FT. LAUDERDALE, FL – More than 200 lighting fixtures from Elation Professional and 650 LED fixtures plus lighting control from Acclaim, supplied by FUNA International, are installed aboard the 5,400-passenger Oasis of the Seas cruise ship, which was launched recently by Royal Caribbean International.
The Elation gear ranges from IP-rated LED architectural fixtures for outdoor areas to moving heads and color-changing LEDs in its discos, lounges and retail space. Four hundred of the 650 Acclaim fixtures, meanwhile, are used in the ship's 1,380-seat Opal Theatre, where scenic designers Vicki Baral and Gerry Hariton (Hariton/Baral Design, Los Angeles) used 400 Acclaim X-Panels to create a wall of lights for the ship's production of the Tony-award-winning musical Hairspray.
Weighing 225,000 gross registered tons with 16 decks and a 5,400-passenger capacity, Oasis of the Seas has attracted notice since Royal Caribbean International first announced plans to build the $1.4 billion ship – the world's largest. The ship features double-deck loft cabins, a park the size of a football field, a zip line extending 9 decks above an atrium, and the AquaTheater – a pool by day and water-show theater at night.
The ship's layout includes seven distinct "neighborhoods" with names like Central Park, Boardwalk and Entertainment Place. Lighting designers Christopher Vlassopulos of Royal Caribbean and Michael Riotto Design (New York) turned to Elation and Acclaim for a balance of reliability and performance in putting the ship's featured attractions in their most effective light.
Vlassopulos, who serves in Entertainment Technology & Technical Design for Royal Caribbean, noted that, "with seven themed zones and 50-plus venues featuring state-of-the-art technologies for entertainment, we paid very close attention to both architectural and show lighting design. The ship is 24/7, multipurpose and multi-use, running 12 hours a day or more. You need things that are compact and reliable."
Elation's IP66-rated Design LED 108IPS RGB color-changing fixtures were used in a number of outdoor areas, including the Boardwalk family-oriented amusement environment; the Pool and Sports Zone, where it adds color to the ship's Flow Rider Surfing Simulators; and the AquaTheater, to light up dramatic diving shows at night.
Indoors, Elation's Opti RGB color-changing par-like fixture adds atmosphere to entertainment venues ranging from Boleros Latin club to Comedy Live comedy club, while the company's Impression LED moving head energizes Dazzles dance lounge.
"The cruise ship can be the model for the new lean and mean green-building age," Vlassopulos said. "Through such things as the employment of LEDs and other low-power, low-heat components, ships set an example of how to build in cost savings all the way down the line."
Vlassopulos and Riotto also chose Acclaim LED products to light the edge of the Studio B ice rink, where the designers used 50 Acclaim X-Bar HIP RGB units, an outdoor linear wash fixture rated at IP65. For the Comedy Central comedy club, there is an indoor version of the unit in both RGB and Warm White models (X-Bar HP RGB and X-Bar HP WW), along with Acclaim's X-Drum HIP, a submersible IP68 LED in stainless steel housing that can be mounted in any position.
Vlassopulos said that he is particularly proud of the all-LED Jazz Club, where 16 X-Drum HIP, 15 X-Bar HP RGB and 4 X-Bar Cool White fixtures are featured, along with an Acclaim X-Dimmer 1 dimming unit. "The room looks stunning with LEDs so well integrated from the start. It's a dream to operate – the Jazz Quartet simply select what they like – and there's virtually no maintenance with energy savings as well."
For more information, please visit www.elationlighting.com and www.acclaimlighting.com.
