chengkp75

True, but a USPH inspection would not cause delays, or take crew from passenger service, except for a few senior staff.

Part of the problem is that many folks who don't eat lobster locally don't understand how little meat is in a lobster. A 1-1/4 lb lobster will have between 3-4 ounces of meat (20% of weight), depending on whether it is hard shell or soft shell. A 2 lb lobster will have 5-6 ounces (19% of weight). So, the difference between a "quarter" (1.25 lb) and a "deuce" (2 lb) lobster is only about 2 ounces. As for the description of the "Whole Maine Lobster", I hope it is baked just enough to brown the Gruyere, because if the lobster meat is cooked until browned, it is well overdone. Lobster cooking can be overdone so easily, I don't like it on cruise ships because the assembly line food prep doesn't lead itself towards close supervision, and the tails have been frozen. There is also a lobster shortage, witnessed by a drop of 40% of the young lobster population, resulting in larger keeper size regulations, so more have to be thrown back.

60 feet.

Do you mean to say that accommodation is paid for while the person is on shore? Do they live out of a hotel, so the cruise line only pays for accommodation while they are on shore? Are you saying that "tests" (medical?) and vaccinations are "funded" by the cruise line when the person is on shore? Even at 6 six month contracts (36 months total) in 5 years (60 months total), that means the person is on shore 24 months (and not being paid). Did they give up their apartment/flat/home for the 36 months at sea, and then find new flat/home at the end of each contract? If not, then they were, as we are saying, paying rent/mortgage on a flat/home that they are not occupying while at sea. Don't see the savings in expenses there. Total agreement, Andy. While I was sailing, for 46 years, sure my families food expense went down by one person (out of a total of 5), and I wasn't driving my truck, so the gas was less (but still had to pay insurance), so yes, my living expenses were lower when I was at sea, but I would dispute the "much lower" statement. And, it could have been higher, if something broke around the house that I would normally fix, but that my wife had to hire someone to come in because I wasn't there.

Remember that Oasis of the Seas took seas over the bow that damaged the first lifeboats on each side.

And in Maine it is $7.08 before tips.

And, currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25, which is just above the federal poverty level for a single person (based on 40hr/week, 52 week/year)

Yes, looks like she is going to the wet berth with a large, handy crane alongside.

LOL. That chock is negligible compared to the openings for the thruster tunnels, which are in a similar location under the water, as the clearing chock. There are other holes in the hull, where pipes for water suction or discharge are connected, and these, while smaller than the chock have more effect.

Where she is anchored is near the Victoria Shipyard Esquimalt drydock, so most likely waiting for the blocks to be ready, and possibly tides to be right for her to enter the dock. It actually looks like she is moving, with two tugs approaching, so she may well be on her way into the dock. Though, of course, she isn't going into the dry dock, so the tugs are there to take her into a wet berth. Brain fart.

Given the relative sizes of the bow of the ship and the chock, it doesn't make that much difference in aerodynamics. Also, hydrodynamics is far more important than aerodynamics for a ship, since the viscosity of the fluid (air or water) effects the drag, and hydrodynamics is about 2 orders of magnitude more important than aerodynamic drag.

That is a "clearing chock", that is there to let sea water flow overboard when they take seas over the bow.

Entertainers tend to fall into a separate category, some are not even cruise line employees. I always find it humorous when articles about "crew life" are written by entertainment staff, who have the least structured life of any crew.

As Bruce says, most are 8-10 months, and the time off is up to the crew, since they are not paid during their vacation. I've known many, both hotel and engine staff, that have worked 2-3 10 month contracts back to back (so 2+ years away from home), in order to make money. This depends on what you call "officers". Hotel supervisors are typically 3-4 months on, and half that time off. Deck and engine officers tend to be 3-4 month on and equal time off. This varies a lot depending on the country of origin of the officers, and their respective unions.

Like many wiki articles, it has glaring mistakes. It states that "gross tonnage" is a "1 to 1 function of the ship's internal volume". That is not correct. "Gross Registered Tonnage" (a measurement not used since the 1980's is a 1 to 1 function of the ship's internal volume (1 GRT equals 100 cubic feet). However, wiki's article on Gross Tonnage correctly identifies GT as "Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume." Gross Tonnage multiplies the volume of the ship by a multiplier, that increases logarithmically with volume.

