The good people at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany have released a one-minute video (dated Friday, August 7) of themselves attaching a propulsion pod to Carnival Festivale, Carnival's fourth Excel-class ship. It is, and I say this sincerely, riveting content for the roughly eleven of us who get excited about azimuth thrusters.

Here is what happens in the clip: a pod the size of a small building is rigged to cranes, engineers hover with the intensity of people who know the invoice, purple Loctite 128068 flange sealant is smeared onto the joint, and the pod is lowered into place. A second pod is already mounted. Welding sparks in the background, because on a project this size everything happens at once.

The Part Where I Ruin the Suspense

You may notice the thrusters have no propellers. This is not a factory defect. Per the shipyard, "the final propellers will only be installed shortly before the launch," after which the two pods will push all 182,800 gross tons of Festivale to a top speed of 21.5 knots — roughly 25 miles per hour. Thomas has moved faster toward a breakfast burrito, but for a floating city, it'll do.

Where This Is Headed

Steel was cut on April 8, 2025, the keel was laid that August, and the engines went in this past March. Festivale is scheduled to welcome her first guests on May 19, 2027 for a 4-night Bahamas run out of Port Canaveral, followed by 6- and 8-night Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries. Every sailing stops at Celebration Key, which just turned one and ate 400,000 donuts, so at least the ship is aiming somewhere it knows the snacks.

Read the shipyard's own play-by-play over at Cruise Hive. I'll be here, quietly judging the paint job that hasn't happened yet.