Cruiser ship Celebrity Equinox leaves the Meyer Papenburg shipyard en-route to Eemshaven in the Netherlands on June 20, 2009 in Papenburg, Germany.

The 317 metres long and 36,8 metres wide ship is one of five luxury cruise ships, which will be built for the American shipping company Celebrity Cruises until 2011.

Celebrity Solstice is a cruise ship for Celebrity Cruises. She is the largest cruise ship built in Germany and she left the Meyer Werft on September 28, 2008. This colossal ship can house as many as nearly 3,000 passengers !

The 315m-long ship is so wide it barely squeezed out of the Papenberg watergates, but ably helped by two tug-boats it escaped on it’s to the North sea, where it will head to Denmark.

Onboard amenities will include a large theater, multiple restaurant dining options, The Patio on the Lawn, numerous bars and clubs, Solstice Deck, youth facilities, Online@Celebrity, and many other common and unique features. Some new innovations that have been revealed include glass-blowing classes/demonstrations as well as The Lawn Club, a live grass lawn between the ship’s funnels on the upper deck.
This U.S. cruise ship will have four sister ships, Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Eclipse, and two as-of-yet unnamed ships. The sisters will enter service in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Celebrity Solstice will be officially launched some time in November this year, giving a huge challenge to other liners that have suddenly become so puny in comparison to this giant.