chengkp75

You'd be wrong about the thermal blankets. There is food, water, and safety equipment. As professional mariners, we always stress dressing warmly, if at all possible (and if you are in your cabin, it is definitely possible), even in a totally enclosed lifeboat (which cruise ship boats are not).

Uh, yes they are. Breads are baked onboard, soups, sauces and stews are made onboard in steam kettles, vegetables are steamed from fresh in pressure cookers. What items do you think are not cooked from scratch? Sure, they'll use canned stewed tomatoes, and such, is that what you are talking about?

What do you mean by "pre-made"?

Single hull tanker where the entire ship ahead of the house disappears under green water.

I know none of these is for NCL, but the policies are very similar across all lines. There was one on NCL a few months back, where one poster even claimed they had a letter from NCL saying that they provided cremation service onboard. That one might have gone poof, though.

Actually, based on the first post, I looked up Greek regulations on scattering of ashes. Greece was the last European nation to allow cremation, and their rules are relatively new (less than 20 years). Scattering of ashes is allowed in "public places well away from residences". And, while the US allows scattering outside of 3 miles, there is no "outside" limit of 12 miles, you could do it mid-Atlantic if you wanted. In general, in Europe, you can scatter ashes over land provided you have the landowner's permission, and there are few rules regarding scattering at sea, and most of these deal with not sending non-biodegradable items with the ashes.

Neither for the passengers or the crew. I dread an actual emergency after a couple of years of this new "virtual" muster. I know I'm in a minority of one, but I hope for a return to the actual muster drill. I tend to have emergency plans for virtually any place I'm in, and any situation I'm confronted with. Always have, always will.

There are several old threads about this, on various forums, try a search. At a minimum, you will need a copy of the death certificate, and a copy of the certificate of cremation. This will be for both the cruise line and the TSA if you are flying with cremains. When you notify NCL that you wish to do this, they will direct you to contact Guest Services when you board, and the Captain will determine a day and time for your service (it has to be more than 12 miles from shore). You will need a biodegradable urn, with a certificate that it is biodegradable. If you wish to put flowers in the sea as well, it is best to arrange this with NCL, as there are strict rules about what can be in the floral arrangements (no metal or plastic of any kind). On the day of your service, the Environmental Officer will take you to the after mooring station (as far aft and down low as possible), where he/she will give instructions, and then step away to give you privacy during your memorial. You cannot open the urn, the entire urn must go into the sea closed, no "scattering" of ashes. Afterwards, the Captain will send you a certificate showing the latitude and longitude where your loved one's ashes were committed.

That's about the only thing the crew can use a microwave for.

See the notes I added to my post regarding live lobster pricing in the Bay area. And, no, I didn't get live lobsters while on ships, but then again, I never ate them after the first couple were found to be dry and tough. Probably 3-4 in 40 years. Heck, I even found live lobsters for sale in Chicago for about $10-12/lb.

And, while in the new USPH regulations, microwaving is allowed for some food items, each must be stirred and the temperature confirmed at multiple points in the dish, before it can be served.

I have never had a frozen lobster in Maine in my life. And, most of the ones sent to restaurants around the country are shipped live, its a common, and large business here. And, here I can get a 1-1/4 lb lobster for $10. You obviously have not had a live steamed lobster, or you wouldn't think the ones on the ship are even "okay". I do have to admit that "Red Lobster" tried to open a place here in South Portland, which only lasted about a year, because even here they were shipping in frozen lobsters from central distribution points in the Midwest. I just looked, and Larocca Seafood in San Francisco has live Maine lobsters, 1-1/4 lb for $13.57. And, your $5 tails are most likely about $10/lb anyway, since most rock lobster tails are about 8 oz.

I will revise my post to say that there are cases where food is cooked one day, and used another. Some things like pasta sauce, or some proteins are taken from the temperature controlled ovens, and placed in "blast chillers" which can bring the food from 135*F to 41*F in 6 hours (guaranteed and documented), but then they must be reheated under temperature control again. With a blast chiller, the food never leaves temperature control. Besides, I've never seen a microwave that was large enough to handle anything needed on a ship.

