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We started doing special pre-inaugurals or shakedown cruises mainly for our travel agent partners beginning last Thursday.  This is really the most demanding time for a new ship.  The crew are still getting accustomed to their new digs and the travel agents are frantically trying to see and do in two nights all that the ship is designed to offer in seven.

But it has been incredibly fulfilling. Seeing the ship come alive with real activities has been even more rewarding than I expected.  I have been fortunate to be involved in some wonderful ship introductions – SOVEREIGN, introduced the atrium and mega-ships; VOYAGER showed the potential of a larger platform and weird amenities like ice-rinks; FREEDOM captured the public imagination with even greater amenities like a surfing machine; more recently, CELEBRITY SOLSTICE transformed the world of premium cruising by demonstrating how stunning design could compliment a style of service that awes our guests.  

But nothing prepared me for the exceptional response to Oasis.  The most frequent comment I heard was “no words or pictures adequately describe her.” Adam Goldstein summarized it well at a “Building Bridges” session when he said that he hoped that the travel agents would succeed in conveying all that is Oasis even though we have had trouble doing so ourselves.  That is, after all, why travel agents are so important to us.  They are really selling their knowledge and experience.

So, it has been tiring but invigorating.  My kids show no great sympathy when I tell them how hard I have been working eating caviar and drinking champagne while thousands of guests compliment me on the work our team has accomplished.  It is a tough job, but someone . . . 

I did have one further surprise awaiting me.  I left my gorgeous, 9 month-old granddaughter (the lawyer) at the Adventure Ocean program and overheard people raving about the ImaginOcean show.  I learned it was a black-light puppet show for kids.  My own gorgeous granddaughter was too young for the show, but I saw it in the Adventure Ocean Theatre and it was amazing.  The puppets were so real that you couldn’t help but feel an emotional link.  I can’t imagine the level of imagination and skill that it took to produce.  I couldn’t help thinking we should find a way to show it to a broader audience. 

Tomorrow is the naming ceremony and the preparations for that are underway.  We have a very ambitious program planned which will involve activities throughout the ship.  I am looking forward to it. 

The naming signifies the end of the construction and the start of normal operations.  I am looking forward to seeing her start regular service and I know the crew is as well.  I will comment on that and then that will signify the end of my blog.  I started out to chronicle my experience with the process.  I have enjoyed that more than I expected – and I have enjoyed the responses too – but I need to remain true to the original objective as well.

Joan Blackman gave me the very first copy of the “Wonderbook”, the book describing the art collection onboard Oasis of the Seas.  Joan leads International Corporate Art (ICArt) and is our art advisor and guide.  They have chosen, acquired and installed the wonderful art collection comprising over 9,000 items.  The book is a beautiful description of the collection and how it is organized.The ship itself may be a work of art, but the art onboard takes that to a whole new level.  Art has always been an important compliment on our ships and on OASIS, we wanted to take it to a new level.  There are some 9,000 pieces of which over 1,000 are in the public areas. 

They usually start with a theme which they use to act as a unifying element.  The theme may not be obvious at first blush – in fact I personally prefer if it’s not – but our experience shows that it really helps create a more interesting collection.  In the case of Oasis of the Seas, our theme was “the wonders of our world” and I think that really proved to be fortuitous. 

A key feature is the “bookends” of the four stair towers.  The landings give us a great place to display some wonderful sections and set a mood.  For Oasis00, they developed a unique framing system which I felt complimented the art in an interesting way that accentuated the art rather than overwhelmed it.  The system also serves as a subliminal compliment to our wayfinding systems.  Because each stair tower concentrates on a particular color, it helps remind our guests of where they are.  We don’t expect them to consciously think about it, but the subliminal reminder helps make the process simple and intuitive.

In addition to the public art, we also have a new art amenity onboard.  Joan has started a new shop onboard called Art Actually where one can see and buy art made by the artists whose work can be seen around the ship.  They have a neat shop on Central Park.  It is decorated all in orange since Joan has a fetish for the color orange (if we had to have an art consultant who was a fetishist, why did it have to be for a color?).  From Art Actually, one can take guided tours of the art onboard and on some cruises, they will bring artists onboard to talk about their work.

