of the 1,040-foot-long, 121-foot-wide Celebrity Eclipse and the locks. The depth of
the river and the draft of the ship allowed
for mere inches – or less – beneath the
ship. These factors and others led Celebrity Cruises and Meyer Werft to essentially create a science all their own, carefully
monitoring the position of the moon and
tidal conditions to identify the precise moment when the depth of the river is ideal
for the ship to set sail from the shipyard.
Celebrity Eclipse Captain Panagiotis
Skylogiannis pointed out that cruise ship
captains generally do not expect to encounter the challenges the conveyance
presents. Although the good captain was
accustomed to docking in tight ports, he
admitted that his preference is to be “chasing sunshine in the open sea”.
Skylogiannis also acknowledged –
with a smile – that he should not sleep
on the job as the president of the company
was onboard. Still, the captain was confident that the conveyance would be a successful one – after all, the two sister ships
had taken the same route in their day.
BUSY INAUGURAL
In the end, everything proceeded without a hitch. Thousands of people lined
the banks of River Ems to see Celebrity
Eclipse embark on her adventure.
After arriving in Emshaven, Netherlands, the ship performed a series of sea
trials, followed by a string of promotional
events in Hamburg, Germany, and finally
Celebrity Eclipse
By the Numbers
headed to Southampton.
During her inaugural season, Celeb-
Tonnage:
gross tonnage (GT) of 122,000 tons
rity Eclipse will offer cruises in the Medi-
Length:
314.80 m
terranean, Canary Islands, Scandinavia and
Beam:
36.80 m
Russia, as well as short cruise options to
Draft:
8.30 m
Le Havre (for Paris), France, and Cork, Ire-
Decks:
17 decks
land, all roundtrip from Southampton. The
Installed power:
4 × Wärtsilä diesels, combined 91,364 kW
ship will present Caribbean cruises round-
Speed:
24 knots
trip from Miami, Florida, after crossing the
Capacity:
2,852 passengers
Atlantic in November. ■
Crew:
approx. 1,271
SAMI J. ANTEROINEN
28
seatec 2/2010