This Friday, weather permitting, the Symphony of the Seas will undergo the first of its sea trials. There are several things that a ship must accomplish in order to be declared seaworthy.
You might wonder what is involved in sea trials. There are several things that are tested:
- Verification of the anchors to ensure they will function properly even if the ship were disabled
- Every sensor, alarm and system is checked and rechecked, from the auto-pilot to the fire doors
- Speed trials in various wind and sea conditions under different loads onboard, various power settings and ballasting.
- Testing the azipod propulsion motors to make sure that they can be spun 360 degrees around below the keel
- Crash stopping: to see how quickly they can come to a stand still
- Maneuvering trials such as taking zig-zagging paths and testing lateral thrusters, bow, stern or otherwise
- Roll testing to see how well the ship will stabilize
These are just some of the many things that are tested at sea trials. Sometimes everything works perfectly. Other times, they find glitches that need to be tweaked, fixed, or replaced.
Good luck, Symphony of the Seas! I cannot wait to sail on your in October.