Why Docking Icon of the Seas Can Go Wrong in Seconds

Icon of the Seas is 1,196 feet long, twenty decks high, and she has no brakes. Every week she still has to stop a few feet from a pier in Miami, with the wind pushing on her side like a sail. In Cozumel in 2019, a passenger filmed what happens when that goes wrong: Carnival Glory swinging into a ship that was already tied up. This video follows one arrival from before dawn to the last mooring line. The pilot who climbs aboard from a small boat at sea, the twenty feet of water under the keel in Government Cut, the turning basin where the propeller pods do the braking, and the last ten feet, where every order is said twice. Along the way, the days it went wrong on other ships, and the decision the captain makes before the ship even reaches the port. Some images in this video are AI-generated reconstructions of Icon of the Seas, based on published specifications. Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:13 Before dawn 2:29 The sea buoy 3:41 Government Cut 6:36 The turning basin 8:39 300 feet 10:18 The last 10 feet 12:07 The call Sources Icon of the Seas, specifications (Baird Maritime): https://www.bairdmaritime.com/passeng... Icon class (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icon-cl... Carnival Glory and Carnival Legend collision, Cozumel (CBS Miami): https://cbsnews.com/miami/news/carniv... A retired captain on the Cozumel collision (CBS Boston): https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/r... New York pilot boarding accident, December 2019 (WorkBoat): https://www.workboat.com/news/coastal... Government Cut (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governm... PortMiami deep dredge completion: https://miamidade.gov/portmiami/press... Squat effect (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_e... Viking Sky, Hustadvika 2019 (Maritime Executive): https://maritime-executive.com/articl... Viking Sky final report (NSIA): https://nsia.no/Marine/Published-repo... MSC Opera in Venice (AP via KTVU): https://www.ktvu.com/news/5-injured-i... Beaufort scale (NOAA): https://www.weather.gov/mfl/beaufort Wind limits for very large cruise ships in Victoria (Pacific Pilotage Authority): https://www.ppa.gc.ca/standard/pilota... Wonder of the Seas skips CocoCay (CruiseHive): https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-cari... Dublin Viking mooring line accident (MAIB report): https://www.gov.uk/maib-reports/parti... Icon skips CocoCay, January 2025 (CruiseHive): https://www.cruisehive.com/several-cr... CocoCay pier damage and February 2026 skipped calls (Royal Caribbean Blog): https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/20... Port fees on missed ports (Cruise Critic): https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles... This channel is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International.