How to make a cruise ship 30 metres longer
By Paul Johnson on Mar 10, 2014 in Cruises & Boat Travel, Europe, Germany, Regions, Speciality Travel, Travel Miscellany, Videos, Western Europe
Ever wondered how you make a cruise ship longer? This time-lapse video shows a cruise ship (the Norwegian Crown) being cut in half and extended by nearly 30 metres. The new ship is known as Balmoral and owned and operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines. The work – which took just under two months – was part of a large refurbishment project carried out in 2007 at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg.
Watch as the ship is cut in half, a new section inserted and the paintwork completely stripped and re-done, with the ship’s new name then unveiled. The new vessel was able to accommodate 186 additional passengers and 56 more crew members – an increase of approximately one third.
It’s fascinating the way they just sawed the ship in half and added a middle section, but wouldn’t it have been cheaper for them to contract David Copperfield to do it?
That’s amazing what they can do to update older vessels, it probably is a better way to save on costs then start new. That’s also a big difference in added passenger space.
Absolutely amazing footage. In all honesty I had no idea that they could do that, or that they do it at all. What an efficient way to increase its capacity.
I think I’d be a bit leery of cruising in a ship if I knew they had done that. But it is an amazing video.