chengkp75

Unfortunately, I've found that most of the hotel staff, even senior supervisors, have absolutely no clue what goes on "behind the scenes", and will make up something to appease the passenger. It is the same water, flowing in the same system, as everywhere else on the ship. Every cabin (passenger or crew), every galley, restaurant and bar, and the laundry.

Any time a dry dock schedule is posted, it includes the transit time to and from the yard, so since they might be doing a non-revenue crossing, they could very well be informing the public that the "dry dock" starts on 3/24, especially if they are planning on a lot of demolition work on the crossing. Why? Because this gives them the time to do a lot of work by subcontractors that does not need to be done in a shipyard, and certainly not in a dry dock. That changes the "critical time line" work in the shipyard to be that requiring dry dock time.

Having caused this problem myself, when I worked cruise ships, I can tell you what it is. When the ship makes distilled water from sea water, it is like all distilled water, slightly acidic. This can cause problems with shipboard machinery and piping, as well as attacking the enamel in your teeth, so the ship neutralizes the water by passing it through a filter bed of calcium carbonate (the active ingredient in Tums). This calcium tends to build up a scale on the inside of the piping, which doesn't cause any problems as long as the pipes are filled with water. However, when the pipes are drained for repairs, this scale will break off the inner surface of the pipes, and when water is restored, it will start to circulate through the pipes. Since the water in the pipes is constantly circulating from the storage tank, around the ship and back to the storage tank, most of this scale will be quickly circulated out of the system. However, in "static" sections of piping, like those between the main line on your cabin deck, and your bathroom sink or shower (meaning there is no flow until you turn on the water tap), this scale will tend to accumulate. It will cause a yellow to brown coloration, and while not appealing visually, is not harmful. Typically, running the water for a couple of minutes will clear up the discoloration. There is no "flushing" of water lines on ships, and as for timing, a repair means that a pipe was leaking somewhere, and that needs to be repaired immediately.

While the work in the hotel is not statutory, the timing of the drydock is, and the majority of the cost and time will be on statutory/regulatory work (hull and machinery).

What doesn't compute? While not probable, due to the ship's age, it is doable. Ship disembarks passengers in NOLA on 3/24, does an 11 day non-revenue crossing to Barcelona, arriving 4/4, and has a 12 day dry dock. While looking at Glory's survey schedule, I find it interesting that Lloyds has her due for a bottom inspection (and this can't be a diver survey due to age and anniversary) in June 2023, with no postponement date. There does seem to be a one week break in her schedule in June, but getting to a shipyard from NOLA takes time.

The advent of the cell phone camera and the EPA's tipster reward system put a halt to those practices.

The general maximum range for a signal from a cell tower (to use your mobile data) is about 25 miles. For a good bit of the time you will be that far offshore, let alone that far from where the closest antenna is located (hilltops, etc). Since the population is quite thin in these areas of Canada and Alaska, putting in cell towers is not an economical proposition for the phone companies. There are vast areas of "dead zones" even on shore in these areas, let alone when offshore on a ship. Once in port, the ship's cell tower will be turned off, so depending on your carrier and plan, you could get data while in port, to be in contact and send photos.

You're welcome, I see you've posted this on other lines' threads, I'll refrain from answering those, but you might want to indicate that you've received an answer here. I appreciate your father's service, but as he will tell you, there is a vast difference between a Marine and a Merchant Mariner. While I have supported our troops in two wars, I am a civilian mariner (though I was a Naval Reserve officer for a short while), who has had a career of 46 years at sea, on nearly every type of oceangoing ship (and some river vessels as well), including cruise ships, as an engineering officer.

Hospitals will have a department that will deal with this, starting by looking in the patient's wallet or purse to find an insurance card, and contacting them. Otherwise, the ship's port agent will contact the ship to find the patient's personal effects in the cabin to find possible next of kin contact, or the insurance card.

There really isn't any "human food" left after the food waste is ground and slurried in the "pulper" (garbage disposal) system. It approximates a loose oatmeal consistency. As for incinerating the food waste, these are incinerators that are designed to burn all sorts of trash (and the ships will burn paper products, and sometimes sewage sludge), at high temperatures to ensure complete combustion, with tightly controlled combustion ratios and secondary burners to ensure that there are little emissions, and no "smoke". They are designed to ensure that whatever cannot burn into CO2 and water vapor is left in the incinerator as ash, which is landed for dumping in landfills. These are small versions of the municipal incinerators used widely around the world, to either merely eliminate waste or to generate electricity from garbage. As for industry standard, by IMO regulations, either discharging slurried food waste to sea, or incinerating it in a certified incinerator is allowed. I think most ships pump the food waste to sea, as the handling and drying of food waste and feeding it to an incinerator is costly, potentially smelly around the ship, and no less legal or environmentally harmful.

Ship's wifi does cost the cruise line very little, as this is just to connect your device to the ship's server. What costs the cruise line quite a bit is the satellite internet/data connection, and the associated hardware to connect the moving ship to the satellites. And, the charges that they have to pay for this service is based on bandwidth (or how many people are using what types of apps), and they have to have a whole lot more bandwidth for their thousands of passengers compared to your corner internet cafe.

