Oasis Class Cruise Ships are Rudderless

CA-35

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The new class of Oasis cruise ships are longer than the US Navy's nuclear powered aircraft carriers, and rudderless, and weigh in at 226,000 tons, are 154 feet wide at the waterline, 1181 feet long, and only draft (farthest point beneath water line) 31 feet. They have (3) 20 megawatt Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) azipods, all azimuthing (rotating). There is nothing for scale close enough to these monsters but the guy in the left foreground dressed in blue is almost close enough.......those propellers must be 15 to 20 feet in diameter. Holy schnit!!!!

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Type: Cruise ship
Tonnage: 225,282 GT[1]–227,700 GT[2]
Length: 360 m (1,181 ft) overall[3]
Beam:
47 m (154 ft) waterline
60.5 m (198 ft) extreme[3]
Height: 72 m (236 ft) above water line[4]
Draught: 9.3 m (31 ft)[3]
Depth: 22.55 m (74 ft)[3]
Decks: 16 passenger decks[5]
Installed power:
3 × Wärtsilä 12V46D, 13,860 kW (18,590 hp) each
3 × Wärtsilä 16V46D, 18,480 kW (24,780 hp) each[4][6]
Propulsion: 3 × 20 MW ABB Azipod, all azimuthing[4]
Speed: 22.6 knots (41.9 km/h; 26.0 mph)[5]
Capacity: 5,400 passengers double occupancy; 6,296 total[5]
 

chazmo

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Are the rotating props something new? I suppose a rudder is superfluous if the thrust can be vectored like this. I'm truly surprised that this continued one-upsmanship in the cruiseliner construction continues. I mean, are there really economies of scale with the ability to carry so many passengers? Can they fill these ships? I guess so.
 

dreadnut

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For comparison, the Ranger had four 20' screws. Boy she could churn up some bubbly blue water, I'll bet we left a trail a mile long.

I assume the Azipods in this photo are not attached to the ship yet?
 

F312

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My mailman said he was on the Ranger.

Ralph
 

dbirchett

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I have taken a number of cruises but not on one of these mega-ships. I suppose they are nice and like a small floating city of 7500 (with crew). I prefer smaller boats.
 

GAD

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I know people that have spent *months* on a cruise ship. As in they basically lived on it for months in a row. There's some crazy well-off people out there.
 

FNG

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I know people that have spent *months* on a cruise ship. As in they basically lived on it for months in a row. There's some crazy well-off people out there.

Now you can buy a apartment on a cruise type ship and live on it year round. I'm sure it is serious coin.
 

Quantum Strummer

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I have taken a number of cruises but not on one of these mega-ships. I suppose they are nice and like a small floating city of 7500 (with crew). I prefer smaller boats.

I go for kayaks myself. ;) Or a Hawai'ian outrigger canoe…got to take a spin as a passenger in one of those last November. Next time I might do a training course so I can be a proper crew member.

-Dave-
 

Quantum Strummer

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I know people that have spent *months* on a cruise ship. As in they basically lived on it for months in a row. There's some crazy well-off people out there.

My impression, from talking to folks who've "come ashore" for a day trip in Kona (Big Island, Hawai'i), is that cruise life gets repetitive pretty quick. Which is great if you like repetitive leisure but awfully tedious otherwise.

-Dave-
 

Nuuska

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Hello

Those are built about 100 miles from where I live.

http://www.meyerturku.fi/en/meyertu...ibean/oasis_of_the_seas/oasis_of_the_seas.jsp

It is kind of interesting place to build so large vessels - there´s the archipelago with quite shallow rocky waters - careful navigation to get out - but then there are people who do that daily.
Then there is the bridge of Belt - to go under that the chimneys have to be lowered...

After all that - setting up a 12-string is a piece of cake ...
 

coastie99

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There are worse ways to while away your leisure time. :)

Yes but, can you get a decent Curry ?

Fascinating stuff these big ships, their construction and propulsion systems. I'm often to be found trawling YouTube for such. I do recall seeing recently a YT video explaining azipods and another documenting the building of the biggest Maersk container ship. But, I find the early 20th century trans-Atlantic liners, of all nationalities, spellbinding.
 

txbumper57

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Are the rotating props something new? I suppose a rudder is superfluous if the thrust can be vectored like this. I'm truly surprised that this continued one-upsmanship in the cruiseliner construction continues. I mean, are there really economies of scale with the ability to carry so many passengers? Can they fill these ships? I guess so.

I can honestly say that living 15 minutes from the Cruise ship hub in Galveston that yes they can fill these size ships on regular basis. Every day there are at least 2 mega ships filling up and 2 mega ships unloading heading everywhere from the Yucatan to Puerto Rico, Honduras, and the Bahamas plus I am sure many other destinations. That hub in Galveston is always packed and the parking goes on for miles and miles always filled to capacity with cars from the patrons of the Cruise ships. Carnival does a ton of Business out of there and it always seems non stop, LOL! I'm not that interested in going on Cruises but it really surprised me the sheer volume of people that actually go on Cruises Daily and fly in from all over the country to do so. I think the Carnival ships hold 4,000-5,000 people with crew included.

TX
 

crank

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I remember seeing a 60 minutes segment, years ago, about a cruise ship that was all owned condos and it sailed around the world constantly. Owners would meet up with it and sail for a various amounts of time. I think there were some more or less full time residents as well. I don;t think it ws one of the giant 5,000 passenger ships though.

I know a few musicians who have taken cruise ship gigs. No one seems to do it for more than a year.

Not for me, sailing with an entire town. We have chartered small sailboats in the Virgin Islands a few times and it pays to pay attention to the cruise ship schedules if you want to avoid crowds both in harbor towns and at some more secluded beaches and snorkeling spots where they bring excursions.
 

dreadnut

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I was aboard the Ranger periodically from '73 - '75, WestPac cruise. I loved to stand on the fantail and watch the wake when we were out at sea, that is the definition of blue!
 

dbirchett

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I've heard stories about elderly that book cruise after cruise. They have maid service, regular meals, medical care avialable 24/7 and its cheaper than a rest home. Not sure if the stories are apocryphal but it makes some sense.
 

fronobulax

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Full time residency on a cruise thing is a thing. Google "cruise ship condo".

Similar idea for inland waters http://www.rivercitiescondos.com/. Build condos on a barge and tow the barge to places of interest. I think I first heard about this 15 years ago. Still not clear they have sold enough to actually begin construction.
 

chazmo

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That's cool. That's the first time I've heard of full-time residence on a cruise ship. I don't think that'd be for me, but I could definitely see it.
 
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