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全球最大、最豪华的现役邮轮是皇家加勒比的“海洋标志号”
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00:01With their commanding presence at sea, today's cruise ships carry on a long and historic tradition.
00:10Long before jet planes, ships were the only way to travel the globe.
00:16Today, they carry thousands of people and have become a popular vacation choice.
00:24Competition is intense, with companies building ever bigger ships to drive costs down.
00:34But now in Italy, a team of craftsmen and engineers is taking on a new kind of shipbuilding challenge.
00:42They are racing to build the ultimate cruise ship, a superliner, finally crafted to the most minute detail.
00:50I wanted to build something unique, one of a kind, never to be repeated again.
00:55But building this record-breaking superliner involves a series of unique engineering challenges.
01:05The ocean can be a deadly place.
01:08How do you keep hundreds of passengers safe, sailing far from shore through violent storms and rough swells?
01:17And to complete the ship on schedule, the team must combine time-honored tradition with trailblazing technology.
01:26To build a ship is a continuous pressure.
01:28We cannot miss our target.
01:32Inside the extraordinary race to build the ultimate cruise ship.
01:37Right now, on NOVA.
01:45Major funding for NOVA is provided by the following.
02:07Today, in Genoa, Italy, this team of construction workers is starting work building a brand new ship.
02:16One that will present a new and difficult set of challenges, both technical and aesthetic.
02:25For the team here is constructing a cruise ship they hope will set a new standard.
02:33In keeping with maritime tradition, a welder attaches rare coins to the hull to bring luck.
02:40That's a beautiful thing.
02:42And a priest provides a blessing.
02:50Engineers in this region of Italy have a formidable reputation.
02:55They have been building ships since medieval times.
03:01But this job will present new challenges beyond anything they've faced before.
03:11The worldwide cruise market has exploded over the past 25 years.
03:17From under 4 million passengers a year to over 22 million.
03:22It's a 39 billion dollar a year industry.
03:28Competition is fierce.
03:30With companies building ever larger vessels to drive prices down.
03:35And make cruising more affordable than ever.
03:43Why don't we just do like...
03:47You know, I'm doing a puzzle here.
03:50But one cruise company and its CEO, Frank Del Rio...
03:54Just like that.
03:55...are taking this ship in another more risky direction.
03:59On deck four, we need four pieces.
04:01My vision is very simple.
04:03To make this the most luxurious cruise ship ever built.
04:08But is there a market for that?
04:11Where many of the big cruise ships hold over 5,000 passengers.
04:17This vessel, the Seven Seas Explorer, will carry just 750.
04:25But they will be paying top dollar.
04:28And their expectations will be equally high.
04:31They will be housed in 375 suites.
04:36And at the top, will be a 4,400 square foot suite that will go for $10,000 a night.
04:47Are there enough people willing to spend enough money to keep this venture afloat?
04:55There's risk any time you break barriers.
04:58But these are calculated risks.
05:02But this ambitious scheme is not just a business challenge.
05:07It's an engineering challenge for the ship's designers and builders.
05:13First, luxury is heavy.
05:17The marble and glass materials needed to give the liner its sumptuous feel will add weight.
05:25Engineers need to invent clever ways to balance the ship so it remains stable in the water.
05:32And there's another, even bigger challenge.
05:39The ocean can be a deadly place.
05:43Without making it too obvious, engineers must devise ingenious ways to save passengers' lives in the event of a fire
05:51or a collision at sea.
05:55And there's a final challenge.
05:58The engineers must meet a tight deadline.
06:04To fill the ship with customers, tickets for the maiden voyage will go on sale before the liner is complete.
06:12Canceling them will be costly.
06:14That would cost us in excess of $5 million to the immediate bottom line.
06:20And probably cost us $25 million and lost reputation.
06:25So an expensive proposition that we won't let happen.
06:33In Italy, it's the job of engineer Pierluigi Punter to deliver the ship on time.
06:40I am very proud to be in charge of this project.
06:44Several thousand people will be involved.
06:46But I will coordinate all the activities from the starting of the design up to the delivery.
06:53I hope to survive.