Not sure what your point is? Further to my point, the Pioneering Spirit could lift Icon up and put it on any of the ships I listed, and they wouldn't sink, while if it lifted any of those ships onto Icon, it would sink.

No, it will be the largest cruise ship in the world. Gross tonnage is but one measure of size. Deadweight tonnage (or how much weight the ship can lift or carry is a far more important measure of size, for the other 95% of the maritime world. Remember, the Icon class ships only weigh (displacement) about 100,000 tons. The TI class of tankers (4 tankers built since 2002) can carry 4 Icon class ships. The Valemax class of bulkers (68 ships built since 2011) can carry 3-4 Icon class ships Six more bulkers, all built since 2007, can carry 3 Icon class ships 37 container ships, all built since 2016, can carry 1.5 to 2 Icon class ships 14 LNG carriers, all built since 2014, can carry an Icon class ship And, the Pioneering Spirit can lift or carry over 4 Icon class ships So, in terms of deadweight tonnage, Icon doesn't even make the top 100.

No, there is no harm from a circuit breaker in a power strip, and of course there is a need for one to prevent overloading and fire (power strip breakers are rated 15 amp, while ship's outlet circuits are rated for 20 amp, so you could overload the power strip and not trip the ship's circuit breaker, so the power strip breaker is better. The big problem with US consumer type power strips, like those shown, is that the circuit breaker only interrupts the "hot" (black) lead. On a ship, both "hot" and "neutral" (white) are at a voltage above ground, so if your hair dryer develops a ground fault, you could still be in danger of a shock because the current would continue to flow from the "neutral" to ground.

It means that while the circuit breaker has interrupted current to the devices plugged into the strip, the power cord and the internal circuit of the power strip, up until the circuit breaker has a functioning surge protection circuit. Surge comes from "upstream" (the ship's outlet and the power strip cord plugged into it), so whether the circuit breaker is turned off or on, the surge protector is doing what it is designed to do.

This fallacious argument is trotted out whenever shipboard salaries come up. Unless the crew member is living in his/her parent's basement, they are paying rent on an apartment that is empty while they are at sea (unless they cancel their lease and move their stuff to a storage unit, where they are still paying rent). If the crew member has a family, then they are definitely still paying rent, and buying food for their family.

My personal recommendation is to take a multi-port USB hub (that has no power outlets on it) and plug this into the 220v outlet with an outlet converter. Then use a simple rubber 3-way outlet splitter (no cord just plugs into the outlet and has 3 outlets) for your 120v needs.

I will confirm that the two instances mentioned above do, in fact, show surge protected power strips. I, too, am amazed that Celebrity has provided these (and there is no way to "disable" the surge protection, short of breaking the unit to get inside), and anyone who finds one should immediately report this to the Hotel Director, personally, and request that in the interest of safety that the ship provide a non-surge protected power strip. And, while it is almost impossible to tell in the photos, it appears that the black power strip does not have the "protected" LED lit, which means the surge protection MOV's have burned out, but are still in the unit, and may be even more dangerous than a fully working surge protector.

No, they are not "all buzzwords for surge protection". All of these relate to "overcurrent", which is just a "buzzword" for "circuit breaker". Surge protection means overvoltage protection, and voltage and current are two totally different things. Overcurrent protection and surge protection handle the abnormal situations differently, and this is the problem with surge protection. I won't get into the details of how and why, I will just say that your statement is categorically wrong.

Mariners are taught that the "Trailing Hand Technique" is the safest way to descend stairs, and after 46 years, I use it all the time, but did so especially in heavy weather. Significantly decreases the chance of falling on stairs, and minimizes possibility of injury if you do fall. https://navalsafetycommand.navy.mil/Portals/29/LL 19-08 Trailing Hand Technique (Shore_Civilian).pdf

I think its about the technical departments, deck and engine. From Nautilus' website, while they don't differentiate about who they represent in other segments of the maritime industry, they specifically call out officers on passenger ships. Only deck and engine licensed officers are truly "officers" on cruise ships.