Look Who's in the Canal Today (part 2)

[Essiesmom]

Thanks, I suspected as much.  EM

[Essiesmom]

Monday was NCL Sun returning from South America.  I couldn’t resist her bridge cam views, although the resolution is not as good as Gem.  The cam is looking a bit to starboard, giving a different view.  And there are no guests on the bow.

 

[dmwnc1959]

13 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Monday was NCL Sun returning from South America.  I couldn’t resist her bridge cam views, although the resolution is not as good as Gem.  The cam is looking a bit to starboard, giving a different view.  And there are no guests on the bow. 

These are really wonderful! 🥰

 

THANK YOU! 

[BillB48]

Glad it was swung to the starboard a tad... the Canal's heavy lift crane the Panquiaco  is working on the sea gates on the east.  Don't have any word on what is being done.  The crane has been there a couple of days.

[Essiesmom]

 

Another pass for NCL Gem with the great cam.  She was early, those who appear in the second pic, staking their early claim to a bow position, were out before 0600.  Hope there was good and plentiful coffee under those tents.  
 

[Essiesmom]

It’s Sunday 3/10 and Emerald Princess is headed westbound.  Lovely  weather.

 

[Essiesmom]

Monday Monday, and Viking Star is transiting eastbound:

 

[Essiesmom]

Saturday 3/16 Oceania Sirena passing through westbound

 

[Essiesmom]

Sirena didn’t stay long, back eastbound on Monday

 

[BillB48]

I suppose she may have done a turnaround at Ft. Amador Cruise terminal.  EM, is that other place ( C cruise ch..) gone dark?

[Essiesmom]

57 minutes ago, BillB48 said:

I suppose she may have done a turnaround at Ft. Amador Cruise terminal.  EM, is that other place ( C cruise ch..) gone dark?

Yes, Seacruisechat closed down in mid-January, after 27 years.  Manuela and I were about the only active members, and Phil has developed physical problems that made keeping the site up a problem.  Sad to see it go.  EM

[BillB48]

Had no idea it was around that long, sad to see it go as well.  Thanks.

[Essiesmom]

Tuesday 3/19 Vasco da Gama (née Statendam) celebrates the first day of spring with an eastbound transit.  Finishing a 181 day world cruise r/t Lisbon

 

[dmwnc1959]

2 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Tuesday 3/19 Vasco da Gama (née Statendam) celebrates the first day of spring with an eastbound transit.  Finishing a 181 day world cruise r/t Lisbon.

Very nice. I do miss these little gems as part of the HAL fleet. Wish I had taken the opportunity back in the day for a Bermuda cruise that docked right in town. 

[CruiserBruce]

Vasco da Gama's step sister, Zaandam, should be going westbound through tomorrow...on her way to pick us up in San Diego. 

[dmwnc1959]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Vasco da Gama's step sister, Zaandam, should be going westbound through tomorrow...on her way to pick us up in San Diego. 

 
The beautiful ZAANDAM (2000) that’s picking you up in San Diego is a sister to VOLENDAM (1999) of which I cruised the latter to Alaska back in 2003. Loved, loved, loved the Volendam! 
 

The ex-STATENDAM (1993) that we saw transit the canal today was the lead ship of four - the others were Maasdam (1993), Ryndam (1994), and Veedam (1996) - all which left the fleet by mid-2020. The pandemic hit the cruise industry hard and a lot of the older, smaller ships were either scrapped or sold off. 
 

Your SOLAR ECLIPSE cruise sounds amazing! Have fun!!! 🌞

[Essiesmom]

It’s Wednesday and Carnival Pride is doing a partial transit, with Zaandam following her going westbound.

 

[CruiserBruce]

I heard from another source that they got a fair amount of rain today. I don't see anybody on Zaandam's bow.

[BillB48]

They did get some welcomed rains and the good news it just wasn't one of those splash and dash showers.  There was a fair amount of coverage over the watershed, although not enough to declare the drought over and start singing Happy Days are Here Again, a good sign.

[Essiesmom]

Saturday westbound for Silver Nova

 

[BillB48]

This is the ship we were discussing the "asymmetrical designs" in the Old vs New Locks thread.  The last picture clearly shows the funnel off to the port side and a smaller funnel like structure on the starboard side farther forward.  Another thing that caught my eye is the lack of any outside viewing areas forward.  I'm sure the glassed area above the bridge is available for passenger viewing, but I would miss not having a forward viewing area outside.  I don't think I could be considered a fan of that design, I still prefer the more traditional approach to ship design.

[Essiesmom]

Today 3/28, started with Viking Polaris going eastbound

 

[Essiesmom]

And then we have a puzzlement.  I was quite surprised when Explora l headed for the new locks.  Her dimensions are 813x105, 64000 by.  Why?  No live from on the Explora board, and the roll call went silent more than two weeks ago.  @BillB48Any ideas?

 

[dmwnc1959]

26 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

And then we have a puzzlement.  I was quite surprised when Explora l headed for the new locks.  Her dimensions are 813x105, 64000 by.  Why?  No live from on the Explora board, and the roll call went silent more than two weeks ago.  @BillB48Any ideas?

I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw were heading for the new locks this morning. Grabbed a screenshot of her in the Cocoli Locks and don’t see a single passenger or anyone standing topside, not on any of the balconies, nowhere. Maybe it’s because of the heat? You would at least think someone will be on a balcony, but no. weird.

[BillB48]

I think we have an enigma wrapped in a conundrum in this case!  I certainly don't have any real knowledge on why she would use the new locks since her dimensions would easily allow her to use the original locks.  My first thought was perhaps for Canal convenience, but I don't think that is the case.  Perhaps there was an overhang or other protrusion that would better suit using the new locks, but from the pictures I can't find anything on the ship that would create this need.  The only other thing I can come up with is perhaps the location of her deck machinery, (winches etc.) does not lend itself for hauling the locomotive cables aboard.  It may have been more practical just to handle the tug hawsers as opposed to loco cables.

 

I'll snip a pic and send it my contact who is a tug captain and maybe he can shed some light