I am particularly intrigued by the idea of Art Actually selling works by Oasis artists and think it should be a very successful concept.  During the inaugurals, people are too busy to take the tours, but they are wonderful too.  The WONDERBOOK is also a great reminder of the ship and her art.

I think we will have three different reactions to the art.  Most of our guests will not even consciously focus on it.  For them, the art is just a natural compliment to the fine architecture and they will focus on relatively few pieces.  Then there will be a large proportion who will admire the art and really enjoy being in the midst of so much wonderful art.  And then there will be a few who realize what an incredible collection it is and really concentrate on studying the pieces and contemplating (and arguing about) their qualities.  I’m happy about all three.

Our first butterfly was sighted in Central Park this morning.

The real key to the success of such a project isn’t what has happened the last few days, but the months of preparation and planning.  We’ve talked about that before, but now I got to observe the results and the immediate effort to complete the work.  The first thing I saw was the staging of the planting on the quayside.  Very impressive.  Rack after rack (just under 400 racks) of plants of all types and sizes.  And an incredible indexing system that identifies each box and where it goes.

Onboard, Central Park was a beehive of activity.  This beautiful area was now completely covered with protective wrappings which was a little sad since even without plants, Central Park had looked so nice.  And people were everywhere.  Ambius – the environmental specialist responsible for organizing and implementing all the landscaping – had brought in people from their offices all over the country.  They had an army of people all wearing a light green Ambius shirt pushing, pulling, guiding and directing.  There were also a large number of ship’s crew wearing grey work suits wheeling in rack after rack filled with plants.  Although we have talked about the massive job of loading the plants on the ship, I quickly realized that an even bigger task was putting all those plants in the right spaces.

Leading the Ambius team were Denise Eichmann and Mark Hawry who had spent months preparing for this day.  When I arrived, Mark was explaining the detailed indexing system to a large team of workers and Denise was coordinating the additional materiel that was needed to finish off the beds.  Both were juggling a walkie-talkie and two phones but they seemed very calm as the storm of people swarmed around them.

And the swarm was impressive.  Clearly, this was a group of people who knew what they were doing.  I noticed one worker who was wearing obviously new, steel-toed shoes and my first thought was that Mark and Denise had done a good job of laying down the law concerning safety.  Later on we were introduced and I realized that the rookie laborer was her boss’ boss.  But I was even more impressed the next night when the park looked clean and the workers dirty.  The sheer volume of plants that had to be organized, transported and planted was amazing.  And so was the transformation of the park.  It was striking how hard they all worked and how nicely the entire garden came to life.  The Ambius team certainly demonstrated why they are such leaders in their field.

Scott Wilson of Wilson Butler (aka our “guru”) was very focused on the process of fitting the prefabricated planters.  Scott was the person we went to about two years ago when we decided we needed to change the design of the area from a garden to a park.  He, his partner Scott Butler and Dennis Dale of Waterfield Design Group in cooperation with our own team conceived of Central Park as it is today.  They took an excellent concept and transformed it into something extraordinary.  Scott has been the person we often go to for our most intractable problems and that is how he earned the sobriquet “guru”.

But, early Sunday morning Scott was a little worried.  He had always expected that some of the planters wouldn’t fit and had a team of metalworkers standing by.  However, the rate of mis-fits was running at 10% and that was higher than planned.  It was slowing down an installation process which had already lost 2 days of cushion to an Atlantic storm.  Fortunately, the later boxes fit better and by Monday, the average had fallen to less than 5%, just below their pain tolerance.

By Monday afternoon, most of the planting had been completed and the crane was now being used to offload the trash rather than onload the plants.  Over 5,000 lbs of trash, mostly the protective coverings.  Central Park was being cleaned up and the plants trimmed and primped.  It was still a mess, but at least one could see what was intended and it is wonderful.  How they made such a beauty out of all that stuff is beyond me, but I loved it.

