Chelsom deliver over one million pounds of lighting to Wonder of the Seas

Chelsom collaborated with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Chantiers de L’Atlantique shipyard, RCCL in-house designers and multiple external design agencies to deliver over £1 million of custom lighting for the cabins and public areas of the world’s largest ship, Wonder of the Seas, RCCL’s flagship vessel.

Having worked with the CDA and RCCL teams previously on a number of projects including two Oasis Class ships, Harmony of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas, Chelsom were delighted to be involved in the design and manufacture of the majority of both the cabin and public area lighting, supplying over 6,000 fittings covering more than 60 different designs. Chelsom’s marine experience ensured effective ‘marinisation’ of luminaires to cope with the continual movements on board caused by the challenging marine environment. All component parts were modified to be securely fixed and rattle free with sound engineering whilst still retaining the striking visual impact required by the numerous different designers involved.

The areas within which Chelsom worked included the theatre where they supplied three 3m diameter statement pendants incorporating layered clusters of round lenses to create dramatic visual impact for the 1,200 seater venue; Wonderland where an entire ceiling lighting structure was created featuring hundreds of delicate suspended porcelain flowers and metal keys lit with fibre optics; Promenade where magnificent street lamps housed sound systems inside them; Sorrento’s with its central fittings all being designed and manufactured locally in the UK; the Casino with its opulent elliptical crystal chandeliers, each faceted drop being securely fixed and illuminated with LED light sources. Beyond that Chelsom also delivered custom bedside fittings for nearly 3000 cabins and suites, these featuring convenience and USB outlets, they also produced customised versions of the Constellation chandelier for the suites.

Chelsom’s Marine Director, John Hadley, said “It’s always extremely rewarding to follow a project from its inception four years previously right up to seeing the finished article. It has been an amazing challenge blending the aesthetic and stringent functional requirements of all the different parties involved and I am proud that Chelsom brought so many components of the project together to make it work so harmoniously. We are privileged to continue our work with the teams at RCCL and CDA to deliver these exciting and rewarding projects and are currently working on developing the lighting schemes for Utopia of the Seas to be delivered in 2024. ”