The third in the series of the Freedom-class cruise vessels for Royal Caribbean was recently delivered in Aker Yards, . The of the Seas features signature elements of its sister ships, Freedom of the Seas and of the Seas. In addition to the innovative comfort amenities there is lots of technical improvement onboard the , e.g. advanced water purification: The state-of-the-art AWP-plant purifies all of the ship's grey and black waters into a degree of being virtually pure drinking water. The separated sludge will be consequently dried and incinerated with other combustible waste. All other waste material generated on board will be landed in ports and nothing - except for that fully purified drain water - will be released into the sea. The vessel is 339 metres long, 38.6 metres wide, and takes 4375 passengers and 1365 crew. It has diesel-electric propulsion. In order to ensure a best possible fuel economy and subsequently environmentally friendly operation a series of different hydrodynamic improvements including a new ducktail design were carefully studied and taken into use.
The signed contracts of Aker Yard's business area Cruise & Ferries are today worth approximately 5.9 billion EUR including 7 cruise vessels for three out of the four leading multibrand cruise companies: three for Royal Caribbean, three for MSC and two for NCL. The 10 ferries in the orderbook are two "superferries" for Stena, a fast day ferry for Color Line, two cruise ferries for Tallink, a fast ferry for Viking, a passenger ferry for Brittany Ferries and three LNG ferries for Tide Sjo.