RCCL Signs Letter Of Intent For New Ships

[Dave]

Code-named "Project Sunshine", RCCL's newest generation of ships look to be in the size range of the Norwegian Epic, both in passenger capacity and tonnage. Read more here.

[Midwest Cruiser]

It will be interesting to see what features they come up with for this new class of ship(s).

[Dave]

I'm sure there will be speculation about whether the name "Project Sunshine" implies anything.

[electech]

They are going to have to be very creative at getting 500 more passenges in a slightly smaller Freedom class ship. We felt just a bit crowded on the Liberty while we didn't on the Navigator. However, I do like that they are still building new ships in a down economy instead of resting on their laurels.

[penny3333]

They're going to have to put them in different debarkation points, or greatly improve the roads/entrances into Port Everglades. The day I arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, last Sunday, there were 8 ships trying to unload/reload passengers. The Allure was one of them. It took me over an hour to go 3 miles. Both entrances were backed up onto the highways, and not just a few cars, but about 2 miles of cars. If you have even 3 ships and one of them loads 5400 passengers, the other two ships loads 2-3 thousand people, it's a logistics nightmare. I still don't know how they plan to sell 21,600 passengers a week on just 4 of their ships. Maybe they plan on getting rid of some of their smaller ones, which I think would be a shame.

I, too, am glad to see them stimulating economies. Too bad the US cannot build ships like that. Sure would put a lot of people to work, but the shipyards overseas do a magnificent job.

I think Princess and Costa are also purchasing new ships. Aren't they Dave?

[Sonny V]

There is a meaning to the "Sunshine" class. I talked to Captain Johnny about it during our bridge tour. There is suppose to be a lot of enclosed areas. Remember the retractable glass roof over the solarium?

I just posted a long message about our last six days on the Allure, today is our last day. Some how it never got posted - at least I don't think is did.

[Dave]

Sonny, I don't see your Allure post either. Looks like it vanished into cyberspace before it got here.