chengkp75

No ship or cruise line that I'm aware of uses powdered eggs. It just isn't economical. They use "pasteurised egg product", which is eggs that have been taken from the shells, mixed in huge vats with a chemical that stabilizes the eggs to prevent separation, and then pasteurized. It comes to the ship in gallon containers. They would not use powdered eggs, since they need to use the pasteurized egg product anyway for hollandaise, Caesar dressing, etc, where uncooked eggs are served.

Trust me, they do know this, and have for decades. Here you are misunderstanding again. There may well be many FDA approved drugs onboard, if those drugs are also approved by the flag state. And, just like on the bus tour you mention, the drugs provided by the pharmacy in the UK would have been approved by the UK, not the FDA, even though the name may have been the same, and if the drug was FDA approved, but was not approved by the UK, then it would not have been available.

Unbelievably, US laws don't follow US citizens around the world.

While between cabins there is really no fire rating, the entire wall on each side of the passageway is rated as an A-60 fire bulkhead, as well as wherever those pesky doors in the passageway are, which are separating vertical fire zones. Wherever pipes, ducts, or wiring penetrates these bulkheads, each penetration must be packed with an A-60 fire rated packing (sort of like a mortar).

Not really. You don't want anything that would compress too much (the glass fiber fire gasket is slightly compressible) or the door would not fit snugly against the jamb, again degrading the fire rating. As an example, a hotel room door is only rated as a 20 minute fire rating, so 1/3 as good as a cruise ship cabin door. If you've ever been around when the crew does their fire drills, they will exercise the fire doors in the passageways, and those really slam shut, and there have been injuries to crew members who try to slow them down. The gap at the bottom of the door is taken care of by the slight overpressure that exists in the cabins, compared to the passageway, so air flows out of the cabin, keeping smoke and heat out. This is done by supplying slightly more air than the bathroom exhaust takes away, and is why leaving a balcony door open affects the AC in an entire batch of cabins (leaving the balcony door open removes the overpressure, and the AC sends more air to that cabin to rebuild the overpressure, to the detriment of the other cabins in the zone.

Why are cabin doors heavy? Because they present an A-60 fire rating, meaning if I set a bonfire outside your cabin door, it would take 60 minutes before the paint on your cabin side of the door would catch fire. Why don't they install "buffers" on these doors (and they make them already)? Because they are fire doors, and you don't want anything to slow down the closure of a fire door, or that could fail and cause the door to not close completely, and break that 60 minute fire rating in your little safe haven of a cabin, while you wait for the fire teams to rescue you. Further, you don't want anything in the door jamb other than the fire rated gasket material, which would again break the fire rating.

At the speed that Vista has been making, I don't believe there is a "propulsion" problem (i.e. with the azipods). Therefore worries about "getting stuck" are less valid. Now, she may have a problem with one of the generator engines, of which she has 5, 2 large and 3 smaller ones. These engines are taken out of service every 2.5 years for a complete overhaul, which can take several weeks to accomplish, and which leaves an essentially new engine each time. Many ships are designed so that one engine can be out of service for weeks, and there is no change in itinerary, because the itinerary is set up to accommodate any reduced speed required by the engine being out of service, or some ships can make full speed with one engine out of service anyway. This happens all the time, on all lines, and passengers never know they are sailing with one engine torn down. Now, with Vista's configuration, if one of the 2 large engines out for overhaul, she likely cannot make full speed, but for some reason Carnival decided that they couldn't tailor the itinerary to the speed capability (the overhauls are known many months in advance), so they are experiencing delays in the current itinerary. Just my thoughts.

That "chunky white foamy stuff" is the ground up food waste that goes overboard every night. It looks like an aerated oatmeal. The "brown stuff" is the solids left over from the waste water treatment plant. There is no feces in it, it is 98% paper fibers from the toilet paper, mixed with poly-aluminum chloride (a chemical that coagulates these fibers, but is not considered harmful to the environment), which the waste water plant cannot "digest" in the short time the waste water is being treated. This also goes overboard every night. I don't hand out my email, so if you could post it here, I could confirm things. The Sky had an incinerator installed to dry out and incinerate the waste water solids, but we never got it to stop stinking, so we shut it down. They may have been using this, and having troubles, and when they finally decided to discharge the solids instead of incinerating, the odor stopped.

