Ship Rescue

A HURRICANE IMPACTS THE PROJECT

As Elation was entering the Bahamas dry dock for rehabilitation, a storm was forming off of Cape Verde in the central Atlantic Ocean. By August 31, that storm developed into a Category 3 hurricane named Irma. With wind speeds up to 180 mph and barometric pressure dropping to 914 mbars, Irma fluctuated between Category 5 and Category 4 designations for several days, bringing death and destruction with her. The Bahamas were right in Hurricane Irma’s path. As a safety measure, the islands were evacuated and work on the Elation came to a halt. Sardi described the scene: “The ship left Grand Bahamas Shipyard and sailed with all the contractors and Carnival superintendents and crew for some days before sailing back to the shipyard to re-start with all the jobs on board.”

Irma became the fifth costliest Atlantic hurricane in recorded U.S. history, striking the Bahamas on September 8. Although it caused no fatalities there, it caused $135 million in damage. Given the fact that Irma’s total death toll was 134¹ and overall damage reached upward of $64.8 billion USD², the Bahamas were fortunate to have such limited consequences.

However, by the time that work resumed on the Elation, she had already been in dry dock longer than scheduled. The race was on to complete the rehab and return the cruise ship to service.

1 John P. Cangialosi; Andrew S. Latto; Robbie J. Berg (March 9, 2018). Hurricane Irma (AL112017). PDF. National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Report. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
2 James Daniell; Bernhard Mühr; Antonios Pomonis; Andreas Schäfer; Susanna Mohr. Hurricane Irma: Report No. 1, Focus on Caribbean up until 8th September 2017. PDF. Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology. Retrieved March 12, 2018.

MAPEI PRODUCTS ON THE JOBSITE

Working to restore the mid-ship pool area on Deck 10, the Precetti crew was responsible for ensuring that the shipboard pool and surrounding bars and restaurants were as spectacular as the architects specified — these were some of the most popular, high-traffic areas on board.

A thin layer of MAPEI’s anti-corrosive marine primer Mapecoat Guard 100 was applied to the prepared surface. Then, to level and protect, the crew used the brand-new, Marine-certified, self-leveling polyurethane underlayment Mapedeck Litescreed (an Italian product planned for an upcoming U.S. debut) mixed with Marine Filler 20. The new, Marine-certified, thixotropic polyurethane underlayment Mapedeck Litescreed Tixo (another Italian product) was used to level the uneven vertical steel in the pool beach and coamings. The Precetti team used Kerapoxy as a mortar and Kerapoxy CQ grout to install the tiles in addition to the pool mosaics.

At the same time, Nova Marine Services LLC was hard at work refitting the worn, high-traffic floors of Tiffany’s Lido Restaurant (located in the aft area of Deck 10) as well as the SPA Carnival lobby and the corridors in the forward area of Deck 12.

In each of these areas, the steel deck had been worn down by high levels of foot traffic to a point of noticeable unevenness. In order to re-level the steel substrate, the Nova Marine crew used Ultraplan 1 Plus, MAPEI’s quick-setting, self-leveling, cementitious underlayment. This was topped with Planibond EBA high-modulus epoxy bonding agent. After a broadcast of quartz sand, tiles were set with Granirapid and grouted with Ultracolor Plus (warm gray color).

MAPEI products used in the project provided rapid setting time and curing speed as well as vital durability.

Although the Elation was originally scheduled to return to service on September 28, the unexpected delay caused by Irma’s visit pushed the ship’s official re-entry to October 7 – just a week’s delay on an island ravaged by a powerful hurricane. However, time is money in a construction project, and every day in dry dock is lost revenue for Carnival; scheduled days are the cost of business, and too many unscheduled days could “sink the boat.” Thankfully, the quick curing of MAPEI products meant that the pool could be filled, the corridors walked down, the restaurants enjoyed, and the Elation returned to service without a longer – costlier – delay.

"The ship was a hive of jobsites with contractors working independently and coordinating work around one another," Sardi said. MAPEI Marine Products played an important role, helping to create a ship of which the owners can be proud. Sardi and the crew from Precetti Inc. and Nova Marine LLC certainly are proud of their work. For all involved, Carnival's Elation embodies her name.