Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Cruise News Daily Headlines for July 22, 2014

* Ready for Departure
As of about noon today (local time on Giglio) Titan Micoperi declared the refloating of Costa Concordia complete. The rest of the day was spent making final preparations for departure for Genoa on Wednesday.
   Wednesday’s departure procedures will begin after the ferry arrives at 8:30am, since the operation will involve closing the harbor for approximately four hours.
The complete article appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Refloat of Costa Concordia Completed

At about noon today (local time on Giglio), Titan Micoperi declared the refloat of Costa Concordia completed. Towing to Genoa for breaking of the ship will begin on Wednesday morning.

The operation will begin at approximately 8:30am, and actual departure of the convoy of 14 vessels is expected to begin about four hours later.

The ship was refloated with a slight inclination toward the forward starboard side so the water
could drain from the emerged decks.





Photos courtesy of Costa Crociere. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.

Monday, July 21, 2014

Cruise News Daily Headlines for July 21, 2014

* Now You’ll Have Reservations about Norwegian’s Main Dining Room
Reserved times are just one of the changes coming to the main dining rooms aboard most Norwegian Cruise Line ships. But then again, it’s still Freestyle, so you only need to make a reservation if you want one.
   But there’s even a bigger change. The menus have undergone a complete change in content and style. It’s part of Norwegian’s NEXT program which is focused on bringing new enhancements, experiences and transformations across the fleet.

* Costa Concordia Remains in Giglio
If all had gone according to the original plan, tonight (US time), Costa Concordia would be on its way to Genoa. Instead, as the sun is rising over Giglio Harbor Tuesday morning, the ship is still sitting where it has been, but it has now been raised almost to the draft at which it will be towed.
   The departure from Giglio is now set for Wednesday.

The complete articles appeared in the e-mail edition of Cruise News Daily delivered to our subscribers.

Costa Concordia Readied for Towing

All weekend, Costa Concordia has been slowly rising out of the water. By dawn Monday morning it was apparent the ship had risen dramatically in the last 24 hours. Eleven meters have emerged with three more to go before it reaches the required draft to tow to Genoa. The operations center reports that sponson S4 has now been lowered almost fully. Work is in progress to lower S5 and S14.

Update:
Departure from Giglio is now planned for Wednesday, July 23.

Costa Concordia at dawn Monday morning

All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Sunday's Updates from Costa Concordia

Overnight the Oil Response Team was called upon to investigate and clean a pool of hydrocarbons seen floating toward the aft end of the midship area of Costa Concordia. It was cleaned by deploying absorbent booms. Once the pool was absorbed, the absorbent booms were replaced, but no more of the substance has been spotted.

The salvage operations center says no damage was found to the structure or the hot tap flanges. The hot tap flanges were drilled into the fuel tanks during the initial phase of the salvage to facilitate the draining of the fuel. Apparently the source of the hydrocarbons has not yet been determined.

The operations center reports that as of midnight local time, about 6.5 meters of the ship has emerged from underwater. There are still six starboard sponsons to be lowered into their final positions which will raise the ship further. The operations center says that once they are fully lowered, Decks 4 and 3 will emerge rapidly.