chengkp75

No definitive cause was ever found. As for a "credible" theory, the investigators, in a laboratory setting, with a Princess cruise line towel, tried to ignite it with a cigarette, and couldn't, so I don't hold this as too "credible" either.

Sorry, can't support this conspiracy. The extent of the fire was caused by several design and material failures, but it did start on the balcony, but how is another question. Flicked cigarettes have caused major structural fires and wildfires over many years.

There was never any court involved in the Star Princess fire, merely an investigation by the UK MAIB. From a safety standpoint, I don't see a real problem. I won't comment on the social aspects.

Has to be outside 12 miles to open the casino.

Without knowing the actual fees involved, I couldn't hazard a guess. It may also be that they were going to be below the required (by company policy) minimum fuel quantity if trying for Canaveral. This could have been for MGO, if they are burning this in the US ECA. They may have been spending more time in the ECA, due to weather, than a normal itinerary. Yeah, I looked up some of the PEV services, and it looks like most docks have "over the dock" pipelines. Again, don't know where the terminal is for that, and the port charges a fee for every ton of fuel pumped across their docks, and that may be less than a barging fee for Canaveral. Tanker trucks would be removing waste oil for incineration or recycling.

Since there are no pipelines in Florida, there is a quite large Jones Act tanker trade between the US Gulf Coast and Florida. FLL is a major terminal for gasoline and jet fuel. I'm not sure who brings in residual fuel or diesel, or where. Generally, fuel contracts specify multiple delivery ports, and are not ship specific, but fleet specific. A typical contract would specify all ports on the Atlantic Florida coast (and probably further up the coast as well), for the same contract price. The big difference would be the barging charge, which could range to $10k or so, depending on where the supplier is bringing the fuel from. That would be nice if the ship used gasoline. As I said, most of the storage in FLL is gasoline or jet fuel. Since we were on runs between the US Gulf and Florida, we bunkered in Texas or Louisiana, since any residual fuel has to be shipped into Florida, raising the cost. Even diesel is not brought in to Florida (that's Marine diesel, not the #1 Diesel used for cars) in great amounts. I've been trying to rack my brain for the name of bunkering services I've seen in Florida, but just coming up empty. Four hours of bunkering is not a large amount. That would be around 2000 tons, max, and would be likely 8-10 days fuel for Harmony, depending on the itinerary.

What was the ship doing at these times? This is usually indicative of rapidly changing load (entering or leaving port, so massive changes in propulsion, or thrusters), or the system adding or taking off a generator to maximize efficiency. Electrical demand is instantaneous, but the engines driving the generators are mechanical, and have a small reaction time, during which the engine/generator slows down very slightly, and this causes the frequency of the power to vary, causing the lights to dim and brighten. Very common.

But, on a foreign flag cruise ship, she would not make anywhere near that much.

First off, I don't think they're certified. But, they would likely be classified as "hotel utilities", and would have responsibilities like cleaning the open deck areas, arranging loungers, taking out the trash, etc. And, they would likely make less than $8/hour.

Ship's carpenters should have those built in a day, and painted in two.

What are "real deal lifeguards"? Certified? By whom? Or do they just stand there and look like lifeguards?

Main pools are typically drained only once a week. Hot tubs nightly.

The "Infant Only RWF" must have it's own water system, separate from all other RWF's. The filtration system has to have a higher "turn over rate" (the number of times the entire water volume is filtered per hour) than other RWF. The Infant Only splash has, in addition to normal filtration, and chlorination, an Ultraviolet Sterilizer that treats all the water as it is filtered. The Infant Only RWF can only have a standing depth of water of 2" (used to be zero inches, but the sun was heating the deck so much that the kids were burning their feet). Most of the RWF is "fountains and sprays", not a real pool. The RWF must have an emergency shutdown, to be activated in case of a fecal incident, which will drain all the water from the RWF. The RWF must have signage for the use regulations of the RWF. The RWF must have one crew member permanently assigned to only monitor the RWF. There must be a changing area for swim diapers nearby, and the ship must provide a supply of swim diapers. Of the features listed above, no land pools that have swim diapers allowed areas have anything like these measures. This is why when the CDC studied land public pools (over which they have no jurisdiction), they found that 90% of the swim diaper areas would have been shut down immediately if they had been under the USPH VSP like cruise ships.

The first time a "static" pipe is opened (you noticed it in your sink first, but hadn't run the shower yet), the scale that has accumulated would come out. So, running the sink would not clear the shower pipes, or vice versa. And, virtually every "static" pipe will have the same problem.

Didn't say that. I don't doubt he got sick from the water, but likely it was a massive dose of calcium scale, which can cause vomiting. But, running the water until it cleared would have prevented it, and it wasn't something they added to the water.

