Silver Dawn Initial Crew Has Arrived

[Stumblefoot]

For those who do not use Facebook, I am sharing an interesting post made on that platform today by Suzanne Clark, Fleet Rooms Division Manager, who is part of the Hotel Operations Management team that is responsible for all housekeeping, butler services, room service and laundry operations.

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On October 25th, the first 112 crew members and hotel operations managers embarked the Silver Dawn. 139 beds had been made last Saturday in anticipation of their arrival by a handful of crew from all departments lending housekeeping a hand; chefs, waiters, sommeliers, maitre’s, and utilities all learned how to make a bed in a guest suite. 

Opening a ship is not about departments or job descriptions or titles. It takes an epic amount of team work, camaraderie, respect and although very physically hard, there are loads of laughs and some frustration and tears. To be part of an opening team is always special because of the memories shared with those who you bond close with irrespective of rank or title and of course can be a career defining moment. Opening a ship is creating a moment of history each day. 

The crew mess and officer mess are open and our Chefs have been making some delicious food and finally proper rice and of course some treats! The food is greatly appreciated between our loading operations.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Stumblefoot
Title Change

[mysty]

Thank you Stumble!  Beautiful start to a beautiful ship!

[cece50]

Thanks for sharing!  We and a group of friends were scheduled to be on her very very first inaugural which was scheduled for this past September, Rome to Venice.  It's wonderful to see that she is finally in the home stretch for completion.  Barbara M through my travel agent was instrumental in getting our complete refund in a very timely manner as soon as they realized the shipyard could not deliver on time. Barbara is amazing!

[Lois R]

Yes,  thank you for sharing this with all of us🙂It is very much appreciated.

[cruiseej]

I'm sure preparing a new ship to enter service is a daunting task... well actually a daunting project of thousands of tasks. But I'm a little surprised they have the initial crew members onboard in late October with a first cruise not scheduled until mid-March (if we believe there will be a trans-Atlantic kick-off voyage) or early April. That's almost 5 months, or more, to bring the ship to life. (There's only so many times one can practice making a bed, or cooking a dish!) If people are aboard so far before the first sailings, then if they stay aboard for the first few months of cruises, that makes for a really long contract and time away from home.

 

I hope crew members get to spend a few nights out of their crew quarters and staying in really nice passenger suites to break them in! 

[Silver Spectre]

I’m just glad to see so many crew back at work and they are probably overjoyed as well!

[Stumblefoot]

Here is another update on Facebook from Suzanne Clark, Fleet Rooms Division Manager.

 

Today was a day of loading, more loading, eating, distribution, interruptions, more loading, and oh did I say loading? ….and a black out test! Another busy day and wherever you looked there was something being loaded! 

 

 

 

 

The team was very busy on the bow, and decks 2, 3, and 12.  The Hotel department loaded restaurant and galley equipment as well as odds and ends for Housekeeping. 
 

Distributing crew linen and towels in crew and officer cabins was the mission for housekeeping today.

 

Fleet Butler Services Manager Jonas Vanden Abeele was spotted on deck 3 with his team of suite attendants, laundrymen and a utility.

 

 

The restaurant team assisted with delivery of boxes.  Did you know that the mattress specifications we use for our crew are a guest standard on other brands? We believe in giving our crew a good nights rest with a good quality mattress, duvets, pillows etc.

 

 

In the aft provisions loading was ongoing with a mixed team of restaurant and chefs and technical items being loaded in between.

 

Loading can be incredibly frustrating at this time as contractors still want to complete job deadlines and of course we need to do ours. Many times direct passages are blocked and we have to divert up and over or forward or aft to go up or down. Although we have to get on with our jobs we sometimes have to compromise and re-arrange our times. We can also sometimes waste precious time as we are at the mercy of crane operators and the weather. We do what we can do! 

So how do we plan what to load and when? Well this is dependent on whether we ‘own’ the area that we want to provision. Every space is inspected at least 3 times aesthetically, then there are plumbing , electrical, air conditioning and safety inspections. Basically like snag lists. When an area has passed all these inspections and there is no defect, or an item of machinery has been inspected and is operational then we accept to purchase an area. We don’t own the whole ship at once.

 

Hotel Operations Managers, Deck Officers and Engineers visit the warehouse to check what has arrived and plan the loading for the next couple of days.  There is a warehouse team who is very instrumental in preparing the pallets for loading.

 

Here is a pic of the black out test.

 

And, here is a pic of carpet laying on deck 3.