chengkp75

Quite a few of the shipyard workers were on the ship during trials, to fix anything they needed to, and could do right away, and in case things went sideways. I'd be a bit surprised if trials are done this quickly, they may just need a different set of environmental conditions, and are killing some time. If you look at Marinetraffic, you'll note that the ship is listed as being Italian registry, showing that the shipyard still owns it.

In most cases, a cruise line will collaborate with a shipyard to come up with a design for a class of ship, based on the cruise line's desires for capacity, etc, and Naval Architects from both sides will work on the final design. Not sure why you seem to fixate on ballast, as most cruise ships carry a very minimum amount of ballast. Ballast is only used to counteract a large change in "deadweight" (or the amount of fuel, water, and cargo carried), and unlike a tanker or freighter, the "cargo" on a cruise ship does not vary by a great deal, and it costs money (fuel) to carry salt water around. The QM was more of a "one off" design, so Cunard's architects were more involved in the design than most ships. Her ability to handle North Atlantic weather that so many go on about, is more due to the hull design than ballast carrying. A square barge carrying a large amount of ballast would do worse than a well designed hull with minimum weight. Things like length/beam ratio, block coefficient, bow flare, stern shape, and of course GM (the measure of intact stability, which is derived from the locations of both the center of gravity and center of buoyancy), as well as deck height, etc, etc, will determine how a ship handles seas. A cruise line will always have a "new build" department, and while this will include designers for the hotel functions, it will also have Naval Architects since they can say at the very beginning, whether a hotel idea is a reality or fantasy. These NA's also deal with modifications, repairs, surveys, etc, during the life of the ships. They are very much a part of the "technical" side of any cruise line.

I saw an article from two days ago in Maritime Executive. Yeah, they show a picture of a nearly finished ship, which is "sexier" than a bunch of hull blocks sitting around a shipyard.

I will add that I've heard reports that ceramic type hair straighteners (flat irons) and some Dyson hair care items won't work onboard ships. I suspect this is due to the electronics looking for the neutral and ground to be at the same voltage, as they are on land, but not on a ship. I cannot confirm this, as with my rapidly vanishing hair, I don't need these high priced appliances.

Depends on what you are planning on using. Most electronics are "dual voltage", meaning they take anything between 100v and 240v (check the fine print on the charger), so you just need plug adapters to use both US and European outlets. For other, high wattage appliances (hair dryers, curlers), even some of these are dual voltage, but check carefully, and if you need a couple of these at one time (say a dryer and a CPAP), you may want to get a voltage converter, but most folks don't find the need for these. For adapters, google "Type F Schuko" plugs.

In the bathroom, typically there is only a "shaver only" low wattage outlet (40 watts or less). Where are you from? North America or Europe? That will determine if you need "converters" (that change the voltage), or just "adapters" (that change the plug configuration. Make sure the power strip is non-surge protected, as surge protectors are a hazard on ships, and not allowed. I don't know about the Discovery, but most ships have both 110v US and 220v European (Schuko) outlets in the cabin.

What the article doesn't make clear is that they are referring to Global Dream 2, which is only in the steel cutting process, and the equipment (engines, etc) that were already purchased for this. The Global Dream is 80% completed, and the liquidators are still looking for a buyer. Not only did Genting HK (not parent Genting) go bankrupt, but GHK owned MV Werften (the shipyard) as well. So, the shipyard has been sold, and the new owners are allowing the liquidators to use the construction hall for the Global Dream until the end of 2023, and a layberth at the yard until the end of 2024. So, the liquidators have over 2 years to find a buyer for the Dream, but the Dream 2 will be sold for scrap. The new owner of the yard does not expect to start production until 2024, and a financing package has been arranged to allow a buyer for the Dream to complete the ship in the MV Werften yard. So, no, this will not be a trend, it is a one off due to the parent company of both the shipowner and the shipyard going bankrupt, but either MSN or "the Points Guy" don't have their facts right.

