FalklandIslander
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Posts posted by FalklandIslander
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On 1/4/2022 at 2:42 PM, John&LaLa said:
Saw that on MB FB page. Guess it's a fuel tank
I don’t think the sphere is a fuel tank. LNG tanks are about 2.5 times the internal volume of diesel tanks for the same energy capacity. External volume is even bigger counting the insulation (typically about 20cm of mineral wool. Excluding LNG carriers, good practice for LNG fueled vessels is to have exactly two LNG tanks onboard. That sphere looks too small to be one of two LNG tanks on Icon. The advantage of a sphere is reduced boil-off rate, but that wouldn’t matter for a cruise ship which is always going to have at least one engine running at least several hours per week and consuming the boil-off gas. The LNG tanks on Icon will probably be shaped to fit the space available. My guess is one forward of midships and one aft of midships.
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I’m about the same age as the OP and I cruised exclusively with Royal Caribbean for nearly 20 years. I didn’t expect to try another cruise line as I thought Crown and Anchor had their hook in me deeply enough with the loyalty perks. We decided to try Virgin primarily because they require all passengers and crew to be fully vaccinated and secondarily because there are no children onboard.
The boarding experience was very good. We proceeded through a series of very short queues (each about two to five minutes). Swabbing for a Covid test sample was one of the first and verification of a negative result was one of the last. Verification of travel documents was somewhere in the middle. The whole process took (for us) 34 minutes from when we stepped out of the Uber until we stepped onboard Deck 5.
Pros:
1. No children.
2. Everyone onboard fully vaccinated. No mask requirements (theoretically upon demand of crew, but it seemed no passenger was ever asked to wear a mask. Probably masking would only be asked if a breakout were to occur. Crew were often masked.)
3. Much better food and dining options than Royal Caribbean. We always choose the healthiest food option, regardless of taste, and the options were very tasty. My lunch of the 2nd day, crew had passed the word up to Edward, the executive chef, that we’re vegan and he came to ask us what, if anything, they could do to accommodate us. I told him that there are ample options for vegans who don’t care about healthy, but for those who care about healthy eating, the options were limited. He asked a few questions, then told us we would be taken care of. We were! Every time we went to a restaurant, they knew as soon as they scanned our bracelet that they needed to prepare a healthy meal for us and they did. Every meal was whole food (no refined or processed foods), plant based, without sugar and every meal was fabulously delicious. Our only possible complaint is that food was wasted. Huge complements to executive chef Edward.
4. Nice views from the well-equipped fitness center.
5. We didn’t have to queue at all to disembark. What a contrast to the nightmare of disembarking from Royal Caribbean.
6. Internet, tips, and all meals included in the voyage price.
Cons:
1. Smoking is allowed onboard. Time for the 1970s to end. Nicotine gum and/or patches should be offered to the nic addicts.
2. Shows and restaurants booked very quickly. We were not able to try all the restaurants and were not able to see all the shows. A pro for most passengers but a con for some: shows were mildly adult themed (I wouldn’t take anyone under about 12-14 to such shows) but I definitely would have taken my late grandmother. The most prudish of passengers would probably feel mildly uncomfortable.
3. “Bonfire” on the beach was not a bonfire. It was a gas flame inside a metal orb. It was free (i.e. included in the voyage price). I would have been very disappointed if it had been a paid excursion.
4. The swimming pool is about the size of a large hot tub, but there was satisfactory spacing for lounging around on deck.
5. We had technical problems with the sliding door to our terrace. First someone from housekeeping came to “fix” it. He was able to get it to close properly. Then the problem repeated, so the same person from housekeeping called for someone to come from engineering. The third visit was from engineering and he got it to close, but told us he would have to return to replace a part with an improved version. He returned, replaced the part, and we didn’t have anymore problems with the door after that.
Due mainly to the policies of everyone onboard being fully vaccinated and no children onboard combined with the outstanding TLC we received from executive chef Edward (and all his staff), we’re now loyal Virgin cruisers. We discussed booking Royal Caribbean’s nine month round the world cruise (we were very tempted) but decided that we’re not going back to Royal Caribbean as long as they allow unvaccinated persons onboard. The only other changes Royal Caribbean could make that would prompt us to give them another try would be to either ban all smoking onboard (passengers and crew) or to establish a strictly vegan dining venue. I imagine those changes are probably five to ten years in the future, but I’m open to being pleasantly surprised.
