The Cruise Ship and Cruise Line Discussion Thread!

[blade1]

Oooooooo! A 200' S&S drop tower, while the ship is listing in high seas would make for an awesome ride!

This is a great idea! Is there any reason why a ship can't put all of the rides that ever been a top of the Stratosphere Tower on board?

[DougMJr]

Oooooooo! A 200' S&S drop tower, while the ship is listing in high seas would make for an awesome ride!

This is a great idea! Is there any reason why a ship can't put all of the rides that ever been a top of the Stratosphere Tower on board?

 

Ummm.... clearances? Even the smoke stacks on Allure and Oasis can be lowered in order to sail under bridges.

[COASTER FREAK 11]

^Ture; however, a tower that is as high as the smoke stacks and drops to the lower decks would be pretty spectacular. Something like the Intimin system on Lex Luthor that isn't a full tower, but rather a track attached to a structure. I vote for this.

Edited April 24, 2013 by COASTER FREAK 11

[ahecht]

 

A ship of this size weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 tons. This crane with 8 people aboard probably weighs somewhere in the 2 ton range. This is .002% of the ships weight. It would take a lot more than that to tilt it.

 

I would imagine that wind loading on the ship would tilt it a lot more than the weight of the Northstar arm.

[blade1]

Oooooooo! A 200' S&S drop tower, while the ship is listing in high seas would make for an awesome ride!

This is a great idea! Is there any reason why a ship can't put all of the rides that ever been a top of the Stratosphere Tower on board?

 

Ummm.... clearances? Even the smoke stacks on Allure and Oasis can be lowered in order to sail under bridges.

 

The tower could be placed on a lower deck too.

Do all cruise ships have to sail under bridges? I would think there are some that don't.

[SoCalCoasters]

Instead of a huge outdoor drop tower you could also do something akin in one of ABC's Indoor drop rides like Reaper Drop Ride to Doom or Nemesis Sub Terra. Intamin also had an indoor drop tower with two stacked rows for a ride vehicle.

[blade1]

Boy, the more I think about my earlier post, about putting Stratosphere rides on a cruise ship, the more ideas I come up with. How about a launched coaster like an Xcelerator, Full Throttle, or a Verbolten? Or what about a kuka arm ride like Forbidden Journey? It could travel around on a flat deck on the top, or drop down the side and run over the water hanging about 5' beyond the balconies. Imagine the airtime hills over the water, then a corkscrew and helix over, or in front/behind of the bow or stern and returning on the other side of the ship. The navy has been catapulting planes off of a flat top for 70 years now on a 5000+ person ship. Is it time to make a real "Top Gun" ride???

 

Then how about adding a dark ride?

All this, plus Xscream, Insanity, Big Shot, and Sky Jump off of the Stratosphere, and all of the things that are already going on the Quantum. Then some other things off of other ships, such as a rock wall, watercoaster, and water park.

 

This thing could be an entertainment mecca!!! Really, the only limitations would be cost and maintenance. Structurally, the Navy operates plane parking areas on the top level that hang way over the sides, so you can put a lot of weight up there and still keep er balanced. Now, I've haven't been on a cruise yet, so is this realistic to do on the waves?

Edited April 24, 2013 by blade1

[ernierocker]

^Cost and Maintenance is the main reason why you won't see it. You are talking multi-million dollar rides that wouldn't receive a return on their investment. They would have to charge you over 100 bucks a ride (if not more) just to recoup their costs.

[ahecht]

I don't think a flat that goes over the edge of the ship like the Stratosphere's Insanity or X-Scream is out of the question.

[BeemerBoy]

I don't know. I kinda like my cruise ships looking like cruise ships, and my amusement parks looking like amusement parks. The carousel on Allure and Oasis are tastefully done and fit in with the theme. The bumper car idea on Quantum is confined to an interior area. The day the decks become littered with flat rides and crap is the day I lose interest in sailing.

 

Stick to water park ideas.