I should be called "Amazed by Amazed", because you always seem to come up with the most off the wall questions. Anyway. First off, about 80% of the ship's construction cost has already been paid to the yard, as various construction milestones are reached (contract let, keel laid, float out, etc), so if NCL backed out at this point, they are already out serious money, and there are penalty clauses for cancellation at the various milestones, getting higher as each is reached. While there are performance tests, like speed runs, emergency stops, hard turns, etc, there really aren't any hard and fast requirements for things like this (though there are some statutory requirements), just that data is gathered so the owner knows how the ship operates. If the ship really failed miserably in something like this, there could be an adjustment negotiation on the final price, but remember, NCL agreed to the design in the first place, and in their due diligence would have had their own Naval Architects review the design. During sea trials, while NCL will have senior deck and engine officers onboard to observe the tests, and some hotel supervisors to observe if the hotel equipment works, the shipyard provides the actual crew that operates the ship, as they still own it. For things like a "crane to lift an ice rink", first off, the decision to have that is NCL's, not Fincantieri's, and the supplier of that equipment would be chosen by NCL not Fincantieri, so any failure to perform would fall on NCL's responsibility. Fincantieri would only be liable if it collapsed due to their installation, or if they damaged it during installation. The QM2 with her 4 azipods (two steerable, two fixed), was found to have such poor lateral course stability (the ability to keep to a straight course) in following seas, that she had to go back to drydock after sea trials, and a "skeg" or keel extension was installed between the two fixed azipods to fix this. The cost was on Cunard, as it was their design in the first place.

Well, the construction, yes, but the yard still owns the ship. Once sea trials are over, if the ship passed all tests and inspections, then when the ship returns to port, NCL will pay for the ship and then own it. But, if anything is not right during sea trials, then Fincantieri must fix it, and possibly trial it again, before NCL makes the final payment.

The liquor sold must have an Alabama state liquor tax seal, so the cruise lines limit the selection of what they pay taxes on. All other liquor, is completely tax and customs duty free, so is about 30-40% of the cost of the taxed liquor.

Sorry, haven't followed this thread lately. The logic is that once the manifest changes, the old manifest "doesn't exist" anymore for CBP, and they only deal with the actual manifest that deals with the actual passengers who are returning to the US. The old closed loop cruise no longer exists (it was only "closed" because of no changes in manifest), and now there is a foreign voyage from the last foreign port to the US port of disembarkation. And, yes, this is the same that happens with someone missing the ship. A pier runner missing, may or may not be the last port, there may or may not be a sea day involved, etc, so there may or may not be differences in time frame as far as CBP is concerned, and also CBP rules and regulations are "flexible" in how they are implemented by the officers at the ports, as to whether or not in depth interviews are needed or just the "wave through".

Uber would be your best bet, probably about $15 each way.

No, marine gas turbines are designed to burn Marine Gas Oil.

For the most part they use a low sulfur residual fuel (bunker fuel or IFO380), unless they have a scrubber, when they can use a higher sulfur IFO380. While in an ECA (Emission control area), like the North America, Baltic, North Sea, etc, the ships use "Marine Gas Oil" which is the maritime name for essentially #2 Diesel in the US (home heating oil). All power on the ship, whether propulsion or hotel load is generated by the same generators, so they all use the same fuel.

There has not been any data that covid can be spread through a centralized HVAC system, even ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers) says they don't have any data, and doubt it is possible. If there had been, then every single building in the world would need to be retrofitted. The only incident that even mentioned AC causing spread, was the restaurant in China, where the airflow in the dining room, caused by the AC spread the virus beyond the normal 6 feet for coughs and sneezes. It was not caused by the virus circulating in the AC system.

No cruise ship has individual AC units for cabins, in the traditional sense. Then again, the main ship's AC system is not like a home cooling system either. The ships use a chilled water system, where huge AC units in the engine room chill fresh water to about 45*F, and this water is circulated around the ship. For public spaces and the fresh air supply to public spaces and cabins, the water enters a cooling coil, where the air is cooled to the setpoint, and then distributed around the ship. These units are in the "white spaces" along the centerline of the decks with cabins. What each cabin has, and what the thermostat controls is a small chiller, that has a fan that takes air from the cabin, passes it through a cooling coil that is cooled by the same chilled water system, and the fan then directs the air back to the cabin. The thermostat turns on this fan, and opens the chilled water valve to start cooling. So, as I say, unlike a residential AC system where refrigerant directly cools the air, the ship uses chilled water as an intermediate medium, the refrigerant cools the water, and the water cools the air.