And, for the OP, Sarah Ferguson-Brown is the Senior Director, Environmental Operations. This is who your complaint should be routed to, but she may not be the one to get compensation from. But, if your video shows what you claim it does, then linking that to her will certainly get their attention, and a future cruise credit would be the least of their concerns.

I would very much like to see this video. I also have questions: How was this being dumped? Dropped over the side? Pumped out from under the water? You were close enough to get a clear image of human feces? What were the chemicals in? How did you know they were chemicals? Having a lot of experience with ships, cruise ships, NCL, and the Sky in particular, I have to say I am intrigued by your claims. When you sat on your balcony, was the door open? Was the smell also in the cabin? When you say it was evident elsewhere, was this inside or outside? What areas?

Public hot tubs are required to be super-chlorinated and drained daily. The requirement for pools is that they are drained at least weekly. Typically done at night, when 99% of passengers wouldn't see it being done. As for appearance, much of that is due to folks not showering before they enter the pool, with the result that their sunblock washes off and creates a film on the water. This film also blocks the chlorine in the pool from doing its job of sanitizing the water.

Yes, the CDC/USPH holds cruise ships to a stricter standard than states/municipalities do for land pools. The CDC did a study of land pools and swim diaper splash areas a decade or so ago, and found that over 80% of them would be in violation of CDC requirements, and nearly 95% of swim diaper pools would have been closed instantly due to coliform bacteria contamination.

If the swim diaper were to become visible, the lifeguard would have to shut down the pool, drain and sanitize it, regardless of whether your child had done anything or not.

The Vision class ships do not have these pools.

Still, would not waste money on something that tastes nothing like lobster, would prefer to get some local seafood if lobster is not available. And, I can't afford it much of the year either, so we go for fish, scallops, or mussels.

The Oasis class, Quantum class, Freedom class, and one or two Voyager classes have an "infant only recreational water facility" that allows swim diapers. These are only a part of the kid's splash pools, and are segregated by plexiglass shields to prevent cross-contamination. It will have only 2" or less of water, and will have signage regarding the use of the area with swim diapers.

I just don't understand why you would waste money on frozen lobster.

While I am grateful that the US has the best Navy in the world, I would hold on casting aspersions based on a comparison of the two. Celebrity has routine scheduled maintenance, as required by IMO convention, international law, and the law of the flag state. In fact, I know a good bit about the Navy and their practices, and I would say that the ISM Code (International Safety Management) that mandates a preventative maintenance program that meets or exceeds the equipment manufacturer's requirements, or meets or exceeds the best maritime industry standards, and is audited annually by a third party surveyor, is as good, or better, than the Navy's program. Can maintenance get deferred, yes, within statutory limits, as it does with the Navy as well, due to extenuating circumstances. Does the Navy dive team wait around until a ship schedules a survey, or do they have to be out every single day booking work in order to make a profit? Also, as I remember, the Navy is exempt from many environmental regulations, and likely could clean a hull where others could not.

Unlike the Navy, Celebrity needs to make a profit, so no, Celebrity does not have the maintenance budget at the level of the US Navy. No commercial venture could take a ship out of service for a year, the way the Navy routinely does. Would you scrape your boat's hull several months before you were going to start using it, with the resultant regrowth, or would you do it just before getting underway? Unlike your boat, commercial ships are not allowed to scrape hulls willy-nilly, but must use certified cleaning services that recover all water and debris from the cleaning to separate it and treat it before returning the water to the sea. These services are typically booked solid, so if the weather doesn't cooperate when you have scheduled them, they move on to the next customer, and you have to try to reschedule when and where possible. These cleaning jobs can also only be done in approved locations. If cleaning services were so readily available, or drydocks available to do an out of water cleaning, why have they waited until the 22nd to do this, why not cancel the first possible cruise, or cancel the balance of the current voyage, and send the ship to get cleaned right away?

