BruceMuzz

Just a splash of distilled malted barley from Scotland always does the trick for me.

The water tastes great after that.

Bromine and Chlorine evaporate rather quickly.

If you let a container of ship's tap water stand for a few hours, the taste improves.

The same will happen if you let a container of ship's ice melt overnight.

Desalination, refers to any of several processes that remove excess salt and other minerals from water.

 

The desalination process on a cruise ship uses either flash evaporators or osmosis. Flash evaporators boil sea water and re-condense the steam vapor, producing fresh drinking water. This method is similar to the natural water cycle, where sea water is heated by the sun, rises as steam to form clouds, and then falls back to earth as rain. The second method, osmosis, filters sea water through a fine membrane to separate pure water from salt and other minerals. Cruise ships do not desalinate water near ports or close to land, because coastal waters are the most contaminated.

 

After desalination, the water is passed through a mineralization plant, which adds minerals. This is necessary because the healthy minerals naturally found in drinking water have been removed by desalination. At this stage, the water is also checked for impurities, sanitized, and the pH is corrected. The water is then sent to massive storage tanks on board the cruise ship.

 

Next, the water is routed to hot and cold systems. Miles of distribution pipe move the water around the cruise ship. After the water is delivered through a sink or shower, and used by cruise ship passengers or crew, it must be treated again before it can be discharged. All cruise ships must follow strict environmental laws in the treatment of waste water. Even after treatment, the water is not immediately released, but is held in special storage tanks when the ship is close to land, in port, or other sensitive environments.

 

It's a complex process, but necessary in order to ensure the health of cruise ship passengers and the natural environment.

 

Drink up!

A bit of an error there on the process.

The so-called "mineralization plant" which adds those "healthy minerals" is not quite the way it works.

The engineers are not too worried about the levels of "healthy minerals" you are consuming.

They are really worried about the ship's piping system.

Pure water without minerals will leech the metallic ions out of the ship's pipes.

This dramatically shortens the life of the pipe, causing unexpected and expensive leaks and floods.

First pH is measured, which gives a good indication of mineral content.

Adding minerals is done in 2 different fashions:

Chemical additions

Bunkering water from shore

These chemicals cost money.

Producing fresh water onboard also costs quite a bit.

If the ship is calling at a port where fresh water is of good quality and costs less than producing it onboard, the engineers save money twice.

They avoid having to add costly eminerals, as the land-based water already contains them.

They avoid having to produce so much water at higher cost.

The land-based water is first tested, then mixed with the water made onboard. This produces a blend that contains enough minerals to save the pipes.

All potable water is further sanitized using 2 different systems:

High intensity untraviolet light.

Addition of Bromine and Chlorine to USPH specifications.

An additional sanitizing process is carried out on a weekly and monthly basis:

Super chlorination of all shower heads, water taps, and swimming pool/jacuzzi pumps and piping systems.

ALL the cruise lines - and the airlines operate exactly in the same manner.

No matter where this had happened to you, the results would be the same.

Smart travelers get insurance. Did you?

I was about to ask what you were thinking when you left an ipod in an unlocked suitcase.

But it is obvious that you were NOT thinking.

You might consider this loss a "not paying attention tax".

On any cruise from North America, approximately 40% of the passengers will claim some sort of food allergy.

The cruise lines have very extensive experience with this.

As this food allergy business seems to be almost exclusively an American thing, many cruise ship waiters will not completely understand. Better not to trust their answers.

Best to speak with the F&B Director and Maitre d'hotel and explain your needs. They have excellent experience in these matters and can safely guide you.

I took a bridge tour on the Carnival Destiny, but that was pre-9/11. I have tried for a bridge tour on 2 cruises since then, but was told that since 9/11 they can no longer do that. Carnival does still offer galley tours. (Maybe they hide the knives and clevers now. LOL).

 

Bryan

Galley tours were never stopped or reduced for any security issues. But the CDC strongly discourages (not forbids) Galley Tours on ships. Just one passenger with H1N1 or Norwalk Virus, touching things or coughing in the Galley could potentially cause illness for 1,000's of people.

A Bridge Tour with the same conditions would not sicken too many people, but could potentially have all the entire group of Bridge Officers sick and out of commission.

I believe it went "belly up" . One of the owners got into huge legal trouble with something else not related to the ship, was all over the papers but unfortunately I can't tell you specifics....you might do a websearch for the fort lauderdale sun-sentinel or miami herald. Menina

Google James Bell II

Actually, it is you who will need to read things more closely, so that you may check your facts.

 

The per diems on those "luxury" Oceania ships start at around $240, and even the top suits just barely hit $600, so your estimates are way off.

 

It may interest you to consider that the new Oceania Ship (the Marina, pictured above), is priced identically to the rest of their fleet, and clocks in at 65000 tons which makes her 12% BIGGER than the big U. I don't think that fits anyones definition of small.

 

That being said, and this is the third time that I have written this, I agree with you, sadly, the United States will never be able to sail commercially again.

Her interior partitions and all decorations were almost entirely removed during asbestos abatement, and an engine room staff who could safely run a high power turbine installation, such as hers, simply does not exist any longer.

 

I was suggesting that she might be RESTORED for use as a STATIONARY tourist attraction in Brooklyn.

 

New York WAS her home port, after all, and by some definitions, she is still technically the fastest Ocean Liner in the world.

 

The folks in Brooklyn need jobs, the Navy Yard needs a Tourist Attraction, and the Big U needs a berth.

