The Explorer, the second in the Voyager class which debuted with Voyager of the Seas in 1999, could actually be considered a destination in itself, boasting a wealth of facilities, activities and entertainment. Perhaps one of its most arresting features is a 60ft by 40ft ice skating rink (the only one at sea) which can be converted to a 900-seat concert venue or TV Studio.
At the heart of the vessel is the Royal Promenade - longer than a football field and wider than three lanes of traffic anchored by two atria that are marvels of marble, trees, greenery and sculptures. Diversions along the way include the Crown & Kettle - a traditional English Pub, a 24-hour cafe, a sports bar and more shops than you can shake a credit card at. The Palace, the main show lounge, is a four-deck-high, 1,350-seat theatre equipped with all the latest technology. There’s also a jazz bar, a contemporary sports bar, a Vegas-style casino and The Chamber, a nightclub designed to resemble a Gothic castle, with stone columns, arches and a dance floor flanked by chrome suits of armour.
And all this is just but a small part of the on-board facilities, but there isn’t time in this millennium to list the rest. Nor to cover comprehensively the technology arrayed across the ship. There are however some common denominators - on the audio side JBL, Clair Bros, EAW, Bose and Genelec speakers seem to take the main honours with Crest providing amplification, XTA and TC processing, and Euphonix the control. On the lighting side, ETC Europe provided all the dimming and control in the three main entertainment areas - the main theatre, Studio B and The Royal Promenade. In terms of the lighting fixtures themselves, ETC again feature heavily alongside Thomas, Clay Paky, Wybron, Martin et al.
The responsibility for the design of the lighting, sound and video elements in the jazz club, health centre and The Chamber fell to cruise regulars Wynne Willson Gottelier. The lighting rig in The Chamber features the familiar signatures of Clay Paky and Martin but also something you won’t get to see elsewhere - a host of WWG specials stacked in the central rig which form a highly effective cage of lighting. ShowCAD provides control on the lighting side with Peavey, Yamaha, Cloud and Crest doing likewise for the EAW rig, and a Kaleidolight system steering the video effects.
One of the more interesting features of the ship is the level of technology that has been applied to its conference facilities. Floating conferences are apparently big business and the Explorer of the Seas, offering the largest Conference Centre at sea, seems destined to mine this rich vein.
The size of the ship allows for a high degree of flexibility in the design features of the Conference Centre, which comprises four Conference Rooms, a Reception Area, a multi-media Screening Room and Board Room. Cruise specialists MAVCO equipped all the rooms with a dedicated multi-system VHS video player, to which additional AV sources, such as CD players, overheads and slide projectors, can be connected via a wall- mounted connection panel. With much of the equipment being portable, control is via a switching matrix, which allows the signal to be sent to any destination within the complex.
The various user functions in the Conference Rooms can be controlled by a touch-screen wireless remote control, with duplicate control panels on the walls. There is also a tie-line system installed from one end of the Conference Centre to the other, facilitating the connection of a 24 channel mixing console for larger meetings. The Explorer is also one of the first ships to make use of Plasma technology, and MAVCO has installed Plasma screens in each of the Conference Rooms, in addition to two in the Reception Area.
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