May 4th Disney Wonder incident

[phinz]

But we transited in May, not February.

So this boat.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I was there and part of my group it was directly below her veranda

 

[jrabbit]

Id be surprised if any ship makes it thru un scathed. (1) Looking at the dimensions, the original locks are 110 feet wide and the Magic class are 106 feet wide. That leave 2 feet on each side clearance. In the old lock system, when a ship transits the locks, the electric mules run cables out to the ships, to keep them centered and move the ship from lock to lock. (2)The ships don't use there engines at all until there in the Cut. As the ship moves up or down in the locks, the cables are either tightened or loosened. Depending on how fast someone reacts to tell the mules to tighten or loosen the cables, the ships will shift there position from the center of the locks, and with 2 feet of room, its not uncommon for a ship to touch.

Here's the catch. The Panama Canal is the only place in the world, that a capt will relinquish command of his ship. What the pilot says goes. Theres good pilots and not so good. Sounds like the Magic got a not so good.

(1) I usually cruise on Deck 2 with a Porthole. I have pictures that show just how close to the walls the Magic / Wonder are during transit. It's Amazing!!

(2) The mules only kept the ships centered and straight (most of the time). Actually, the ships have to drive themselves into the locks, and it's hard work! Simple physics - the ship displaces so much water - when its in the open ocean the water the ship moves into gets "easily" pushed aside (since the ocean is HUGE). When moving into / through the the locks, there is only a 110 feet wide by 2,000 feet long (two 1000 foot sections open at the same level and time) box to push the water aside / around in. When the ships are moving up/down in the locks, look at their smoke stacks - "nothing" is being expelled. When the ship starts to move into the next lock, the smoke stacks are billowing out a lot of smoke. My source of this information is through observation after it was explained to me by Captain Puckett who was a canal pilot for many, many years.

as a side note - when the Wonder was in San Diego last week we could see the pretty big dent that the cherry picker left in the side of our ship!

 

[jrabbit]

Would that have been the West Bound PC transit on the Wonder in 2011? Wife and I were on that trip and I remember the bumps. DCL had a retired pilot for the Panama Canal giving several Q & A talks leading up to the transit and right after crossing through. I remember the talk after the transit; he was asked about that. Said it happens frequently and it won't be long and they will be out there painting over it.

nope - two years later in 2013 - so obviously it's a common occurrence. In 2005 I still believe that a ship got "stuck" going down in one of the locks. You could see the ship suddenly "twist" in the lock and then it was a veeeeeeerrrrrrryyyyy long time before it and us got moving again.

 

[truck1]

(1) I usually cruise on Deck 2 with a Porthole. I have pictures that show just how close to the walls the Magic / Wonder are during transit. It's Amazing!!

(2) The mules only kept the ships centered and straight (most of the time). Actually, the ships have to drive themselves into the locks, and it's hard work! Simple physics - the ship displaces so much water - when its in the open ocean the water the ship moves into gets "easily" pushed aside (since the ocean is HUGE). When moving into / through the the locks, there is only a 110 feet wide by 2,000 feet long (two 1000 foot sections open at the same level and time) box to push the water aside / around in. When the ships are moving up/down in the locks, look at their smoke stacks - "nothing" is being expelled. When the ship starts to move into the next lock, the smoke stacks are billowing out a lot of smoke. My source of this information is through observation after it was explained to me by Captain Puckett who was a canal pilot for many, many years.

as a side note - when the Wonder was in San Diego last week we could see the pretty big dent that the cherry picker left in the side of our ship!

Some ships might have excess exhaust when moving thru the locks, but DCL and most cruise ships shouldnt. Reason is that there drive motors are electric. The diesel engines that power the generators that make the power are constant rpm. Once they start, that's where they stay. When DCL enters the locks, all 5 gensets are probably running with most in standby. So there already under load. If your seeing smoke from the exhaust, it's because they started another engine. Watch what happens when the ships take off from any port. You don't see the exhaust when the ship moves. About 1/2 hour before you will.

 

[QuiltTeddy]

That's an all-terrain reach forklift. At first look, about a $70K piece of equipment. Hope they were able to recover it. Oops!

Was on this cruise. They secured it with a tow truck, the captain then assessed the situation and we only left port approximately 20 min. late. They were off-loading garbage.