On my visit to the shipyard, the ship’s gleaming white turrets of steel and glass dwarf the gantries and cranes perched alongside. Though the ship is 95 per cent finished, many fittings are missing and, as I move through the interior, I continually have to duck wiring, step over cabling and avoid workmen.

I get a better sense of the size of Oasis only when I emerge on the top deck, which provides view over Turku harbour.

“We made the ship 50 per cent bigger than anything we’ve ever done, in fact any other cruise ship out there, because we had so many things we wanted to do,” the chief executive of Royal Caribbean, Richard Fain, says. “On Oasis of the Seas, working together with the architects, with the shipyard, with our own engineers, we’ve been able to make much better use of the space than ever before.”

There’s certainly plenty of space – the ship is 360 metres long and 65 metres wide. The Oasis story is one of large numbers and cruising firsts.

There is the ship’s capacity, for a start: 6300 passengers and 2165 crew. There’s the accommodation: it includes 2706 staterooms, some of which span two decks and feature floor-to-ceiling windows with ocean views. The plant life: 12,000 plants, including 56 trees, some more than seven metres tall. The activities: on-board surfing, scuba diving, ice skating, shopping. And so the list goes.

Fain anticipates that the size of the vessel and the scope of activities and facilities will entice passengers on all budgets. Certainly he is encouraged by ticket sales despite the economic climate.

To accommodate all those people, the ship is divided into seven “neighbourhoods”, including Central Park and Royal Promenade. And there is no shortage of things to keep passengers entertained.

Among the attractions are an aqua theatre pool 5.4 metres deep, two rock-climbing walls, the obligatory casino and 21 swimming pools and jacuzzis. There’s also a carousel, ice rink, themed bars and restaurants, high-end shops, a nightclub, a Rising Tide bar that ascends three decks while you sip your martini, a wedding chapel, scuba diving lessons, two wave-flow riders for surfing, a jogging track, library and roaming entertainers.

Entertainment also includes stunt divers, swimmers and actors performing in the 50-metre-wide outdoor pool amphitheatre designed to seat 500 guests.

Royal Caribbean’s schedule has the first Oasis cruise starting in early December in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with ports of call that include Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas, Philipsburg in St Maarten and Nassau in the Bahamas.

Ready for that voyage is Captain William Wright, who began his seafaring career aged 16 and has taken the helm of several new cruise ships on debut at Royal Caribbean.

He had a sneak peak at the ship’s performance during the pre-launch “floating out” ceremony last November.

“It’s clearly one of the most stable ships we have built,” he says. “The size has allowed us to … demonstrably increase the safety of the ship, which is really nice to know. It helps us captains sleep at night.”

Other safety features include smoke and heat detectors and a Hi-Fog water mist fire-extinguishing system.

The ship will have three doctors, five nurses and one medical assistant on board.

It is equipped with 18 life boats – or “rescue vessels”, as Wright prefers to call them – each with a toilet on board. “That’s a first, I can assure you,” he says (source: www.theage.com.au).

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Connecticut-based Quark Expeditions said the M/V Ocean Nova became stranded Tuesday in the bay not far from an Argentine research base. Marguerite Bay is about 900 miles south of the tip of South America.

The ship is carrying 65 passengers and 41 crew members, Quark Expeditions said.

All those aboard the vessel “remain safe and calm,” the company statement said.

The ship’s captain is awaiting high tide to make another attempt to move the vessel.

“The midnight operation will occur in daylight, as the ship is below the Antarctic Circle, where the sun never sets during February. We anticipate a positive outcome,” Quark Expeditions president Patrick Shaw said.

The captain is also waiting for divers from the Spanish naval ship the Hespérides to inspect the hull of the Nova to make sure it’s not damaged, the statement said (source: cnn.com).

The $65,000 study commissioned by the port in July last year could help the waterfront better position itself for federal funding to repair docks and other infrastructure knocked askew by Hurricane Ike on Sept. 13, officials say.

The study underscores what managers have known all along — that cargo and passengers moving through the port make jobs and generate revenue for support businesses.

“It tells me what we’ve been working on for a long time, the fruition of jobs,” said Gerald Sullivan, chairman of the Wharves Board of Trustees, the Port of Galveston’s governing board. “I’m really pleased about that.”

Where They Live

But there also were surprises, as the study offered new insight to where waterfront workers live.

Harbor-wide business cargo and cruise business generate 3,074 direct jobs, according to the study. About 42 percent of the workers live on the island, 15.8 percent in Dickinson and 14.7 percent in Friendswood, with the remainder around Galveston and Harris counties.

The Port of Galveston, which serves the offshore energy industry and operates the No. 4 cruise-ship terminal in North America, makes money by renting warehouses and docks to businesses, creating jobs for 338 unionized dockworkers who handle such cargo.

Cargo that generates the most direct jobs include bananas and fruit, 260; grain, 145; and farm equipment, 111.

Cruising Along

Cruise ships, which began sailing from the island eight years ago, generate about $5 million a year for the port and create big economic ripples in the region, according to the study. Based on 211 cruise ship calls last year, the island cruise industry generated $83.7 million in wages and salaries. Passenger and crew spending also converts into island jobs at hotels, restaurants and stores, according to the study.

Release of the study comes as Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines passenger ships, which have been sailing from Houston since Hurricane Ike, return to the island Saturday. The port has repaired the Cruise Ship Terminal No. 1 and is working to repair its second terminal ahead of the Dec. 13 arrival of the 3,114-passenger Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Sea. The Voyager sails seasonally from the island.

The port is prepared to handle passengers Saturday when the 2,052-passenger Carnival Ecstasy resumes year-round, four- and five-day cruises from the island, officials said. The 2,974-passenger Carnival Conquest will begin year-round, seven-day sailing from the island Sunday.

‘Challenges Ahead’

Martin Associates based its report on 116 telephone interviews with port tenants, users and service providers. Those interviews were conducted before the storm.

Some tenants, including shipyard Gulf Copper Drydock & Rig Repair, which also generates about $5 million in yearly revenues for the port, have been out of commission as they await repairs to their buildings. The storm also damaged the grain elevator, which has not resumed operations. Port Director Steve Cernak said he expected all tenants to return by the year’s end, however.

“There are some challenges ahead,” Cernak said. “But we will retain our tenants and recover.”

During the hurricane, the port sustained damage to docks, warehouses, security equipment and levees that keep dredge spoils contained on Pelican Island. It had been on track to make a record $25 million in revenues this year. The port, which has insurance, still is calculating how the storm will change those projections.

Good timing

But it also is seeking help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Days after the storm, Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, also a member of the port’s governing board, traveled to Washington, D.C., to ask federal lawmakers for $2.4 billion in disaster relief for Galveston institutions, including $500 million for the port.

Port officials commissioned the study to have an impartial assessment of what the waterfront contributes to the region, they said. They had planned to use it to secure federal funding for dredging projects. Port officials now plan to also present the study to FEMA to show the port’s importance to the region, Cernak said.

“The timing is a good thing,” Cernak said. “It will help us rebuild.” (source: galvestondailynews.com)

The ‘Celebrity Solstice’ is one of the five Solstice ships that will be launched between now and 2012. The ‘Celebrity Solstice’ can carry almost 3,000 passengers. She even has an authentic grass lawn on its top deck.

This means that there are tremendous job opportunities on these cruise ships. In the coming five years they will need +10,000 people to operate these giants!

The ‘Celebrity Solstice’ will makes her debut as a US cruise ship in November this year.

Let us know if you are planning to work on the ‘Celebrity Solstice’ …