Within hours of arriving at the Netherlands port of Eemshaven today, cruise ship Disney Dream has begun her sea trials. She hasn’t gone far but she is certainly being put through her paces as far as manouevring is concerned, as this image from MarineTraffic shows. Either that or Admiral Donald Duck has taken over on the bridge.
The blue line entering the chart from the bottom right shows the ship’s course earlier today from the River Ems. The tangle in the middle of the picture is what the ship has been doing since then, testing its propulsion and steering systems in open water for the first time..
What these massive ships can do is astounding. I watched the Legend of the Seas make its first visit into Salalah Oman. Arriving to berth the ship performed a 180degree turn on a sixpence (or dime ) and docked – remarkable – and perhaps the Dutch were the teachers .