Richard Fain, chairman of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., restarted his blog this week in order to chronicle the final construction phase and delivery of the Allure of the Seas.
"I feel like I’ve been away but want to come home," said Fain in his first post since he retired the blog after the Oasis of the Seas was delivered last November.
Fain said the prospect of the work involved in the blog "was a bit daunting," but that he was intrigued by the idea. Fain started the blog in March 2009, following the construction of the Allure's sister ship, the Oasis, at a much earlier stage.
In his blog post this week, Fain wrote on the way home from Finland, where he had just toured the Allure. He said the ship was not only on schedule for its October delivery, but that "the state of her construction was remarkable."
"I don’t think that I have ever seen a ship at this stage of construction so ready," he said. "Despite regular status reports and photographs from the newbuilding team, I was astounded by how far along she was."