Meanwhile, on the Oasis of the Seas…. Photos in dry-dock.

[Tall-Cruiser]

We are sailing in December on the Oasis and were able to upgrade to a GS yesterday. The cabin number is 12330 which doesn't exist under the current schematic. Is this going in where the old "secret balcony" was?

 

Jackpot is right, as stated by Cindy. You have what maybe will be considered the best GS on Oasis Class given this new location. Congrats!

 

Edit: They have also updated deck 17. Two Royal Suites, Coastal Kitchen and "Suite Lounge" (that is a new term).

Edited October 8, 2014 by Tall-Cruiser

[Grandma Petania]

I just brought up the Oasis deck plan and it shows your cabin 12330. It also shows the newer cabins on deck 12 that were not there before. 12238, 12240, 12242 and 12246.

Where did you find the updated deck plans? I've done a bit of searching, but am still finding only the previous plans. TIA

[3dog]

Where did you find the updated deck plans? I've done a bit of searching, but am still finding only the previous plans. TIA

 

The deck plans have been updated on the RCI website. If you have looked recently, you might have to force a reload or clear the cache, but it appears as if all the new changes will be in place when she sails on the 14th.

[Grandma Petania]

The deck plans have been updated on the RCI website. If you have looked recently, you might have to force a reload or clear the cache, but it appears as if all the new changes will be in place when she sails on the 14th.

Sorry I'm being so dense or helpless. Can you please give me step by step instructions of where to look once I go to RoyalCaribbean.com?

[Clarea]

Sorry I'm being so dense or helpless. Can you please give me step by step instructions of where to look once I go to RoyalCaribbean.com?

Deck plans here:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/ship/decks/deck/home.do?shipCode=OA

[LetsGetWet!]

During drydock, the ship will continue to run one of its generators, since they do not have a sufficiently large shore power connection to power all of the hotel functions.

Interesting, back in my day we always shifted to shore power, cheaper and less requirements onboard. Would cause heck if that one generator went down the watch team was smaller because we could always shift if required

 

We also did not want to wear out our equipment. P.s. That was on aircraft carriers

Most ships do in drydock. But a cruise ship still requires 4-6MW of power for hotel and engine room power even in drydock. Generally, when a cruise ship is in drydock, not only is the full crew onboard, but there will be a few hundred contractors living in guest cabins (upholsterers, carpet layers, those doing the teak decks, etc). These are not shipyard workers, they are subcontractors hired by the cruise line.

I thought that there was a thread here a while back about some of the California ports REQUIRING that the cruise ships operate totally from shore power when at port to avoid pollution from running the generators constantly? I think there were even pictures of huge cables/plugs that plugged in from shore? Admittedly this wasn't for a ship as large as Oasis...

 

EDIT: Nevermind, just hadn't read far enough in the thread! :)

There are shore power connections, but their size is limited. Generally, only those ships that call in areas that require "cold ironing" for emissions reasons (California and Alaska) will have a shore power transformer to power the entire hotel load. Remember, most shipyards only supply 480v power, while the cruise ship uses 10,000v for major users like the A/C chillers, so a step up transformer of about 6MW is required. I don't believe that the Navy uses 10kv power. The ports that require cold iron operations will supply 10,000v power.

Edited October 8, 2014 by LetsGetWet!

[LMaxwell]

Additional info about plugging in at ports in California

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1214

 

http://www.portoflosangeles.org/newsroom/2014_releases/news_10814_AMP-Shoreside_Power_Requirements.asp

[chengkp75]

I thought that there was a thread here a while back about some of the California ports REQUIRING that the cruise ships operate totally from shore power when at port to avoid pollution from running the generators constantly? I think there were even pictures of huge cables/plugs that plugged in from shore? Admittedly this wasn't for a ship as large as Oasis...

 

EDIT: Nevermind, just hadn't read far enough in the thread! :)

 

The California law says that ships are exempt from switching from heavy fuel to diesel if they switch to shore power upon docking.

