will S class ship do enlarged Panama Canal?

[hcat]

We enjoyed a partial Canal transit into Gatun Lake awhile ago and are interested in doing a full canal transit after the enlarged canal opens in 2016.

 

Assuming construction is on time, I am wondering if an S class ship will be scheduled to do this itin when the new bookings are announced.?

[scanditaly]

I would also love to know about this subject.

[SantaFeFan]

The S class ships will fit the new locks, so I would expect Celebrity to start scheduling canal transits when the larger locks open for business.

[A Sixth?]

The S class ships will fit the new locks, so I would expect Celebrity to start scheduling canal transits when the larger locks open for business.

 

This is true and the subject has come up a few time here.

 

I believe that the problem is bridge height.

 

Originally when the new bridge over the canal was planned, they were going to tear down the Bridge of the Americas when it opened. But now they need BOTH bridges to handle the traffic volume and could actually use more car and truck capacity. They aren't tearing any bridge down last I heard.

 

The Bridge of the Americas which is about the same height as a number of major harbour bridges around the world. Lions Gate in Vancouver comes to mind as one.

 

At this time, other than Millie Class which fit the old locks only the "Solstice" with it's height modification to fit for entering Vancouver BC could at this point use the new canal.

 

Really big ships like the Queen Mary and Oassis Class ships aren't fitting under the Bridge of the Americas.

 

Bridge of the Americas

 

New Bridge

 

Lions Gate

Edited August 7, 2015 by A Sixth?

[BillB48]

A new bridge to replace the Bridge of Americas is on the drawing boards... but the first shovel of dirt has yet to be turned. Almost all of the present cruise ships will fit under the BoA or can be made to fit as in the case of the Solstice. The BoA has a clearance of 201'... however the Canal will permit passage of vessels with an air draft of 205' depending on the height of the tide.

 

There presently a third bridge under construction on the Atlantic entrance that is "scheduled" to be completed at the end of 2016, it will have a clearance of 246' That is the planned clearance of the BoA's replacement.

[hcat]

Thanks for all the info and the awesome bridge photos. Looks like we should book Infinity if we want to go in the next booking cycle, unless we are suprised with Solstice.

 

We saw a great TV show on Hist 2 Modern Machines...something like that...all about he Canal project...an immense undertaking, learned alot....

 

Seems the need to handle mega container ships is a driving force for the project. Around this area, they are raising the Bayonne Bridge (NJ) to fit the mega container ships.

 

Hope we learn more as the opening dayof the new locks gets closer!

Edited August 7, 2015 by hcat

[LF2C]

We did the full transit (FL to SD) last November on the Infinity. we did a trip from Colon to the Gatun Locks and also to see the new lock workings. When finished it will take not only the largest container ships but also the largest cruise ships (RCI monsters).

Sadly, I think some of the romance of crossing a feat of engineering that's 100 years old will be lost.

[dkjretired]

The other question which needs to be asked is that Celebrity only has so many ships and will putting a ship there be profitable as compared to other locations.

[FreestyleNovice]

Call me crazy but please tell me more about the height modification of the Solstice, I love that kind of info! :D

 

Also a S class ship through the canal would be a great idea!

[BillB48]

Call me crazy but please tell me more about the height modification of the Solstice, I love that kind of info! :D

 

Also a S class ship through the canal would be a great idea!

 

Here's a link to an article from 2013.

 

 

http://www.vancouversun.com/Cruise+ship+mast+will+altered+under+Lions+Gate+Bridge+next+year/8303017/story.html

[wwcruisers]

I'm wondering if X is considering a funnel retrofit for all of the other Solstice Class ships? And, does anyone know for sure whether the modifications made to Sostice's funnel (to get her under Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver) will work well enough to clear the Bridge of the Americas? I'm sure we have some bridge experts out there who know the answer! ;)

[FreestyleNovice]

Thanks for the link.

 

The article says BotA has a similar air draft.

 

"By (Royal Caribbean) spending some money on (the mast) they can go under the Lions Gate and other places. Lions Gate isn’t the only place in the world cruise ships have to consider how to build a ship ... The Bridge of Americas in the Panama Canal has a similar air draft."

 

It appears only the forward mast was done, the funnels seem to be lower than the flag mast. Still fancy but not as awesome as Oasis/Allure have hehe!

[BillB48]

I'm wondering if X is considering a funnel retrofit for all of the other Solstice Class ships? And, does anyone know for sure whether the modifications made to Sostice's funnel (to get her under Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver) will work well enough to clear the Bridge of the Americas? I'm sure we have some bridge experts out there who know the answer! ;)

 

I have only read about modifications to a mast, I don't know of a problem with the stacks. However the Bridge of Americas has a smidgen more clearance than the Lion's Gate Bridge. Ships can have an air draft as high as 205' (depending on height of tide) for the BoA under current regulations.

[A Sixth?]

A new bridge to replace the Bridge of Americas is on the drawing boards... but the first shovel of dirt has yet to be turned. Almost all of the present cruise ships will fit under the BoA or can be made to fit as in the case of the Solstice. The BoA has a clearance of 201'... however the Canal will permit passage of vessels with an air draft of 205' depending on the height of the tide.

 

There presently a third bridge under construction on the Atlantic entrance that is "scheduled" to be completed at the end of 2016, it will have a clearance of 246' That is the planned clearance of the BoA's replacement.

