Dutch maritime decking specialist Bolidt recently completed its largest ever retrofit project, installing around 18,000m2 of decking on the Royal Caribbean International (RCI) cruise vessel Allure of the Seas. The sheer scale of the project presented a number of challenges, which the company worked with the client, the shipyard – Navantia Cadiz – and other subcontractors to overcome.
Delivered in 2010, the 362m-long, 5,500-pax-capacity Allure of the Seas was scheduled for a major refit just before COVID struck. However, this meant it had to be postponed by RCI, which last year decided to reactivate the project, to modernise the vessel and keep it competitive with new-generation ships now entering service.
Consequently, having been contracted by RCI to carry out the decking elements of the refit, Bolidt started the necessary preparatory work in July 2024. Gerben Smit, head of operations, global maritime business, says: “This was by some way the biggest project we had undertaken to date, surpassing our previous most extensive contract in the maritime sector, which involved a refit of RCI’s Adventure of the Seas. The lengthy preparation period…enabled us to build up a close understanding with not only the client and shipyard, but other subcontractors that were going to be working in the same spaces as us, to ensure the job went smoothly.”
Bolidt was contracted to supply a range of different products, including Bolideck Future Teak, Select Soft and Hard Soft, in 34 different areas on board, both indoors and outdoors, across decks 5 to 17. On the 4,000m2 pool deck, Bolidt installed its lightweight and hard-wearing Bolideck Future Teak, resurfacing existing installations, and fitted a new kids’ pool area with Bolideck Select in various designs. It also repaired and resanded the 1,950m2 jogging track, while installing Future Teak and Select Soft on 115 balconies spanning 1,900m2, and soundproofing a new 800m2 extension to the solarium on Deck 15.
To ensure that the work could be completed within the required time window, around 120 Future Teak-manufactured items were prefabricated in the Netherlands, in partnership with local resin systems specialist Boteka. In total, over 60 truckloads of components were moved between the Netherlands and Spain for this one project.
The preparation period also enabled the various stakeholders to iron out some potential issues well before the start date. One of the most significant was the fact that the 18,000m2 of new Bolidt materials would have added a significant amount of weight to the vessel. Consequently, Bolidt and RCI were able to plan for Bolidt technicians to remove around 10mm of the existing surfaces and underlay prior to installation of the new materials, to achieve a broad weight balance between the pre- and post-refit situation.
At the project’s peak, Bolidt had around 150 skilled technicians on Allure of the Seas and managing this team required intense support from Bolidt’s Netherlands-based operations team, who supervised all the necessary hotel, flight and other bookings to ensure the technicians could focus on the task in hand.
Smit adds: “The biggest challenge was the sheer scale of the project, which tested our capabilities in many different aspects, and required not only extensive pre-project preparation but ongoing liaison during the refit with all the other contractors. But, while you can plan for most things, you can’t plan for the weather, and the project was negatively impacted by a lengthy period of rain while the ship was in drydock. This required us to become even more agile and flexible, and to intensify cooperation with the other contractors, to ensure the project did not overrun.”
Allure of the Seas is one of nine RCI ships Bolidt has refurbished since mid-2024. However, the company is also involved in a number of newbuilding projects, one of the most notable being work on Accor’s Orient Express Corinthian, a 220m–long sailing yacht under construction at Chantiers de l’Atlantique, France. This will be the launch vessel for a new product, Bolideck Future Teak Signature Premium, that Bolidt has developed to provide a lightweight and hard–wearing synthetic material that is as close as possible in look and feel to real teak.
For the full story, see the July 2025 issue of The Naval Architect