Having worked for NCL with both US and international crew, I know how the DSC is distributed. There is a certain amount (generally less than 10%) of the DSC used for crew parties, and to fund the "awards" for performance. The vast majority of the DSC goes directly to the crew. The base salary of those in the DSC pool is minimal, far less than "competitive in their home country", typically a few dollars a day (by that I mean less than $10/day, this is the way it has always been for decades). The vast majority of their "compensation package" is made up of DSC. There is international law that sets the minimum wage for all ships' crews, that specifies that overtime, at a required rate, is paid for hours worked over 40 hours/week, and that comes to about $1200/month. But, there is no requirement as to how this minimum wage is calculated, so the crew contract spells out that their pay is a combination of a fixed salary (amount specified), and a variable amount of DSC. So, even if the base salary is $10/day, that means that the DSC amounts to $900 of the $1200 total compensation. Now, the law says that the only guarantee that the crew have is the statutory base salary of $658/month. If enough passengers remove or adjust the DSC, so that when apportioned, the crew receive less than the $658/month, then the company has to make up the difference, up to the minimum. So, the major "incentive" program they are speaking of, is the "carrot and stick" incentive where if everyone on the "team" works hard and pleases the passengers, the DSC money gets paid to them (carrot). But, if they don't work hard, or a few slip up, and they get their pay reduced because of DSC reductions (stick), then the line can blame the passengers for reducing the crew's income, not the cruise line. My one and done for a tip thread.

None of this information, on any passenger, is sent to CBP, or USCIS, prior to the ship actually sailing.

Well, let's see. The OP reported that the plane was doing 390 knots (not sure how that was determined), which equals 650 feet/second. Enchantment is just under 1000 feet long, so the entire fly by would have lasted about 2 seconds.

Most likely around the time of delivery, while the ship is still in the yard.

What repairs the QM2 needs are not specific to cruise ships, this can be done by any shipyard, anywhere, and if it is indeed a problem with the exhaust scrubbers, it does not even require a dry dock.

Many ships have two foghorns, one on the forecast (above the bridge on a cruise ship) and one on the main master (above the funnel). They also have a "bell and gong" signal for when anchored. All of these are "directional" to an extent, so that, for instance, the sound is louder away from the ship than it is below the horn.

Yes, that's a heat detector. But, the cameras mounted along the ship's side can see onto the balcony to some extent.

German Air Force was having too many accidents with power lines while doing low level training, so they went to training on ships (no power lines).

Moderately common for planes to make practice runs on ships. Seen it many times over 46 years. Pilot not likely to get into trouble.

That really isn't "dirty" water. The discoloration is caused by the calcium scale that has broken off the inside of the water pipes when the pipes are drained for repairs. It is not particularly appealing looking, but is safe. Both caused by lack of vacuum at your toilet, caused by a blockage somewhere downstream from your toilet. And this is what I describe as the "ghost" flush, above.

Not sure what you mean by "get away with it". International law says that when a foreign flag ship is in port, the local laws (port state) only apply to activities "exterior" to the ship, meaning things like pollution, taxes on commerce (sales or liquor taxes), customs duties, or anything that affects the "safety or well being" of the port state. So, Texas has decided to exercise their legal right to require all liquor sold to have paid their tax. Other states do not exercise their right. Since it is a legal right, Texas is not "getting away with" anything. If the cruise lines were to say, "well, we don't pay this in other states", first off, each state is allowed to make their own laws, however different from other states, and secondly, the state could say that no liquor could be sold onboard, while the ship is in Texas waters (out to 3 miles from shore). The ship gets a state or local liquor license to sell liquor just like any bar in Texas, and that license can be revoked if found to be selling liquor without a tax stamp.

Do you mean toilet tissue, or facial tissue? In reality, any toilet tissue is flushable in a well maintained vacuum toilet system. While facial tissue is produced similarly to toilet tissue, and will normally not cause problems, its just better not to flush them. What really cause problems are wipes, whether baby, adult, sanitizing, or make-up types. These products are made differently than toilet or facial tissue, in that the paper fibers are woven, not pressed, and many have plastic fibers in them to provide strength. These can cause clogs almost always.

The law itself is not strange, every state (except NH and Wyoming, in which only the state can sell liquor) has a state liquor tax, that the distiller/brewer/distributor pays when they bring the liquor into the state (and get those funny little seals). What is somewhat unique to Texas, is that they enforce this on foreign flag cruise ships, which they are allowed to do by international law, where other states don't bother, but may charge sales tax on each drink.

Close. Unlike all the other liquor that is used onboard the ship, which has no state liquor tax paid on it, when in Texas waters, only liquor that has had the state liquor tax paid (those little strips of paper over the cap), can be sold. So, since the cruise line doesn't want to pay a higher price for liquor that won't be consumed outside of Texas, they buy a limited stock of taxed liquor, and hence the menu is limited.