Captain Explains How He Docks the World’s Biggest Cruise Ship | WSJ Booked

This is the largest cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas. It's over five times larger than the Titanic. And every time it docks at Florida's Port Canaveral, it has to fit in here. The ports are shallow, and they're small. Weather conditions, vessel traffic, and water depth make this process even more complicated. The bigger the ship, the faster we go, the further out I have to be in anticipation. So we asked Captain Rob Hempstead to show us how he docks cruise ships and what factors come into play. Here at Port Canaveral, docking starts when the ship is about five miles offshore. At 4 a.m., the captain briefs his team on the docking plan. The plan is to get up to speed through 12 to 13 and then plan to slow down for 11 knots at buoy 11. Pilot boat approaching. The harbor pilot is local and helps guide the ship into port. Port, do what? There is a submarine in the east basin. The ship is ready to enter the channel once all eight crew members say, Which means... You are the one who is going to give the orders for turning. That means the ship is initiating a 15-degree turn to starboard. Meanwhile, the captain gives the orders for speed control. Which means apply 30 RPMs of propeller speed to three pods. The ship travels at about 13 knots down the channel, then slows to about six knots inside the port. When the ship reaches the turning basin, to perform the docking maneuver. We have to turn at 180 degrees before we come alongside. To do this, he uses three gears to manually adjust three individual azipods, propulsion units that help maneuver the ship. The propeller is always going to turn in a pulling direction. The azipods rotate 360 degrees, so he can use them to pull the ship in whatever direction is needed to dock. If I want to turn the ship this way, I will turn the pod this way. Cameras and radars help the captain assess the distance between the ship and the dock. This helps us get into position precisely. But he says, This big ship, to be within a few centimeters, it's very difficult and near impossible to get it perfect, but we're sending mooring lines out at the same time. Which are ropes that help secure the ship to the dock. Captains dock cruise ships hundreds of times a year. Sometimes there's no turn, and it's as simple as, We just come in, bow in. And other times it's difficult, usually due to weather. This front of thundershowers headed our way. Sometimes it just rains without wind. Sometimes it can be extremely windy. We're never really sure until we see it. I know that at the surface, if we start to see whitecaps, that's 20 knots. But that's 20 knots at the surface, which means it's about 25 knots where I'm standing up here. Knowing the wind speed helps him decide the force and direction he'll need from the propellers to steer the ship into port. If the wind is blowing on the beam and we just steer the straight heading down the channel, we will eventually get blown to the side. So we have to account for that. Imagine us sliding along like this. We're going this direction, but we're pointed this direction. This angle difference is the crab angle, and crabs walk sideways. Different ports call for different docking maneuvers. For example, St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands can get particularly windy because of the surrounding mountains and hills. So on days when easterly winds are over 30 knots, the ship will turn before the entrance to the channel and back up the channel to dock. Port Cozumel in Mexico is exposed to strong currents, so that docking maneuver... Happens fast, and it has to be done in a way aggressively to get it into the current, swung, and backed out of the current and alongside. Water depth, which is usually driven by the tides, can also pose a challenge. At the shallowest point at Port Canaveral, there's only about 10 feet of water between the ship and the bottom of the port. Shallow water is like driving on ice. You have to brake sooner, turn earlier, and you basically have to anticipate that your ship is going to behave differently. Cruise ship collisions are also rare, he says. But as the captain... If somebody else is conning the ship and we hit something or something hits us, I'm responsible. To avoid mistakes, he says there's at least a two-person check for every action taken on the bridge. Let's go midship. Midship. He repeats the order, so we know that he understood the order. Sometimes we might turn away and realize we've given the opposite that we meant, and that can be catched instantly. This is especially important with a ship this big. Keeping the ship safe is keeping the guests and crew safe. This is the number one priority, safe, efficient, effective, in that order. One of the most important pieces of equipment on the bridge is our coffee machine, just to be sure. And we make sure it's always working. Yeah.