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I hope you all remain uninfected. We are choosing only cruises which require all passengers and all crew to be fully vaccinated. The status perks we would get with Royal Caribbean are not worth the health (and death) risks, in our opinion. We just had a fantastic (fully vaccinated) cruise. Masks were not required and no outbreaks occurred.
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Thanks steamboats. I’m not sure why you think I’ve mixed up Icon and Odyssey. Do you mean that Icon won’t be built by Meyer Turku or do you mean that I’ve asked too early? If they are about to start joining up Odyssey, then I guess that means that about a year or so from now they’ll start to join up Icon.
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3 hours ago, steamboats said:
I think you mix this up with the Odyssey of the Seas... Meyer (Papenburg) is currently building two mega blocks. So as soon as the Iona (for P&O) has left the building hall they two Odyssey blocks (one is outside, the other one inside) will be "married".
Meyer Turku is currently building the Mardi Gras (Carnival) and the Costa Toscana (Costa). Both are LNG fueled.
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Does anyone know when Meyer Turku will start joining blocks together?
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From the RCI fleet, what ships still have (if they ever had) gas turbines?
Only the Radiance class. Each has two GE LM2500+ gas turbines used to produce electricity for both propulsion and hotel services.
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Ok, this may be a very stupid question so I apologize if it comes off that way, but when they 5000 passenger they truly mean passengers only, correct? Meaning not including crew at all? When I first read the release I wasn't sure, but reading through these posts it seems like it's just passengers.
Definitely only passengers, not crew. The ambiguity is whether that's 5000 passengers at double occupancy (two passengers per cabin) or at maximum capacity (every passenger bunk occupied). Based on the later information that the Icon class will be 200,000 GT, I'm guessing it will be 5000 passengers at maximum capacity.
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Oh, I guess you should contact PowerCell about that:
While you're at it, contact GM, because they've wasted 12 years of work since unveiling this prototype:
And Nordic Power Systems might want to know that the plant they opened in 2012 isn't really working:
Thanks for the links. I was aware of Nordic Power Systems. I wrote that they are not commercially viable in 2016, which I stand by. I didn't not write that no one is manufacturing any. Apples and oranges.
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I am a non-smoker, but I feel this is total BS and you should stop it!
You're entitled to your feelings but it's a fact that the number of non-smokers killed per year by nic addicts is approximately 40,000 just in the United States.
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According to this article the Fuel Cells will be able to run on Diesel fuel.
As of 2016, it is not commercially viable (or close) to extract hydrogen from diesel to use the hydrogen in fuel cells. The main problem is simply too much energy is consumed in the process of extracting the hydrogen.
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Why does EVERY forum disintegrate into a smoking theme?
Because the cruise lines are neglecting their moral responsibility to protect the lives of their passengers from aggression by nic addicts.
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While the port states may be able to ban smoking on open deck areas while in port, they would have no jurisdiction to ban all smoking on foreign flag ships inside the ships, or while at sea.
The port states have full authority and jurisdiction to ban cruise ships that allow smoking anywhere onboard from visiting their ports. This is exactly how the UK bans smoking in the casinos of all cruise ships operating to/from UK ports, for example, Independence now up through the TA departing Southampton later this month. It is also how the FAA banned smoking on international flights to/from US airports.
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Almost every poster is way off track and not understanding the dangers of Jamaica.
I was raised as you also and am thanking my parents too. But in my opinion, Jamaica is not the place to start with the young girls independence.
Not a single poster in this thread has suggested anything similar to "Jamaica is the place to start with the young girls' independence." Good parents would have already spent more than a decade preparing the sixteen year old, by incremental steps, for dangers much greater than an organized shore excursion in Jamaica.
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There was already a thread here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2411505
Perhaps a moderator might combine them.
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Well, thank you so much. I will surely tell him. He was 22 when he graduated from Delaware, then went to grad school at Mich, then law school at Mich State.
Like kmorg1234, I also understood from your earlier post that your son had earned both a law degree and a PhD by age 22.
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So LNG is actually all stored on the ship? I thought it was harvested whale farts... :-)
There are not enough whales remaining (less than 10% of historic populations).
