If you follow the travel industry at all, you’ve likely seen photos of Royal Caribbean’s newest cruise ship, Symphony of the Seas. There truly is something for every one of the ship’s nearly 7,000 passengers, but what caught our eye was “The Tallest Slide at Sea,” aptly named “The Ulimate Abyss.” The company behind “The Ultimate Abyss,” is Germany’s Wiegand.Maelzer GmbH, the same company behind the unique looking water slide, the SlideWheel.
Unlike the SlideWheel, The Ultimate Abyss is actually a “dry slide,” with riders sitting on mats as they make it down the 10-story slide. We had the opportunity to speak with Wiegand-Maelzer’s Chief Technical Officer, Stephan Mark Spiller, about what it takes to create the tallest slide on a cruise ship.
C101: Can you tell our readers a little bit your personal background, and how long you’ve been working for Wiegand-Maelzer?
Stephan Mark Spiller: My name is Stephan Mark Spiller, I am a civil engineer and have a PhD in fluid dynamics. I have been working as a project manager for Wiegand.Maelzer since Febuary 2016 and am now CTO of the company, responsible for project management and product development.
C101: Everyone is excited about one of Wiegand-Maelzer’s newest projects, “The Ultimate Abyss,” on Symphony of the Seas. What was it like knowing that you were building the world’s tallest cruise ship slide?
Spiller: The Ultimate Abyss is amazing! It was first built on the Symphony’s predecessor, the Harmony of the Seas and has been slightly adjusted for the even larger Symphony of the Seas. My colleague Markus Rudolph was managing both projects, while I was involved mostly in the Harmony project myself. Anyway, it is an absolute team effort to realize such a great project and it is incredible to see how the guests are enjoying the ride.
C101: This wasn’t the first “Ultimate Abyss” slide that Wiegand-Maelzer manufactured for Royal Caribbean. How well were earlier versions received by Royal Caribbean and Cruise Ship passengers?
Spiller: Exactly, the Harmony of the Seas was the first cruise ship to be equipped with the Ultimate Abyss. The guests had a blast from the very beginning, no cruise ship ever had such a scenic and unique slide. Also Royal Caribbean has been very happy with the slide all along. As you can see on many Royal Caribbean advertisements, the afts of Harmony and Symphony appear extraordinary and we are absolutely glad that our slides contribute to this brilliant look.
C101: How is this slide different from previous versions?
Spiller: The new Ultimate Abyss on Symphony of the Seas is just a tiny bit steeper towards the end of the slide, to gain slightly more height just before the runout. Also, we used a new manufacturing technique of joining the curved sections of the slide tube, which is more of a technical detail that makes the curves appear even smoother to the rider. For the guests, both slides will appear equally thrilling.
C101: What was the engineering process like while manufacturing the Ultimate Abyss?
Spiller: It was a very professional atmosphere whenever we joined forces with Royal Caribbean’s and the yard’s (STX France) to create the perfect slides for these ships. Both our long experience in slide design as well as state of the art manufacturing techniques and construction design made the Ultimate Abyss possible.
C101: Were there any challenges designing a slide for a cruise ship rather than one that is stationary?
Spiller: Absolutely. The work on a cruise ship is always challenging. The weight of the overall constructions must be kept to a minimum. At the same time, all steel columns and supports must be connected to specific points of the ship’s frame in order to effectively carry the loads. The salty air requires us to use a high grade of stainless steel for the slide and to protect any electric installation from corrosion. During the installation phase, hundreds of contractors are realizing thousands of tasks on the same limited space, which needs precise coordination of the different teams among each other. Nonetheless, cruise ship projects are always very exciting and lots of fun.
C101: What types of materials were used for the project?
Spiller: The columns and brackets are made of steel with a specific marine coating for corrosion protection. The slide itself is made of two layers of stainless steel (V4A / 316 L) with an insulation material in between. All parts are manufactured at our facility in Rasdorf, Germany.
C101: Weigand-Maelzer has designed several major projects recently, including The Ultimate Abyss and Slidewheel. How will you try to top those?
Spiller: We are always looking for new challenges. Luckily, we have a great and creative team with crazy enough ideas to come up with the SlideWheels and Ultimate Abyss slides of the future. So stay tuned for new developments from Wiegand.Maelzer!
For more information about The Ultimate Abyss
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