 

My guess is that the Solstice will be assigned some Panama runs when head office deems it's due. As far as the others, my guess is that Celebrity does not a large enough fleet to need more than one Solstice class ship to do the new canal.

Edited August 7, 2015 by A Sixth?

[BillB48]

My guess is that the Solstice will be assigned some Panama runs when head office deems it's due. As far as the others, my guess is that Celebrity does not a large enough fleet to need more than one Solstice class ship to do the new canal.

 

Completely agree... I was looking over X's Canal offerings for the 2015/16 season and it looks to me that they are offering significantly less Canal cruises than they have previously.

[hcat]

Solstice woud be perfect. S and M class each have their strong points but we already have an ABC Island cruise booked on Infinity and would not mind going back to Solstice,,,

 

We want to go East to West with extra days in San Diego if possible.

Something to look forward to........

[hcat]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33833129

 

Ineresting news article...hope link works

Panama Canal Authority bans largest ships due to drought.caused by El Nino.

Hope this won't affect future of new canal

 

On the TV show I watched, they are using some type of re-circulating water basins to avoid draining out Lake Gatun...bigger ships need more water in the locks..

Edited August 8, 2015 by hcat

[FreestyleNovice]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33833129

 

Ineresting news article...hope link works

Panama Canal Authority bans largest ships due to drought.caused by El Nino.

Hope this won't affect future of new canal

 

On the TV show I watched, they are using some type of re-circulating water basins to avoid draining out Lake Gatun...bigger ships need more water in the locks..

 

Temporarily and "the maximum draft of ships will be cut to 39ft (11.89m)"

 

S class ships have a draft of 27ft, even Oasis class "just" have 31ft. Nothing to worry about. :)

[hcat]

Thanks!

[Gracie115]

Would love to see an "S" class do the transit AND then follow through with some of the South American cruises that Infinity does now......maybe wishful thinking though....:)

[SantaFeFan]

On the TV show I watched, they are using some type of re-circulating water basins to avoid draining out Lake Gatun...bigger ships need more water in the locks..

 

Water will still be released to the sea. The new locks will recycle water, reusing 60% of the water required for each transit. The new locks will use only 7% less water than the existing locks, but considering they are much larger and require much more water, this is a huge water savings.

 

Edited August 8, 2015 by SantaFeFan

[BillB48]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33833129

 

Ineresting news article...hope link works

Panama Canal Authority bans largest ships due to drought.caused by El Nino.

Hope this won't affect future of new canal

 

On the TV show I watched, they are using some type of re-circulating water basins to avoid draining out Lake Gatun...bigger ships need more water in the locks..

 

 

The BBC's headline could be a little misleading as it states "to limit size of ship..." Actually the size of the ship won't be affected it remains 965'x106', just the draft is being restricted, which is correctly stated in the article. The way it will work is any ship that is loaded before Aug 11, can proceed through the Canal with a 39'06'' draft even if they arrive after the date of implementation of the new limit (Sept. 8). Ships loading on or after Aug 11 will have to abide by the 39'00" limit beginning Sept. 8.

 

The lack of rains such as this should not affect ships using the new expansion locks. Of course that is not to say a drought severe enough and long enough could impact the new 50' draft limit. Ships that continue to use the current locks would only be allowed a max draft of 39'06" while ships using the new locks would be allowed a draft of 50'. In order to avoid or at least minimize future draft reductions, the Canal has put several improvements in place. In addition to extensive dredging over practically the entire Canal route to provide for the deeper draft allowance, the maximum operating level of Gatun Lake is going to be raised. The figure that is always used for the level of Gatun Lake is 85' (above sea level), the maximum operating level is actually 87.2' Improvements have been made so the maximum level of the Lake can be increased to 88.9', this will allow the ability to hold more water.

 

The Canal did not want to over tax the resources of Gatun Lake and run short of water in the middle of a rainforest! This is the reason for the water saving basins at the new locks. The new locks will still use water from Gatun Lake that will eventually be spilled to sea. The good news is even though the new lock chambers are substantially bigger (1400'x180') than the present locks (1000'x110), they will actually use about 7% less water than the present locks.

 

Even the larger cruise ships with a draft of around 30' won't challenge the draft requirements of the Canal:).

[rockdoctor]

I hate to be cynical but in 2013 we came to the realization that the new canal may never be finished and took an Infinity full transit. We now prefer the Infinity Class ships to the S Class. They are fine ships. A little dated but well maintained. And delightfully smaller.

[Seacruise]

The Norwegian Dream had a really neat feature where it could lower it's front mask and "Flip" it's funnel to the side to clear bridges along the Kiel Canal.

 

http://cdn2.shipspotting.com/photos/middle/6/9/4/319496.jpg

Phil

[BillB48]

I hate to be cynical but in 2013 we came to the realization that the new canal may never be finished and took an Infinity full transit. We now prefer the Infinity Class ships to the S Class. They are fine ships. A little dated but well maintained. And delightfully smaller.

 

No cynicism allowed here... just happy and optimistic!;) All kidding aside, here is shot from today (Aug 8) from the Atlantic Locks Expansion cam... Testing and operation of the equipment is underway. The new Atlantic Locks will actually have a ship in the locks in the next 2 or 3 months. Granted the ship will be a post Panamax ship that is chartered to the Canal in order to develop the techniques to handle ships in the new locks, but never the less there will be a ship in there.

 

Scheduled commercial opening is April 2016 and they are really pushing to substantially beat that deadline. Just may do it.