chengkp75

Recent research has suggested that there are 10 rogue waves in the world's oceans at any given time. The windows are designed to the best possible standards, but anything can break when enough force is placed against it. Say that a window is 18" square. A three foot tall column of water on that window exerts over 400 lbs of force on the window. That is a static column of water, not one striking the window at speed. Those lower deck windows likely saw about 1000 to 2000 lbs of force against them. I've seen waves, not what I would consider "rogue" waves bend steel structures on ships, let alone break windows. The windows are tempered safety glass, so they shatter into small round pellets.

Not the tax laws, but there is a law against "excessive consumption of alcohol" that restricted the NCL packages in the past, but they came up with a work-around a couple of years ago, that has "some" limitations on it. -

You are referring to "self-righting", meaning the boat will come back up to upright when rolled over. Cruise ship lifeboats are not self-righting, since they are not totally enclosed. Cruise ship boats are "semi-enclosed", meaning they have a top, but not sealable doors (just curtains). Many cargo ships have "self-righting" boats, but that requires a boat that has doors that seal with watertight latches, and also you are seat belted into the boat. If the crew are belted in place, when the boat rolls over, the weight of the crew causes the boat to roll back upright. Cruise ship boats are not this way. Cruise ship boats are "unsinkable", in that even if fully filled with water, and full of passengers, there is sufficient floatation to keep the boat afloat.

They are "self-leveling", if they are being lowered. This boat dropped from height. From the lack of damage to the falls (wires), or attachment ring, this looks like someone was testing the "on-load release" mechanism, and it worked. Passenger ship lifeboats are designed so that the hooks that hold the boat to the falls will only release when the load comes off ("off-load release") (i.e. the boat is floating in the water), just to prevent this type of incident. (Note that cargo ships with davits have only "on-load" release) However, the passenger ship boats also have a means to bypass the "off-load" release in an emergency. (In heavy seas, one end of the boat may be supported by a wave, while the other end is over the trough, so the two hooks "don't agree" about being "off-load", and so won't release). This "on-load" release bypass has to be tested regularly, but is done with the boat only a foot off the water. This looks like testing gone wrong.

Most likely benefitting from a 4-6 knot Gulf Stream.

Not quite sure how you feel this is not a "power board" (what in the US is a "power strip"), since it goes from one plug, through a cord, to a box that has more than one outlet, as well as USB outlets. To me, that is an out and out "power board". They call it an "adapter", because there are different input plugs. I would also be worried that this is surge protected, which poses a fire hazard on ships. You need to look at the molded in printing on the back of the unit to see if it has a "VPN rating" in volts, or any mention of "joules of protection". If it does, then it is surge protected, and should not be used on the ship. If you want this for the land travel part of your vacation, then it will likely be confiscated, (RCI does not allow anything with a cord on it) and returned at the end of the cruise. You would be better off using a simple plug adapter that adapts the EU outlets to your Oz plugs.

As Cruise Critic is a subsidiary of Trip Advisor, it is against the forum rules to name or recommend travel agents.

Yes, staffing levels have always been a problem for POA, due to the US certification and training requirements. Post-covid, with the "great realignment" of US labor, and with USCG funding and staffing issues, getting crew has only gotten worse. I'm not sure this will resolve itself in the short term.

The difference is that 100% of POA crew are US citizens or Resident Aliens. The difference in service culture between them and the countries where most of NCL's crew come from is vast. A lot is also the difference between expected levels of service, and what is actually provided. Most US crew do not provide the near fawning that international crew do.

The Polar Code, which initiated major changes in how passenger vessels operate north/south of 60*, only went into effect in 2017, so what you experienced in 2015 would not be allowed today.

There are already restrictions as to time of year, since Spitzbergen falls totally within the Polar Code arctic zone. Another reason this may be cancelled at the last moment is ice presence, since the HAL ships are not allowed to operate anywhere there is ice present.

As ACL ships are US flag, they are required to be more accessible than the foreign flag ships are.

