chengkp75

Unfortunately, many of the restaurants that give our town it's foodie reputation are not open for lunch, so unavailable to cruise passengers. Check out restaurant rating sites to see what appeals. There is the Victoria Mansion, Longfellow's House, the Museum of Art (Winslow Homer and the Wyeths), the Portland Observatory for views of Casco Bay, an antique fire truck tour of the town, schooner sails around Casco Bay, and the above mentioned "mail boat run" that brings not only mail but supplies to the island community (they grocery shop on the mainland, and the food is delivered to the ferry for palletizing by island, and dropped off and the families come down to the pier to pick up their groceries).

The problem that Carnival and HAL are having is not separating plastic from paper that can be incinerated, it is separating plastics and paper from food waste, which is merely ground fine and pumped over the side. Most of that trash/food waste comes from the plates and glasses brought into the dishwashing stations in the galleys, where the food is sprayed off into the garbage disposal. This disposal is connected in a continual loop to a collecting tank in the engine room, where the food waste is stored until it is possible to pump it over. This trash never gets to the "garbage" area of the ship. Food waste is the only thing that can be sent over the side, and it must be food waste only. Even a couple of plastic straws would qualify for a fine up to $5000 just for not reporting it, and up to $25,000 for each occurrence. The fines are paid to those individuals who are "whistleblowers" for the infraction, or if no whistleblower, then to the "Abandoned Seafarer's Fund".

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiqt5aRxIP5AhWPjcgKHT5iDWwYABAOGgJxdQ&ae=2&sig=AOD64_2TIK0Wf9f2DteH_qMigecFgRKZ_Q&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwjZq4qRxIP5AhUKk4kEHbEbAa0Qww8oAnoECAEQPg&adurl= We've come a long way. But this uses electronics to convert voltage, not a transformer, which is why it is not for electronics, as the wave form is altered by the electronics in the converter. Yeah, a 2000w transformer is still around 10 lbs.

I don't know, I found a 2000w converter on Amazon that is $32, and weighs 5oz, while a comparable dual voltage dryers (1800w) are about the same price, and weigh twice as much.

Which is why the bridge officers have night vision goggles to wear when the ship transits the whale sanctuary between Oahu and Maui. I worked the Pride of Aloha doing the same cruises for 4 years, and never once missed the Na Pali Coast once.

Lithium mining is not so much a greenhouse gas worry, as a water pollution problem. Processing lithium ore requires 500,000 gallons of water for every ton of lithium extracted. And, this water can leak toxic chemicals into the water, affecting both aquatic life, as well as all animals who drink the water.

What this means is that HAL, and all lines, try not to discharge plastics into the ocean, but just like the woes that Carnival Corp has seen over the past 20 years (when Princess was first cited for dumping plastic with food waste), it is difficult to sort out certain items from the food waste (cracker wrappers, straws, sugar packets). HAL, and all of Carnival Corp lines are trying to eliminate the possibility of these items being discharged, by removing them from the ships in the first place. That may be the goal, but not everything recycled can generate funds for the ship, especially plastics.

I suspect that this is an interporting cruise, with Rome and Barcelona as home ports. Your cruise starts on 9/2, and a Barcelona one likely starts on 9/7 or 9/8, and that is the last date able to book. Their cruise will likely end 5-6 days after yours in Barcelona, and the ship then going to drydock in Cadiz (location speculative on my part).

Absolutely nothing wrong with those lifeboats that a coat of gel-coat restorer can't fix. That's what happens when fiberglass is subjected to intense sunlight for over 20 years.

Can't tell you how many pieces of silverware that are found in the industrial sized garbage disposals on the ships. Only good for artwork at that point.

Yeah, probably me. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to a cabin where the irate passenger has been pestering the front desk, and I find a cabin steward there, either standing around looking lost, or frantically cleaning the shower. I pour the water down the drain, and within 30 seconds, the smell is gone.

A common cause of odors in the cabin bathrooms is the floor drain trap. This is not the shower drain, but there would be another drain in the floor of the bathroom outside the shower to take any overflow. These drains typically see little water flowing into them, and so the dry AC air will evaporate the water in the trap, and allow odors to back up from the holding tanks. A glass of water down these drains every couple of days will keep them from happening. The drain is usually tucked underneath the toilet, or a trough type across the bathroom doorway.

There are typically two types of voltage converters/transformers. Some are designed for electronics, and are relatively low wattage units. These are usually rated in the 200-500 watt range. Others are made specifically for the resistive loads of heat generating appliances. For the hair dryer in question, you need one that is rated for 2000 watts. This will not heat up more than becoming warm to the touch. This is all assuming that the hair dryer in question is not dual voltage. Those with a "brick" in the cord are typically dual voltage and don't need a converter.

