What It Takes to Keep a City Afloat

Yahoo News ^ | 3/6/2010 | Yahoo News

[Dallas59]

How do you keep more than 6,300 people fed, housed and having the time of their life while floating in the middle of the ocean?

The Oasis of the Seas -- the world's largest cruise ship -- aims to accomplish that feat nearly every week. Almost five times as large as the Titanic, it has a population during its seven-day Caribbean sailings that is larger than many American small towns -- more than 8,600 when it is fully booked and including staff. The Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ship, which first set sail last December, is almost as long as five Airbus A380 airplanes, or about four football fields. It has 24 restaurants and its own leafy "Central Park." During the weeklong sailings, about 700 tons of new supplies are needed, all loaded aboard each Saturday. Guests consume about 20 gallons of maraschino cherries and 80,000 bottles of beer.

[Dallas59]

I don't know bout spending a week on floating mall...

[Darksheare]

My luck: I’d get onboard and it would sink.

[EDINVA]

It looks fine, kind of like every regional mall in the US ... except I see exactly nine (9) lifeboats, all on the portside? Am I missing something? 8K people, 9 lifeboats doesn’t make me feel terribly comfortable if I’m a passenger.

[Dallas59]

8600 people...what are the chances of crime? I’d like to see what the brig looks like.

[Darksheare]

Huge, probably well appointed.

[Darksheare]

“We have lifeboats for a little over half the passengers.” uh oh.

They probably have lots of inflatables, but those sometimes fail to inflate.

[Waverunner]

The Queen Mary carried over 16000 troops in one passage as a troopship during WW2, she carried over 10000 troops on several runs.. .

[umgud]

except I see exactly nine (9) lifeboats, all on the portside? Am I missing something?

Not to worry, there is one more lifeboat on the starboard side and it looks a little bigger. Heck, it might even hold 30 more people.

[OldMissileer]

How do you keep more than 6,300 people fed, housed and having the time of their life while floating in the middle of the ocean?

I don't know about "the time of their life" but talk to these folks. They have been doing this for decades!

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[al baby]

They probably have lots of inflatables, but those sometimes fail to inflate.

I have that problem too

[Darksheare]

Vegas has the opposite problem, overinflation.
The city that will never sink.

[EDINVA]

“one more lifeboat on the starboard side and it looks a little bigger. Heck, it might even hold 30 more people.”

THANKS! Now I am fully comforted ;)

[B-Cause]

Seems to me from my days at Kings Point (US Merchant Marine Academy) that there has to be enough life boat capacity on these vessels to handle the entire load of people - on each side of the vessel. Anybody else know if this is still the requirement?

[EDINVA]

That was my thought ... both as to total capacity AND as to being on both sides of the ship. Not that I have any expertise.

[John S Mosby]

Not to mention if the ships lists while sinking the lifeboats won’t be able to be used— which is true on every ocean liner.

[jiggyboy]

"An area equivalent to Hindustan is devoted to food and its preparation aboard Tyrannic. Forty tons of Stilton cheese are consumed on every crossing, as are 214 miles of sausage and melons sufficient to fill the Grand Canyon of Arizona. All excess livestock is thrown overboard on sight of landfall..."

http://zoppy.blogspot.com/2009/04/rms-tyrannic-biggest-thing-in-all-world.html

[ErnBatavia]

"Yoo Hoo! Over Here!"

[IronJack]

They just keep getting bigger and gaudier and more ostentatious and eventually they'll become a great enough affront to God that He'll send one to the bottom. Then the vain and arrogant builders will wring their hands and point their fingers and every motive will be weighed except hubris.

Pride is the sin that cost Lucifer his place in Heaven. These floating cattle cars are little more than a thumb in God's eye.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Live webcam:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/multimedia/webcam/ship.do?shipCode=OA

[Sherman Logan]

eventually they'll become a great enough affront to God that He'll send one to the bottom.

Or somebody else will weigh in.

I can't look at one of these without envisioning what a surface to surface missile would do to it.

Doesn't anybody else see it as a great big floating target?