Ultimate ships tour

I had signed up for the Ultimate Ships Tour which separates the men from the boys with a $150 fee, purely an idea for revenue generation by Princess (as stated by our guide), but also in a very worthwhile tour. Ships tours used to be free, but this was also much more extensive. First, you need to sign the ultimate liability release, which indicates you may be subject to all sorts of hazards: smoke, chemicals, falls, impalement on sharp objects, loud noise, etc. My kind of tour. Except for one major detail, no cameras or video for "security reasons." They claim they don't want their competitors to learn their secrets, although I pointed out their competitors can learn all their secrets for $150. We were accompanied by security the whole time and there were only 8 of us. Remember the lottery for the 12 spots? Easy to win one of the 12 spots with only 8 lottery players.

The tour began on the bridge, and was hosted by the Captain himself,
Dino Sagani. The bridge is pretty impressive with floor to ceiling
windows all around. They have typical navigation equipment just a
step above what you would find on Living The Dream. It was
interesting to hear the career path to become a Captain. He started
his nautical career painting the hull. The captain told some
interesting stories which I will spare you from, but if you threw the
ship into reverse "crash" mode it would take a mile to stop. We were
asked not to push any buttons. Better to steer around an obstacle.
Smoke alarms went off constantly and were investigated. Usually
someone showering with the door open.

These are photos of the "free" photos that came with the tour. Try to pick out the important person (other than me) in each photo. Good. Now try to filter out the seven unimportant people in your mind.

Next we went inside the funnel with the Staff Captain, #2 in command. I was disappointed that they did not serve cake in there but it does smell like “chips” (fries) because the kitchen exhaust hoods vent out there as well. They take pride in how clean the engines run and inside the stack there are vibrators which keep soot from accumulating. The Queen Mary had a fire due to grease buildup in the stack so they clean those stacks often. There are two jet engines up there, one of which could power the entire ship but they don’t use them because they suck up so much fuel. What look like jet engines when you look at the stack from the outside are just for appearance and are empty inside. I’m not sure why they took us up there but the photographer got a picture. The stairs were steep, narrow and slippery and it was cold.

The chief engineer gave us a little talk in the engine control room. You could see the actual engines on a video screen, but that’s as close as any guest is getting to the engine room. They do make their own water but not by reverse osmosis, they use evaporation and the water is clean and absolutely pure. Then they pump it full of chlorine. The engineer was nervous because they were almost out of fuel. They filled up in Vancouver about two weeks ago and he just wants to get to Muroran tomorrow to fill up again. Did you know the ship goes faster at night? Do you know why? Diesel generators drive electric motors which drive the props which rotate inward which is unusual. Inward rotation gives a smoother ride but uses more fuel. He says 75% of the cruise fare goes toward fuel. Most ships use outward rotating props so the ship uses less fuel but guests vibrate more. At night, when guests go to bed, they turn off their lights which allows for more electricity to power the motors so the ship goes faster. (If you want to get to your destination faster, turn out your lights.)

When the engineer was on loan to Cunard, they had to make a run to England and were waiting for four truck loads of meat before they could leave. The trucks were late, then later, finally arriving at 3am. They loaded all the meat, cast off, then hurried up to keep their schedule, but waiting for the meat ended up costing $1,500,000 in extra fuel. He thought the guests should have eaten more fish and skipped the meat.

We met the Chief Purser who toured us around the food storage areas, food prep areas and galley. We went into the meat freezer which was 35 degrees below zero. Indeed, it was crisp, especially in my short sleeve shirt. We didn’t spend too long in the freezer as frostbite was not on the release. It was all very impressive and they have about 250 guests with special dietary requirements which gum up the works but they work hard to accommodate them. They had a roll making machine which was very cool and I deeply regret I have no video of. Two guys prepare all the fish, they grind all their own hamburger, it just goes on and on. Fresh vegetables come on in Korea and Hong Kong, frozen food comes from the US.

Next stop was the laundry. More massive machines. Two guys feed in a washed, wrinkled bedsheet and it comes out the other end pressed and folded. Another guy was pressing dress shirts, maybe three or four a minute. Jaw dropping. Pants on another machine. They were reupholstering chairs, all incredible.

Print shop, not too unusual although the offset plates are no longer metal, but come out of a laser printer. They do a lot of printing and do their layout in Pagemaker. Two guys run it all.

The photo lab uses all digital cameras but print with chemicals, not ink jet as you would think. They say the quality is better. Every photo is hand approved before printing, 18,000 per cruise average.

On to the theater. More cool stage stuff but a movie was going on (Marx Brothers) so they couldn’t demonstrate the lifts and other special features. Then to the dressing room. One for men and women, no time to be shy. Each dancer has a “dresser,” men who ready the costumes and help the dancers with the quick changes. The dressers all have other jobs on the ship but help out with the shows. There is a two year wait to be a dresser. The costumes are made in Los Angeles and they had seamstresses who altered the costumes for the dancers but got off in Whittier so everyone has to stay the same size for the next 8 months. Try that on a cruise ship.

I could go on and on but it was a really great tour, even though I have been on many bridge tours. The ship appears to be very well run and efficient.

We are in port in Muroran, Japan tomorrow so I get a day off from exercise. My arms are killing me.

Tonight we pick up yet another hour. And get this: Tomorrow night, Yom Kippur, we LOSE an hour. Ha!

No internet tomorrow so you can turn your computer off. It's a Japanese thing.

Regards,

Steve & Laurie