This will be the sight tomorrow when giant cruise ship Allure of the Seas scrapes under the Great Belt Bridge on her way from Finland to Florida.
The picture actually shows sister ship Oasis of the Seas on the same journey last year.
If you believe the statistics, there is 65 metres (213 feet) clearance between the sea and the highest point of the roadway on the 18km-long bridge between the Danish islands of Zealand and Flynn. And Allure’s air draft, or the height from waterline to the top of the funnel, is, er, 65 metres.
Being Denmark, this could all be a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, but Captain Hernan Zini, who will be at the controls when his 300-metre long vessel makes her way under the bridge tomorrow, is taking no risks. The funnels have been designed to retract – it’s the only time they will be required to – and when I spoke to Capt Zini (right) on the bridge of Allure a few weeks ago he explained that he would take on extra ballast in order to make the vessel sit lower in the water. The 43-year-old Argentinian-born skipper, who now lives in MIlton Keynes, said: “There is enough room for the ship to sail under safely.”
He’s not hanging about at the moment – when I last checked, the ship was travelling at 20.8 knots (maximum speed is 24 knots) and heading in the direction of the Swedish island of Gotland, to the area where sea trials were held in September.
British cruise ship fans hoping Allure will make a brief visit to the Solent – as Oasis did last year to drop off about 300 workmen – are going to be disappointed. Work is so far advanced that there is little to complete. The next big task will be the installation of the thousands of trees and plants which make up the ship’s Central Park, but that will have to wait until arrival in Fort Lauderdale.
But Capt Zini and his crew will be hoping for a smoother passage across the Atlantic than Oasis , which had to divert to avoid 70 mph winds and 40-foot waves and arrived two days behind schedule.
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much coming from an amateur publisher like me, but it’s all I could think after diving into your posts. You really know what you’re talking about too. So much that you made me want to learn more. Thank you for the detailed journey. I really enjoyed the other posts by you that I have read so far.
I’m looking forward to see the passage of the bridge tonight. I hope that I can find a good wiev for my kids and I. It was an amazing view when Oasis of the Seas passsed thru.
I hope that it’s going to be a cozy afternoon today, with hot chocolate and a good sighting of this beautiful ship!
I’ve found a place a wery short distance so that we are really close to the ship and should be able to see it almost up close…
Kind regards
Carsten.