Refit - More Room At The Inn!

Arcadia is getting bigger and better! With the addition of 34 new cabins on the aft end, Arcadia will look a little different from the back and sides.

Above - The new section of aft cabins arriving.

The additional cabin block being added to the aft end arrived by means of a floating crane. The new block you see is over 300 tons in weight.

The old section of cabins removed to make way for the additional ones can be seen on the left on the quayside (that was 111 tons), the new block being craned up is in the centre and then there is the aft end of the ship in view on the right. I hope that this gives you some idea of the size and logistics.......

Now that's the bit we've just popped on!

It is a very impressive sight with the new aft section of cabins being built onto the aft end. The ship looks fabulous with good, clean lines - it's not as 'stubby' as I thought it might be. I've also taken a look at the increased deck space on deck 9 and this really will be a great venue around the Aquarius pool. There's a new bar coming too - much bigger then the previous one. The brown, unpainted sections you can see above are the elongated 'wings' of deck 10 that will be above the Aquarius Bar on the starboard side. Lots of new deck space!

This morning the ship settled onto the 'blocks' in dry dock. Again it is quite an amazing sight to see over 83000 tons balancing expertly on huge wood and steel blocks to allow work to be undertaken. The whole process went very smoothly - more so when you consider that this is the first time that Arcadia has been in dry dock. Each ship always has its own little 'quirks' when she settles. If you think about it it's just like a person sitting on a seat - the weight gets distributed a little differently and its harder to do some things and easier to do others! On board you could find doors that rest on their hinges and can't be opened and pipes deciding that they wish to release their contents as they buckle a little. I'm glad to say though that Arcadia has behaved impeccably and we have had no problems with her settling down.

A number of the crew have found the supermarket near to the dock gates and are coming back laden with all sorts of goodies for the next three weeks. Life on board in refit is very different to what they are used to and it's always nice to have some 'creature comforts' to hand. Lots of DVD's will be watched and lots of snack food consumed as 'compensation' for the cold weather - any excuse! I wouldn't be putting myself in that category of course.....(!)

Good health to all!

Ian

Current thought: The love that is given to ships is profoundly different from the love men feel for every other work of their hands. Joseph Conrad from 'The Mirror of the Sea', 1906.