# Luxury liner squeezes under bridge with 20" to spare **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355 "2010-11-03T18:14:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/41 "2010-11-06T20:45:50Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > As **septimus** suggests, they could go for a Viking-style portage, but the cost of the beer or mead needed to get everyone drunk enough to haul a 100,000 ton ship across Schleswig-Holstein **would probably be prohibitive.** Quite! 😃 That was pretty doggone funny, imagining that. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/42 "2010-11-06T21:28:13Z")
They had to get some cranes to Oakland a few years ago, and they had to make some [very tight squeezes under the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges](http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/Giant-Cranes-Squeak-Under-Bay-Bridges.html). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/43 "2010-11-06T22:13:36Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Half of that weight is alcohol. Not likely at that time. The vessel was coming from the shipyard where it was built, going to Florida for it’s first voyage with passengers. The alcohol (and cheesecake) would probably not be loaded until it arrived in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/44 "2010-11-06T22:42:51Z")
Pfft! Like we’d ever let anything leave Finland without massive amounts of alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/45 "2010-11-06T23:10:44Z")
These modern “super liners” are the ugliest things ever to sail the seven seas. Seriously, they look like a Holiday Inn from the 1960s placed on a barge. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/46 "2010-11-06T23:18:47Z")
“WOO HOOOO! I’M THE KING OF THE WOOORR-oof” _thwump_ _splash_ ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/47 "2010-11-06T23:39:15Z")
> [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Pfft! Like we’d ever let anything leave Finland without massive amounts of alcohol. And it came here. Like we’d ever let them in without bringing us massive amounts of alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/48 "2010-11-07T08:35:22Z")
> [@jenaroph](#): > > “woo hoooo! I’m the king of the wooorr-oof” _thwump_ > > _splash_ brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/49 "2010-11-07T10:22:49Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > “WOO HOOOO! I’M THE KING OF THE WOOORR-oof” _thwump_ > > _splash_ Wow am I ever glad to have swallowed my soup before I read that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/50 "2010-11-08T02:47:37Z")
I did the riverboat cruise in Pittsburgh, where the radar mast cleared a couple of bridges by inches. > [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](#): > > Pfft! Like we’d ever let anything leave Finland without massive amounts of alcohol. Including my friends who went for the NHL games in October.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/51 "2010-11-08T04:24:16Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > And who insured the passage? As far as I am aware this exercise would not require particular insurance (outside normal cover) because navigation in this waterway for this vessel would be within ordinary trading limits. The vessel’s liability for collision with fixed and floating objects would be covered by the vessel’s protection and indemnity insurer (or “P&I Club” as they are known). The vessel’s P&I entry is not as yet displayed on publically available resources. However, Caribbean Cruises have most of their vessels with [Steamship Mutual](http://www.simsl.com/) and they would therefore be my guess. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Was this a planned event? Did they know ahead of time how tight the tolerance was going to be to clear that bridge? If I were to say “hell, yes!” that would be setting whole new records in understatement. This passage would have been planned to within an inch of its life. The bridge height, the measurements of the superstructure, the vessel’s draft and the tide height would have been studied to within millimetres. A point to bear in mind is that the consequence of getting it wrong would probably not have been as spectacular as you might imagine. The very upper parts of the vessel are relatively lightly constructed masts and funnels etc. The bridge span would be massive concrete and steel. If they got it slightly wrong (and they wouldn’t get it wrong by much), all that would have happened is that the vessel would have had some relatively superficial (if highly embarrassing!) damage to extreme upper works and the bridge would have had a paint scrape. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355/52 "2010-11-08T11:42:56Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Cruise ships sure have gotten ugly in the last few years. To quote the owner of a shipping company operating between Sweden and Finland: “The beauty of a cruise ship lies in the thickness of the owner’s wallet”. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Was this a planned event? A has already been pointed out, yes, this was a very planned event and, no, this is the only possible route. > [@Sunspace](#): > > The Øresund crossing also includes a tunnel. I wonder whether the depth over the tunnel was not enough for the ship? Very much so. It wasn’t shown in the film clip in the article linked to in the OP that the funnels are retractable. A little feature included solely for this passage costing a mere 2.3 million USD. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/luxury-liner-squeezes-under-bridge-with-20-to-spare/559355.md?page=2)