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A quick online search found one gallon of #6 fuel oil yields about 153,000 BTU. By comparison, a gallon of LNG yields about 82,000 BTU.
Even if we account for the increased efficiency of LNG compared to fuel oil it appears an LNG-fueled ship will require a larger fuel storage area than a comparable oil burning ship.
I suspect the engine size would be relatively similar but that's speculation on my part.
The press release indicates that the Icon class will be able to service the hotel loads using fuel cells. It also says that they will be able to use distillate fuels when LNG is not available. Commercially viable fuel cells can run on LNG, but not on distillate fuels such as diesel or Marine Fuel Oil. Reciprocating diesel engines which can burn diesel or Marine Fuel Oil power all RCCL ships except the Radiance class, which use gas turbines. Reciprocating diesel engines don't run on LNG, though they can run on a mix of LNG and distillates (feeding in some natural gas with the air reduces distillate fuel consumption). I'm confident, reading between the lines, that the Icon class will use gas turbines for propulsion loads. The disadvantage of gas turbines is that they have poor efficiency below about 70% of maximum load. Using a larger number of smaller gas turbines is not a good option because gas turbine efficiency increases with fan diameter. Combining fuel cells with (probably two) gas turbines (probably GE LM2500+ or RR MT30) should work really well because the fuel cells can be brought online as needed for the marginal loads when the ship's speed requires more power than one gas turbine can provide but less than two gas turbines can provide efficiently.
Gas turbines are physically much smaller and lighter than reciprocating diesels of the same power capacity, so I would not assume that the space needed for engines would be similar.
BTW, the press release doesn't indicate whether 5000 passengers would be at double occupancy or at maximum occupancy. The average cabin size on Quantum class is 9% larger than on Oasis class. If Icon class will have cabin sizes similar to Quantum class and if 5000 passengers will be at double occupancy, then Icon class will be roughly similar in size to Oasis class. Anyway, Icon class will certainly be substantially larger than Quantum class.
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Could they be planning another (potentially smaller) ship at the same time?
It is certainly possible that the next ship class after the Icon class might be smaller, but my expectation is that it will probably be larger than the Oasis class. Economics favors larger ships both because of propulsion efficiency and because only one of each of the most expensive crew members are needed: captain, chief engineer, hotel director, cruise director, finance director, chief medical officer, etc. There have been reports in the shipbuilding press of talks with shipyards to build something 15% larger than Oasis.
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I can't see this happening. The Radiance class ships are still in good shape. They seem pretty. Popular to me.
Because new ships involve very long lead times to order, capacity is matched to market conditions by selling or not selling older ships as new ships are acquired. Plans to sell or not sell older ships are probably made only about one or two years into the future.
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Doesn't Majesty hold more passengers than Radiance?
Unlikely. Radiance is about 20% larger by volume than Majesty. Passenger capacity routinely gets quoted sometimes as double occupancy capacity and sometimes as maximum (all bunks) capacity. Often the capacity numbers don't specify which measurement, so it's very easy to compare apples to oranges.
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By 2022, that will likely happen, LNG or not.
Agreed. By 2022, it is almost certain that the UK, Canada, and most US (coastal) states will prohibit any and all smoking onboard (by passengers or crew) for cruises visiting their ports.
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I wouldn't even try.
It's definitely not something that everyone should try, but some people have good reasons for trying to catch an early flight.
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Not doubting you because you talk sense, just wondering if some of the old dears are just dotty. Because if they were that feeble, it's a bit surprising that they have not yet been defrauded of their money, but I suppose when they were earning, there were gold class retirement plans for employees and taxes were lower. How do you reckon they are able to cruise? Is it just the Cheapy ones out of Florida where you find these folks, because some of those cruises are cheap as chips.
I'm sure it varies from person to person. Often retired cruisers who don't appear to be senile ask me questions that make me wonder to myself things like: "Is this the first time out of the village?" or "Does this person know anything about the world not picked up watching fiction on television?"
Other cruisers have led rich and interesting lives and seem to have good judgement.
Icon of the Seas Blocks Are In The House!
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted
The waterline beam of 48.79 meters combined with what we know about enclosed volume (gross tonnage), it’s a safe bet that Icon will have a central open area similar to boardwalk / central park along with the inward facing balcony cabins.