Docking the world’s biggest cruise ship

[Chuckanut]

The world’s biggest cruise ship is five times bigger than the Titanic. Hear how it’s docked with the help of a local pilot. The video is about 5 minutes. If you complain about having to parallel park you will may not wish to view it.

https://youtu.be/9hfqVrVIsyU

 

[MarieIG]

I did enjoy the video.

That notwithstanding - the Captain's job is safe from me!

 

[JohnnyBGoode]

Thanks for the recommendation. The video graphics were a nice touch to help understand how the navigation is being done. Personally, I would never go on a ship that big, but a never-ending set of engineering and logistical problems, it is fascinating!

 

[audreyh1]

I’ve seen promotional video of that ship and it’s a crazy monster! Looks like a Disneyworld/giant waterpark on a ship.

 

[athena53]

Thanks for the link! I plan to send it to a friend who was in Navy ROTC (couldn't stay because he had bad knees) and LOVES ships, and to my middle granddaughter, who thinks mega- cruise ships look like fun. Sorry, Kid, not with THIS Grandma.

 

[NW-Bound]

Interesting.

In the recent transatlantic cruise that we took, the ship got to dock at both the Azores and Madeira islands per plan. On the Web, a guy who took this crossing several times said the ship often had to skip one or the other, because the weather was too rough to dock.

I did not know that it was a big deal, and that I was lucky. The sea was beautifully calm during my trip.

 

[DrRoy]

We were on a sister ship - Oasis of the Seas. It was all handled well.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I've cruised quite a few times and several times on these largest ships. It amazes me every time I see them docking somewhere. And I still go outside to watch if I can.

 

[donheff]

Interesting. I avoid those big monsters, but I can appreciate the skills involved in piloting them.

 

[NW-Bound]

Despite the experience and skills of the captain and crew, they are sometimes helpless in the presence of equipment failures.

A few years ago, the MSC Opera ship ran into the dock at Venice. It was later determined that the crew was helpless when the engine throttle controlled by a computer was stuck. Ooops. Computer crashed and could not reboot fast enough?

I looked up this incidence again. The captain turned on the siren to warn people to run away throughout the terrifying incidence. In the following video at 0:26, some passengers on a ferry boat about to be rammed by the ship fell off the gangway, were dangling off the dock and about to be ground up by the ramming ship. I read that they were pulled up in time. What a day!

 

[NW-Bound]

And I also remember the more recent incidence, when the Carnival Glory while attempting to dock hit the Carnival Legend in Cozumel, Mexico.

The cruise line later said the cause was "spontaneous wind gusts and strong currents." Some said that the ship steering system was underpowered.

 

[NW-Bound]

And speaking of computer malfunctioning on the MSC that ran into the Venice dock, I also remember a much earlier incidence, this time onboard a US Navy ship, the USS Yorktown. It was a computer crash caused by a "divide by 0" instruction which was not properly handled by the software.

The crashed computer system immobilized the ship for quite some time. I don't know how it took so long to reboot. Perhaps the crew wanted to understand the cause, before they could trust the computer and turn it on again.

Searched the Web, and this showed up from a Web page on Notre Dame University.

The USS Yorktown is a guided missile cruiser, and the first in the Navy to be outfitted with so-called SmartShip technology, which would allow reducing crew levels by computerizing many ship functions. (This is reminiscent of the Starship Enterprise's ill-fated encounter with Dr. Daystrom and the M-5 Multitronic computer system in "The Ultimate Computer" episode of the original Star Trek series.) In September of 1997, the Yorktown suffered a complete propulsion system failure and was dead in water for about two hours and 45 minutes. The subsequent investigation determined that "the Yorktown lost control of its propulsion system because its computers were unable to divide by the number zero." Apparently a crew member entered a zero into a field of some application program, leading to a complete crash of the system and leaving the ship dead in the water.

 

[skyking1]

For a little less tonnage and drama, I give you this barge swap. I was out on the bow of the old barge, which had the galvanized replacement piling on it to start with. As we drove the new dolphin piling we demoed the old dolphins. This was a live ferry dock and in the video you can see the ferry giving us wide berth for a moment as we tossed the old barge in the general direction it was heading, while the other tug landed the new barge load of steel piling. These are old single screw tugs with no thrusters.
You can hear the play by play from my radio as the pilebucks and deckhands coordinate the maneuver with the tug captain.
https://youtu.be/Co7HCGhgSdg

 

[NW-Bound]

At about the same time frame as the 1997 USS Yorktown incidence, the US Army had a program to modernize the infantry, and to equip soldiers in the battle front with wearable computers.

The field test results were not available publicly, but one source said this project gave rise to the derisive slogan: "Ready. Arm. Reboot".

 

[rk911]

very cool video. thnks!

 

[Chuckanut]

Wonderful stories to go along with docking that monstrosity. Thanks!

 

[Go-NoGo]

The world’s biggest cruise ship is five times bigger than the Titanic. Hear how it’s docked with the help of a local pilot. The video is about 5 minutes. If you complain about having to parallel park you will may not wish to view it.

https://youtu.be/9hfqVrVIsyU

Thanks that was worth the watch. Puts into perspective the grounding in the Suez canal a few years ago. Does not matter what the pilot says, the buck stops with the captain!

 

[Go-NoGo]

Despite the experience and skills of the captain and crew, they are sometimes helpless in the presence of equipment failures.

A few years ago, the MSC Opera ship ran into the dock at Venice. It was later determined that the crew was helpless when the engine throttle controlled by a computer was stuck. Ooops. Computer crashed and could not reboot fast enough?

I looked up this incidence again. The captain turned on the siren to warn people to run away throughout the terrifying incidence. In the following video at 0:26, some passengers on a ferry boat about to be rammed by the ship fell off the gangway, were dangling off the dock and about to be ground up by the ramming ship. I read that they were pulled up in time. What a day!

Not to worry, that will buff right out