Freedom-class cruise ship

The Freedom class is a group of three large cruise ships built for Royal Caribbean International at the Aker Finnyards Turku Shipyard in Finland, a yard of the group that was renamed STX Europe in November 2008. The lead ship, Freedom of the Seas, left the yard on 24 April 2006 and was the largest passenger ship in the world by passenger capacity and gross tonnage until Oasis of the Seas was completed in November 2009. Liberty of the Seas followed in 2007 and Independence of the Seas in 2008. The design is an extended version of the second generation Voyager class, with the same ice skating rink and central Royal Promenade, and it added the FlowRider surf simulator, cantilevered whirlpools and the H2O Zone water park. A fourth ship was discussed in 2008 but was never ordered.