Enchantment of the Seas
Revitalisation of Enchantment of the Seas leads to Vision plus ship
Enchantment of the Seas, an eight year old Vision class cruise liner of Royal Caribbean International (RCI) is currently at the Keppel Verolme shipyard in Rotterdam, where the ship will receive a 22 metre midsection and improvements in its facilities. Harri Kulovaara, RCI’s head of marine operations promises will look a lot more than the latest ships of the company so that it could be called Vision Plus, he says.
The vessel is powered with a diesel electric plant that comprises of four diesel gensets and two electric motors that drive the propellers. No additional power generating capacity will be needed and the ship will be able to roughly maintain its current speed despite an increase in the demand for power due to e.g. higher air conditioning and other hotel load.
It is on outer decks where the most important changes will take place when it comes to activities on board. A new swimming pool and four jacuzzis will be added so that the sun deck space will increase by almost 50%. A circular splash deck for kids will be fitted near the stern part of the sun deck, which will feature 64 waterjets. Forty of these will be connected to an interactive touchpad system, which lets them spray each other or to create their own fountains. At night, the area becomes a decorative fountain with fibre optic light shows
The midbody section that weighs 2,666 tons left Aker Finnyards’ Turku facility in Finland on a barge on 24 April, a couple of weeks after the ice that covered the northern parts of the Baltic. To prevent it from moving on the barge e.g. in heavy seas it was welded on the deck of the barge by using 200 tons of steel beams
Keppel Verolme cooperated with a local IT company that developed software that allowed it to use a computer generated model and laser measurement equipment to make sure that it really is in the right place. This succeeded remarkably well as the section is only 35 mm or about 1.5 inches off its intended location. Then, the dry dock was pumped dry and the midsection was supported by eight hydraulic towers that combined can take a load of 3,500 tons. Before the dock would be emptied, the barge would be towed away from underneath the section. By using this method, the work can be done in a month compared with 3 months using the traditional method of flooding the dock each time the sections need to be moved. The use of hydraulics is also safer and much cheaper, said Yrjo Julin, ceo of Aker Finnyards who attended a presentation at Keppel Verolme in late May.
Once the dock had been pumped dry, most of the ship would rest on concrete blocks in the bottom of the dock. However, the bow section, 130 metres of it, is supported by on a hydraulic skid system with a distinct orange colour. Each of the skids can support - and move - 500 tons. Another challenge will arise from making sure that once the mid body is in place, all three sections are properly aligned before the 15 day job to reassemble the vessel starts. Keppel Verolme’s ceo Harold Linssen says there are lots of reference points in the hull that will help the yard to use its computer model so that the maximum deviation will be 3 mm or about one tenth of an inch. Joining the sections not just means welding the ship back together, but also reconnecting 1,100 cables, 120 pipes, 60 air ducts.
Revitalisation of Enchantment of the Seas:
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| |
Before |
After |
| Gross tonnage |
74,140 |
81,500 |
| Length, m |
279.0 |
301.5 |
| Passenger cabins |
975 |
1,126 |
| -of which outside |
576 |
663 |
| -with private balconies |
212 |
248 |
| Double occupancy capacit |
1,950 |
2,252 |
| Space ratio |
38.0 |
35.7 |
| Crew |
760 |
840 |
Cutting the ship was scheduled to start on 17 May and insertion of the midsection was 23 May. However, bad weather on the crossing from the US had delayed the ship by a day, so the work is running slightly behind schedule. However, both Kulovaara and Keppel Verolme managing director Harold Linssen were confident that the ship would be able to re-enter service on 7 July as the schedule includes some flexibility.
Once in service, the vessel’s overall length will exceed the maximum permissible at the Panama Canal, but RCI has a card in its sleeve that will allow the ship to use the waterway should need arise: the forward section of the ship’s bow can be fitted with hinges so that it can be raised – well above the waterline level – like bow visor of a car ferry. The system is class approved, but no decision has been made to install it as yet.
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