hospitalitystyle.com

(January 2009) posted on Tue Jan 20, 2009 EST

It was sink or swim for some of the A-list design firms working on Royal Caribbean’s Celebrity Solstice that had little or no cruise ship design experience.

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By Val Hunt

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When Celebrity Cruises began short-listing design firms to craft the look of the first ship in its new Solstice-class line, the company didn't limit itself to cruise-ship veterans. "We were looking for people who are really good at designing a restaurant or really good at designing retail space," says Kelly Gonzalez, associate vice president of new-build design for parent company Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL). "The goal was to move beyond the idea of having the best-looking cruise ship design to having the best-looking design, period."

RCCL took a gamble that mixing landlubber design celebrities with its seaworthy regulars would pay off by raising the aesthetic bar for its new class of ships. Consequently, on the inaugural Celebrity Solstice, the company pooled the efforts of high-profile firms that had marine experience (RTKL, Wilson Butler, BG Studio and Francis Design) with equally impressive names that did not (Tihany Design and 5+Design). 

In some sense, though, the newbie-or-not-newbie distinction didn't matter. "We all were going to do something completely new-so it was as if no one had done cruise ship work before," says Adam D. Tihany of Tihany Design. Solstice was his firm's first foray into ship design, and the difference between shaping the identity of a restaurant on land and making a dining space that rocked on a boat really shook up his plans.

One of the biggest differences he found between designing at sea, rather than on land? Vibration, Tihany says. "Constant vibrations and movement dictate a lot in your design choices."

Fortunately, Tihany and 5+Design got a lot of input and assistance from RCCL's in-house design team and other firms with previous ship design experience. "They conducted a careful vibration study, which was especially helpful in terms of our design guidelines," Tihany says. Through this type of collaboration, Tihany was able to execute dramatic statements like a two-story wine tower in the main dining room; the bottles are cushioned with rubber inserts to absorb shock.

But the in-house team's goal was more than simply helping designers find their sea legs. "Our main interaction with the other firms was to help maintain the cohesive design of the ship," says Emilio Perez, new-build design manager for RCCL. The in-house team also developed the ship's suites, as well as the teen hangout, XClub, and the children's play area, the Fun Factory.

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