07:02The pressure is on Pierluigi and his team to turn these sheets of steel into a finished ship.
07:12To deliver the ship on time, Pierluigi has a detailed and ambitious plan.
07:22He will build his ship piece by piece in a dry dock.
07:28Installing the engines and machinery as it goes.
07:32To save time, he must simultaneously construct a large section of the vessel in another shipyard.
07:39Making sure it will join up perfectly to the rest of the ship.
07:46Then the shipyard will build up the decks to complete the hull.
07:52Put in the cabins.
07:56Fit the windows.
07:58And install the navigation equipment.
08:04To ensure it all works, they will test everything in a series of sea trials.
08:10And finally complete the interiors of the cabins and public areas.
08:17It's like building a floating city.
08:20And they only have 18 months to do it.
08:28Stage one.
08:30The team needs to cut and weld together more than 12,000 tons of steel to assemble the liner's hull.
08:38The structure around which the rest of the ship will take shape.
08:44To build the hull in time, the team will employ an ingenious technique.
08:53In the past, ships were constructed from the bottom up.
08:57A bit like building a house.
09:00Only once the hull was finished, did they install the ventilation, electrical cables, pipes and machinery.
09:07But this method was slow.
09:10Too slow for today's competitive environment.
09:15To build a ship is a continuous pressure.
09:18We have a penalty on the contractor about the delay on delivery.
09:28So to build the explorer's hull, Pierre Luigi is using a technique developed in Japan in the 1950s.
09:36Made possible by the invention of bigger, stronger cranes.
09:42Workers will first assemble the steel plates into sections one deck high.
09:48Building them upside down to make it easy to install the pipes, cables and ventilation as they go.
09:56Cranes will then flip the pieces over and join several together to form a megablock.
10:05It will take 53 megablocks to construct the explorer.
10:10Once each block is complete, giant cranes will lift it into position.
10:16Using this megablock method, the team can work on many parts of the ship at the same time, speeding up
10:23production.
10:28The steel for each megablock begins life in a giant bath.
10:35Here, a computer controlled plasma cutter cuts the steel to shape.
10:44The machine's nozzle fires a 30,000 degree Fahrenheit jet of superheated gas towards the steel at 20,000 feet
10:53per second.
10:55This melts and cuts the steel underwater, which keeps it cool and prevents distortion.
11:03But the next critical job must be completed by hand.
11:11250 skilled welders join the pieces together to form each megablock.
11:19With welds as strong as the steel itself.
11:31It takes about four weeks to build each of the 53 megablocks.
11:37This method of construction is fast, but not fast enough for the schedule.
11:44So Pierre Luigi has a plan to speed up construction.
11:49We decided to build part of the ship in another shipyard to reduce the production lead time
11:56and to take advantage of the capacity of the two shipyards at the same time.
12:02While the shipyard in Genoa is building most of the vessel,
12:07a large section has been assembled 400 miles away at a second yard in Castellamare di Stabia.
12:16This shipyard sits in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
12:21It has been building ships for hundreds of years.
12:27Over the last eight months, the workers here have assembled 11 megablocks to form this 200-foot section of the
12:34ship.
12:36Now they face a daunting challenge.
12:39They must launch their section into the sea.
12:44A tug will then tow it up the coast to the shipyard in Genoa,
12:49where welders must attach it to their section of the vessel.
12:55If the plan works, it will cut eight weeks off the construction schedule.
13:04Before they launch the section, surveyor Antonio Varo must carry out one final check.
13:12For the last eight months, he has been measuring the dimensions of this section.
13:19We are measuring the length of the section to verify that it matches the plan's dimensions.
13:26This section must be within a quarter of an inch of the plan's size, or it won't fit onto the
13:32rest of the ship.
13:35It is essential because if what they've made in Genoa and what we've made here do not match, this will
13:41cause serious problems later.
13:46The shipbuilders here are also concerned about launching this section of the liner.
13:51Because sliding it down this slope into the sea is a risky maneuver.
14:00In 1907, another Italian shipyard proudly launched its new ship, the SS Principessa Yolanda.
14:11She slid smoothly into the sea and then promptly capsized.
