It is hard to believe, but we are underway. All the construction is finished; all the plants are planted; all the preparations are complete. Like all projects, even “normal” ones, Oasis still has kinks to work out and refinements to be made, but she is essentially complete and entertaining guests. (more…)
Last night, I got a wonderful present.
Joan Blackman gave me the very first copy of the “Wonderbook”, the book describing the art collection onboard Oasis of the Seas. Joan leads International Corporate Art (ICArt) and is our art advisor and guide. They have chosen, acquired and installed the wonderful art collection comprising over 9,000 items. The book is a beautiful description of the collection and how it is organized. (more…)
Our first butterfly was sighted in Central Park this morning.
Central Park, that is. The installation of the trees and foliage has been an enormous task and I have enjoyed watching it come to life.
The real key to the success of such a project isn’t what has happened the last few days, but the months of preparation and planning. We’ve talked about that before, but now I got to observe the results and the immediate effort to complete the work. The first thing I saw was the staging of the planting on the quayside. Very impressive. Rack after rack (just under 400 racks) of plants of all types and sizes. And an incredible indexing system that identifies each box and where it goes. (more…)
We are as proud of the safety and environmental innovations on this ship as we are the guest-facing innovations. The international body responsible for setting standards in this area is the International Maritime Organization (“IMO”), which is an agency of the United Nations with 169 Member States. The Secretary General of the IMO is Efthimios Mitropoulos and he has been a strong advocate of steps to improve safety and environmental protection throughout the maritime world.
Against this background, I was humbled and gratified to receive the attached letter from Secretary General Mitropoulos. Harri and his team worked closely over a number of years with the IMO as well as the various other regulatory agencies to ensure they supported our efforts and to incorporate best practices and ideas. Mr. Mitropoulos’ most gracious letter demonstrates just how successful this effort was.