As soon as you get your US$300 million together, shoot me an email and I will explain in excrutiating detail why a US Shipyard will never touch this job.

BruceMuzz-

 

I think that you misunderstood my post. I know that she can never sail again commercially.

I was suggesting that the United States be restored as a static attraction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (which is now closed).

 

By the way, this statement of yours:

 

is patently false. Oceania cruise line is currently operating three 600 passenger ships, which are making enough of a profit to justify the building of two further 1250 passenger ships.

Gents,

You need to read the posts a bit more thoroughly. I'm talking about MASS MARKET cruise vessels. You are talking about LUXURY vessels. These are completely different animals. There are many SMALL LUXURY vessels sailing today - and making a profit. They are charging from $600 - $1200 per person, per day. They are only able to make a profit at those rates because they are not US Flagged, and not subject to US Taxes, US Wages, US Laws, and US Regulations - and they don't have to operate very expensive steam engines.

If they had US Flags and Crews, they would need to double their already sky-high fares to turn a profit.

Do you think anybody would pay $1200 - $2400 per person, per day to sail on the renovated SS United States Not very likely.

We need a Bill Gates or a James Cameron to step in and save her! A historic minded restoration of the S.S. United States might not be as trendy as the blue folks on Pandora, but it would do a lot of good in this country

 

Lets get a few hundred (or thousand) Americans working on her again.

 

The Brooklyn Navy Yard has a huge empty drydock, and needs a high profile attraction. The S.S. United States has fame, but needs a safe haven.

Brooklyn construction workers will get jobs now, and down the line there will be ticket takers and tour guides needed. What situation could be better?

Currently the smallest international mass market cruise ship that can turn a profit carries around 2,200 passengers. An American flag vessel has much higher costs than an international flag ship. Labor costs alone on an American ship are 500% higher than on a foreign flag ship.This ship would need to carry 3,000 or 4,000 passengers in any hope to break even on operating costs. The SS United States would require some very severe rebuilding in order to carry that many pax. The resulting design would probably resemble your local shopping mall. Are you ready for that?

When NCL was trying to get their Pride of America ship finished, they were required to have the work done in a US Yard. They put the job up for bid. Despite the fact that many US Yards are sitting empty, not one would even consider bidding on the job. There is far more money to be made with cost over-runs building military ships. They were willing to wait for the bigger payoffs.

Congress had to change the law to allow the American ship to be completed in Germany.

When NCL was ready to have their second American Flag ship completed, the same thing happened again. The second ship was built in Germany.

What makes you think that this wouldn't happen again with the SS United States?

Heartbreaking

I wish they could use some of the economic stimulus money to save her, she is such a symbol of our country.

 

 

 

A great symbol. Rusting, abandoned, out of date, falling apart, lacking sufficient support from her people, and about to be scrapped.

The US Goverment has ruled that if a cruise line has a single office in the USA, NONE of their ships - regardless of where they are flagged or where they sail - can sell cuban cigars onboard.

NCL got into a lot of trouble a few years ago when they tried to sell Cuban Cigars on their ships that did not call at US Ports.

The US Government threatened a $1Million fine.

They stopped the Cuban Cigars very quickly.

Part of my job on cruise ships involves throwing people off for mis-behaving.

It is illegal most everywhere to throw garbage into the sea. My company - like most - has strict rules about such things.

If we see you do it, or another passenger reports you doing it, or our security cameras catch you doing it, I have 3 follow-up duties:

--First we self-report to the nearest maritime authority. The standard fine is around US$5,000. That gets immediately charged to your onboard account.

--Next my staff escorts you to my office where I give you the bad news about a sudden and early end to your cruise.

--We then get you packed up very quickly and escort you and your belongings to the gangway.

I saw the Orient Queen in Kusadasi today. She looked great.

There are several causes for sewage smells on cruise ships today.

The primary one is the new state of the art sewage treatment plants that most cruise ships have today. The only by-product that goes into the sea is drinking-quality water. The waste solids are burned, leaving only ashes. But an additional by-product is an awful sewer smell. Ideally, the odor is vented to the top of the smoke stack, where the wind blows it away. But too many new ships have discovered pin holes and cracks in the vent piping. Even the tiniest holes or cracks can cause dreadful odors to permeate the ship. It is not dangerous, but very annoying.

Another annoying odor causer is the drain in your bathroom floor. Instead of an odor trap like your drains at home, ships have a scupper with a small metal dome inside. If the ship rolls a bit the water barrier in the scupper is broken and the sewer gases from the grey water tanks below are allowed to escape into your cabin. Contrary to popular belief, grey water smells are far worse than sewage smells. Pouring additional water into the floor drain of your cabin usually solves the problem.

Despite endless warnings about what can and cannot be flushed down a vacuum toilet, many passengers just don't get it. They treat the toilet like a garbage disposal. Once it stops up, sewage and smells escape along corridors and into cabins until the engineers can correct the problem. On a large ship this typically occurs 20 or more times per day, all over the ship. A single toilet stoppage can have negative effects on as many as 60 additional cabins.

Norwalk Virus has an additional by-product; bad odors. The two most popular chemical bleaches that are sprayed, fogged, and wiped everywhere to combat the virus have very annoying smells.

Virkon smells almost exactly like urine. Virox smells remarkably like vomit. During NLV outbreaks ,we mix these bleaches to a stronger concentration, giving them even stronger odors. When you first board a ship, the chances are very good that the thorough cleaning just completed will result in some annoying odors.