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| Black Prince (II), Arcadia (IV) & Oasis of the Seas UK Debut | |||||||||
| It was announced on the 29th October 2009 that Royal Caribbean's new 220,000grt mega monster ship, Oasis of the Seas, would be making a technical stop in the Solent on the 2nd November. She would only be dropping off three hundred shipyard technicians en route to Fort Lauderdale. But no one knew where or what time. VTS's movements weren't updated from 11.50am on the 30th so no one could keep an eye on them. The AIS on the 31st said 12.30pm, which would be when she'd pick up the pilot at Nab. So we decided the best place to be would be the Isle of Wight. We arranged with my friend Fay to catch the 9.45am Red Jet so we headed out early for the Hythe ferry. Black Prince was still in and Arcadia had returned from a two night to Zeebrugge. The forecast had said 12C maximum but it was so mild I felt overdressed in three tops and my new coat! | |||||||||
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| Interestingly they were in the process of changing ferries! Great Expectations had some workers board the vessel, including someone from Balfour painting (unless he used to work there and kept the overalls) while the crew hopped across to Hotspur. Excellent! Plus we had never done one of these change overs before. But then you could really smell the diesel coming from the other one. Ick! | |||||||||
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| (C) Copyright Patricia Dempsey 2nd November 2009 Not to be reproduced without permission |
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