14:18The shipyard had somehow neglected to install any stabilizing weight in the bottom of the hull to lower her center
14:27of gravity.
14:30To prevent their section from capsizing, the workers here have built it with a heavy, double-bottomed hull.
14:40And installed water and fuel tanks low down to ensure that the vessel will be completely stable when launched.
14:54Workers cover the slipway with a thin coating of wax, then a layer of grease to make sure that the
15:04section of ship doesn't get stuck.
15:17The stage is all set for the next day's launch.
15:328 a.m., 3 hours to launch.
15:58A team of workers starts driving wedges under the keel.
16:06The aim is to lift the ship just enough to free it from its supporting pillars so it can slide
16:13into the water.
16:16The scope of hammering the wedges is to transfer the ship weight on the central sledges.
16:23In this way, it will be much easier for us to remove the side pillars.
16:29They will lift the shield for less than one inch.
16:43It's 10.20. We are going to remove the last two pillars and so we are almost ready to go.
16:54Half an hour before launch, workers remove the wooden prop supporting the hull.
17:05The last things holding the ship are six steel claws that will be released by hydraulics.
17:13When the string is cut to smash the bottle, this weight will also drop, opening a valve that will release
17:20hydraulic fluid.
17:22Retract the claws and launch the section of the ship.
17:35Following ancient tradition, a godmother launches every vessel to bring it luck.
17:47In the name of God, cut!
18:10In the name of God, cut!
18:33There's no engine or rudder on board this section of the ship.
18:38So the team is counting on 165 tons of chains to slow it down and stop it from plowing across
18:46the harbor and smashing into nearby boats.
18:54The weight, low down in the hull, keeps the section upright.
19:05It was a very positive day.
19:07We have the weather on our side.
19:09Now we have a sunny day.
19:11So everything was good.
19:15Tugs must now haul this empty section of hull around the coast to Genoa.
19:21If all goes well, it should take about four days to cover the 400-mile distance.
19:33The challenge of figuring out how to propel the Seven Seas Explorer when it's completed lies with marine engineer Gian
19:42Piero Lavini.
19:43One of the main targets is to get a very, very comfortable vessel, completely silent and free from any kind
19:51of vibration.
19:53The vibration must be low enough to qualify the vessel for a standard known as comfort class.
20:02To power the Seven Seas Explorer through the water, four massive eight-cylinder diesel engines will drive four generators.
20:13These will supply electricity to two nine-megawatt electric motors that will turn two huge propellers, pushing the ship forward
20:24at over 20 knots.
20:27The design of the ship's propellers is critical.
20:30If Gian Piero's team gets it wrong, the ship could vibrate violently.
20:42When you are at sea, if you have any type of troubles, you cannot take any action because you cannot
20:49modify the propeller.
20:50It's absolutely impossible.
20:52So you'd have to know everything in advance.
20:57In 1907, during the sea trials of the Lusitania, at that time the world's biggest ship, the vibration was so
21:06bad, they had to strengthen the interior in a failed attempt to stop it.
21:14When they investigated, they discovered that the problem came from the ship's propellers.
21:25When a propeller rotates, it can create areas of very low pressure on the back of the blades, causing water
21:33to form bubbles of water vapor in a process called cavitation.
21:40When the bubbles burst, they collapse in microseconds, sending powerful shock waves through the water onto the ship's hull.
21:51This creates uncomfortable vibrations for people and objects on board.
22:02Cavitation is the worst enemy of a propeller designer because it is the main source of noise and vibration.
22:11So I'm not satisfied until I have removed every bubble.
22:16To keep the Seven Seas Explorer from vibrating, Gian Piero must minimize the cavitation on the propeller blades.
22:26The simplest way to do this is by slowing the propellers down.
22:31This reduces the area of low pressure that causes bubbles.
22:36But this would also slow down the ship.
22:39So to compensate, they will make the propellers larger and add more blades.
22:49These larger, slower spinning propellers will exert the same power, but should drive the explorer through the water without vibration.
23:04The ship's propellers are being cast from bronze at this factory in the Netherlands.
23:12The task requires extreme precision.
