Third largest cruise ship ever christened by singing godmother

By Gene Sloan From USA TODAY

Meet Emma Wilby, the Godmother of Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas…yes, that’s a real thing! She’s in charge of bestowing luck on the ship, a responsibility that lasts a lifetime.

SOUTHAMPTON, UK — One of the most-anticipated new cruise ships of the year, Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas, officially was named today in a lively, music-filled ceremony in the British shipping hub of Southampton.

British travel agent Emma Wilby served as the 16-deck-high vessel’s godmother during the event, which took place in the ship’s Royal Theater as it was docked along the city’s waterfront.

In a high-tech twist, Wilby pressed a tablet from the theater’s stage to launch a bottle of Perrier-Jouet champagne against the top deck of the ship. Wilby won a Royal Caribbean singing competition to choose the godmother that was open to British travel agents, and she also performed during the ceremony, singing Katy Perry’s hit song Firework.

The 70-minute naming event also included performances by Welsh boys choir Only Boys Aloud, who belted out Coldplay song Paradise, and a musical salute from the Reading Scottish Pipe Band. It opened with a musical medley from the cast of the vessel’s main stage show, the London West End’s We Will Rock You, and also included the singing of the national anthems of both the United States and the UK by members of the ship’s entertainment staff.

The 168,667-ton Anthem of the Seas is a sister ship to Royal Caribbean’s much-ballyhooed Quantum of the Seas, which debuted in October with a number of first-for-the-industry features including a deck-top ride into the sky and a bar with robot bartenders. Both concepts also appear on Anthem.

The ships are being billed as the most technologically advanced cruise vessels ever. They boast super speedy Internet (a first for the cruise industry) and an all-digital check-in process that is cutting sidewalk-to-ship boarding times to under 10 minutes. Other gee-whiz features include the first skydiving simulators at sea and the first bumper cars at sea.

Anthem and Quantum are tied as the third largest cruise vessels ever built, smaller in size only to two other Royal Caribbean ships: Four-year-old Allure of the Seas and five-year-old Oasis of the Seas.

With the addition of Anthem, Royal Caribbean now has 23 vessels.

Anthem will home port in Southampton through October for sailings to the Mediterranean and Canary Islands before permanently moving to the New York area. It’ll sail out of New Jersey’s Cape Liberty Cruise Port to Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Canada and New England.

USA TODAY Cruise this week is among a handful of U.S. media outlets getting early access to Anthem of the Seas. For our ‘first look’ tour of the ship and more of our coverage, including half a dozen videos, click through the carousel and the video list on the original story website link below.

Royal Caribbean’s newest and most technologically advancedRoyal Caribbean’s newest ship, the 4,180-passenger Anthem of the Seas, is debuting this week in Southampton, UK. (Photo: Roy Riley /sbw-photo)

For more on this story and links to more images and video go to: http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2015/04/20/anthem-royal-caribbean-naming/26080729/