Since the ships don't use gasoline, the price of gasoline is irrelevant. While gas prices have gone up over 100% in the last few months, bunker prices have only increased about 20% over the same time. Bunker fuel is a "by product" of crude oil refining, not something they try to make from crude. So, for every barrel of crude that is refined, the refinery is left with about 20-30% of that barrel as bunker fuel, that they can do nothing with but sell it as bunker fuel.

I worked at the time (70's) for a barge company that ran the Mississippi from New Orleans to Paducah. We pushed the large Miss tows of 30 barges (5 wide and 6 long), or nearly 900 feet of barges (about the length of a medium cruise ship). We carried mostly coal southbound and bauxite and scrap iron northbound. One time, our sister company, that operated on the Ohio River, went on strike, so our company decided we could just push the big tow up to Pittsburgh. Due to lock size, this meant we could only lock 2 barges at a time through. So, we tied the tow up below the lock (convenient tree), locked two barges through, tied them up to a tree, and left one deck hand and a pup tent to watch the barges. We then locked back down, picked up 2 more barges, and rinse and repeat. The two deck hands staying on each part of the tow would get their meals dropped to them whenever we got to them. Not a real enjoyable way to spend about 3 weeks. That was the last time they sent a big Mississippi boat and tow up the Ohio.

And, as I explained when you posted those pictures, that is a temporary condition caused when the water system is shut down to repair a leak, and the chlorine scale (from the chlorine used to sanitize the water) that forms on the inside of the pipe dries out and breaks off and is circulated for a short time. Because the pipe running from the deck main to your sink is 'stagnant" until you turn on the tap, the scale will collect there. Running the water for a couple minutes takes care of the problem. This can happen on any ship of any company. Water from evaporators and reverse osmosis plants are treated with chlorine before the water goes to the storage tanks. The water is then treated with chlorine again, when it is circulated around the ship. Water produced onboard, water in storage tanks, and water at various taps around the ship are sampled every month and tested for bacterial presence. Water bunkered in port, must be from a source that meets the EPA and WHO standards for drinking water, and the water at the actual hydrant (not the water source) must be tested monthly, and certified, or the ship cannot use the water. The hoses are treated with chlorine, and the water from the hydrant is also tested for residual chlorine, which must be present or it cannot be used. This water is then treated with chlorine before it goes into the storage tank, and must be kept segregated from all other drinking water on the ship, and not used, until a bacterial test is shown negative.

The only exceptions to the USPH rule that all protein come on frozen are things that must be kept alive until cooking, like whole lobster and molluscan shellfish (clams, oysters, mussels) Yep. Early mornings in Portland harbor, you see the fishing boats loading tons of ice before going out. Certain species are "flash frozen" in blast chillers on the boats.

Basically, if you can't distinguish buildings on shore (not just see land), you won't have cell service anywhere at sea (20 miles is about it), and along northern Maine and New Brunswick, it gets even worse.

Okay, had to check the itinerary, as Caribbean Princess has a different itinerary. Caribbean re-enters the US in Bar Harbor, after Canada, so Immigration is done there, and just customs in NYC. But, since NYC is your first stop after Canada, both will be done in NYC. I've never known CBP to do an onboard clearance in NYC, especially for a closed loop cruise.

If your environment is humid, it takes longer to dry out the trap. Your toilet holds at least a gallon, look at the trap under your sink, that is the size of the floor drain traps. Maybe a pint. It can take about a month or two, especially if the ship has been rolling a lot. I've never had a toilet dry out in our summer house either, but the sink and shower traps will be bone dry. The problem with new ships is that the crew does not know the location of all the various traps in the mechanical lockers, etc, and those can be hard to track down sometimes, much more so than cabins, and they have never been filled. Unlike your drain system at home, on a ship, the gray water drains (sinks, showers, laundry, galley) are totally separate from the black water (toilets), until they get to the holding tank.

That would not be an 11 minute continuous blast.

No worse than drain traps everywhere else in the world. As I said, if you've ever opened a seasonal home that has been shut up for several months, the smell will be there as well. At one time or another, I've noticed the smell on every ship I've ever been on, cruise ship or cargo. Couldn't tell you. I've explained this to cabin stewards, housekeeping supervisors, Executive Housekeepers, and Hotel Directors, with generally mixed results. My plumbers were always told to respond to a "smell" issue with a gallon jug of water in hand.