23:17If workers here don't reproduce Gian Piero's design to a fraction of an inch, the propellers could still generate vibrations.
23:33They feed his plans into a computer that will carve a mold in sand bonded with resin.
23:40We are able to accurately create a shape by grinding of the sand mold and all the material that's not
23:46needed is cut away so that we get a precise shape that we want it to be.
23:54From the resin-bound sand, the machine must first carve the base of the mold, then make six blade-shaped
24:03pieces to form the top, leaving a propeller-shaped gap.
24:11Workers will place this mold in a steel frame, add a system of tubes to pour in the molten metal,
24:18then cover it with sand to prevent the top of the mold floating when they fill it.
24:25The foundry will cast the propeller from a special bronze alloy, a mixture of copper, nickel and aluminum.
24:32The alloy that we use is actually called nickel-aluminium bronze, and it's very corrosion-resistant, and it's a strong
24:39material, so it's quite suited for ship's propellers.
24:44But the size of the special propeller creates problems.
24:48It's a big propeller. It weighs, when casted, about 30 tons.
24:53To avoid serious imperfections, they must fill the mold in one continuous pouring.
25:00But this propeller needs more bronze than their largest ladle will hold.
25:06What's special for this project is that we use two ladles at the same time to make sure that the
25:12mold is filled at once.
25:15Using two ladles speeds up the pouring process, helping ensure that when the mold is broken open, the propeller will
25:24contain no serious imperfections.
25:31Once they start pouring, there's no going back.
25:35It takes less than three minutes to cast the propeller.
25:40But it will take three weeks for it to cool and harden.
25:45Only then will they know if the propellers will be ready for their installation in four months.
25:54But right now, at the shipyard in Genoa, workers are anxiously awaiting the hull section from Castellammare.
26:03Today is an important day. We are going to join the two big sections.
26:10As soon as the section coming from Castellammare has arrived, we close the gate of the dry dock and we
26:17start to empty the dry dock.
26:21Pierluigi won't rest easy until he knows that the two sections are perfectly joined.
26:27We don't have the plan B because only the A can exist.
26:33But bringing them together in this narrow dock will be a challenge.
26:41The dock's width restricts the size of tug they can use to pull the section in.
26:47And gusts of wind blowing on the vessel's large surface exert a powerful force, making it difficult to control.
27:04The tugs struggle to wrangle the flailing 3,300-ton section of ship through the tight entrance.
27:15Once they've placed the section safely in the dock, the workers close the gate.
27:24Now they must align the two sections precisely to make sure the ship is straight before they're welded together.
27:33The first stage is to start the pumps to lower the water in the dock.
27:43As the water drains, they will first winch the smaller section into position.
27:49It sits three feet lower in the water than the newly arrived section because it contains the ship's heavy engines.
27:59As the hull drops, divers will guide its marker pegs into sockets fixed to the dock floor.
28:07Once it is firmly in position, the team will winch in the section from Castellamare, line up its marker pegs,
28:15and let the draining water lower it precisely into place, ensuring that both sections are perfectly in line.
28:28Lowering the first section into position is the easy part.
28:38Lining up the new section from Castellamare will be more difficult.
28:44Four diesel-powered winches enable them to maneuver it with precision.
28:52Steel guides lead it into its approximate position.
29:08But guiding the marker pegs into place under water needs an expert eye.
29:16A diver will help the team line it up precisely.
29:20How much is left behind the fork?
29:25Okay, more or less than 65.
29:29They restart the pumps to lower the second hull.
29:36This will be the moment of truth.
29:39Will the two sections fit?
29:43The diver shows them they are out of alignment.
29:50Two as the first, two centimeters.
29:55We are perfect.
29:57After some maneuvering, the alignment is looking better.
30:06Now it's in place.
30:07It fits.
30:09Both sections of the hull line up precisely.
30:14Once they are welded together to form a single vessel, it will be time to install the propulsion system.
30:24In the Netherlands, the propeller has cooled and been released from its mold.
30:33Now workers must grind its blades to their precise shape.
30:37They have different tools to grind away the materials.
