Engineroom Snipe

Need to start another thread: "From Six-pack Ship Shape to Cruise Keg in One Week: How I did it." Almost looks like a National Enquirer front page headline. 🤣

Are your symptoms the same on an RCI cruise or was it something to do with Viking?

Listening to those conversations can be brutal. I have enough drama in my life and I appreciate those who keep their private life, private. 😳

Many people get sensitive to sodium as they become "classic" which is right before "vintage" in life but before "antique." On cruises, we cannot control the amount of salt added to the food. For most people, they can have almost as much salt as they want without incident. How many people have an egg omelet with cheese with sausage, bacon, and bread more than once a week at home? On cruises, it happens every day for many days. Go to the Doghouse, sausage with sides (like potato salad) again have a substantial amount of sodium. Stop off for a late snack of pizza, lots of sodium to make it taste good and the cheese. Dinner, all the gravies and sauces need salt to work. The shrimp cocktail has salt in the shrimp and most cocktail sauces have 800mg in just two teaspoons which is not uncommon. Caeser salad dressings require salt and cheese as well as croutons which contain salt. Taco fillings have cheese, and the meats normally require salt for flavor. If you are sensitive like I am to salt, you can only control the portions and try not to have the saltiest types of food all in one day. Exercise does help as it moves interstitial fluids back into the lymphatic system and reduces the swelling. I enjoy cruising and cruise food, but I have had to adapt over the years as my body seems to be more sensitive as time goes on.

Very good quick read might answer some of your questions: The Bluetooth Standard - A simple guide to the protocol for beginners (technobyte.org) I do not use Apple Products, so I find it interesting that they "only pair when close" according to a post on this thread. My Android OS on my phone will pair as long as it is in range (normally 20 to 30 feet). Most devices will share a secret key after pairing and bonding. Most slave devices need to be put into "pairing mode" and the master device needs to be set to "inquiry" to start the bonding process. In many cases, you might be able to see all of the devices within range, but you will not be able to start the connection process without the other device being placed into pairing mode.

Leonardo Da Vinci might be an example where "coloring books" were good for adults too! 😁

One must be careful going from an analog world into a digital world. For all of our digital progress, our eyes, ears, and vocal cords transmit and receive information through analog processes. Everything digital must be converted to analog before it enters or leaves our brains and vice a versa. An old Long Playing Album (LP) was recorded and transcribed through an analog process. As such, it can play all of the harmonics of the recorded song in a far superior fashion than a 256 bit digital recording. This is why "vinyl" is making a comeback with audiophiles. I can teach anyone about engineering in five subject matter areas but I cannot teach them how to imagine. I find that people who draw, play music, and write can learn "systems" far faster than those who only focus on digital mastery. Just my opinion after many years teaching the next generation on complex engineering design and implementation. I can manufacture, install, and maintain any electrical, electronic, mechanical, or information system that I design. At the end, it is an artistic thing of beauty in a physical world.

I do not mean to make jest of a place that you and your husband enjoyed so much. 😔 At this time, it all seems to be about the "Benjamins" with RCI. "Times are a changing." (Bob Dylan).

Yes, leaving technology behind and "Going Back to the Future" to the land of Neanderthals drawing handmade pictures on the rock walls of the caves. Something very rewarding about a hand attached to a carbon pencil and sketching pencils to create an image on a parchment paper. 😯😁 Sometimes the simplest things in life are the most enjoyable. I loved doing mechanical drawings. AutoCAD made them obsolete in a ten-year span of time. The price of progress. Did I master AutoCAD, yes. Did I lament the beauty of hand made designs being left in the dust? Yes. 😢

Da dup,...........Da dup........, Da dup..., Da dup,..Da DAAAAAAA!!!!!! The RCI JAWS of progress might be chomping at Jazz on 4. There have been many postings and speculations about what is happening. Is it going to be a Casino smoking lounge (creating a smoke free main casino)? These are the first confirmations of some sort of change. The intrigue continues. Stay tuned for the next installments........

Like he said. You definitely have to be following the trends to know that the price on board is a good starting point which gets you an OBC with a smaller deposit. If you make changes after that, the advantages evaporate. You will find a plethora of opinions here and no one has a definite answer. Good luck on your decision, it can be like trying to play the stock market. 😁

The next responses to your personal observations will be: 1. "You will not find better on other cruise lines, they are all going through the same reductions." 2. "You just happen to have a crew who will be replaced in the future with a better one and the whole experience will be completely different." 3. "People tend to live in the past and cruising is different now." 4. "You are just asking for too much, don't you know that RCI has to be more competitive and change is going to happen and you just have to adjust?" 5. "All of the cruise lines are dealing with supply chain issues right now. Things will be different on your next cruise." You WILL NOT hear that from me. Thank you for your honest and sincere evaluation. The "Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." Until unhappy customers stop buying future cruises, nothing is going to change. If I had your experience, I would be making your last final statements. I have three cruises this year. My last one in September was completely subpar to my normal expectations. Too many people are reporting the same thing you are on certain ships. I will not be reserving future cruises at the much higher prices being demanded if the service and food are not at least equal to my last good memory of the Anthem in April of 2022.

