Virgin Ship Does a 360 in Miami

[Duddy]

So lately I have gotten hooked on watching the port and beach webcams from YouTube.  The Soggy Dollar Bar - BVI, St Barts airport, Miami, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral etc. on PTZ and BLC.  I especially like the scrolling one on PTZ.  Anyway, I have noticed that frequently (perhaps not every time) the Virgin Ship "in the back", usually the last one to go, does a 360 in the open area (cul de sac if you will between the bridges), before heading down the canal and out to sea.  The last I saw was other night was the Valiant Lady.  In fact she was 2 hours late leaving port.  That was interesting too.

 

Does anyone know why?  Is it a "signature" thing that the captain or the cruise line does?  Is a satellite recalibration thing?  We did that once on NCL leaving St Croix.  That was cool.  If you happened to be on the ship, do they announce anything?

 

Thanks! 

[jon81uk]

Pretty sure the need to turn is just because VV’s Terminal V is right at the end of the port and the ship needs to turn to get out. 

[1025cruise]

So they point the right way? They back out of the dock and need to turn to point to the exit.

[chengkp75]

I don't believe it is a full 360, but sometimes when a ship backs out of a berth, and needs to turn 90* to starboard to enter the channel, they will instead turn 270* to port, as the wind makes it easier to make the longer turn with the wind, as opposed to against the wind.

 

And, I doubt it was a "satellite calibration", it was more likely "boxing the compass" or "swinging the ship" to determine the magnetic compass deviation from the gyro compass, which is then recorded on the compass card on the bridge, and if the deviation has changed drastically or become very large, they can adjust the "navigators balls", those iron spheres on each side of the magnetic compass.

[Cloud9 Bob]

The ship cannot go from its docked position directly to the exit canal because the Miami Canal is fairly narrow and shallow. It is also only minimally deep to accommodate today’s cruise ship drafts. The area where it pushes off the dock to is called the turning basin. It is dredged extra deeply to safely allow for the spin. This way the ship can begin its exit to the canal from a straighter position avoiding damage to the ships keel. Ever wonder what the small radar array that you can see out the window of the Wake is for? It’s for safety to make sure there is not a small boat interfering with the turning basin spin. I spoke with the staff captain of Scarlet Lady once who told me of all the ports they visit, Miami keeps him on his toes most due to its tight entrance.

[aviators99]

On 7/26/2024 at 12:30 PM, Duddy said:

The last I saw was other night was the Valiant Lady.  In fact she was 2 hours late leaving port.  That was interesting too.

 

We left two hours late because they were impacted by the Crowdstrike bug.  They were unable to check anyone in, and they were not equipped to do it manually.  At first they wouldn't even let us in.  We were waiting outside in the heat from 12:45 until after 2p (as mega rockstars).  I had a bunch of friends joining us, some of whom were not rockstars, and some of them were allowed into the (air conditioned) waiting area inside an hour before we were.  

 

Even after everyone boarded, there were still issues related to the problem.  They had to redo the safety drill on day 2...