Panama New Locks-Which side is best?

[BillB48]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Do the overhangs off the side of the ship for the davit supports preclude Quantum class from using the locks?  

 

The only NCL's Breakaway Plus class that have transited are the ships where the lifeboats are stored within the profile of the ship, nothing hangs outside the profile of the ship on Bliss, Encore and Joy.  The ships in this class that have the lifeboats stored partially outside the profile of the ship have not used the Panama Canal.   

 

The little bumps outs on Quantum class that support the lifeboats render the side profile of the ship irregular and not smooth like NCL's ships that use the PC.  That led me to question if it's the side profile of the ship that is preventing them from using the PC as opposed to the height of the Bridge of the Americas.  

Perhaps all of looking up at the height of the funnel may not be the limiting factor in the Quantum class ability to transit the Canal.  The lifeboats sticking outside the profile of the hull is probably OK for the Q class, what could be a problem is the protrusion that essentially is at the base of the lifeboat davits that you mentioned.  Protrusions up to 13' are permitted as long as they are 55' above the water.  Below that height no protrusion is acceptable.  I think the lifeboats are 55 or above, I'm just not so sure about that protrusion that runs along the entire deck at the base of the davits.

 

I have tried guesstimating and interpolating the distance above the water on a number of pictures available on the www, but that is way less than accurate!  So, there may be an issue.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, BillB48 said:

Perhaps all of looking up at the height of the funnel may not be the limiting factor in the Quantum class ability to transit the Canal.  The lifeboats sticking outside the profile of the hull is probably OK for the Q class, what could be a problem is the protrusion that essentially is at the base of the lifeboat davits that you mentioned.  Protrusions up to 13' are permitted as long as they are 55' above the water.  Below that height no protrusion is acceptable.  I think the lifeboats are 55 or above, I'm just not so sure about that protrusion that runs along the entire deck at the base of the davits.

 

I have tried guesstimating and interpolating the distance above the water on a number of pictures available on the www, but that is way less than accurate!  So, there may be an issue.

 

When Wonder was being built Ready for Cruise posted this drawing that showed the stacks at 72m above DWL height for Wonder.

 

 

Assuming the drawing was linear I measured from the DWL to the bottom of the lifeboats and came out with around 11.7m (albeit with a margin of error).  Assuming for the moment 11.7m was in the ballpark that would around 38 feet from the bottom of the lifeboats above DWL.  Call it 40 feet for a round number.

 

That's great but how does that equate to Q class or other classes?

 

I looked at pictures of Cococay with two ships at the pier.   I found that Freedom class has their lifeboats or the lowest deck 4 protrusion pretty close to the bottom of Oasis class lifeboats.   Maybe just a few feet above the bottom of the Oasis class lifeboats.  Margin of error would have the Freedom class deck 4 protrusions at around 40 to 44 feet from DWL.  

 

I scoured my pictures trying to find a point of comparison that included Q class.  By my best estimate using pictures the deck level davit support level on Q class are around 44-46 feet from DWL.  

 

My pictures are not absolutely square and with the wine I was drinking at the time my margin or error is likely quite high, probably 10% minimum.  Maybe 15%.  Even so with a 15% error 46 feet becomes 52 to 54 feet from DWL being generous.  

 

Feel free to try your hand at this assuming the Ready for Cruise drawings are true.  Let me know what you come up with.  

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by twangster

[Ashland]

We just transited through the locks on Jewel out of Amsterdam on our Arctic Circle cruise. We'll be on Serenade in October doing a full transit San Pedro-Tampa so will this be similar?

[njkruzer]

47 minutes ago, Ashland said:

We just transited through the locks on Jewel out of Amsterdam on our Arctic Circle cruise. We'll be on Serenade in October doing a full transit San Pedro-Tampa so will this be similar?

Slept while coming into Amsterdam but dh says those locks might be more like flood gates. The Panama Canal locks raises and lowers the ship. Very different. 

[Ashland]

4 hours ago, njkruzer said:

Slept while coming into Amsterdam but dh says those locks might be more like flood gates. The Panama Canal locks raises and lowers the ship. Very different. 

Thank you...We actually had no idea we would be going through the lock cruising out of Amsterdam. And yes they did slide.

[BillB48]

14 hours ago, twangster said:

 

When Wonder was being built Ready for Cruise posted this drawing that showed the stacks at 72m above DWL height for Wonder.

 

 

Assuming the drawing was linear I measured from the DWL to the bottom of the lifeboats and came out with around 11.7m (albeit with a margin of error).  Assuming for the moment 11.7m was in the ballpark that would around 38 feet from the bottom of the lifeboats above DWL.  Call it 40 feet for a round number.

 

That's great but how does that equate to Q class or other classes?

 

I looked at pictures of Cococay with two ships at the pier.   I found that Freedom class has their lifeboats or the lowest deck 4 protrusion pretty close to the bottom of Oasis class lifeboats.   Maybe just a few feet above the bottom of the Oasis class lifeboats.  Margin of error would have the Freedom class deck 4 protrusions at around 40 to 44 feet from DWL.  

 

I scoured my pictures trying to find a point of comparison that included Q class.  By my best estimate using pictures the deck level davit support level on Q class are around 44-46 feet from DWL.  

 

My pictures are not absolutely square and with the wine I was drinking at the time my margin or error is likely quite high, probably 10% minimum.  Maybe 15%.  Even so with a 15% error 46 feet becomes 52 to 54 feet from DWL being generous.  

 

Feel free to try your hand at this assuming the Ready for Cruise drawings are true.  Let me know what you come up with.  

 

 

 

 

Ok, I waited until this morning to do the measuring, hoping the effects of last night's vino won't enter into the calculation!  I came up with 11.8, so I think your figure is accurate.  As I mentioned I've looked at a number of photos of the ships in question and I am just not confident that what I have come up with is all that accurate.  Just too much of a fudge factor involved and we are dealing with just a few feet.

 

Here's what I did do in pursuit of discovering heights of overhangs above water on the Liberty just before the flu shut down.  In my mind the sticky wicket in the Freedom and Voyager class beyond their air draft was the outside portion of the promenade deck that extends out as it passes the MDR.  I measured out a line 60' long with 55' denoted on the line.  Had a weight attached and one day while we were in port I dropped it over the side in the vicinity of the overhang by the MDR.  Unfortunately I don't think my efforts were very accurate.  I came up with a distance of somewhere around 51' to 52' from the water to the walking surface of the deck.  There was so much wind blowing and my weight wasn't quite heavy enough, the line had a big bow in it from the wind.  In short I did not have a straight drop to the water.

 

Of course the air draft on the Freedom/Voyager class seems to be the preeminent problem.  The most common figure I have encountered in 208', but I have seen 207' and on the Mariner the Captain said in one of his chats that it was 206'.  So the actual air draft may actually be close enough for modification provided the overhangs or protrusions don't become the deciding dimension.

 

Maybe the statement the Radiance class ships are the largest Royal ships at the Canal might be the final word after all!!