longer. This leads to a greater need for interior upgrades and it can only be a growth area.” PST

Cruise carpet design and fitting evolve Global Marine & Hotel Interiors president Anna Jenei has seen trends change over the years when it comes to cruise ship carpet design.

She set up the company in 2000, following a career steeped in cruise ship operations and design, after working in Princess Cruises for 13 years; seven of those years in the design department. Global Marine & Hotel Interiors arranges the fitting and installation of carpets and flooring for cruise ships, procures the installation supplies (such as adhesives), manages projects and offers value-added services such as quantifying materials to ensure there are no issues of oversupply.

While the company has worked on newbuilds, it predominantly works on refurbishment, including many ships for Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Princess Cruises, TUI and Holland America. Recent projects include Norwegian Breakaway, where Global Marine Interiors installed 40,000 m² of carpet in a two-week drydock in May this year. A recently

Passenger Ship Interior & Refurbishment Review 2018

completed project was Ruby Princess, involving carpeting the corridors and cabins. Its next project will be Oceania Insignia where the vessel will be renovated, and all areas will receive new carpet.

Ms Jenei said “We are a global company that carries out jobs all over the world, and we are always looking for ways to control cost – that is everyone’s issue. We can add value here by sourcing goods and installation supplies in many places.”

As drydocks become increasingly short, scheduling and planning refurbishment jobs is ever-more important. “We carry out project team co-ordination and take care of where materials should be loaded, thereby keeping the job moving.”

Commenting on trends, Ms Jenei said “There has been a big innovation in the patterns and designs of cruise ship carpets.

In the past they were more traditional and now cruise lines are adopting modern carpets and using a lot of designs like stripes, with bolder colours and more detailed patterns.”

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