Dennis Dale looked like a proud Papa.  He has been working on this baby for 3 years and was determined that every tree, every plant, every leaf was just right.  He was very detailed in his choices of plants, each for its own special reason, and now I saw why. Somehow, his weird combinations of disparate colors, shapes and textures came together in a wonderfully pleasing manner.  He was even prepared for contingencies.  When the US Agriculture Department objected to 3 species of plants, because of their potential vulnerability to disease, he had a contingency plan ready.  That is the sort of thing that really separates the men (and women) from the boys (and girls).

As we looked on the nearly finished planting and were discussing how the plants would grow and spread, I was reminded of my own experiences with landscaping.  When I first moved to London, I asked our landscaper how long it would take for the garden to grow in.  He assured me that within five years, it would become reasonably established and within 10 years it would be a mature and “proper” garden.  When I moved to Miami, I asked our landscaper the same question.  He thought for a moment and said “Thursday”.

Well, “third time’s the charm” and I asked the same question today.  Now the answer was “only a month or so”.  ¿Quien Sabe?

My biggest surprise?  It was how beautiful the Park is at night.  I knew the daytime would be great, but nighttime is often more of a challenge.  Wow, was I wrong.  The evening in Central Park is a dream.  No matter the hour or how tired I am, I have ended every night strolling through Central Park.

Against this background, I was humbled and gratified to receive the attached letter from Secretary General Mitropoulos.  Harri and his team worked closely over a number of years with the IMO as well as the various other regulatory agencies to ensure they supported our efforts and to incorporate best practices and ideas.  Mr. Mitropoulos’ most gracious letter demonstrates just how successful this effort was.

But now I am sitting in Café Promenade drinking tea, enjoying the grandeur of the place and putting down some impressions.  I’ll start with the arrival.  THE ARRIVAL.  I got to the park at 6:15 am and was confronted with a long line of cars ahead of me.  I confess that my first reaction was irritation: don’t these people know I’m anxious to greet our ship?  And then I realized how happy I should be that so many people cared so much about the event that they got up so early to be present.  Then I was happy to sit in my car and just enjoy being part of the spectacle.

The arrival was wonderful.  The ship really is beautiful and the reaction of the crowd was itself beautiful.  So I just reveled in the experience.  One thing I was curious about was the hull color.  We had chosen a light blue color, but it is impossible to get a sense of it in the Turku “sun.”  Personally, I loved it when it came through the cut, but everyone else was too busy taking in the rest of the ship to pay the hull color any mind.

I was asked over and over how I felt and I never knew how to answer.  I still don’t.  It is of course thrilling and I do feel proud to have been a part of such an undertaking.  I also felt comforted.  Doing a project of such a magnitude and such a new direction is a bit scary (actually more than a bit).  I have always believed strongly that this was the right concept and the right format, but “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” and dinner has not yet been served.  But the reaction of the people who came to the harbour Friday and those who have spent time on the ship since then clearly validates our leap.

Then, the harbour pilots were kind enough to give me a lift from the harbour entrance to the terminal on one of their launches.  After the ship had docked, it still took about 15 minutes for Captain Bill to satisfy himself that the vessel was properly tied up and secured. During that period, I wondered around the quayside looking at things.  There was a lot to look at. 

First, there was Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). When I stepped off the launch at the terminal, I was greeted by a sea of blue uniforms of the CBP.  They have been working with us for a very long time to ensure that everything was done right.  This project has been all about innovation and CBP demonstrated throughout that they welcomed innovation and were as determined as we were to come up with new and better ways to operate.  It wasn’t always easy (their priorities are different than ours) but it was always constructive and the result is a dramatic improvement that benefits everyone, especially our guests.

The next thing I saw was the plants.  There is an enormous staging area on the pier where they had staged some 400 trolleys holding all the plantings that had to be installed.  The numbers were always impressive, but nothing prepares you for row after row of plants, all lined up and ready for installation.  More about that later.

