Sunday, February 28, 2010

FAQ on the ship

Well DCL released some more public information so I can share it here. I will use this post to post Q&A of common questions.

What Shipyard was chosen?
Meyers Werft   in P@penburg, Germany. Meyer-Werft is a world-renowned shipyard with incredible  attention to detail.Their long shipbuilding history and covered docks along with the incredible technology makes them standout.

Where is Papenburg? It is located in Northern Germany on the Ems river. Population is around 35,000.  Map below is interactive.

View Larger Map
How does the ship yard put the ship together.
  The ship is built in 83 individual blocks which, when finished, are welded onto the ship's structure in one of the world's largest covered dry docks (Baudock). Two ships are usually being assembled at the same time in this baudock. The hull is made in two pieces at a separate facility and brought into the baudock at two different times.  Each cabin is made off site as well and when ready is slid into place as a complete unit.  Wiring and plumbing are then hooked up in a common access panel shared by the two adjoining rooms.  When the ship's ready, half of the building is flooded to float the ship onto the Ems River.  The build process takes almost 15 months, the total project is much longer. A new build team was assembled in 2006.  Right now the Cast living in Germany will return in 2013.


Once out of the building then what?
On Halloween the ship will be floated outside of the baudock and sit alongs side the building.  It is customary for the locals to camp out and watch the sail out.  It will be highly publicized.  It is then loaded with around 500 tons of equipment, supplies and items needed for sea trials.  


Sea Trials?
I have to admit I do not know everything that is done during trials but here is a Wikipedia link with information.

How big is the Dream?
The third ship in the fleet. Boasting 14 decks, a ship length of 1,115 feet and a maximum width of 125 feet, the 128,000-ton vessel includes 1,250 staterooms and has the capacity to comfortably accommodate 4,000 passengers—along with the over 1,458 Crew Members who tend to the needs of every cruise Guest each and every day. (from website) The Magic class ships are 83,000-ton vessels with 10 decks and are just shy of 1000 feet. The Magic and Wonder have a guest capacity of ~2700 and little over 1000 crew members.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Chance went soaring

The picture below is a link to Chance soaring with the birds.  His girlfriend, Angela, bought him a ride on a tandem glider for Christmas.   We showed up at Wallaby Ranch at 8:30 and my parents joined us.  It was a great Central Florida day.  How odd it was for me to reach for the liability form and instead Chance was able to sign it because he is 18.  It was a great experience and the owner Malcolm puts on a great experience.  The ranch is really for solo fliers but they pulled up a lot of tandems today.  Once on the ground Chance's pilot radioed how rough the turbulence was and the day was over. Malcolm came out and worked out a plan making sure the people that had not yet flown were accommodated by coming back in the later afternoon when the winds normally die down. I have been to Wallaby before with the Land Cruiser club I am in.  Malcom's property houses Hummer's and Land Rover's proving courses.   

2010_02_21_Chance_Hanggliding

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Family in town

Work is crazy busy as we try to get financing on our final projects.  If this does not make sense you are in good company. As strange as it seems, all of my business units executives agree on our plan to get the new ship up and running.  All the money comes from our business unit's budget. Yet my team has to create complete financial documents to justify our projects; but I digress.
Family; this weekend my cousin came down from Buffalo, NY with his family. His mother came up from Palm Beach area.  My parents came down as well.  We spent Saturday in Epcot and Hollywood studios. The park is moderately busy.   Friday we ate at Angelina's and then downed some beers at the Tavern in Celebration.   My Pennsylvania family is spread out and as I gracefully age I realize it is important to spend as much time with them as possible.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Weather and ships

It is a given that during the hurricane season there is a high likely hood of our operation moving to an alternate port. This is a huge deal as Disney tries its best to accommodate our guests.  This weekend was the first time we moved to another terminal outside of hurricane season.
The Magic pulled into Castaway instead of backing in as usual.  The winds were high.  When she tried to leave the winds and waves kept pushing her into the mooring poles. 24 hours later the winds and waves subsided enough to get out.  This put her behind in her schedule as she arrived into Canaveral with the Wonder.  So our normal team had to tend to the Wonder while people from Orlando managed the Magic. The local Port Authority allowed us to use one of the old casino boat terminals.  In perspective our normal terminal can hold 1100 people this building capacity was 250. 
Shore-side management was asked to help out so we were onsite at 6:30AM.  We (from the president on down) laid luggage down and then assisted guests debarking.  I then worked the Troll station which puts the guests onboard.  Our gangway housed the majority of guests.  Long day and now we are fighting data issues. That will be another story.

See story here-
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