China's first domestically built large cruise liner, Adora Magic City, embarked on its second and final trial voyage on Thursday to test its performance and reliability.

"This is our final trial voyage before the delivery of the ship, so overall the ship is basically ready for delivery," Wei Shengsheng, deputy head of the Cruise Ship Project Department at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (SWS), told China Media Group (CMG).

The six-day trial will mainly test the ship's speed, maneuverability, unattended machinery spaces and durability. Relevant performance tests will be conducted in a calm sea area with a water depth of about 100 meters, said Wei.

The staff will also carry out tests on the noise, vibration and internal infrastructure operation among over 90 test tasks to ensure comfortable cruise experiences and better services for the passengers.

On board are more than 1,300 people concerning multiple systems such as engineering and technical personnel, inspectors, contractors and service providers.

In order to sustain the trial voyage, massive amounts of supplies to meet their daily needs and around 1,000 tonnes of fuel have been packed onto the ship.

Why two trials?

Hailed as the pearl on the crown of the shipbuilding industry, cruise vessel manufacturing is among the most intricate and complicated, which only five countries – China, Germany, France, Italy and Finland – have the capability to deliver.

The number of parts needed in a large cruise vessel totals over 20 million, about 10 times that of a large plane, posing more risks and challenges.

Its demanding design and construction set high requirements for sea trials. Unlike ordinary civilian ships, which can obtain the certificates in one trial voyage, large cruise ships need to solve the problems detected in the first trial voyage, and then conduct the second to verify the effect.

It's an international convention that cruise ships have two sea trials before receiving certificates from major international classification societies, Lin Guolong, director of Shanghai Maritime University's Logistics Research Center, told China Daily.

Adora Magic City features dozens of function areas to provide catering, entertainment, leisure and accommodation services for passengers, as well as more than 2,000 different types of cabins, Yang Xin, deputy head of the Cruise Ship Project Department at SWS, told CMG.

It is inevitable that some system problems were exposed in the first trial voyage, and the second trial is mainly to correct those defects, said Yang.

The cruise ship, which completed a first sea trial in July, is expected to be delivered by the end of 2023.