Song of America

MS Song of America

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MS Song of America - Royal Caribbean International

Was one of the largest cruise ships built at the time. Royal Caribbean, after the huge success of its first three ships, had undertaken a program of increasing capacity by "stretching" them. Upon completion of the first two, Wartsila shipyard in Finland approached management with the plans for an entirely new, and modern concept of ship. That concept went on to become Song of America.

Song of America is 37,584 tons. 705 feet in length. 93 feet wide and has a 22.3 foot draft. She is registered in Norway, and carries Norwegian officers and an International crew. She is powered by diesel/electric engines/motors.

For the first time, the Viking Crown, the trademark of all Royal Caribbean ships, completely surrounded the funnel providing passengers a 360 degree view. The pool area, at the time, the most expansive ever created, contains twin pools and overhangs the side of the ship, adding to the spaciousness of its design.

Perhaps the one feature for which she is most criticized has to do with the diminutive size of her passenger cabins. They are tiny! The trade off, however, was a vast increase size and number of public areas compared to other ships of the era. Personally, for a one week Caribbean Cruise, I’ll take the increase in public areas over cabins size any day. For me, only on cruises of longer duration than 7 days, does cabin size begin to become an issue.

Song of America has been sold to Europe based AirTours and, currently, is sailing as their new "SunBird".

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