When Bill did give the all-clear, I boarded and went up to the bridge.  There, he was debriefing his team on the arrival and preparing for the next challenge – the US Coast Guard Inspection.  The USCG have been involved in inspections from an early stage, first with the plans and then with inspections during the building process.  They have been very complimentary of our approach and our transparency and we appreciate that.  They have also required various changes during the process and we consider these to have been constructive too.  Now was one of the most difficult challenges – the testing of the crew.  They had already essentially approved the construction, but they only approve the operations once the ship arrives in the US.

Bill had a feeling that the USCG would go all out to test our mettle and they didn’t disappoint. They are always careful with these inspections, but in the case of OASIS, everyone thought it would be best to take it to the next level with an extremely ambitious drill scenario that would test the new and innovative safety features of this ship along with the training level of our crew – well beyond the typical demanding USCG drill.  

Bill was prepared for that and, although he didn’t say so, I am convinced he welcomed it as an opportunity to show off.  Afterwards, he congratulated his team with the following comments:

To have passed this morning’s complicated fire and evacuation drills with flying colors and ZERO comments (other than a string of compliments) is a truly remarkable accomplishment! The afternoon CHARLIE went just as well and they left without a single corrective comment!!!!  I have never been more proud to say “well done” than right now!!

We still have Monday to go through certificates, an MOB and a table top damage exercise, however, we have no concerns about this.

To a mariner like Bill, receiving good grades from the US Coast Guard – a symbol of safety and excellence all Americans should be proud of – is the ultimate accolade.  He was beaming.

My walk through of the ship was heartwarming.  A surprising amount of detail work had been accomplished during the crossing, but the ship did not look that fundamentally different except that it was designed for warm weather and really shines in the sun.  What was different is that the crew is now all here and acclimated. Since most of them come from other ships, I really felt at home amongst friends.  And their pride was palpable.  There is simply no doubt that that pride makes them walk with a bigger bounce and do their jobs with an enthusiasm that I am in awe of.

Harri is everywhere and he is in his element.  The original 6,000 items of the punch list are down to 1,000.  Many of them are just waiting for the new part to be boarded after the ship arrives in Ft. Lauderdale and some will simply be fixed over time as the ship settles down.  Overall, Harri was very satisfied with the progress.  The two exceptions both impacted our entertainment areas.  The heavy weather meant no work on the outer decks and especially the AquaTheatre during most of the crossing.  And it took longer to do all the requisite work in the Opus Theatre than expected.  Peter Compton was bummed about that but confident they will make up the time and be in full swing in time for our first regular cruises.

We wanted to see the zip line in action.  Adam volunteered to try it but I get nervous on a step stool and couldn’t work up the courage.  Adam seemed very comfortable and said he enjoyed it.  Can anyone spell meshugana?

My biggest thrill came last night.  Finally, I got a chance to show my wife around the ship and let her see what we had been talking about for so long.  I’ve been fortunate to hear compliments from many directions for a long time, but to hear it from her was my penultimate measure.  My ultimate measure will come when I can show it to my children.

My second biggest thrill so far came this morning when we opened the ship to tours by shoreside employees.  I quickly lost count of the people who came up to me and said how proud they were to work at Royal Caribbean.

I can’t wait to the chance to show her off to our travel partners starting in only a few days.

Meanwhile, preparations continue onboard and onshore.  Anticipation is unbelievably high and I am surprised (and delighted) by the level of interest.   

One conundrum we face is that we want everything to go smoothly from the moment our first guest steps aboard but we need the shakedown cruises to prepare the ship.  Shakedown cruises are important both technically and operationally.  Technically, for example, this will be the first time the ship operates in a warm climate and the air conditioning needs balancing which can only be done with the heat load of real people present.  Even the theatre sound system needs to be balanced with the acoustical absorption of real bodies in place.  Operationally, will people gravitate to Boleros or Dazzles?  We can simulate these things fairly well in advance, but there is no substitute for real experience. 

