Pool turns into theatre to wow cruise passengers

Until the middle of the 20th century, cruise ships offered passengers little more than shuffleboard, deck chairs and fancy cocktails.

Nowadays, any cruise ship worth its salt has at least one pool, probably several, and some even have water parks.

Pictured here is the astounding AquaTheatre – one of the key reasons passengers love to travel on the Royal Caribbean International’s Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas.

They are two of the world’s largest passenger ships. Each is approximately 362 meters with 16 decks and both have a capacity of up to 6318 passengers. They are 50-percent larger than the largest cruise vessel in the world and offer a “complete sensory experience” for their passengers.

The AquaTheatre is at the stern of each ship. They are swimming pools by day, but in the evening they are transformed into a series of entertaining water shows—the first time a cruise ship has offered this feature.

The designers and contractors knew where to go to find the world’s experts in AquaTheatre. Their water feature designers, Fluidity Design Consultants in Los Angeles, California, worked closely with fabricator and choreographer, Crystal Fountains, which has offices in Toronto, Canada, and in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to test stringent engineering and safety considerations and manufacture custom components suitable for the environment.

“With the design concept complete, the challenge to Crystal Fountains was to make it all work,” says Dilya Abushayeva, marketing specialist for the firm.

“Involvement on a ship considered revolutionary, required tremendous collaboration in project management as well as ingenuity in product and systems design. For passenger safety, the design adhered to the most stringent health and safety guidelines including all water being in constant circulation.

“Modern shipbuilding uses prefabricated block construction techniques,” she says. “So, for example, the control panel had to be installed before any of the other work on the AquaTheatre – requiring comprehensive assumptions and design flexibility.”

The Oasis of the Seas’ swimming pool in the AquaTheatre is 5.5 metres deep. It was built with a 750-seat arena, two surf machines and many fountains. Suspended above it are two climbing walls, diving towers and even a trapeze.

This is an extract from Christina DiMartio’s article on Cruising for a Splashing in the February-March 2012 printed issue of SPLASH!