Last weekend AIDAluna left Meyer Werft at Papenburg en route to its sea trials. Since the yard is inland at Papenburg (Germany), the ships must transit the Ems River to get to the sea. The 24-hour process involves towing the ships with tugs the complete distance backwards for safety reasons. As the ships have become larger, they just barely fit through the drawbridges.
It's an interesting sight, and local people come out to watch all along the way. There were quite a few videos uploaded, but we felt this amateur video captured the real mood of what the slow process is like and kind of gave you the real feeling of what it's like to be a spectator along the river.
This Deutsch Welle report covered the delivery process giving some background on the float out and shipbuilding in Papenburg. It proves interesting even if you don't speak German.
