chengkp75

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

No definitive cause was ever found. As for a "credible" theory, the investigators, in a laboratory setting, with a Princess cruise line towel, tried to ignite it with a cigarette, and couldn't, so I don't hold this as too "credible" either.

Sorry, can't support this conspiracy. The extent of the fire was caused by several design and material failures, but it did start on the balcony, but how is another question. Flicked cigarettes have caused major structural fires and wildfires over many years.

There was never any court involved in the Star Princess fire, merely an investigation by the UK MAIB. From a safety standpoint, I don't see a real problem. I won't comment on the social aspects.

Has to be outside 12 miles to open the casino.

Without knowing the actual fees involved, I couldn't hazard a guess. It may also be that they were going to be below the required (by company policy) minimum fuel quantity if trying for Canaveral. This could have been for MGO, if they are burning this in the US ECA. They may have been spending more time in the ECA, due to weather, than a normal itinerary. Yeah, I looked up some of the PEV services, and it looks like most docks have "over the dock" pipelines. Again, don't know where the terminal is for that, and the port charges a fee for every ton of fuel pumped across their docks, and that may be less than a barging fee for Canaveral. Tanker trucks would be removing waste oil for incineration or recycling.

Since there are no pipelines in Florida, there is a quite large Jones Act tanker trade between the US Gulf Coast and Florida. FLL is a major terminal for gasoline and jet fuel. I'm not sure who brings in residual fuel or diesel, or where. Generally, fuel contracts specify multiple delivery ports, and are not ship specific, but fleet specific. A typical contract would specify all ports on the Atlantic Florida coast (and probably further up the coast as well), for the same contract price. The big difference would be the barging charge, which could range to $10k or so, depending on where the supplier is bringing the fuel from. That would be nice if the ship used gasoline. As I said, most of the storage in FLL is gasoline or jet fuel. Since we were on runs between the US Gulf and Florida, we bunkered in Texas or Louisiana, since any residual fuel has to be shipped into Florida, raising the cost. Even diesel is not brought in to Florida (that's Marine diesel, not the #1 Diesel used for cars) in great amounts. I've been trying to rack my brain for the name of bunkering services I've seen in Florida, but just coming up empty. Four hours of bunkering is not a large amount. That would be around 2000 tons, max, and would be likely 8-10 days fuel for Harmony, depending on the itinerary.

What was the ship doing at these times? This is usually indicative of rapidly changing load (entering or leaving port, so massive changes in propulsion, or thrusters), or the system adding or taking off a generator to maximize efficiency. Electrical demand is instantaneous, but the engines driving the generators are mechanical, and have a small reaction time, during which the engine/generator slows down very slightly, and this causes the frequency of the power to vary, causing the lights to dim and brighten. Very common.

But, on a foreign flag cruise ship, she would not make anywhere near that much.

First off, I don't think they're certified. But, they would likely be classified as "hotel utilities", and would have responsibilities like cleaning the open deck areas, arranging loungers, taking out the trash, etc. And, they would likely make less than $8/hour.

Ship's carpenters should have those built in a day, and painted in two.

What are "real deal lifeguards"? Certified? By whom? Or do they just stand there and look like lifeguards?