30:41They start with the coarse grinder, and afterwards they will get to the finer grinders.
30:46These grinders are equipped with tough aluminum oxide cutting heads that shave off a thin layer of bronze on each
30:54pass.
30:56Now there are marks on the propeller blade on how much material needs to be removed.
31:01It's a few millimeters.
31:03Over a period of four weeks, the grinders will remove about one ton of bronze from the propeller.
31:10It's highly skilled work.
31:12Any unwanted bumps left on its surface could cause the ship to vibrate.
31:20And if they damage it, making a replacement from scratch will take months and delay the maiden voyage.
31:33While work continues on all stages of the ship's construction,
31:38across the Atlantic Ocean in Carl Gables, Florida,
31:42another team is rushing to design the fittings for the liner's high-end cabins and common spaces.
31:50Johan del Ruiz faces his own challenge.
31:54Luxury items like stone floors and marble walls are heavy.
32:00Weight is one of the biggest concerns we have on board a ship.
32:02So you try to put the majority of your weight in the lower decks.
32:06If you're doing stone floors, you will limit the amount that you will use on the upper decks,
32:10just to prevent the ship from listing.
32:12So as you go higher on the ship, you tend to use lighter, more airy materials.
32:16But Johan del will have his work cut out for him.
32:21The most expensive suites on the vessel, full of stone and marble,
32:26will sit right at the top of the ship.
32:30They must make sure they don't jeopardize its stability.
32:36If they put too much weight high up, it could lead to disaster.
32:42In the summer of 1915, the SS Eastland, with 2,500 passengers on board,
32:49was about to set off for a pleasure cruise on the Chicago River.
32:54After the Titanic disaster three years earlier,
32:58government legislation had required the ship's owners to install more lifeboats on the main deck.
33:05Unfortunately, the extra weight of the boats made the Eastland top-heavy and unstable.
33:13Before leaving the harbor, it rolled over and capsized.
33:21844 passengers and crew died.
33:30At the shipbuilder's headquarters in Trieste,
33:34Michele Moro must keep a detailed inventory of the weight of every object on board the Explorer,
33:39and where it sits on the ship.
33:42We have inside about 20,000 items recorded.
33:49From lifeboats to bathtubs, pianos to plates.
33:54This is the description of the item.
33:57This is the position of the deck.
33:59We have the quantity.
34:01This is the kilos.
34:04A computer plots the location of every object to calculate the stability of the ship.
34:11To position the most expensive and heaviest suites high on the ship,
34:16Michele has figured out they must cut tons of weight from elsewhere.
34:25Instead of the original vision of glass balconies, designers must use lighter steel railings.
34:34The ship's funnel or chimney will no longer be steel, but an aluminum alloy, which weighs half as much.
34:43But that's still not enough.
34:49Johandel needs to find a way to slim down the furnishings.
34:54What we decided to do, you use a honeycomb system similar to what I'm holding here.
34:58So half of the panel would be a marble or a granite, and then it'll be back to a honeycomb
35:02made out of aluminum,
35:03and it'll keep it very light and airy.
35:05As you can imagine, 52 suites times a lot of marble equals a lot of weight.
35:10So making small changes, including this, we've been able to reduce the weight quite significantly.
35:22With the calculations complete, over 1,000 workers in Genoa are now racing the clock to finish the ship.
35:33In the space of four and a half months, cranes winched the megablocks forming the upper decks and the aluminum
35:40funnel into position.
35:4442 megablocks are in place, leaving only 11 to install.
35:50It's beginning to look like a ship.
35:57To deliver the vessel in time, eight months from now, work on the ship reaches a fever pitch.
36:06Inside, the steel labyrinth of the hull pulses with industry.
36:14Teams of electricians, fitters and mechanics cram nearly every space.
36:21Power supplies fill the dockside.
36:24More than 40 miles of cables feed electricity to the welders on board.
36:34Underneath the ship's hull, engineers are gearing up to fit the starboard propeller, the second of two.
36:44We've prepared the propeller shaft to receive the propeller.
36:48And now we will lift the propeller using the pulleys and start installing it on the shaft.