 

As I've said, only those ships that routinely call at California ports have had the added expense of large shore power connections installed. Also, the ports are set up to provide 10,000v power specifically for the cruise ships. The shipyard is not set up for this, but for 480v power. At 480v, the current would be 20 times what is required at 10,000v, so the cables would need to be 20 times as big, or the ship would need a transformer capable of handling the 8-10Mw of power just for shore power.

[Ken at the beach]

The port of Vancouver is using shore power. Celebrity uses it but Royal does not.

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Cruise+ship+clean+shore+based+electricity+burns+diesel+Vancouver+lack+hookup/10138827/story.html?__federated=1

[Clarea]

The port of Vancouver is using shore power. Celebrity uses it but Royal does not.

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Cruise+ship+clean+shore+based+electricity+burns+diesel+Vancouver+lack+hookup/10138827/story.html?__federated=1

I wonder if the environmental regulations on the west coast don't apply to Radiance class ships because they are powered differently?

[Ken at the beach]

I wonder if the environmental regulations on the west coast don't apply to Radiance class ships because they are powered differently?

 

That could definitely be.

 

I find it fascinating that a ship can actually plug in and provide complete power for the ship. Not your standard 14/2 household wire.

[Grandma Petania]

Deck plans here:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/ship/decks/deck/home.do?shipCode=OA

Thank you SO much! If I'm reading the plans correctly, there are NO more "secret balconies" where the aqua shows can be viewed from above. I am very disappointed by this, as I was hoping to introduce my daughter and grandson to that view.

[Clarea]

Thank you SO much! If I'm reading the plans correctly, there are NO more "secret balconies" where the aqua shows can be viewed from above. I am very disappointed by this, as I was hoping to introduce my daughter and grandson to that view.

You are correct, the public balconies are now part of staterooms.

[Grandma Petania]

The new deck plans show the following dining choices, beginning Nov. 1st, 2014-May 30th, 2015: Deck 3 (formerly main dining room) as American Icon Grill; Deck 4 as The Grande; and Deck 5 as Silk. In addition, there will be a Boardwalk Dog House, and it appears that a Mexican Restautant, Sabor, will replace the Seafood Shack.

[Ken at the beach]

The new deck plans show the following dining choices, beginning Nov. 1st, 2014-May 30th, 2015: Deck 3 (formerly main dining room) as American Icon Grill; Deck 4 as The Grande; and Deck 5 as Silk. In addition, there will be a Boardwalk Dog House, and it appears that a Mexican Restautant, Sabor, will replace the Seafood Shack.

 

The dining rooms have been cosmetically updated however DD will not start until March 2015. The regular MDR menus will be used up until then.

[ryanc78]

Yes...it looks like you hit the jackpot!:D

 

 

Holy Crap!!!! So excited, can't believe our luck! 8 more weeks....

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[chengkp75]

That could definitely be.

 

I find it fascinating that a ship can actually plug in and provide complete power for the ship. Not your standard 14/2 household wire.

 

No, not quite that small, or even the 0000 gauge service entrance wire to your home. At 8Mw and 10k volts, that's over 500 amps. At 480v, that becomes over 12,000 amps, which is why it's not real practical to supply power to a cruise ship at 480v.

 

Bob;

 

You are probably correct about the Radiance class. These gas turbines burn diesel fuel all the time anyway, so the only thing they would have to do is to switch from high sulfur diesel to low sulfur when within 40 miles of California. Now with the US ECA, in Jan 2015, they will have to be on low sulfur diesel within 200 miles of the entire North American coast, so that becomes moot.

[Clarea]

No, not quite that small, or even the 0000 gauge service entrance wire to your home. At 8Mw and 10k volts, that's over 500 amps. At 480v, that becomes over 12,000 amps, which is why it's not real practical to supply power to a cruise ship at 480v.

 

Bob;

 

You are probably correct about the Radiance class. These gas turbines burn diesel fuel all the time anyway, so the only thing they would have to do is to switch from high sulfur diesel to low sulfur when within 40 miles of California. Now with the US ECA, in Jan 2015, they will have to be on low sulfur diesel within 200 miles of the entire North American coast, so that becomes moot.

I remember talking with the Chief Engineer on Serenade once. At the time they had already put in the diesel generator to provide power when docked. He said that the diesel generator had a completely different fuel system than the gas turbines, so what you say explains that a bit more to me.