For cruise ships, that was typical for the top 5 or so officers. At NCL, that was the Captain, Staff Captain, Chief Engineer, Staff Chief Engineer, and Hotel Director. At receptions, the glasses held either seltzer or ginger ale. This all started after 1990. Prior to that, officers were given an allotment to spend buying passengers drinks, to get them to mingle. After the required alcohol limits and testing, the officers no longer wanted to mingle, and the passengers complained that they never saw officers around the ship. So, the lines gave the hotel supervisors stripes and uniforms, and let them mingle.

I can't say for sure, I haven't heard reports one way or the other, that I can remember, but typically the neutral for both 110v and 220v are set up similarly, and the appliances will react similarly.

For the OP, I will just add that, not from personal experience (balding), that there are several reports that ceramic hair straighteners, and many Dyson products (the Airwrap in particular), will not work on shipboard electrical systems. Both problems are from the fact that these items use electronics, and those electronics are most commonly set up for a ground that is at the same potential as the neutral. No, the outlet is fuse protected, so a high wattage device will blow the fuse, to prevent a fire, but you won't be able to use the outlet until engineering comes to replace the fuse.

Since the itineraries include Netherlands and Ireland, which are part of the EU, the ship already has to have some low sulfur diesel fuel onboard, as it is required when in those ports. I'm assuming that the ban on bunker fuel is limited to in port in Svalbard, so the quantity won't increase much. It may mean loading one extra tank of diesel, as opposed to bunker, which may require an additional bunkering during a port call for bunker, but the change over is virtually seamless, and can be done by any diesel powered ship at any time, taking only a few hours to complete.

This for me as well. I compare this to the NFL taking a knee. Do I agree with it? No, but I will defend to the death their right to do it.

While I do not claim to be an admiralty lawyer, nor do I fully understand the complexities of admiralty law, I'll offer my opinion. While the US has claimed "extra-territorial" jurisdiction over crimes committed against US citizens on foreign ships on the high seas, I believe these are limited to major crimes like murder, assault, sexual assault. I'm not sure if theft is included. If the US has jurisdiction, then it would be an FBI investigation. If the US does not claim jurisdiction for this offence, then it falls to the flag state of the vessel, which I cannot determine since you don't name the ship or line. In that case, the Captain is the legal representative of that nation, onboard, and his delegate, the Security Officer is the law enforcement officer onboard. Therefore, you would need a report from him.

Quite correct. But if I'd said I worked up to Cairo, IL, fewer people would have understood, and our office was in Paducah, and it is only about 15 miles by river from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi.

No.

There is almost always a tailor, but not a cobbler. The tailor may be able to stitch up some leather, if not too thick.

When I was Staff Chief, my responsibility was everything outside the engine room, so I spent nearly all my time in the hotel.

I don't comment on Guest Relations problems, as this is not in my wheelhouse.

Having worked the Mississippi River from NOLA to Paducah, KY, I can say that the majority of the vibrations are due to the extreme low water levels. With the propellers nearer to the bottom of the river, there is a significant "reflection wave" of the wake off the bottom that strikes the hull, causing the vibration. As for cost, if anyone thought the US operations were going to be comparable in cost to the European river cruises, that was a forlorn hope from the beginning, due to the US flag requirements.

Two simple concepts of the many involved. The outdoor muster station is just that: outdoors. Therefore there does not have to be any ventilation calculations, that an indoor muster station needs to have, and which may be shut off automatically if the fire is in the same zone as the muster station, even if it is 10 decks above. The outdoor muster station is just that: outdoors. Therefore, no calculation of crowd and crisis paradigm needs to be done to see if the size and placement of exits from the indoor muster station, and the size and orientation of the passageways between the indoor muster station and the boats is sufficient to handle a possibly panicked or at least agitated crowd. And, a freebee. An outdoor muster station does not require the structural fire protection that an indoor muster station requires. Spend a couple hundred bucks and get the Rules for Steel Shipbuilding.