As Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas departed Port Everglades, Florida last week, the hydrodynamic response of the ship as it interacted with the surrounding tidal areas left beach-goers puzzled, and for those who were in the water, perhaps even a bit worried as they were sucked toward the channel…

Video and Images shot by maritime headhunter and University of Miami sailing coach, Craig Johnson –  Flagship Management www.flagshipmgt.com

Photo Sequence:

In the video above shot on October 30, Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas passes under Denmark’ Storebaelt Bridge on her maiden voyage from the STX Finland shipyard in Turku, to her homeport in Port Everglades, FL.  At a height of approximately 73 meters, the vessel was too tall to squeeze through the 65 meters of clearance that the bridge provides.

In order to overcome this obstacle, the Allure of the Seas is equipped with a telescopic smokestack system, allowing her crew to retract the smokestacks into the ship.  To meet the required 9.14 meters of draft, the Allure of the Seas has two ballast tanks, one all the way forward and one aft, which will add approximately 4,000 tons of ballast, increasing her draft.

Fortunately, Allure of the Seas successfully passed under the bridge with about 20in (50cm) clearance between the bridge and the top of the ship according to the Daily Mail.

M/S Allure of the Seas is sister ship to Royal Carribean’s Oasis of the Seas and, at 360 meters long, can accomodate nearly 6,000 passengers and 2,000 crew.

Continue reading after the jump for some video provided by Royal Carribean and links to some more good photos.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here’s a cool timelapse provided by Flickr user Kate Chaston

Some more cool photos at Daily Mail HERE

The video below gives us a look into the Turku, Finland shipyard, STX Finland OY, where the massive Allure of the Seas is being constructed.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more information on the Allure of the Seas, check out www.allureoftheseas.com.

Oasis of the Seas set a new record of carrying over 6,000 passengers. She is owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International.

“The ship was completed and turned over to Royal Caribbean on 28 October 2009. Two days later, she departed Finland for the United States. While exiting the Baltic Sea, the vessel passed underneath the Great Belt Fixed Link in Denmark on 1 November 2009. The bridge has a clearance of 65 m (213 ft) above the water; Oasis normally has an air draft of 72 m (236 ft). The passage under the bridge was possible due to retraction of the tele scoping funnels, and an additional 30 cm (12 in) was gained by the squat effect whereby vessels travelling at speed in a shallow channel will be drawn deeper into the water. Approaching the bridge at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), the ship passed under it with less than 2 feet (60 cm) of clearance.” wikipedia.org

Oasis Of The Seas – Sea Trials Video

Before Oasis of the Seas welcomes guests she will undergo two sea trials to prove herself on open waters. See how well she fared on her first sea trial and what the results mean for Royal Caribbean and their guests.

Official Video of the Oasis Of The Seas from Royal Caribbean.

OASIS OF THE SEAS – BIGGEST CRUISE SHIP IN THE WORLD – ROYAL CARIBBEAN OFFICIAL VIDEO REVIEW

This weeks ship photo is of the 20 story Oasis of the Seas lowering its smoke stacks to squeeze under Great Belt Fixed Link in the Baltic Sea on Saturday.  The Oasis of the Seas is currently on its maiden voyage bound for Florida.  Continue reading for video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hot on the heals of the last video, Revolutionizing Life Boat Design, Royal Carribean and Oasis of the Seas release this latest installment title Simulator Training: As real as it gets.

Can virtual reality really prepare a crew to pilot the largest cruise ship in the world? Listen in as Captain William Wright explains what makes the STAR Center training so critical to the crew’s preparation before the delivery of Oasis of the Seas.

New to the Oasis of the Seas website is a countdown to its homeport arrival, now standing at 18 days, 15 hours, 26 minutes and 31 seconds. No wait, 30 seconds. No. Well you get the idea.

I don’t know about you but the suspense is kiling me!

While the cruise ship industry is really not our niche here on gCaptain, we can’t help but enjoy the videos that Royal Carribean is regularly producing on the construction of the world’s largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas.  This latest episode titled Rescue Vessels: Revolutionizing life boat design is no different.

The design of the rescue vessels onboard Oasis of the Seas ensures that safety remains the top priority. See how the unprecedented size and stability of each lifeboat, as well as its positioning on the embarkation deck and accommodations for special needs guests makes emergency response more effective than ever.

Last month, the largest cruise ever built, Oasis of the Seas, underwent it’s first set of sea trials in the North Sea and Chairman and CEO of Royal Carribean, Richard Fain was there to blog about it.  He writes:

Hull Number 1363 (soon to be known as Oasis of the Seas) has just completed her sea trials and is now back at her berth in Turku. Most of the trials were a terrific success. The ship performed her various tests very well and everyone is very excited.

While the trials were a “terrific success”, they did suffer one hiccup; the failure of a ’tethered blimp’ ride.  Fain continues:

BUT, we had one nasty surprise early this morning. I previously mentioned that we were thinking of adding an aerostat to the ship and were doing a test to see if it was practical/desirable. It required a lot of temporary rigging but they managed to put a test balloon on the ship.

Then this morning, something happened and the balloon broke free. It ended up in the water and we are now taking steps to recover it and determine what happened.

It is interesting to read as Royal Carribean gets set to commission this massive cruise ship and I would suggest checking out Richard Fain’s blog HERE.  For now, Hull Number 1363 is back at STX Europe’s Turku shipyard awaiting completion.

Royal Caribbean has released the first of many “webisodes” on the highly anticipated Oasis of the Seas. The webisodes will be released weekly on the Oasis of the Seas website and will offer a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to bring a cruise ship as technically advanced as Oasis of the Seas – with its 16 decks and capacity of 5,400 passengers at double occupancy – to life.

This first webisode is entitled “Evolutionary Revolution” and uses architectural design sketches, ship renderings, and interviews with key figures behind the development of Oasis of the Seas to help illustrate just how the ship came to be.

Other webisodes will feature safety preparations, construction milestones, design and architecture, and the conception of innovative guest amenities.

(Image: Popular Mechanics)

Ever wonder what it takes to construct the world’s largest passenger ship?  Well, Popular Mechanicss takes a step by step look at the construction of Royal Carribean’s Oasis of the Seas, from massive chunks of metal to the 5,400 passenger luxury cruise liner that is set take the title of the world’s largest (and unique) passenger vessel.

Check out the great photo collection HERE