Nautilus Entertainment Design Completes Work on Three New Cruise Ships for Carnival Corporation

After designing entertainment systems for 26 cruise ships in the past 14 years, San Diego-based Nautilus Entertainment Design (NED) has recently completed work on three Carnival Corporation ships within a few months of each other, providing designs as well as commissioning and inspection services for all entertainment and broadcast systems.

In April, Dame Helen Mirren named P&O Cruises' 3,100-passenger Ventura, the largest cruise ship built for Britain. On July 2, Queen Beatrix of Netherlands named the 2,100-passenger Eurodam, the largest ship to date in Holland America's fleet. Just one week later, the naming ceremony for Carnival Cruise Lines' Carnival Splendor was presided over in Dover by British celebrity Myleene Klass. The largest of all the Carnival Cruise Lines' ships and representing a new class, the 113,300-ton Carnival Splendor is 952' long and can carry 3,006 passengers.

Each ship was built in a different Italian shipyard by Fincantieri Cantieri Navale. All three ships have 800 to 1,200-seat theatres designed and equipped for the rigors of multi-purpose use. Quite often, up to seven different events or shows, including lavish revues, can appear in the main showroom each day. For flexibility and quick turn-around, NED carefully considered the dependability and ease of use in all its designs of audio and communications systems, show lighting systems, automated rigging and mechanical equipment including full-height fly lofts and integrated control systems in each ship's showroom. Beyond the main theatre, each ship has in excess of 20 other venues with NED-specified equipment and systems, including restaurants, bars, discos, cabarets, lounges and atriums.

For the Carnival Splendor, NED also designed and supervised the sixth installation of a jumbo 270-sq. ft. LED video wall called Carnival's Seaside Theatre, which NED is also retrofitting into five other Carnival ships. The 12' high, 22' wide screen utilizes the same technology featured in large stadiums and New York's Times Square, with the benefits of being viewable at night and in the glare of a sunny day. In addition to the screen, NED also designed the sound and lighting systems for live events with all equipment carefully chosen and tested for exterior installation at sea.

The Red Carpet, Carnival Splendor's version of a New York trendy dance club, will allow guests to feel as if they're celebrities as they walk along the famous red carpet. As the guests enter, they are ushered in past the venue's velvet rope as "paparazzi" snap photos. As part of the hip styling, NED designed 65 LCD displays mounted in the walls and ceiling, a low-resolution LED video dance floor allowing for coordinated playback of video on the walls, ceiling, and dance floor.

Next for Nautilus Entertainment Design's high seas endeavors is an even more aggressive schedule, providing the same services for four ships between the end of May and September 2009, including Costa Luminosa, Costa Pacifica, Seabourn Odyssey, and Carnival Dream.