Royal Caribbean's Executive Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing, Lisa Bauer, said passengers aboard the new Quantum of the Seas cruise ship would expect to be "wowed" when it enters service next year.

Bauer declined to reveal specific details about the ship but insisted that Quantum of the Seas will, "live up to its name."

Quantum of the Seas is scheduled to enter service in fall 2014 with its sister ship Anthem of the Seas coming online about six months later.

Bauer said the product remains a closely guarded secret.

"What I would say is that people should be prepared to be wowed. The Quantum class ships will live up to its name."

The prospect of a ski slope as one of the onboard features has been suggested. Bauer declined to confirm or deny any plans.

Royal Caribbean has announced its new class of ships that has been referred to internally as Project Sunshine, will officially be called Quantum Class.  Additionally, the first two ships will be named Quantum of the Seas and Anthem of the Seas.

Quantum of the Seas will debut in 2014 and Anthem of the Seas will be ready in 2015.

  “We are extremely excited to celebrate this important milestone for our first Project Sunshine ship. After three years of design and advance planning this is the first step of the construction of the ship and I look forward to seeing it all come together in the coming months,” said Adam Goldstein, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. “The new ship will be such a leap forward in terms of vessel design and guest experiences that we thought the name Quantum of the Seas was perfectly appropriate.”

“Throughout our history we have made huge strides in cruise ship design and innovation and the Quantum class will be no exception,” said Richard D. Fain, Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. “We look forward to introducing consumers to Quantum cruising."

UPDATE 9:58AM: Royal Caribbean has officially confirmed the ship class name and names of the cruise ships.  In addition, the first piece of steel was cut for the first two Quantum class ships.  The steel cutting took place at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, where the two ships will be built.

Royal Caribbean indicated in a very short email to members of the media that  it will make a special announcement regarding the upcoming new class of cruise ships that is being called Project Sunshine.

Royal Caribbean hinted by saying, "Stay tuned tomorrow for an exciting reveal regarding this next class of ships."

The media team at Royal Caribbean is also kick starting its social media focus with a new Twitter and Tumblr accounts to help spread the word once the official announcements are made.

No word on what will be announced tomorrow but we will post any and all information on Project Sunshine right here as soon as we get it.

Royal Caribbean senior vice president Lisa Bauer spoke to a group of travel agents in São Paulo, Brazil on Tuesday and discussed some of Royal Caribbean's plans for the future, including launching three new cruise ships by 2016.

Bauer spoke about Brazil's importance as an increasingly larger market, "Brazil is an important market and also strategic. São Paulo customers love our products and it's where we have a high satisfaction rate. We know that agents work hard for our sales and we want to hear what they have to say."

Bauer mentioned the new third Oasis class ship Royal Caribbean is building along with the two Project Sunshine ships that will launch in 2014 and 2015.  According to Bauer, news about all three ships will be communicated throughout the construction period of the vessels.

"We do a global search with our passengers to define what will be news. We will bring some of the existing ammenities and others that are innovative and different from anything I've done," she said.

According to Ricardo Amaral, vice president of Royal Caribbean, Latin America, the focus of creation is seeking a new experience to guests. "Maybe that's why we're the playmaker that invests more in renovations and construction," he said.

For Amaral, the concept of brand and quality are the main characteristics that motivate Royal Caribbean to be preferred among Brazilians. "We believe we have the best product for the Brazilian public for both the domestic market and for Europe," he said. Regarding the numbers, he only mentioned that the season in Brazil is very good, since he can not speak of results that have not been announced for investors.  

The cruise industry is embracing the importance of interior design aboard its ships and when it comes to Royal Caribbean's newest ships that are under construction, the importance to remain chic is ever present.

The new Sunshine-Class ship that Royal Caribbean has been working on is reflective of the new trends.  According to Scott Butler of Wilson Butler, a handful of spaces on the new Sunshine-class ships will remain "white spaces" until the last moment so that Royal Caribbean can respond to the latest trends.

“Shelf life is always a risk with any designer, whether on land or at sea,” he added in an exclusive interview with Cruise Industry News.

Wärtsilä Hamworthy has signed a deal with the Meyer Werft to build hybrid scrubbers for Royal Caribbean's new Sunshine Class ships that have been kept very secretively.