[chengkp75]

I remember talking with the Chief Engineer on Serenade once. At the time they had already put in the diesel generator to provide power when docked. He said that the diesel generator had a completely different fuel system than the gas turbines, so what you say explains that a bit more to me.

 

I didn't know that they had retrofitted a diesel. That actually makes a little less sense, given today's requirements. While the gas turbines burn diesel fuel, which is cleaner than the heavy fuel burned in the diesels, they are horribly inefficient in converting the fuel energy to electricity, particularly at low loads. Since the gas turbines are rated 25Mw each, providing hotel load using one is still quite low load (20-25%), so a lot of energy is wasted. The small steam turbine could provide in port power, but is mainly reliant on exhaust gas boilers from the gas turbines (this takes the heat in the exhaust gas from the GT, and boils water with it to power a steam turbine). This "heat recovery" system is more efficient than a straight GT plant, but steam boilers/turbines have their own inefficiencies, which is why the world has gone away from steam propulsion.

 

So, they retrofitted a diesel (and looking at the DNV site for Radiance, it looks like there are two diesels, a MAN and a Wartsila) for in port use. These were installed to be more efficient than the GT's, and to allow burning of the cheaper heavy fuel. If these are burning heavy fuel, then they must change to diesel in California, and also they would probably fall under the requirement to plug into shore power. Not sure if they have fitted the shore power connections, and/or like the Carnival ship mentioned in Vancouver, whether or not the docking arrangement allows for it's use.

 

Interesting.

[Clarea]

I...So, they retrofitted a diesel (and looking at the DNV site for Radiance, it looks like there are two diesels, a MAN and a Wartsila) for in port use....

Yes, I think there is a TV program (Discovery, History?) on the process. They did it to all 4 Radiance class ships over the last few years. All I remember is that they had to cut a huge opening in the side of the ship to fit in the new engine.

[BillB48]

Yes, I think there is a TV program (Discovery, History?) on the process. They did it to all 4 Radiance class ships over the last few years. All I remember is that they had to cut a huge opening in the side of the ship to fit in the new engine.

 

Was on the Radiance with a stop in Acapulco (Oct. 2008), the aux diesel generator had already been installed and not brought on line yet. While we were in port they gave it the acid test... told all the passengers at what time they were going to shut down the elevators and such. Probably a good thing because the transition was not as seamless as I would guess they hoped... ship was out of power for a couple of minutes.

 

I just recently went looking for that TV program about the gen install... it was on Nat Geo, Season 1, "World's Toughest Fixes" hosted by Sean Riley. I found it on youtube but copyright would not allow playing in the US.

 

On that same cruise I went to Q&A the session with the Captain and Chief Engineer and they echoed what chenkp75 said about the gas turbines being horribly inefficient just supplying hotel power while in port.

Edited October 9, 2014 by BillB48
oops

[Clarea]

...I just recently went looking for that TV program about the gen install... it was on Nat Geo, Season 1, "World's Toughest Fixes" hosted by Sean Riley. I found it on youtube but copyright would not allow playing in the US.....

Thanks for refreshing my memory on the TV program. Might be available on DVD.

[Ken at the beach]

Was on the Radiance with a stop in Acapulco (Oct. 2008), the aux diesel generator had already been installed and not brought on line yet. While we were in port they gave it the acid test... told all the passengers at what time they were going to shut down the elevators and such. Probably a good thing because the transition was not as seamless as I would guess they hoped... ship was out of power for a couple of minutes.

 

I just recently went looking for that TV program about the gen install... it was on Nat Geo, Season 1, "World's Toughest Fixes" hosted by Sean Riley. I found it on youtube but copyright would not allow playing in the US.

 

On that same cruise I went to Q&A the session with the Captain and Chief Engineer and they echoed what chenkp75 said about the gas turbines being horribly inefficient just supplying hotel power while in port.

 

Would using a program like TunnelBear allow viewing?

[BillB48]

Would using a program like TunnelBear allow viewing?

 

Really don't know... I'm not familiar with the program.

[counsdr]

This is absolutely fascinating! Thank you all so much for all this information!