Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) said Monday that it has reached a suitable and amicable resolution to the lawsuit with Rolls-Royce regarding the Mermaid pod-propulsion system on Celebrity Cruises' Millennium-class ships.
When they were first designed and implemented, podded propulsion was a significant technological advance over traditional shaft propulsion, but it experienced a number of technical issues in the early years of use. However, working together, Royal Caribbean and Rolls-Royce have been successful in improving the reliability of the design. Mermaid pods are installed on four Celebrity ships - Millennium, Summit, Infinity and Constellation.
Royal Caribbean said the settlement will generate a net increase of about $65 million in Other Income/(expense) in its 2010 first quarter results.
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