Why do the ships' have trouble docking at CC sometimes?

[stevenpensacola]

I've read several posts which state that's it's kind of a coin toss as to whether the ship is able to dock at Castaway Cay....what are the factors which determine if the ship is able to dock? Wind, currents, tides....looks like they would have factored these things in when designing the dock.

Does the ship dock on it's own, or are there tugs available to help at CC?

 

[allears]

stevenpensacola, contary to recent posts, docking at CC isn't a coin toss and takes place most of the time. There have been a few cruises since the beginning of the year that haven't been able to, but it is by no means a constant occurance. There are some interesting threads with stats that people have compiled about this.

But all of the reasons you mentioned are factors. When Disney refirbished the island to serve as their private destination, they dredged a channel and built a pier so that their ships could pull in and passengers could walk right on to the island, no tendering. I am sure that the location and design of that whole area wasn't done hap-hazardly, but with a lot of thought and study. But no matter how well designed the ship or the dock, sea conditions can make it unsafe to try and get in the channel and next to the pier.

The ships dock under their own power and use the thrusters to guide it in. But it sometimes just ins't enough to counter the currents. Since the ships don't ever use tugs, I would assume it isn't very economincal to keep them handy on the island "just in case". And to be honest, I don't know enough about that type of operation to know if they'd be able to get the ship in with out risking it running aground or hitting the pier.

Again, I'm sure a lot of though went into the engineering of the island. Plus there are enviormental factors that have to be considered, so there is only so much they can build and do in and around the island.

Anyway, that's my take on it.

 

[Jhalkias]

In our six cruises so far, only one time were we not able to dock at CC. I watched as the captain tried several times to get the ship in, but each time, the currents were too strong, and would have pushed the ship strongly into the pier, so the captain scuttled the docking.

Of course, this is the cruise where we took my MIL, so I told her that was it! She's bad luck, and I'm not taking her on another cruise!

 

[TheWog]

Where's Lloyd Dobler... he has all the stats.....

 

[jrabbit]

Lloyd's stats say that DCL docks at CC over 95% of the time.

As an aside, I bet that DCL misses Grand Cayman more than 95% of the time (not including the several months after the huricannes)

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

Of the cruises I've been able to account for, going back to '98, 95.02% have been able to dock. Since 2002, that number is 95.01%, and that represents almost 3/4 of all cruises.

Now, in 2005, there have already been three misses, and the overall number is 89.29%. I would expect that number to go up as the sample size increases, but even so, it is certainly better odds than a coin flip.

Totals for the past few years:

2001: 94.12%
2002: 96.77%
2003: 96.61%
2004: 93.22%

Many of the 2004 misses were due to hurricane damage and not necessarily to weather/sea conditions. On several cruises last fall, the ship didn't even attempt to dock. But a miss is still a miss, so I've counted these in the final numbers.

It's been contended that conditions must be perfect in order for the ship to dock. I would say that's debatable, but even conceding that, the numbers indicate that the conditions are perfect almost all of the time.

I believe that they would have had to do a lot of research in to the prevailing winds and currents, etc., to determine the most advantageous position on the island for the pier. There was no development on the island, so it's not as if they had to place the pier near any existing structures for convenience's sake. I have been told that they had to blast the limestone on the ocean floor in order to create the channel. The pier's construction was a considerable expense, and as such it would stand to reason that the goal would be to make it as accessible as possible. This is mostly supposition on my part, but I think it makes more sense than to suppose that they just threw a dart at the map and said, "build the pier here." If you had several million dollars to sink in to such a project, which option would you choose?

To suggest that it is set up poorly based on a single instance of failing to dock is like suggesting that a shortstop in baseball should play behind the plate because the last batter just popped up there. If you watch enough baseball, you know that there will be more balls hit to short than popups behind the plate. By the same token, if you study the wind, weather and currents, you can probably make a reasonable determination as to where the best place to build a cruise ship pier on a given island would be.

 

[stevenpensacola]

Thanks for the assurances guys...guess I got on the wrong thread.

Would not make sense for Disney to advertise CC so heavily if they had a real problem getting there.

We're setting sail (I guess that's what the S.S is for...set sail) for the first time in December...just wanting to make sure we're prepared.