Cruise & Ferry Interiors 2020

1 4 1 technical, maintenance and costing for ship projects. New members with financial and marketing expertise joined the decision-making group in the 1990s, a trend that was consolidated in the 2000s. In fact, financial and marketing expertise now prevail over technical perspectives. Shifting ship sizes As new technologies and construction techniques were introduced, the typical newbuild cruise ship size changed. From the 1970s to the mid-1990s, cruise ships were primarily panamax (vessels of less than 80,000gt, 106 feet in width and 965 feet in length to enable them to travel through the original dimensions of the Panama Canal). However, in 1995, Princess Cruises set out on a quest to develop more efficient vessels and decided to build a bigger ship. I was appointed to produce a preliminary general arrangement with relevant outline specifications and Fincantieri was chosen as the shipbuilder. In November 1998, Grand Princess was presented to the world in New York, USA and, at 110,000gt, she was the largest cruise ship ever built – a title she held for five months. Later in my career I had the pleasure of designing even larger vessels for Princess Cruises, namely the Royal-class ships. Shipowners tend to build increasingly larger cruise ships for two reasons. First, there is an economy of scale that reduces the cost per lower berth and second, ships have become a destination in themselves, so every new vessel must offer facilities that are even more attractive than those on the latest competitor newbuild. There is a parallel trend today in the smaller expedition niche market – destinations are playing the major role again and the cruise experience is being redefined as a journey to cultural enrichment. This is clearly reflected in the design of Silversea Cruises’ Silver Origin, one of my latest newbuild projects. Incredible people Sitmar’s Vlasov was the first of many influential and visionary people I’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with since completing my first cruise ship projects on Fairsea and Fairwind 45 years ago. He gave me the direction that has guided my career. After Princess Cruises merged with Sitmar in 1989, senior vice president of hotel operations Brian Langston-Carter, Peter Radcliffe and Lord Sterling were close and influential collaborators. Later, when Carnival Corporation acquired P&O Cruises, I had the opportunity to Elegance is a GEM hallmark, typified in this suite design onboard Silver Muse