For the Ems river conveyance, the ship is towed and only uses her own propulsion in some deeper areas of the river, as they would churn up the riverbed too much. So, you don't have the issues of the ship's propulsion tending to turn the ship one way or the other. The tugs now provide their own steering capability, both at the bow and stern, and given the slow speed of the conveyance, the turning center is closer to the center of the ship. The blunt stern allows for a wider spread to the two towing cables going to the aft tug, allowing it better control over twist than the longer, narrower spread of the bow tug. I've also had a brain fart, and switched the directions that the turning center moves, it is 1/3 of the way from the bow going forward, and 1/3 of the way from the stern when going astern. So, when going astern in the Ems, the bow thrusters are furthest away from the turning center, so they will have more effect on turning the ship than the azipods. I apologize, don't know why I switched the points, but I did, but the result is the same.

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. Whether with controllable pitch propellers and rudders, or with azipods, when a ship goes astern, it will always want to swing the stern to one side or the other. Also, the point at which a ship rotates around when steering moves with the direction the ship is going. If the ship is stationary, it will rotate around the center (longitudinally) of the ship. When going ahead, the turning center moves to a point 2/3 of the way back from the bow. Likewise, when going astern, the turning center moves to a point 2/3 of the way from the stern (1/3 from the bow). So, when backing, with the azipods at the stern, and the turning point near the bow, lateral stability (the ability to maintain a straight course) suffers from the long moment arm from the propellers to the turning center, and so small changes in steering create large changes in course. Because the harbor is not a uniform depth, it is a dredged channel for the ships, and then more shallow areas outside the channel, being able to steer in a straight line up the channel becomes paramount, unless you want to end up like NCL's Escape in the DR. Where the ship backed up to is a wider dredged area called the "turning basin" where the dredged area is wider than the ship is long. And, finally, the Captain is far more comfortable being able to see what he might hit, than relying on cameras (notably poor depth perception) or the 3rd officer's radio reports from the stern. And, I might as well go for my pet peeve in terminology. There is no "the aft". Aft is not a noun, it is a adjective or adverb. Sensors for going astern would be in the stern, not "the aft". Sorry.

And, while the amount of water in a pool may seem large to people, let's say a cruise ship pool contains about 15,000 gallons (15' x 30' x 5', which is generous), a large cruise ship can produce well in excess of 500,000 gallons per day. So, that pool is less than one hour's production for the ship. And that pool would be drained only once a week at most.

This does in fact work. Another suggestion is to place the lifejacket under the foot of the mattress, so your ankles are slightly elevated while sleeping. And, yes, the food is a major contributor to the problem. And, as you say, drink more water. Lots of people say, "but I drink a lot", but unless you have a bottle with you at all times, and have to keep refilling it, you don't really know how much you've drunk.

They are not allowed to put any chemical, other than chlorine, hydrochloric acid, and calcium carbonate into the water. What you saw was the result of them shutting the water system off in a section of the ship for repairs. When they do this, the chlorine scale and the calcium scale that forms on the inside of the piping, dries out and breaks off the walls of the pipes. This scale is then circulated around the ship until it settles in the storage tanks. In the main pipes it clears very quickly, but it does tend to settle in the "static" legs running to the cabin sinks and showers, as the water doesn't move here until the taps are opened. This scale will manifest itself as a discoloration of the water, ranging from blue-green to yellow to yellow-brown. Running the water for a minute or two usually clears this up. Yes, they should have announced that the scale would possibly be a problem. If there was a chemical in the water that caused your husband to vomit, it would have gone to every single faucet throughout the ship, and everyone would be sick.

Closing of decks is required when in passenger areas, regardless of how small the fire is, particularly until the actual extent is determined. I don't doubt this happened, but it just isn't a major incident, but Walker always has crew and people who get freaked, and want to sue over anything, or get paid for reporting things.

Probably not. This was likely a "code bravo" (or whatever term RCI uses), where the fire teams respond, and only when the on scene commander recommends to the Captain that the situation requires sending passengers to muster would that happen. For every 100 fires on cruise ships, there may be one passenger muster.

I know what you're asking. Typically, the water produced onboard has a salinity of 0-10ppm (parts per million), while municipal water supplies report salinities like 20-40ppm (NYC) or 30ppm (Miami), and your own Santa Clara water board reports sodium levels above 40ppm at all locations. Some causes of water retention that folks don't think about are the chlorine in the water (there is required to be a measurable residual chlorine level everywhere on the ship, not just at the municipal water plant, so it will be higher than at your home), and actually the purity of the water on the ship. Since the desalinization process removes all minerals from the water, not just the salt, the magnesium and potassium levels are virtually zero, and lack of both of these can lead to water retention and fluid balance. Eating foods rich in magnesium and potassium can help with this.

CBP has waived the fines many, many times in the past for cruises that don't call at foreign ports due to weather or mechanical failures.

Yes, most biodiesel "base stock" is not carbon neutral.