- [Narrator] This is the largest cruise ship in the world,
Royal Caribbean Wonder of the Seas.
It's over five times larger than the Titanic,
and every time it docks at Florida's Port Canaveral,
it has to fit in here.
- The ports are shallow and they're small.
- [Narrator] Weather conditions, vessel traffic,
and water depth
make this process even more complicated.
- The bigger the ship, the faster we go,
the further out I have to be in anticipation.
- [Narrator] So we asked Captain Captain Rob Hempstead
to show us how he docks cruise ships
and what factors come into play.
Here at Port Canaveral,
docking starts when the ship is about five miles off shore.
At 4:00 AM, the captain briefs his team on the docking plan.
- [Captain Rob] The plan is to get up to speed
through 12 to 13
and then plan to slow down for 11 knots at buoy 11.
- [Crew] Pilot boat approaching.
- [Narrator] The harbor pilot is local
and helps guide the ship into port.
(harbor pilot speaks indistinctly)
- [Harbor Pilot] There is a submarine in the East basin.
- [Narrator] The ship is ready to enter the channel
once all eight crew members say-
- Pilot has the conn.
- [Narrator] Which means-
- [Captain Rob] You are the one who is going to give
the orders for turning.
- [Crew] Starboard 15.
- Starboard 15.
- Yes. - That means
the ship is initiating a 15 degree turn to Starboard.
Meanwhile, the captain gives the orders for speed control.
- Alex, let's go 30 on three.
- [Narrator] Which means apply 30 RPMs of propeller speed
to three pods.
The ship travels at about 13 knots down the channel,
then slows to about six knots inside the port.
When the ship reaches the turning basin,
the captain takes back the conn from the pilot-
- Captain has the conn.
- [Narrator] to perform the docking maneuver.
- [Captain Rob] We have to turn it 180 degrees
before we come alongside.
- [Narrator] To do this, he uses three gears
to manually adjust three individual azipods propulsion units
that help maneuver the ship.
- [Captain Rob] Propeller's always gonna turn
in a pulling direction.
- [Narrator] The azipods rotate 360 degrees,
so he can use them to pull the ship
in whatever direction is needed to dock.
- If I want to turn the ship this way,
I will turn the pod this way.
- [Narrator] Cameras and radars help the captain assess
the distance between the ship and the dock.
- [Captain Rob] This helps us get into position precisely.
- [Narrator] But he says-
- This big ship, to be within a few centimeters,
it's very difficult and near impossible to get it perfect,
but we're sending mooring lines out at the same time.
- [Narrator] Which are ropes that help secure the ship
to the dock.
Captains dock cruise ships hundreds of times a year.
Sometimes there's no turn
and it's as simple as-
- We just come in, bow in.
- [Narrator] And other times it's difficult,
usually due to weather.
- This front of thundershowers headed our way.
Sometimes it just rains without wind.
Sometimes it can be extremely windy.
We're never really sure until we see it.
I know that at the surface,
if we start to see whitecaps, that's 20 knots,
but that's 20 knots at the surface,
which means it's about 25 knots
where I'm standing up here.
- [Narrator] Knowing the wind speed helps him decide
the force and direction he'll need from the propellers
to steer the ship into port.
- If the wind is blowing on the beam
and we just steer the straight heading down the channel,
we will eventually get blown to the side,
so we have to account for that.
Imagine us sliding along like this.
We're going this direction
but we're pointed this direction.
This angle difference is the crab angle
and crabs walk sideways.
- [Narrator] Different ports
call for different docking maneuvers.
For example, St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands
can get particularly windy
because of the surrounding mountains and hills.
So on days when easterly winds are over 30 knots,
the ship will turn before the entrance to the channel
and back up the channel to dock.
Port Cozumel in Mexico is exposed to strong currents,
so that docking maneuver-
- Happens fast and it has to be done
in a way aggressively
to get it into the current, swung,
and backed out of the current and alongside.
- [Narrator] Water depth,
which is usually driven by the tides,
can also pose a challenge.
At the shallowest point at Port Canaveral,
there's only about 10 feet of water
between the ship and the bottom of the port.
- Shallow water is like driving on ice.
You have to break sooner, turn earlier,
and you basically have to anticipate
that your ship is gonna behave differently.
- [Narrator] Cruise ship collisions are also rare, he says.
(wind whooshing)
But as the captain-
- If somebody else is conning the ship and we hit something
or something hits us, I'm responsible.
- [Narrator] To avoid mistakes,
he says, there's at least a two person check
for every action taken on the bridge.
- Let's go midship.
- Midship.
He repeats the order
so we know that he understood the order.
Sometimes we might turn away
and realize we've given the opposite that we meant,
and that can be catched instantly.
- [Narrator] This is especially important
with a ship this big.
- Keeping the ship safe
is keeping the guests and crews safe.
This is the number one priority,
safe, efficient, effective,
in that order.
One of the most important pieces of equipment on the bridge
is our coffee machine, just to be sure,
and we make sure it's always working, yeah.