That and the four foot ground-rod would be a difficult thing to pack!!!!! 😯😁🤣 "Sir, I hope that is some type of golf club in your suitcase. Would you mind opening it for us?"

A well thought out plan of execution. The general design of a proper Faraday cage (I capitalized it in order to respect the scientist who created it) would most probably ring alarm bells in the automated security scanners since it would be identified as an "unknown object". X-Ray equipment would flag the opaque nature of creating a shroud hiding anything inside it. This would subject you to secondary screening as you explained the principles behind its design and your intentions to bring it aboard. Like yourself, I want to cruise to relax. When I have to create complex counter-electronics to enjoy my cruise, it is time to find another vacation venue. As always, no-one forces us to cruise. When the negative out-weigh the positives, we have to make decision. Until then......🛳️>>>>>>>>>........... 😁

OMG! I just realized I become the old grumpy guy who complained about my sound system forty years ago! 😮

I keep hearing Pink Floyd, "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding. How can you have your pudding if you don't eat your meat." 😁

"Not to worry man, we will wait until we are twelve miles out before using it," 🤣 The cruise lines have a hard time finding smokers on balconies which are visible and make smoke. I cannot picture them with a directional Yagi antenna in the hallways playing fox-n-hound catching @DaKahuna with his magic box.

Thanks so much for posting. I have an 8 day on Enchantment in April, and it is sold out. How was occupancy and did you @pcur think staff was sufficient to handle the food properly? I know you are not one to exaggerate by your previous posts. I hope they use customer feedback to improve the situation by then.

Considering the posts about what people are wearing (or lack thereof), I don't think anyone will even notice wrinkled clothes. You could always wear them on a hot humid day for an hour and then hang them up instead of the bathroom steam trick. Might not feel as fresh later though. 😁 😉

Thank you so much for being so gracious in deciding to "let this go". If I did not know better, I would think it be somewhat condescending and dismissive. 🤔 You have never walked in my shoes, and I have never walked in yours, so I guess we both will agree to "let this go." 🤐

1. Great question, I was answering your reply to my original post. You stated that one 20-amp circuit was feeding three rooms. I have no Idea how the room power distribution is on any specific ship unless I was assigned to them. 2. Capacity referred to your answer of 20 amps being available to each outlet in the three rooms off of the one 20-amp circuit. 20 amps is available to any one outlet of the three rooms if they are the one and only outlet being used. If ten amps is being used in another room, a receptacle in my room has the capacity to conduct 20 amps but only 10 amps available before it trips the load breaker. Just because an outlet and cabling can conduct 20 amps does not always mean it is available to all outlets on the circuit (reduced capacity). 3. You are the one who mentioned how land-based bathrooms are wired in your answer in your reply to my original post. If you are not sure about what it has to do with my answer than why did you include it in your reply to my original post? 4. As far as source capacity, yes, it is important when calculating transformers, circuit breakers, and generation of electrical power. Using your answer about one 20-amp circuit per three rooms on a 6000 persons double occupancy would mean about 1000 circuits or about 2.4 Megawatts. One circuit per room would bring it to 7.2 Megawatts. Since the amount of circuit breakers limit the amount of load on the generation of electricity, the designer can limit the fuel consumption and size of the associated electrical prime mover to the maximum of 2.4 Megawatts instead of 7.2 Megawatts. The ship might be designed with extra capacity but how much? Excessive capacity comes at a cost. In another thread, you mentioned how if one of the main power plants is disabled, the ship is designed for that. The second one goes down and the speed goes down. The engineers did not want an excessive amount of generation capacity, or they would have designed the ship to go its designed speed on one main prime mover with two down. I am aware that there are other generators on board that handle non-propulsion electricity and I do not know how much extra capacity they have but excessive capacity would be part of a bad design which would increase the construction, operating, and maintenance costs. So, by limiting the total 20-amp circuits needed, the source is reduced. The designer realizes that excess generation capacity cost weight and fuel (diesel generators operate at maximum efficiency at about 95% rated output). My original reply, there must be a concern about the amount of wattage being used that RCI does not allow guest to bring hair dryers onboard.

