93 “Columbia Blue will be running the hotel operations, as well as the technical management, and so they’re looking after the food concepts, menus, procurement and some of the owner’s supply for the F&B venues,” says Stewart. “We are also working with some of the best outfitters in our industry”. MJM Marine are responsible for outfitting about 75 per cent of the ship, including the public spaces up to deck eight and all of the main accommodation decks, with some of their work sub-contracted to Trimline. De Wave Group, meanwhile, are working on public spaces from deck 16 upwards, taking responsibility for areas including the Royal Suite and Super Suites. “We take great pride in leading design projects – coordinating the different design teams, overseeing the work, managing the transitions between spaces and managing client meetings,” says Stewart. “SMC Design have had a team of about 40 people working on this job who have designed about 80 per cent of the interiors.” He continues: “It helped that we have all of the original Genting Dream drawings on file because we designed the ship when it was first built. With such a quick turnaround to redesign the entire ship within a six-month period, having access to all the original drawings has helped us hit our design deadlines. This has been important because we think this is perhaps the biggest cruise ship refit ever to be undertaken by a cruise operator!” Aroya Cruises is the first Arabic cruise company and Aroya will be the first ship designed for the Arabic market. As a result, the refit has required SMC to develop a distinctive design approach, several new-to-cruise venues and a totally unique design identity. “There’s a lot of expectation for the design and hopefully we’ve done it justice,” says Stewart. “We’ve learned a lot during this process – about Arabian culture, architecture, patterns and artwork. Our design goal was to find a way to translate the environmental elements and cultural heritage into the design – seeking inspiration from the The Al Waha restaurant is intended as a contemporary interpretation of Saudi architecture
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