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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

1000 ft Boat

I looked from my cave this morning to see a huge ship in the harbour. Yep we are well into the 'Cruise Ship' season here and the biggest and best have our small but perfect spot on their itineries. And what a great day for entertaining visitors - gin-clear sky, 30 deg, light breeze - all 2800 of them although the 1250 crew generally are too busy to see the sights. The Celebrity Solstice is in town.  It is as big as the biggest 'super' aircraft carriers and weighs in at a lot more.

It is 1033 ft long (314 mtrs), 121 ft wide  (near 37 mtrs) and there are 27 ft more of it below the water line. But Hobart can handle that with ease.

Celebrity Solstice is the lead ship of the Solstice-class of cruise ships operated by Celebrity Cruises. Built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, she was floated out on August 10, 2008, and christened by ocean scientist Professor Sharon L. Smith at a ceremony in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, on November 14, 2008. 

The first post-Panamax vessel in the Celebrity fleet, she features innovative interior design and onboard amenities, including an ocean-going live grass lawn, a glassblowing studio, and a 12 deck-high atrium.

The Meyer Werft GmbH & Co. KG is one of the major German shipyards, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. It is a very long way from the sea ! 

Founded in 1795 and starting with small wooden vessels, today Meyer Werft is one of world's leading builders of luxury passenger ships. Altogether about 700 ships of different types have been built at the yard. Its "Dockhalle 2" is the largest shipbuilding hall and the building with the fifth-largest usable space in the world.

Meyer Werft has been owned and managed by the Meyer family for seven generations. Since 1997, it has been part of the Meyer Neptun Group together with Neptun Werft in Rostock. In 2014 the company added the Turku shipyard in Finland to the group.

The shipyard is an anchor on the European Route of Industrial Heritage. 


Five of the ten largest cruise ships in the world have been built at the shipyard in Papenburg

Meyer Werft gained international recognition through the construction of roll on/roll off ferries, passenger ferries, gasoline tankers, container ships, livestock ferries and most recently luxury cruise ships.

Launching is something of a regional affair. Here a 'sister' ship gets the treatment. The Celebrity Silhouette.

Meyer is one of the largest and most modern shipyards in the world with about 3300 employees, and home to the largest roofed dry docks in the world. 

The first covered dock was inaugurated in 1987 and was 370 meters long, 101,5 meters wide and 60 meters high. In 1990/91 the dock was extended by an additional 100 meters. In 2004, a second covered dock was built, which is announced to be extended to a full length of 504 meters, a width of 125 meters and height of 75 meters in order to compete with Asian shipyards. Meyer Werft will as a result of this be able to build three cruise ships a year. 

Due to its upstream location on the river Ems, the giant ships to be delivered have to make a 36 km voyage to the Dollart bay and which each time attracts thousands of spectators. Up until the completion of the Ems river barrier ("Emssperrwerk") in 2002, the journey was only possible at high tides.

This is akin to building such ships in New Norfolk and floating them down the Derwent River to the sea at Hobart. But they would not fit inder the Bowen and Tasman Bridges, would they ! 

Externally, Celebrity Solstice looks very different from previous Celebrity Cruises ships. Martin Francis of Francis Design was hired to design her exterior profile. In original exterior renderings, the hull was shown as all-white with powder blue funnels and blue glass upper decks. 

In a more recent update, the light blue color had been changed to Celebrity's normal dark blue color and the hull was shown having a resemblance to the current fleet's livery, with the promenade deck painted dark blue. 

Similarly, the large dark blue funnel with a white X that had been the trademark of Celebrity thus far has been replaced by two thin funnels, and it was planned to have the X logo of the company visible in the glass balcony railings on the ship's "hump" (The area of superstructure which extends outward farther than the rest of the balconies). 

Throughout her fitting out, (The hoity toity get quite large cabins while the hoi poloi get cupboard sized ones, albeit comfie too), sea trials, and launch, it was noted that the glass X, unless seen from certain angles, was not visible. Shortly after, the X was refinished to be darker, but still can be hard to see. An afterthought during the sea trials saw the addition of a white X onto the forward funnel, thus bringing Solstice more closely related to her fleetmates.

OK, this is a big boat, but we have had and will have again this year, possibly the biggest cruise boat ever built - it cannot dock in Melbourne. Hahaha. I shall tell of that one when she arrives.

Calls for a bit of horn blowing.

Meanwhile I had better prepare for an influx of new customers. I think they might like the more intimate (Rustic? No.) restaurant we have.

Pax.

PS. Some snaps later from my cave, as she left.

Backing out.

Turned around.

On its way 


Passing the Old Knight's viewing point. 


See you all again soon.

8 comments:

  1. You don't fancy a spin in her, say around Tas and back?

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    Replies
    1. Around Tas, perhaps, but not for an extended trip. Too many people for an old hermit. But if I could wander around and see it all, and smoke my pipe on the deck, maybe one or two nights.

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  2. Fabulous photos from your cave :-)

    I have never really fancied a trip on a cruise ship myself. They seem too busy with lots of entertainment and and no quiet places but most importantly not enough time to explore the places the ship drops you off at.

    A few hours is never enough to get an appreciation of a place. I like to to explore and relax in the places I visit.

    I had the opportunity via the Trips100 community that I am member of to attend a blog meet up on the MSC Preziosa in early October and I had planned to go until our holiday plans slipped back to October so I missed the opportunity.

    https://www.planetcruise.com/en/msc-preziosa

    Not that I am complaining, Ravello was a wonderful experience :-)

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    Replies
    1. Yes, they do seem to be hectic and 'entertainment' heavy. They are in the 'Theme-Park-at Sea' bizzo. As for time ashore, we have them come here, often at night, and spend a day, sometimes a day and a half, giving passengers time to wander in the city (right next to the dockside) or take trips to wineries and such. A fleet of busses and coaches decend on the dockside to ferry folk off for trips.

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  3. Replies
    1. But then you are a sailor, not a Ship's Captain. No gold rings on your rolled-up sleeves.

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  4. As much as I love ships and the sea, I've never been on an actual cruise ship.
    Though my temperament would guide me more to a Windjammer cruise or freighter cruise than a floating Vegas.

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    Replies
    1. The largest I have been on is the Spirit of Tasmania cross-Bass ferry. It is a ship of some size but dwarfed by the Solstice class. As for short cruises, we have two fine sailing ships harboured here, the Windward and the Lady Nelson. I have not been on either of those yet but I hear that the entertainment consists of pulling ropes a lot.

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Ne meias in stragulo aut pueros circummittam.

Our Bouncer is a gentleman of muscle and guile. His patience has limits. He will check you at the door.

The Tavern gets rowdy visitors from time to time. Some are brain dead and some soul dead. They attack customers and the bar staff and piss on the carpets. Those people will not be allowed in anymore. So... Be Nice..