Wärtsilä Hamworthy is a leading marine scrubbing technology company and will provide a total of four hybrid scrubber systems for the two ships that are under construction in Germany.

The choice of scrubbers for Royal Caribbean's new Sunshine class vessels will enable the new ships to travel anywhere in the world, because the scrubbers will be compliant with the 2015 Emission Control Area (ECA) 0.1% sulfur limit, as well as the worldwide 0.5% limit from 2020 and the impending North American ECA, by removing sulfur emissions and harmful particulates from the vessel's exhaust. 

Royal Caribbean and Meyer Werft chose this solution not just because it ensures universal compliance with sulfur limits, allowing maximum choice over voyage routes and destinations; it also allows significant flexibility in the operation of the scrubber itself. The hybrid approach allows switching between open-loop and closed-loop scrubbing. This means that at sea, scrubbing using only sea water can be enabled but while maneuvering or in port the system can be closed, re-circulating the water already within the scrubber.

Royal Caribbean's two new Sunshine Class ships are both under construction, with the first ship ready for delivery in the fall of 2014 and the second ship ready by spring 2015.  Both ships will accommodate 4100 passengers.

Royal Caribbean has ordered azipods from ABB to provide the propulsion to its very secret new class of cruise ships known as Project Sunshine.  The $60 million deal will provide complete power and propulsion to the two new cruise ships that are being built  by Meyer Werft for Royal Caribbean.

ABB announced that the order for the first shop was booked in 2011 and the second vessel's azipods were ordered in the first quarter of 2012.

The Project Sunshine cruise ships are a brand new class of cruise ships that Royal Caribbean is developing, that will be 158,000-gt and handle about 4,100 passengers.

ABB will supply a complete electrical systems for the new ships, the delivery for each ship includes power generation and distribution systems, thruster motors, and two 20.5MW propulsion systems including transformers, drives and two Azipod XO propulsion units. The Azipod propulsion is claimed to use less fuel than traditional systems, and to provide greater maneuverability in all operating conditions.

ABB says that its deliverables will maximize the ships fuel efficiency, speed and maneuverability while reducing emissions and providing reliable power to the ships.  All of this will help Royal Caribbean meet its energy efficiency and environmental impact targets.

Royal Caribbean has opted to exercise an option to build a second Sunshine-class cruise ship, that will be delivered in Spring 2015.

Royal Caribbean's decision to build the second of the yet-to-be-seen class of ships signals the company feels good about the project.  The ship will be built by German shipbuilder Meyer Werft on substantially the same terms as its first Sunshine ship.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain commented on the decision, "This confirms our continued confidence in the success of this new generation of ships and our strong conviction about the Royal Caribbean International brand."

Like the first ship Royal Caribbean ordered (and is still under construction), the second ship will be 158,000 gross registered tonnes and accommodate 4,100 guests.

Royal Caribbean has been tight lipped about its new class of cruise ships known as Project Sunshine  but the cruise community has been speculating about how many ships Royal Caribbean will order.  

As of today, there's just one 4,200 passenger ship on order (which is due to be complete by the fall of 2014) but there's room in the contract for up to 4 ships.  So among the many questions out there, many are wondering if more than one Project Sunshine ship is on the way.

According to Seatrade Cruise Review, the Finnish air condition contractor Koja Oy recently said that it had signed a contract with Meyer Werft " for the delivery of air conditioning systems for the first two Sunshine-project ships".  Included in that contract is an option for delivering air conditioner systems for third and fourth ships, if Royal Caribbean orderes them.

Based on that snippet of information, it sounds like Royal Caribbean is eyeing two ships to start with but we'll have to wait to get a better idea of what's to come when Royal Caribbean is ready to talk.

Ever since Royal Caribbean hinted at its next class of cruise ships that is has on order, Royal Caribbean fans everywhere have been guessing at the possibilities. 

Our friends at crociere.co.uk posted some educated guesses as to what the next class of Royal Caribbean ships, dubbed Project Sunshine, could look like and what features we're likely to find.

Included in their list are

• A split superstructure with neighborhoods that were big hits on Oasis and Allure of the Seas
• Different cabin layout
• Ship capable of being used worldwide, especially in the Mediterranean
• Central Park area with retractable glass roof
• Use of green tech onboard, such as solar panels
• Perhaps similar to Celebrity Solstice class of ships in design?