Yes, the heavy metals tend to remain in residual fuels, and lead to sulfur and nitrous oxides pollutants, which can be removed by exhaust gas scrubbers. Also, the IMO has moved the allowable sulfur content of residual fuel from 3.5% to 0.5% worldwide, which has reduced sulfur oxide emissions by 84% already. Soot is from incomplete combustion leaving carbon particles on turbocharger blades and boiler tubes, which is then cleaned off nightly to keep the thermal transfer surfaces clean. Distillate fuels can reduce soot. Much of the switch to LNG fuel by the cruise lines is a cost decision, not an environmental decision, though it gives an apparent eco-friendly PR bonus. The problem with LNG is the same as the "cow fart" crises, between the well head and the engine, an amount of LNG is "lost", known as "methane slip", which most environmentalists don't want to talk about. This is because methane is 200 times more damaging as a greenhouse gas than CO2, and hangs around about 10 times as long. In the US, where the vast majority of cruising happens, LNG has a significant cost savings over even residual fuel. As for energy usage from a "better grade", actually the residual fuel gives the best energy per gallon of almost any fuel. While diesel has an "energy density" of 42Mj/kg (megajoules/kilogram), and residual oil typically has 40Mj/kg, you would think that diesel is a better fuel. But, the engine uses fuel by the volume (liter or gallon), not weight (kilogram or pound), so you have to convert these figures to energy per volume (Mj/ltr) by multiplying by the density. Residual fuel oil has a density of .992, while diesel is .830. So, the energy per liter is 39.68Mj/ltr for residual, and 34.86Mj/ltr. So, the "lower grade" fuel gives more energy per gallon.

Yes, for adult diapers, you request a "red bag" that alerts the cabin steward to the bio-waste and they can sort it out properly. All garbage is hand sorted, and if you use a non-clear bag, they will likely tear it open to see what type of garbage it is.

Not really. The warm water species of barnacles that live in the SoCal area only range as far north as SF. While barnacles are found in nearly all water temperatures, there are warm water and cold water species, and they don't feed well (and hence don't live long) in the improper temperature range. Subjecting warm water barnacles to cold water can lead to die off, and when the barnacle dies off, it stops exuding the sticky "glue" that holds it to the ship, and the shells can break off with vessel motion. While this is not going to provide a complete cleaning of the hull (for certain, the attachment "disc" will remain even after the barnacle breaks off, and continue to provide drag), it can certainly help, and may get the ship to where it can make maximum speed using more power. I've been on offshore oil rigs where the warm Gulf Stream meets the cold Newfoundland Current, and as the Stream moves north and south during the year, the barnacles and other marine growth will experience a major die-off and clog the sea strainers repeatedly.

No, crude oil is where it all starts from. Petroleum distillates (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, kerosene, lube oil stocks) are literally distilled from crude oil, like alcohol is distilled. The crude is heated, and pumped into a distillation tower, where the various products are drawn off at various levels with the higher levels being cooler than the lower. So, petroleum gas comes off at the top, then in descending order, gasoline, kerosene (from which jet fuel is made), diesel, and residuals. Cracking hydrocarbon molecules can aid in producing more products like lube oils after the distillation process, and also to produce more distillates than would naturally occur. The distillation process can be varied to produce more or less of a particular product depending on demand. For instance, typically during summer, gasoline is produced more than diesel due to demand for driving, and in winter, diesel (home heating oil) is produced more than in summer. Europe considers gasoline to be mainly a "by-product" of producing the diesel that the majority of their vehicles operate on, so they send their unwanted gasoline to the US Northeast. As noted, ship's "bunker fuel" is what is left over after the distillation process. This fuel is thick, tarry, and black, much like a driveway sealer, and has to be heated to 140*C (280*F) and injected at a pressure of 30,000 psi before it will ignite. Many people think that "diesels" run on "diesel fuel", but in fact can run on residual fuel, crude oil, diesel, coal dust, or even wheat dust.

As noted elsewhere, Celebrity planned on cleaning the hull while at anchor off LA, but could not due to bad weather. They then sailed to Vancouver and discovered that they could not overcome the drag with additional power, as they had hoped, so that is when the itineraries were changed. When the hull cleaning at LA fell through, there is a limited number of companies who do this, with limited equipment, and many more ships than cruise ships that utilize their services, so they tend to be booked long in advance. There are also limited places that allow in water hull cleaning. And, now, they were very lucky to be able to score a drydock slot on this short notice. I believe that they did all that could be done given a couple of bad breaks. Their only other option would have been to cancel everything until they could get a drydock slot, or find a location and service for in-water cleaning.

Ships, for the most part, don't run on diesel, and the diesel they do run on is not the same diesel as you can buy at a gas station. Marine Gas Oil (what the ships use in restricted emissions zones) is equivalent to #2 diesel or home heating oil. For the most part, the ships still run on residual fuel, and there is almost never a shortage of residual fuel, as this is not a product distilled from crude oil, it is the "leftovers" of the crude oil after all possible distillates have been removed.