No mistaking which line this ship belongs too now.
It is a cool, overcast and misty day here in Venice. The loud frapping noise normally caused by the plastic sheeting is eerily silent. The heavy construction work is over. The whining sound of angle grinders carries across the dock. We are in the final weeks of construction. The smell of welding, hot metal and filler has been replaced with the smells of adhesives, new carpets and leather. The dull metal inner shell of the ship is now clad in new veneers, paint and sparkling glass fittings. She is looking like a Seabourn ship. Sheets of plywood covers the teak decking to protect it from damage. The white sheeting keeps the rain off wood where adhesive is curing.
The main pool is now complete and covered. The deck is protected. Not much left to do here.
Scaffolding towers that at one point covered the ship are slowly disappearing. Next door to us the new Carnival ship is rapidly growing in size. The final bow section was lifted into place and the jigsaw puzzle that is the hull is now complete. It has been very interesting seeing her grow over the past few months.
The ship fits the dock with about 20 metres to spare.
I will leave you with a sneaky peak at one or two of the public rooms. Of course most of them are heavily hidden under protective sheets and so forth but I will let you ponder which space is which.
Up looking down? Perhaps down looking up?
Work continues in the lower decks where the engineers are testing their systems. On Sunday we carried out what is known as an inclining experiment on the ship. Click on the link to find out more about what this is. It basically determines the stability of the completed ship. It is accomplished by moving a known mass of water combined with measuring the list with a pendulum of known length. The deflection of the pendulum will give the naval architect all they need to calculate our stability. The link will give you all you need to know should you feel so inclined. (pun fully intended).