36:57The team must thread the 14-ton propeller onto this 120-foot long shaft.
37:06The propeller must sit absolutely symmetrically on the shaft.
37:10If it's off-center, when it turns, it will cause the ship to vibrate.
37:18The machining requires such a high degree of precision that we don't talk about millimeters, but tenths or hundredths of
37:26a millimeter.
37:34The smallest impact between the propeller and the shaft could damage both precision-crafted components.
37:44The final stage is without doubt the most critical.
37:49If the propeller gets damaged during installation, it will be a major problem,
37:55because it will take several months to supply a new propeller.
38:04It takes eight hours of painstaking work to mount the starboard propeller.
38:16Coupling of the propeller with the shaft is complete.
38:19It all went well.
38:21Just a few more activities and the ship will be ready for launch.
38:26It has taken 1,500 workers nine months to assemble the megablocks,
38:32install the electrical and ventilation systems, and fit two massive propellers.
38:40Still, inside, there's a huge amount of work to be done.
38:45Large areas of the Seven Seas Explorer are bare steel.
38:51The shipyard team has just seven months to transform this cold gray skeleton into a floating palace.
39:01At workshops in northern Italy, teams of craftsmen are busy manufacturing the wall coverings and furniture.
39:11But some luxury materials present hazards.
39:19One of their greatest concerns is fire.
39:25In April 1990, an arsonist started a fire on board the ferry Scandinavian Star.
39:33The fire spread rapidly.
39:36Poisonous smoke spread through corridors and into cabins.
39:43159 people died.
39:49To prevent a similar disaster today, the ship is divided into compartments.
39:56If a fire breaks out in one, doors automatically close to contain the blaze.
40:05These doors do double duty.
40:07In the event of a collision, they also prevent water from flooding through the ship, keeping it from sinking.
40:19But there's one thing the doors can't stop.
40:25If a fire destroys the control cables running from the bridge to the engine room, it could cripple the ship.
40:36On the bridge, technicians are wiring up the explorer's controls, connecting them to the propulsion system and to the GPS
40:44-enabled automated navigation system, which is accurate to six feet.
40:51Because these wires are so critical, the ship is being built to a new 2010 safety standard, called Safe Return
41:00to Port.
41:04Unlike older cruise ships, every control and power cable on the Explorer will have a backup, rooted through a different
41:13part of the vessel.
41:15So if one network is burned out, the ship can still sail safely on to the nearest port.
41:24If a fire destroys the main bridge, the explorer has another line of defense.
41:31A backup bridge, four decks higher up.
41:34This is an emergency wheelhouse, and it's closed in a protected box.
41:40So in case of a fire, of real emergency, you can maneuver the ship from here.
41:47The cables that are coming here are completely separated to the rest of the cable on the ship.
42:02The maiden voyage is just four months away.
42:06But with so many details to attend to, the work is falling behind schedule.
42:12This is a luxury ship, and we need to take care of all the small details of the installation.
42:18This is the most challenging part of the building.
42:24To get the vessel ready on time, Pierre Luigi pulls out all the stops.
42:30We have a lot of people on board.
42:32Today there will be about 1,500 people.
42:36Workers are under intense pressure as they lay over 500,000 square feet of flooring.
42:44And install over 1,800 panes of glass.
42:49And there's still one final hurdle to clear.
42:55Before the shipyard can deliver the vessel, the ship must pass a barrage of tests, called a sea trial.
43:04The pressure to get underway is now really on.
43:26Three weeks later than originally planned,
43:29over 500 engineers and technicians board the ship for the sea trials.
43:49The explorers set sail for the first time.
44:05It's make or break for Pierre Luigi.
44:08Over the next three days, his team will run tests on every critical system on board.
44:15And the builders have to be on hand to answer questions.
44:19The person who will make the final decision is ship surveyor Jean-Jacques Jeunet.
44:27Jean-Jacques and his team must certify that the ship conforms to international regulations.
44:34And is seaworthy.
44:36But it's completely independent from what we have on the bridge.
44:401,000.
44:41Okay.
44:42And 1,000.
44:43At the end of the building period, we will issue a class certificate, which will allow the ship to sail.