Not really. Most of the electric kettles you see on the ships are 220v UK/European models, so the current draw on them is halved over a 110v kettle, and the current ratings for the 110v and 220v circuits are the same, so having a kettle operating at the same time in every cabin is not a problem on the 220v circuit. The major reason they are not placed on most ships is that: 1. North American cruisers don't use them, so they are wasted money, and 2. the amount of man-hours required to routinely take these out of service for testing and inspection and then rotating back into service is just not worth any added passenger convenience. The testing and inspections are called for by the insurance underwriters, due to known failures of the "auto-off" switches causing meltdowns. Ships where they have kettles in every cabin have higher insurance costs, and higher crew costs.

I see that I may have misunderstood the part about Victoria and Seattle, and the poster wanted more time in Victoria. That may have been driven by tides, which control the under keel clearance and the air draft under bridges that the ship has to contend with, and could also be due to the maximum currents that the ship is allowed to transit under, also driven by tides. These ain't pleasure boats, where every idiot on the water thinks they can go wherever they want, whenever they want.

Actually, both cover ships, one deals with cargo ships, one deals with passenger ships.

Let's pick this post apart. They stayed extra in Sitka to allow divers to examine the azipod. They likely didn't know how long this would take, so if it was going to be completed before the decided extra 2 hours, how long would it take to round up the passengers all over town? Not sure what you want here. If you wanted to visit Seattle, the ship arrived 2 hours early, which is 2 hours more time to visit? So, did you want more time in Seattle, or more time at sea on a ship you don't feel is safe? Let's see. Last time I checked a map, Victoria was "on the way" between Sitka and Seattle. So, you would have had a 3 day sea trip to Seattle, at the very least, though because it is further to Seattle, you would be more likely to have 3-1/2 or 4 days at sea. And, you do know that the ticket contract you signed gives the line the right to pass the PVSA fine along to you, so if they didn't stop in Victoria, you would have seen a $715 charge on your onboard account. Is that what you want? They did not say that it is "unsafe to sail the ship", they said "for your safety, we are returning to Seattle, since we cannot make the scheduled ports given our current speed capability". I realize its "all about me", but your rants are really difficult to justify.

Any line touting biodegradable straws is merely trying to limit their exposure to plastic dumping fines, but are trying to cash in on the environmental hot button topic of single use plastic. As for metal straws, this would be an area that would require CDC/USPH input on whether existing warewashing equipment would adequately sanitize these.

Yes, the issue for Carnival is their environmental compliance with not accidentally disposing of plastic mixed with food waste. This has been a legal problem for Princess for over 20 years, and led to Carnival Corp being fined millions. It has absolutely nothing to do with plastic degradability, , it is all about dumping plastic at sea.

The only thing allowed to mix with the food waste (from the grinders), that gets discharged into the sea, is food. Wax paper would need to be landed ashore or incinerated onboard.

And the study reported by the WSJ says that in the ocean, they claim they break down in 3 weeks, if the sea water temperature is 86*F. Average sea temp is 47*F, so they would take longer still to break down. No, they are still considered plastic. You are correct that this does not solve the sorting the plastic straws from the food waste problem for Carnival.

The major problem is that this is still a plastic straw, and the biodegradability of it has nothing to do with how it can be disposed of at sea. It will still need to be hand sorted from the rest of the trash into "plastics only" bins and disposed of ashore. This is US and international law. Second, the WSJ has reported that scientists have said that the manufacturer's claims of biodegradability at sea (if you could dispose of this at sea) are greatly overstated, and could still take years to degrade. Given Carnival Corp's past and continuing difficulties with environmental compliance, and one of the main offenses they were convicted of was not properly sorting plastic from the food waste, I doubt they will be in any hurry to look at an "alternative" plastic, that would easily be mixed with food waste.

As soon as you mentioned ice, the decision was taken out of the Captain's hands. Based on the new Polar Code, operating a passenger ship in waters off Greenland with any ice possible, voids the ship's "certificate of class", meaning it loses all insurance, and the ability to sail at all.

Or so they said.

Yes, the refusal to allow boarding is an example of an innkeeper's right to refuse accommodation to someone who owes them a debt. Detaining you onboard from disembarking is illegal (though some countries allow hospitals to detain (hospital imprisonment) non-paying patients. But, as I say, under US law, the innkeeper has the right to lien and seize all baggage the person has.