Royal Caribbean’s two largest cruise ships in the world will remain icons of the cruise industry for years to come, the captain of the latest to enter service told Travel Weekly.
Captain Hernan Zini, who is well known to the UK market having captained Independence of the Seas when it was first based in Southampton, said it was an honour to be at the helm of Allure of the Seas.
The 5,000-passenger ship is sister to Oasis of the Seas which was launched last year becoming the largest cruise ship in the world, some 40% bigger than the ships to previously claim that title.
During a tour of Allure’s bridge in Fort Lauderdale today, Captain Zini, an Argentinian who lives part time in Northampton with his British wife, said it was unlikely anything would come along to rival the ships.
“This is an incredibly opportunity. I’m incredibly proud to have been chosen to do this. To be part of this is an incredible feeling.
“These two ships for years to come will remain icons of the cruising industry. I do not think there is anything else even close to ships like this on the drawing board, as far as we know.
“I don’t think you will see something like this again for quite some time.”
Captain Zini, who works 10 week shifts before having six weeks off alternating with Capt Johnny Faevelen, said piloting the ship was relatively straight forward despite its size.
“You have to be a bit more careful due to the size of the ship but from a technical point of view the ship is extremely manoeuvrable. It’s not like we had to revise all our principals of how you manoeuvre ships.”
One of the novelties sailing of Allure of the Seas is that the side of the vessel can’t be seen from the bridge so cameras are required for docking alongside in ports.
The ship also had to squeeze below the Store Belt bridge in denmark on its way from the shipyard in Turku in Finland where it was built.
Captain Zini said this was a relatively straight forward maneovre despite only having centimetres to spare because it required flooding a ballast tank with 4,000 tonnes of seas water to lower it in the water.
Exact measurements have shown Allure of the Seas is actually five centimetres longer than Oasis of the Seas, making it technically the biggest cruise ship afloat.