44:52And we will also issue safety certificates.
44:56And this will allow the vessel to take passengers.
45:00Without these certificates, the ship is just a floating piece of steel.
45:11They will run the tests around the clock.
45:16One of the first is on the anchor.
45:19If the ship loses power, to stop it drifting, they must be able to drop the anchor fast.
45:29Ah, it goes perfectly.
45:34They test the steering system to check how fast the ship can turn if it runs into danger.
45:44But for a cruise ship, there is another test that is just as critical.
45:52For the ship to be comfortable, it must sail with almost no vibrations.
46:00Has all the work designing and making the special six-bladed propeller paid off?
46:07For the owner, this will be an important test because this will measure the level of comfort that the passengers
46:13will feel during their cruises.
46:16We are a little bit nervous also because these parameters are really important for the owner.
46:25Technicians must visit every part of the ship and measure the vibration.
46:32The test must be carried out under the most demanding conditions, when the ship is sailing at full speed.
46:41This vibration sensor measures any movement of the deck.
46:47It needs weight to hold it firmly in position.
46:55As the ship sails through the night, they collect their readings.
47:09In order for the ship to qualify as a comfort class vessel, the outcome of this test is critical.
47:17As is the overall result.
47:22After three days and nights, Jean-Jacques Jeunet gives the verdict.
47:28The measurements have been done here during this Cetriale.
47:31They are quite impressive, impressively good.
47:36The explorer passes all its tests and is certified to sail.
47:42But Pierre Luigi and his team can't rest on their laurels.
47:46The result was very, very good.
47:48Now we have the final rush.
47:53In the final few weeks, the activity on board becomes frantic.
47:58Hundreds of craftsmen are racing the clock.
48:02Installing over an acre of marble.
48:05And 473 chandeliers.
48:09This is intricate, time-consuming work.
48:18Two days before the ship must leave the shipyard, CEO Frank Del Rio arrives from Miami.
48:25And finds the work is far from complete.
48:29I was worried at the time I signed the contract three years ago.
48:32So yes, I'm worried.
48:33But we're working through the night.
48:35We're working double shifts.
48:38They are cutting it very close.
48:41The night before departure, the theater isn't finished.
48:45And the band is on stage rehearsing the first show.
48:51But the next morning, there's an amazing transformation.
48:57In the nick of time, the ship is passenger ready.
49:10On the bridge, her first captain, Stanislas Mercier de la Coupe, takes command.
49:16Two, three, five.
49:19He sets course for Monaco, where the ship will be christened.
49:23After 20 years at sea, he experiences, for the first time, a brand new ship under his control.
49:31For 10.
49:36The ship is amazing.
49:37We are able to go nearly at 21 knots, and there is basically no wake.
49:42The maneuverability of the ship is really nice.
49:45A lot of power.
49:47But we just start to know each other.
49:51So it's a bit like a first date.
49:53We take things very slow, very gentle.
49:57Hard to port.
50:05Safely docked in Monaco, they make final preparations to receive the first passengers.
50:14One New York strip, medium.
50:16One porterhouse, medium.
50:19In the galleys, the ship's 85 chefs start preparing the haute cuisine meals.
50:27In the $10,000 a night regent suite, the butler sets the finishing touches.
50:35All is ready for the christening ceremony.
50:43The ship's godmother, Princess Charlene of Monaco, will christen the ship with a Goliath bottle, containing seven gallons of champagne.
50:52I bless the ship, seven sea explorer.
50:56May God bless her and all who sail on her.
50:59New York strip, 24-year-old Kim.
51:02I believe he is.
51:06We're on the way.
51:08Let's go!
51:08Let's go!
51:13There you go!
51:17Mr. Stations 1 & 2, we are on the way.
51:20OK.
51:24After three years of design, 18 months of construction, and the work of thousands of
51:32engineers, designers, and craftsmen, the Seven Seas Explorer is finally ready to sail the
51:40oceans of the world.
52:27This NOVA program is available on DVD.
52:30To order, visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
52:36NOVA is also available for download on iTunes.
52:40Thank you very much for joining us today.
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