The floating-out ceremony of the last of 4 ships that Richard Branson’s Virgin Voyages ordered to Fincantieri Italy, Brilliant Lady, took place on November 25th at the Sestri Ponente (Genoa) shipyard.
Brilliant Lady, just like her sisterships Resilient Lady, Scarlet Lady, and Valiant Lady, weighs ~110,000 GT, is 278 meters long and 38 meters wide.
They all feature 1400+ staterooms designed to host 2770+ passengers/sailors, accompanied by 1160+ crew. The quality of life onboard is guaranteed by the “comfort class” certification, testifying minimum levels of noise/vibration, as well as by extensive use of home automation.
Thanks to this, through installing an app on their smartphones, passengers are able to manage a range of cabin functions (lighting, air conditioning, opening/closing of blinds, music, and TV).
This class of cruise ships stands out for its design, and for the particular attention paid to energy recovery, with cutting-edge alternative technologies reducing the vessel’s overall environmental impact.
The newbuilds are equipped with an energy production system of ~1 MW, which uses the waste heat of the diesel engine. In addition to a scrubber system (a device for sustainable sulfur dioxides waste management), the units are fitted with a catalytic converter reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides. They are equipped with led lights in order to reduce energy consumption. The hull's hydrodynamic design provides excellent performance with fuel saving.