For anyone not interested in electrical stuff, please skip this post. You affirm my point as an electrical engineer. To ensure that each cabin could power a 20-amp circuit simultaneously, they would have to run three feed lines (with individual breakers) instead of one. They saved weight and wiring by only running one branch from one breaker to three rooms, thus decreasing the peak availability (note availability and capacity are distinct items) per room according to instantaneous load factors of the other two. Each cabin has its own bathroom. Per the design you quote, the design engineer is willing to accept the possibility of tripping breakers (or assuming that three bathrooms will not be using more than 20 total amps) as a trade-off to save money by reducing total feeds. One feed for three cabins (and three bathrooms) instead of one feed per cabin and bathroom. I know that RCI hair dryers are 1250 Watts because my wife complained on how long it took to dry her hair and I took a look at it. Most electrical engineers will admit that the 20-amp breakers can handle 1,680 watts continuously and 2,400 watts for up to three hours by design. It will take about five minutes to trip at 4000 watts due to three hair dryers and lights. Most breakers are inverse time/current breakers. The higher the current beyond breaker capacity, the quicker it trips. What are the odds of three passengers using three hair dryers at the same time for five minutes? While not the ideal design for absolute reliability, it is a tradeoff of cost and weight. A maritime engineer is going to want to reduce weight as it affects displacement and stability. Electrical engineers on land have to worry about weight as it affects cable raceways, cable support, conduit supports, etc. You mentioned dwellings which I do have much experience with. Depending upon the year of the National Electrical Code (NEC), a dwelling could have many variations of electrical feeds. Some states allow Building Officials and Code Administrator (BOCA) codes to be used and substituted for the NEC if the engineer can quote the proper electrical code out of the appropriate section. For many years, wet areas such as kitchens and sinks did not require GFCI outlets. When those homes are sold, they are not required to have GFCI outlets because the house was approved under the code in effect at the time. The National Electrical Code is an ongoing discussion emerging from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) which was originally created for the protection from the dangers of fire. Everything else emerged from that premise. All of the below changes were made over the years as a RESULT of fire or personal injury (to include death). Very few changes were proactive because it cost builders more money to put them in and their competitors will undercut them if the competitors do not. Similar to airbags in cars, the manufacturers want the government to mandate them, so they are not at a price disadvantage for sales. Bathrooms went from 15-amp shared circuits to 20-amp shared circuits: to 20-amp GFCI shared circuits: to 20-amp GFCI circuits for bathroom(s). I predict as time goes by, you will see it change to 20 amps GFCI per bathroom and then all bathroom receptacles will be GFCI, not just GFCI protected. When the 20 amp is shared with two bathrooms, code currently allows for one GFCI on the first receptacle to protect the remaining non-GFCI receptacles. This was due to the fact that many years ago, GFCI receptacles were expensive, not because it was a best practice. I had my bathrooms wired for 20 amps on individual circuits with each receptacle being a GFCI back in 1991, far in excess of existing code. Why, because I am an electrical engineer, and this was a discussion going on at the time about home buyers who did not see the house built trying to figure out what GFCI covered what receptacles. Should two people be sharing a bathroom (dual sinks are very popular in master bathrooms and main guest bathrooms), one can see that the other is using a hairdryer and not overload the circuit. Any guest can reset the GFCI without having to go to another bathroom, it is the receptacle that they are plugged into. A failure of one GFCI does not affect the remaining GFCIs. I never had to worry about someone else using a hair dryer in the main guest bathroom, i.e. my children, at the same time my wife wanted to use one in the master bathroom. My powder room had an individual circuit and GFCI. I envisioned my daughter having friends over and all of these circuits were going to be used at the same time. There is good, better, and best. How much does it cost? While something can be safe and serve it purpose, my original comment was correct in that RCI is worried about wattage of the hair dryers or they would allow people to bring them onboard. They are not worried about maintenance because curling irons have power cords, and they can short-out and catch fire like any hair dryer. Power cords on electrical devices are recognized fire hazards as they dry out from age, start cracking from movement, and physically damaged when plugging them in and removing those plugs (many people just pull the cord instead of the end-plug, stressing the casings). They should be inspecting all electrical devices when brought on board that have a power cord if your reason was valid and they do not.

Most curling irons use a maximum of about 150 watts (unit of power, current times voltage) at 120 volts alternating current (VAC). Some as little as 30 to 50 watts. Just make sure it is not above 500 watts at 120 VAC and the cabin electrical system should handle it. Many hair dryers sold domestically can go to 1500 watts at 120 VAC. This is the edge of a 15 Amp 120 VAC breaker and line in a land-based dwelling. If they are run continuously for over three hours which is possible in a hair salon (commercial establishment), it would require a dedicated 20-amp branch circuit. To run this in a cabin, the ship would have to install larger current carrying conductors (cables) to each cabin beyond what is there now. This would cost more to build and add more weight. The electrical system source would need more reserve electrical capacity when many people start using them at the same time (before MDR seatings for example). That is why they provide a hair dryer that is of lower wattage in the cabin, and they would like you to use a specific outlet when you use it in most cases.

As the ship starts violently zigzagging and rocking side-to-side😲😟🤢🤮 during your first test onboard and the lights begin to dim: May I suggest you sing acapella, as loud as you can, on the balcony, 'We be Jammin'(Bob Marley) as you flick the power switch for dramatic effect. 🤣

I was thinking the same thing. "I am afraid that something in MY room is burning and I cannot figure it out. I have disconnected everything and it smells like something is burning. Could you send someone to help me find the smell?" They will be there with maintenance in two seconds. Great twist on the problem without accusing anyone.