According to "Food Safe" and the USPH VSP, there is no "reheating" allowed. Microwaves do not control temperature. Food must be under "temperature control" (ovens, hot boxes), or "time control". Once a food is removed from temperature control, it goes into time control, which means it must be discarded within 4 hours. Food cannot go back from "time control" to "temperature control". There are no "left overs".

Not only are there no microwaves for passengers, there are virtually none on the ship (perhaps one in crew lounge)

So, what is a "truly 0% THC product"? As I've said, since the FDA does not regulate CBD products, you are relying on the manufacturer's claims as to whether the product is THC free or not. Even CBD products from hemp can contain THC.

Then the first would have been a total blackout. What you refer to later in the night may simply have been them resetting power from backup to main supply in each area.

A ship-wide power outage would have resulted in ship-wide emergency lighting. Since you say this was not the case, then I doubt it was a complete power outage. Did the ship slow down? "Blackouts", or total power outages are not common, but not rare either. If one of the generators has a problem, it can take the whole system down, before power can be restored. This sounds more like low power (less than 440v, i.e. lighting and outlets) failures in certain parts of the ship. Each fire zone has a separate power supply for 440v, 220v, and 110v circuits, so power to things like outlets and TV's can be lost in some areas and not others. This could be simple circuit breaker failures, or transformer failures, or automation problems as all of these separate power supplies are each fed from two possible sources, only one of which is active at a time, and the other is back-up. If the ship did not slow down, or if the ship did not get real quiet, from the AC fans shutting down, then the power outage was not a major issue, and not a safety concern, as main power was still on.

The other problem with cruise ship lobster, in addition to being frozen, is that it is baked/broiled, which can be a fine preparation, if you watch the dish closely to avoid overcooking. However, the ship puts a hundred or so lobster tails into a single convection oven, and assumes that the cooking inside is equal in all areas, so some tails are overcooked here, and some are not. Then, the same cart with a hundred lobster tails is put into a "hot box" to keep the food at a controlled temperature until needed, and so it gets even more cooked, and more dried out. I've had incredible baked/broiled lobster, but it was done one at a time, and carefully watched.

That kind of damage is considered by the surveyors to be "repair at next scheduled drydock", especially as the duck tail is non-structural, and a sealed void space.

They're all frozen anyway, which degrades the quality significantly.

In actuality, it has nothing to do with state law or even US Federal law. Under the IMO's conventions like STCW and MLC, which all flag states have adopted as law, all ships have a zero tolerance for drug use. Since there is always some THC in a CBD product (in the US, since the FDA does not regulate it, you are relying on the maker's claims to zero THC), and even countries like Holland that allow certain CBD products (with a specified THC level) do not allow it on their ships. It is a US Federal law about ships as well, since the US is signatory to the IMO conventions.

As others have said, you need a passport to fly/travel internationally, and this can be used for check in both with the airline and TSA. You won't need the Real ID driver's license. Both the passport and the Real ID license establish citizenship, so either is acceptable for check in on your originating domestic flight. Real ID is optional for North Carolina, it costs more, and you need to provide documentation of both residency and citizenship to get it. The Real ID driver's license has a "star" in the corner. And, even for strictly domestic flights, since you have a passport, that is fine for those flights as well. Real ID is only required for those who don't have a passport.

True that no cause was found, but there is no doubt as to the location of the fire, on a balcony, as is documented by the passenger who reported it as a "glow out on his balcony", and the video shot by a passenger showing the fire on the balcony. It was not "something within the ship".

So, the UK MAIB participated in the cover up? As well as the Bermuda Maritime Administration, the USCG, and the US NTSB? What is their motivation. The seat of the fire was found to be the balcony, not something within the ship. The fire got out of hand because there was no fire detectors on the balcony, and the fire teams were unable to proceed from one balcony to the next, since the dividers did not open, they had to chop their way through. However, the dividers did catch fire readily, and spread the fire from one cabin to the next. The fire got out of hand because while smoke was smelled in the area at 0230 hours, it was not until 0309 that a passenger activated a manual fire alarm point, nearly 20 minutes later. Given that a fire can double in size every 30 seconds, that 20 minute delay was critical. It was not until 0326, nearly an hour after smoke was smelled, that the first fire teams entered the fire zone. Once teams had responded, the fire was quickly extinguished, at 0436. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/547c706ae5274a4290000097/Star_Princess.pdf