[Hilltopper39]

^Yeah, I don't know about a bunch of flat rides but I still like the idea of a small Midway Mania style shooting dark ride on an interior deck of a ship. Disney might be the only line that could pull it off but I could see it working.

 

(Also, the possible themes for a shooting dark ride on a Carnival Cruise ship could be amazing. Would make a graet Photoshop contest)

[ernierocker]

^A zombie-shooting ride on a Carnival ship would probably not be that far off from reality.

[DougMJr]

I could see an X-Scream type ride off the side of a ship because it does not take up too much space. It could be thrilling if they could increase the angle, perhaps even 90* straight down.

[gisco]

lol, the barges carrying gasoline that exploded in Alabama caused the evacuation of a cruise ship, ..... Carnival Triumph. I guess there might be a few more cruises cancelled if they can't get back on board to continue repairs soon.

[Hilltopper39]

^A zombie-shooting ride on a Carnival ship would probably not be that far off from reality.

 

Or guests could be equipped with "zappers" to help eradicate flies and other vermin in the kitchen!

[DougMJr]

^A zombie-shooting ride on a Carnival ship would probably not be that far off from reality.

 

Or guests could be equipped with "zappers" to help eradicate flies and other vermin in the kitchen!

 

Or, a guest from each deck can be picked by lottery to participate in the "Hungar Gamez." They will start out in the atrium, where several weapons will be scattered about and they will fight until one deck's tributes remains. The winning deck gets "food" and a working toilet for the duration of the cruise.

[Hilltopper39]

^I'd cruise with them to watch that.

[SharkTums]

Yay! More awesome Carnival stuff in the news!

 

For those of you who remember they announced they were doing a really big dry dock on one of their older ships (Destiny) to add a big water park, ropes course, new rooms, etc.

 

Well, the ship took off for its inaugural voyage today as the new Carnival Sunshine, only a ton of it isn't done!!! Water park, Ropes Course, Main Pool, Cabins on several decks, etc. People are throwing a fit of course.

[jray21]

Wow, how do you have a dry dock and not finish that much! I would say it's shocking, but it's Carnival so it's expected!

[Jew]

Here's the Carnival spin:

 

According to USA Today, a Carnival spokeswoman, Jennifer de la Cruz said that the ship's new WaterWorks water park and SportsSquare recreational area are still not complete, so this and the ship's main pool, which is having technical issues, are closed even though the ship has set sail. It is on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise out of Venice, Italy, which ends in Barcelona on May 17.

However De La Cruz insisted that these problems are minor and there are still plenty of amenities for guests to enjoy on the 17-year-old ship.

"The (adults-only) Serenity pool, waterfall and adjacent whirlpools are open," she told USA Today, and "all dining venues, bars, lounges, entertainment, spa, youth areas, casino and other public areas of the vessel are operating normally."

 

[SharkTums]

^I don't even see how Carnival can spin that the main pool and giant water park are closed but that's okay cause indoor stuff is open!?!?

 

That's like an amusement park saying: Sorry you can't ride any of our outdoor stuff, but please enjoy our indoor shows and rides.

[DirkFunk]

The ship was already delayed nearly a month because of upgrades supposedly related to the electronics and backup systems based on the Triumph problems. Sure looks now like those cancelled passengers on the first two scheduled cruises got bumped off because the ship wasn't done being rebuilt. SMDH.

[Guy T. Koepp]

The ship was already delayed nearly a month because of upgrades supposedly related to the electronics and backup systems based on the Triumph problems. Sure looks now like those cancelled passengers on the first two scheduled cruises got bumped off because the ship wasn't done being rebuilt. SMDH.

 

What does SMDH stand for? $h!t in My Damn Hand?

[DougMJr]

Shaking my damn head

[Dinnwitted]

I think this is the final nail in the coffin for Carnival. Endless problems over the past few weeks have shown that the company isn't able to provide a efficient cheap cruise. This is likely to be a PR disaster as a revamped cruise ship left unfinished. Really?