12-Story Cruise Ship is Cut in Half

Say you’re an executive of a cruise company, the demand for cruises is growing rapidly and you want to increase the passenger capacity of your ships. What would you do? You can, of course, order new ships, but it takes 3 or more years to build them. How about something quicker? How about you take one of your huge 12-story ships, cut it in half at the middle and add a huge block of new rooms?

Well, that’s exactly how the executives at Royal Caribbean decided to proceed. They took one of their ships – Enchantment of the Seas – and expanded it to accommodate for increased demand for cruises.

Initially, the construction crew used circular saws and torches to cut the ship at the middle. They cut through everything – the outer hull that was made from steel, the watertight inner hull, cables, pipes, even ventilation system. The swimming pool on the ship’s top deck was also cut. The whole cutting process took 2 days, and after it was finished, a narrow line of light could be seen traveling from the top of the ship all the way to the bottom.

After that, the construction crew moved the two halves of the ship away from each other, and positioned a huge 73 foot, 2,500 ton section (which contained 151 furnished rooms) between them. Then came the final part – reattaching cables, pipes and everything else – a process that took two weeks.

The enlargement of the cruise ship took about one month, during which the ship grew from 916 feet to 990 feet. This process, which took place on a shipyard called Keppel Verlome in Rotterdam, Netherlands, cost about $60 million, just a fraction of the cost it takes to build a new ship. Now the ship – Enchantment of the Seas – is able to enchant 300 more vacationers on each of its trips.

Comment

Obviously photoshopped.

— frodo · Sep 12, 12:17 PM · #

actually this wasn’t.. this is real

— hobag · Sep 12, 02:45 PM · #

Poor frodo. When there’s nothing intelligent so say, claim it was Photoshopped.

— David · Sep 12, 02:49 PM · #

I’m sure frodo can tell by the pixels…
But yeah, they chop really complex manufacturing machinery in half before transporting it, so I don’t see why not a ship.

— btfx · Sep 12, 03:27 PM · #

guess this is photoshopped as well..
http://rcigenesis.googlepages.com/bb2.jpg/bb2-full.jpg

— pointless · Sep 12, 04:03 PM · #

Y’all just got trolled.

— anonymous · Sep 12, 06:14 PM · #

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— Rick Astley · Sep 13, 12:04 AM · #

Fake

— A Christian · Sep 13, 08:15 AM · #

RULES ONE AND TWO

— fucking newfags · Sep 13, 01:13 PM · #

yep, definitely shooped

— trollston hines · Sep 16, 11:24 AM · #

Just because something is on the internet doesn’t mean it’s shopped.

— Teros · Sep 17, 08:40 AM · #

NOT shopped, sorry gang. I’ve cruised on this baby twice. Once before the “stretch”, once after, and those are actual photos of the addition process. She’s a lovely ship.

— Cruiser · Sep 17, 08:55 AM · #

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1048954/Pictured-The-cut-shut-cruise-ship-sliced-half-add-rooms.html

— Viewer · Sep 17, 11:40 AM · #

You can read about it on their website ladies and gents. Dont claim its shopped if you dont know.

— Tim · Sep 17, 04:35 PM · #

Obvious photoshop.

— wut · Sep 18, 03:03 AM · #

i was on this boat at the end of last month, it was definitely cut in half, very classy shit too.

— huh · Sep 18, 04:08 AM · #

I know this is real, cause I was there too. Definitely Photoshopped though. But i was there, so i know it’s real, even though it was photoshopped, cause I saw the guy who did that do it too.

— me too · Sep 19, 04:35 AM · #

Idot’s it’s not photoshopped, you people really are dumbasses

— bill · Sep 19, 12:49 PM · #

Am I the only one who noticed the Umbrella logo from Resident Evil on the top front of the boat?

— doie · Sep 19, 07:48 PM · #

Photoshipped

— The Whited Sepulchre · Sep 20, 03:09 AM · #

Very probably real. Cutting a ship in two and lengthening it is a fairly common technique. Here’s another ship, one that I happen to have been aboard, that’s been cut in two and lengthened:

http://www.westcoastferries.ca/ferries/bcferries/queenofnewwestminster.html

Dave

— Dave · Nov 3, 05:36 AM · #

i work on oil tankers and i see this getting done all the time in the shipyards, this is very real, and happens more often then people think. Next time, do your research before claiming something is fake.

— gussie · Nov 5, 07:14 AM · #

hello I have ridden on this ship
http://www.westcoastferries.ca/ferries/bcferries/queenofvancouver.html
many times and it has bean “stretched” and “lifted” cut in 2 both vertically and horizontally

— richmond · Nov 5, 01:26 PM · #

[quote]
Timeline
1962 – January 16 – The City of Vancouver is launched from Burrard Drydock.
1962 – Feburary 3 – BC Ferries newest $3.6 million dollar ferry makes her inaugural run between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay.
1972 – The ship was cut in half vertically and a midsection installed to increase both vehicle and passenger capacity.
1978 – The ferry’s problematic Paxman Twin engines were repalced with new MaK engines.
1981 – The Queen of Vancouver was sliced in half and an upper car deck was installed to increase vehicle capacity.
1993 – June 14 – A nine car pileup occurred as traffic disembarked from the Queen of Vancouver. About $10,000 total damage was done to the vehicles involved.
2006 – July 5 – The Queen of Vancouver made a detour late in the day in response to a distress call made by a sailboat with 8 people on board. The crew of the ferry took 6 of the sailboat’s passengers on board while 2 remained with the vessel and Coast Guard. [/quote]
from http://www.westcoastferries.ca/ferries/bcferries/queenofvancouver.html

— richmond · Nov 5, 01:29 PM · #

I know this is real as it was me who cut it in half. It felt so good when I made the first cut. My appetite is growing, I need bigger ships!!!!! Feed me!!!!

— EvilShipCutter46 · Nov 6, 01:39 AM · #

Are those photoshopped too?
http://www.aadhoogesteger.nl/cruiseschepen/verlench13.html

— pet · Nov 18, 08:21 AM · #