All of that is what we normally do during our shakedown cruises and our travel agent partners normally understand that.  But here, the vessel will be under unusual scrutiny and we want to present her as complete as possible even during the shakedown.  While there is no perfect solution, we do have a group of people – the crew – who are more than willing to sacrifice themselves and pretend they are guests. 

So Lisa Bauer opened the Cupcake Cupboard, the Donut Shop and the Ice Cream Parlor and with everyone on a sugar high, proceeded to try out the various venues onboard.  There were the normal glitches, but overall, it went amazingly well.  The dining venues were a big hit and seemed to manage the flow very well.  There were some surprises related to the concentration of guests in different bars and these will require adjusting deployment of personnel.  The Casino had a very good night (all profits to the Crew Welfare fund). Regarding the shops, Lisa said: “I am thrilled with what Starboard has done onboard with the stores.  The quality of the merchandise, as well as the merchandising, is truly transformational.”  Lisa herself participated and bought the first item sold by the Coach store.  (This was probably the world’s most expensive purse.  She paid hundreds of dollars for the bag, but we had to build a store for her to buy it in and that cost hundreds of thousands.)  The IT systems are some of the most sophisticated systems ever installed on a cruise ship and our IT team has been working non-stop to get them up and running. To minimize issues, we actually built the entire system on land in Chicago earlier in the year, tested it and then dismantled it for shipment to Turku.  That has really helped make sure it works properly, but is an enormous job and no such IT project goes without a hitch.

BTW, the OED says the first use of the term “knot” dates back to 1633 and derives from the knots in a rope that was originally used to determine a ship’s speed without GPS.  One way of measuring a ship’s speed was to throw a line overboard and count how many knots slipped through your hands within a fixed time.  Sailors used the rope trick to measure speed and distance.  Interestingly, the actually term “nautical” doesn’t come from the term “knot” but rather from the Greek word for sailor (ergo “astronaut” or “cosmonaut”).   A nautical mile is 1.15 “normal” miles or 1.85 kilometers.

The best evidence is that every politician that is in Broward, from Broward or related to Broward County was in attendance or represented.  If this had been a “normal” government construction project (i.e. one that was uninspiring and/or over budget), we would have played to an empty hall.  But here, everyone knew that this facility was a winner and everyone wanted to see and be seen participating at the event.  Standing room only; we even ran out of scissors for all the dignitaries to cut the ribbon.  And they deserved the kudos.  They had the foresight to undertake the project and to allow it to be built in an efficient and businesslike way.  Hats off to Phil Allen and his team, as well as all the Hollywood and Broward officials.  And I’d take a point of personal privilege and congratulate Craig Milan, Juan Trescastro and Juan’s whole team for working so cooperatively with the authorities to make this facility such a success. 

In full disclosure, I should mention that our confidence does not rest solely on how things appear.  We have already had three ship turns in this terminal and they were terrific.

But we also got some frustrating news. The heavy Atlantic weather has delayed the ship by two days. It doesn’t affect our schedule because we build in a cushion for such things but I’m still disappointed.  I accept that there is no logical reason for this, but I am still eager for her to arrive and the delay frustrates me.  Captain Bill reassured me that they were making good use of the time onboard for training etc.  I know he was trying to make me feel better, but it didn’t.

Captain Bill chose to take the southerly route to Ft. Lauderdale.  However, it turns out that when you start in Finland, even the “Southerly Route” requires you to spend time in the North Atlantic.  He is constantly adjusting his course and speed to accommodate what will probably be the only time in OASIS’s life that it will face such a storm.

Notwithstanding the weather, the entertainment department continues to prepare. 

• The ice skaters are rehearsing in Studio B and that appears to be going very well.
• In the main theatre, they are putting up all the staging and scenery, etc. Unfortunately, this prevents the performers from rehearsing on the stage and it looks like the cast won’t even get access until early next week. In the meantime, they are rehearsing in other areas onboard.
• For some reason or another, the divers are reluctant to rehearse in the AquaTheatre with 70 mph relative winds. Apparently, massive waves, heavy rain and 70 mph winds have put a damper on their activities.