Welcome to the Royal Caribbean blog podcast, a weekly look into the world of Royal Caribbean cruising.

I'm your host Matt Hodgeberg, and this is episode number 16.

If there's one topic that has really captured the imagination of Royal Caribbean fans lately,

it has to be Royal Caribbean's next cruise ship that's under construction, Quantum of the Seas.

This brand new ship is also a brand new class of cruise ships, so this week we're going to

preview this new ship, share what we know, what we think we know, and what we have yet to

find out.

Here we go.

So Quantum of the Seas will be the first of a new class of cruise ships that Royal Caribbean

is building,

and I have to admit I'm really excited to see what the ship holds in store for us.

So let's start with the details about this new ship that we do know.

Quantum of the Seas will be part of the quantum class of ships, which is originally known as Project Sunshine.

Now Project Sunshine is something of a code name, and code names, like Project Sunshine, are common in the cruise industry, and it's a name that the cruise line uses to refer to new builds before they're ready to be given a real name.

As an example, prior to the Oasis class getting its name, it was known as Project Genesis, so a little tidbit for you there.

Now, Roe Caribbean announced back on February 11, 2011, that it had ordered the new ship

that would later be known as Quantum of the Seas.

And we had known a little bit that Royal Caribbean was probably going to be doing something a little bit before that,

and they formally announced it back in February.

Now, the ship is being built at Mayerworth's Shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.

And right now her first cruise is scheduled

to be in November 2014, and she'll be home ported in Cape Liberty, New Jersey.

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