Three months and the most interesting project I’ve ever been part of – the transformation of the Carnival Destiny into the Carnival Sunshine. I’ve already commented on the transformation highlights in my most recent blogs and posted some photos. Here’s the final batch, marking the completion of the project. The Sunshine left for her inaugural cruise in the Mediterranean Sea on May 5. Continue | Weiter »

Briefly uploading some pictures, this isn’t going to be a long contribution. However, here is quick summary: I had left Italy for 10 days to carry out a project on the Carnival Dream in the Caribbean, and have returned to the Sunshine two days ago – my luggage took a little longer. We are still in Trieste but we are getting ready for our first embarkation as the Carnival Sunshine this Sunday in Venice. Continue | Weiter »

A few weeks have passed since I’ve last provided an update on the situation out here. We’ve kept busy, and so did all the other departments and contractors. The Promenade deck is coming together, and some areas are even finished already such as the deck 4 Steak House and Library Bar. They look very pretty! Continue | Weiter »

This is crazy. We get out this morning and the world is frozen. Insta-freeze Trieste after a rainfall and you get an idea of what things are like today. Thick ice on the streets, side-walks, trees and car windows…. We’ve scraped the car window with an FSS swipe card because that’s all we had at hand that came close to an ice scraper. Continue | Weiter »

By now the news will have trickled through: We won’t make the April 13 date for the inaugural sailing of the Carnival Sunshine. Instead, everyone will have a couple of more days (until May 5, to be more precise) during which their scheduled “interior repair and enhancement” work can get finished, such as replacing pipes and all sorts of cables, and building new public areas as well as cabins. Besides, the recent disturbing events in the cruise industry which have sadly enough involved Carnival vessels, have triggered reviews and suggestions which lead to the decision of trading the first two cruises in the Mediterranean with more time to deploy new safety features and sophisticated redundancies of vital systems. Continue | Weiter »

Funny how quickly Destiny became the Sunshine in everyone’s lingo. One doesn’t hear “Destiny” too often any more as the transformation towards a new identity progresses. Pre-manufactured steel blocks have been placed on top of the ship during the past days with the help of a gigantic crane. We now have a brand-new spa (even though it doesn’t quite look like it – all steel framing and no walls, scaffolding, temporary floor, no rooms, really). Lido deck is full of containers and building material. The Promenade deck is torn apart and it’s hard to determine what’s what. I’ve never seen anything like this before in my previous 13 dry docks and 6 startups. Continue | Weiter »

A rainy morning today, perfect for uploading a few photos from here….  Things are going quite well for our Shipboard Technology projects.  We’re right on target, we’re keeping up the good spirit while all around us things get demolished left, right and center.   Being out here isn’t necessarily something you’d do on a regular basis – noise, fumes, no elevators, curveballs – but we say “Bring it on!”…. Continue | Weiter »

Everyone, I’m back in Italy! Not a ship startup this time, and no dry dock either (even though I’ve done five of those since last September). It’s something in-between: The “Carnival Destiny” is getting a 49-day make-over at a Fincantieri ship yard and is pretty much turned into a new ship – with a new name:  “Carnival Sunshine”.

Continue | Weiter »